Obama, Trump Trade Barbs Over Who'd Win in a Match Up, Post-Christmas Disturbances at Malls Across U.S., 40 Shot in Chicago Over Christmas Weekend: A.M. Links

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  Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term, while Trump tweeted "NO WAY" that would've happened.

• Police are looking to social media after a series of post-Christmas distubances at malls across the United States that were allegedly "loosely organized" on those networks.
• Forty people were shot in Chicago over the Christmas weekend; 12 were killed.
• Russia says terrorism is unlikely in a passenger jet crash in the Black Sea that killed 92.
• High school students in Taiwan organized a Nazi-themed parade.
• George Michael died Sunday.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Christmas at Reason is over, I guess.

[UnCivilServant]

Lasted longer than the Libertarian moment.

[BigT]

If it lasts more than 4 hours, see your doctor.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Rich]

Hi, Rufus!

Isn't this "Boxing Day" or something up there?

[Adans smith]

I believe that was yesterday. His orphans should be back at work.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Back?

Surely you jest.

[gaoxiaen]

He set up a boxing ring for Boxing Day and all his orphans got boxing gloves for Christmas.

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

I thought boxing day was when the used orphans were packaged for shipment to their Asian market re-sellers?

[Mongo]

It must be Great Slave Lake Day up there or sumpin'.

[Rufus The Monocled]

WHERE? I'll knock them silly!

[Fist of Etiquette]

George Michael died Sunday.

Two days to think something up. Nothing.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I guess you didn't have enough Faith, Fisty.

[Pompeius the Quant Retard]

Tasty. Tastier than George Michael's last month of delicious meals.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm still trying to connect a name that sounds familiar with another piece of information that tells me why I sould remember it.

[AlmightyJB]

Just a Careless Whisper that you must have Faith that while some looked to him as a Father Figure, others looked to him for Freedom. All he ever wanted though was your sex.

[Groovus Maximus]

Don't forget, He's Your Man*, Jeebs.

As ye olde George Micheal said, "If you're gonna do it, do right..."

*My and Dr. ZG's fave Wham! song; very dance-able.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

No longer need to wake him up before you go go.

[pan fried wylie]

No longer able*

[Crusty Juggler]

The Dave Koz and Montell Jordan's version of Careless Whisper.

[AlmightyJB]

Seether

https://youtu.be/I7imqO-OBVk

[Rich]

Wait.... Ah. George Michael was Boy George's stage name, right?

[AlmightyJB]

He's a Chameleon?

[Citizen X]

UnCivilServant doesn't care for music. It is known.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Just lawns.

[Rhywun]

I dated someone like that. It was really weird.

[Groovus Maximus]

It's a Monkey on His Back.

[BigT]

Monkee

[Groovus Maximus]

I find your lack of Faith disturbing.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

True story: One time when I was about 13, my dad give my $20 and told me take my younger brother and sister over to the nearby arcade for an hour or so. Awesome! When I got back, I find he and my stepmother lounging around in their robes, with the cover of that George Michael I want your sex album lying on the sofa. Been trying to bleach it out of my mind ever since.

[Citizen X]

This explains a lot about you.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I''m not sure. I could be wrong. But. I think bleach is a little strong for eyes. Use Spic and Span.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Racist!

[BigT]

One day about 14 yrs before you were born, I dropped a pkg at your folks' house. Your mom answered the door in her bathrobe with a Perry Como record sleeve on the carpet, and introduced me to their pet baboon.

[x'); DROP USER Tony;]

Do you think they were wearing robes because of all of the jism on their clothes?

That's probably it. Too much jism, without even considering what kind of fluids your stepmom was bringing to the table.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Put some Windex on it.

[straffinrun]

You could pour out a 40 of something.

[robc]

Not even a "Sports Machine" reference?

[Swiss Servator]

*prolonged applause*

[robc]

You are dating yourself.

And not in the euphemism manner. Well, maybe that too, for all I know.

[Swiss Servator]

Yeah, well I am 50...so, both, probably.

[Citizen X]

DEFINITELY the euphemism manner too. There has never been a Hit'n'Run comment that was typed with both hands, it is known.

[Jerryskids]

Did he ever get with his cousin? And is there still money in the banana stand?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Why should I change my name? He's the one who sucks!"

[Ska]

Applying a Michael Bolton joke to George Michael? Eh, it still works.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, I did hear he liked to smoke the marijuana like a cigarette.

[Citizen X]

There's ALWAYS money in the banana stand.

[Swiss Servator]

How about a banana hammock?

[Trigger Hippie]

Maybe.

[Tyler.C]

He's never gonna dance again.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

271) How Indiana's school voucher program soared, and what it says about education in the Trump era

"But five years after the program was established, more than half of the state's voucher recipients have never attended Indiana public schools, meaning that taxpayers are now covering private and religious school tuition for children whose parents had previously footed that bill."

i.e. Parents are not now paying twice for their children's schools?once for public schools they don't use via their taxes, and again for tuition at a private school where they kids can actually get an education.

"Opponents? assert that voucher programs violate the constitutional separation of church and state by funneling public dollars into religious schools?"

This is not actually what a voucher program does, nor in my search of the constitution do I find a part that looks anything like this whatsoever.

[Libertarian]

"meaning that taxpayers are now covering private and religious school tuition for children whose parents had previously footed that bill."

I've never understood the "thinking" that pulling your kids out of public school doesn't DECREASE THE COSTS of running public schools.

[UnCivilServant]

That's because most of the cost of running a public school is not the children or their instruction.

[Citizen X]

+75% administration staffing

[kbolino]

The argument goes that, while the district/state has fewer students to "educate", it will still have to make some cuts since there aren't as many students in total. What it really means is that, if enough students "opt out" of public schools, the teacher's and administrator's unions won't get as much money funneled into them.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Opponents? assert that voucher programs violate the constitutional separation of church and state by funneling public dollars into religious schools?"

I always say that if Liberals believe this is the case, then they must DEMAND an end to Welfare.

Because their argument basically boils down to "But if you let people choose how to spend the money to educate their children, they might choose to give it to RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS!!!!!!!!"

And if I collect Welfare there's absolutely ~NOTHING~ stopping me from slapping some of it down as a huququ'llah payment, nor nothing stopping Christian Welfare recipients from depositing some of it in the offering plate at their local church.

If the problem with giving people money and the CHOICE of what to do with that money is that they might choose to give it to a religious group... then the same criticism SHOULD apply to every case of welfare or unemployment or disability pay. And with the amount of faith-based hospitals and retirement homes, medicare, medicaid, and social security should also have the same "flaws" as school vouchers. And we could even apply this logic to any government employee paycheck, if we feel like stretching it a bit.

[CatoTheChipper]

Same applies to Medicaid, food stamps and subsidized housing. If government provides these goods and services to poor religious people, that would leave them with cash to donate to churches. In fact, it's even worse than that. Under Medicaid, they could select a hospital affiliated with a religious denomination. With food stamps, they could purchase food for the church's pot luck supper. And with subsidized housing, they could even have a bible study in federally subsidized housing.

Obviously, there must be strict controls on all welfare payments to ensure that none of these resources find their way to some church, synagogue, temple, or mosque. That includes social security, which is probably responsible for most of the funding of the 700 Club.

[Holger da Dane]

I bet a lot of the people railing against school vouchers would be surprisingly OK with stripping religious people of welfare of any kind as well.

[jack sprat]

I made the serious mistake of reading some of the comments. Let me warn others to not go there.

[Col. Chestbridge]

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[Rhywun]

I hovered over the link, and recoiled in horror.

[Krabappel]

Public schools are religious schools, too- it's just a different religion they teach.

[AlexInCT]

The one not approved by the state and the "big nanny state" loving people?

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

How Indiana's school voucher program soared, and what it says about education in the Trump era us shitting our pants over a guy who hasn't even taken office yet.

[dantheserene]

Jatnas-
I guess I'm lucky that I only have to pay once for children I've never had.

[pan fried wylie]

Sure, it fucks over the parents, students, and childless taxpayers, but public education provides such valuable returns! For the parasites running the scam.

[Fist of Etiquette]

High school students in Taiwan organized a Nazi-themed parade.

Does it count if Asians do it?

[UnCivilServant]

You mean "Honorary Aryans"? Wait, that was the Japanese, these are Chinese.... hrmm...

[DJF]

Actually the Germans were major suppliers of training and weapons to the Chinese until the Japanese put pressure on them to stop once the Japanese invaded China

There are a lot of pictures around showing Chinese troops with German helmets

[Mongo]

True or not, the first German casualty of WWII was in 1937 China.

[gaoxiaen]

Flowers of War. Opening scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By5xLstzGMg&t=150s

[Suthenboy]

Nah, it doesnt count. They don't understand the context.

[AlmightyJB]

"Others said they chose Hitler because they could easily convert their school uniforms into Nazi uniforms by making minor changes, which meets the criteria for a cosplay event."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Their school unis are Hugo Boss? Good for them.

[gaoxiaen]

It's that or sailor uniforms.

[Citizen X]

Oh, it's just a schoolwide cosplay event? Good, anything else would have been weird.

[Lord Humungus]

Kissenger Robotic kisser lets you make out from afar

Kissenger is a two way device allowing the user to send and received a kiss at the same time and was developed by researchers from London specializing in haptics. The developer of Kissenger is a woman called Emma Yann Zhang and she says that she designed the device to help overcome problems that come with long distance relationships. The Kissenger system is an iPhone accessory and when they want to kiss they both press lips against the silicone pads on the bottom of the accessory that has force sensors inside.

Assinger?

[Rich]

I wonder who's Kissinger now.

[Bee Tagger]

Down or up-side, depending on your perspective: the lips are modeled off of Henry Kissinger's lips.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Only if it also wears his glasses.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Kissinger? While, power is the great aphrodisiac, or so I hear.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yes, I would have put money on one of the founding pioneers of teledilonics being an attractive Asian woman.

Completely expected.

[Holger da Dane]

Reported by "slashgear"..

[Episteme]

"No one must know that I dropped them in the toilet. Not I, the man who drafted the Paris Peace Accord."

[Bee Tagger]

High school students in Taiwan organized a Nazi-themed parade.

They're really buying into this "Trump is a nazi" thing, aren't they? There are easier ways to get a phone call from Trump.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Forty people were shot in Chicago over the Christmas weekend; 12 were killed.

Happy Xmas (war is over).

[UnCivilServant]

You know the traditional Chicago holiday celebration is criminals gunning each other down. Goes all the way back to Valentine's day.

[Libertarian]

Chicago has the equivalent of a V-Day massacre once a week now. This is what happens when you abolish the local police force.

/sarc

[Citizen X]

What Chicago needs is common-sense gun control.

[OneOut]

Desperate times like these call for desperate measures.

#thugslivesmatter

That should fix things.

[Col. Chestbridge]

Now that's my kind of activism!

/millennial

[(((Renegade)))]

Chicago thugs are remarkably shitty shots. I think its from seeing too many movies where the guy holds the gun sideways because it looks cool.

[UnCivilServant]

I ran into a (presumably) satirical video where a guy chastises black nationalists for wanting to start a race war in which he compares the marksmanship and firearms competency of white rural children with the notorious inaccuracy of gang members. It was actually pretty funny.

[(((Renegade)))]

HM will no doubt have a link.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I thought there was a thing like that on The Wire.

[Suthenboy]

Jiveass doesnt look cool.

[straffinrun]

If I have to listen to Yoko in that song another time, I might join them.

[jack sprat]

Always in the same neighborhoods too. Thank goodness for the strict gun control laws there saving the children.

[Episteme]

"Happy War (Xmas is over)"?

[Bee Tagger]

Police are looking to social media

You misspelled "at"

[Lord Humungus]

Tim Blair: RUSSIAN INTERVENTION EXPOSED

Read on, as never-before-seen communiques between Russian agents Sergei Potrov and Dimitri Bienko outline the wicked plot ? beginning in 1947, on the day of Hillary Clinton's birth:

Dearest Dimitri

I am pleased to report that phase one of Operation Cankles is total success! Soviet implantation of stupid American woman resulted in birth today of hefty girl-child destined to be unelectable candidate 70 years from now.

Child is basically just ankles and head, similar to sturdy and hard-working female stock from adored Ilmensky Mountains. In decadent America, nobody will ever vote for such a noble being.

Yours in Soviet solidarity,

Sergei

Back in Moscow, Bienko receives the news from his undercover US-based operative with communist glee:

[DJF]

""""with communist glee"""

There is no glee like communist glee

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

Do they have that kid in the wheelchair too?

[Slammer]

The SJWs finally have an Official Flag

[Rich]

Whoa.

[DJF]

Shouldn't it be on fire, SJW love to burn flags

[straffinrun]

Let's give them an official song.

[Libertarian]

Love that site. I now have a new bookmark.

[Crusty Juggler]

That looks like something familiar...hmm...

[gaoxiaen]

Taiwanese high school students approve. After the shit storm.

[Bee Tagger]

Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term, while Trump tweeted "NO WAY" that would've happened.

Seems like important news.

[Mickey Rat]

Way to be classy and above the fray Obama.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term, while Trump tweeted "NO WAY" that would've happened.

Na-ah.

[Tyler.C]

Seems kinda unpresidential of Trump, but our dang biased media won't call hinlm out on it.

/Olberman

[OneOut]

Uh Huh

[Lord Humungus]

On the trail of Bigfoot in an Upper Peninsula Michigan forest

Maybe Bigfoot did this. Maybe.

Rich Meyer stood in an Upper Peninsula forest, calling his friend over to a spot along a trail. He'd found something.

A tall, thin sapling had been bent into an arch over the path, high above everyone's heads. Its tip was wedged in the underbrush, holding it down. This, Meyer said, might be a sign. Bigfoots, he explained, often leave signals to each other using sticks or trees. Arches are common.

"It can be a marker of some kind, almost like a road map," said the 39-year-old.

[Swiss Servator]

STEVE SMITH JUST TROLLING NOW

[Slammer]

STEVE SMITH HIT YOOPERS IN THE POOPERS!

[Rich]

Now, *that* is probably untranslatable into any non-American language.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Yah, but we don't talk about it, eh?

[gaoxiaen]

Evidence that the Bigfoot tribe is allied with the Viet Cong. Exterminate the brutes!

[Libertarian]

"Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term,. . . "

Stay classy, Barack. Have there ever been such spiteful, tacky emanations from an outgoing President and First Lady?

[Bee Tagger]

Give it 4 years.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Srsly

[Domestic Dissident]

No. They're the most angry, bitter, hateful, no class motherfuckers to ever occupy the space.

[UnCivilServant]

Wow, they even managed to beat Hillary in her field of excellence?

[Citizen X]

Didn't the Clintons' people swipe a bunch of White House swag on their way out the door in 2001?

[AlexInCT]

That and like the mature people they were they took all the "Ws" from the keyboards...

[gaoxiaen]

Cunnilingus?

[Citizen X]

angry, bitter, hateful, no class motherfucker

Isn't that on your business card, Mikey?

[RBS]

Game recognizes game.

[Citizen X]

Fact: Mike M.'s "business card" is a crumpled Post-It note with a scribbled drawing of some poo on it.

[Pompeius the Quant Retard]

They're the most bangry, fritter, spateful, ho class mothersmuckers to ever poccupy the spacecadet. FTFY

[Citizen X]

"Ho Class Mothersmucker" is on MY business card.

[CatoTheChipper]

The jury is still out on this one. They have pretty tough competition from the Clintons.

It depends upon how much the Obamas steal from the White House.

[Free Society]

Stay classy, Barack. Have there ever been such spiteful, tacky emanations from an outgoing President and First Lady?

Outgoing??? If only we could be so lucky. He plans to stay living in Washington to be a sort of shadow president, leading La Resistance and probably never once shutting his big fucking mouth in the vicinity of a camera.

[pan fried wylie]

in the vicinity of a camera.

We're safe as long as there's no teleprompter.

[Episteme]

Obama will keep sneaking into the White House with a copy of the key that he's kept and will upper-deck the Presidential Washroom.

[Mickey Rat]

There were the Clinton's.

[gaoxiaen]

+1 Clintoris

[Lord Humungus]

Whatever...

'Whatever' Is The Most Annoying Word For The 8th Year In A Row

But this didn't change: "whatever" is the most annoying word or phrase in casual conversation for the eighth year running, according to a newly released poll of Americans 18 and older by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.

"Whatever" irked 38 percent of Americans surveyed ? although that was down from the 43 percent who found it loathsome last year. Other irritants:

"No offense, but" ? 20 percent
"Ya know, right?" ? 14 percent
"I can't even" ? 14 percent
"Huge" ? 8 percent

[Swiss Servator]

"I am all for free speech, but...."

[Groovus Maximus]

"To be sure, of course you are, but I'm not entirely saying otherwise, because, do we really know their motivation, and do we understand their emotional take on the issue, which is, of course, totally valid, to be sure....."

[Lachowsky]

I support the second amendment, but....

[straffinrun]

Sounds problematic.

[DJF]

I thought it was spelled HUUUUGE.

[Libertarian]

Like, I don't even believe this.

[Libertarian]

Know what I'm sayin'?

[Slammer]

Literally

[CatoTheChipper]

Literally, it's literally.

[Tyler.C]

That's true.

[Tyler.C]

That's true.

[bacon-magic]

OMG.

[Suell]

Like literally a Nazi.

[BestUsedCarSales]

With my kids the phrase I'm most tired of is definitely, "The dog had given his consent."

Damn kids need to move out already.

[Citizen X]

Jesus.

[lap83]

whatevs

[Fist of Etiquette]

Police are looking to social media after a series of post-Christmas distubances at malls across the United States that were allegedly "loosely organized" on those networks.

No one ever rioted at amazon.com. Or did they?

[DJF]

But nobody but the robots saw it in the Amazon com warehouses

[Lord Humungus]

Meanwhile in happy socialism land:

No Food, No Medicine, No Respite: A Starving Boy's Death in Venezuela

His name was Kevin Lara Lugo, and he died on his 16th birthday.

He spent the day before foraging for food in an empty lot, because there was nothing to eat at home. Then in a hospital because what he found made him gravely ill.

Hours later, he was dead on a gurney, which doctors rolled by his mother as she watched helplessly. She said the hospital had lacked the simplest supplies needed to save him on that day last July.

"I have a tradition that in the morning of their birthdays, I wake up my children and sing to them," his mother, Yamilet Lugo, said. "How could I do that when my son was dead?"

Venezuela has suffered from so many ailments this year. Inflation has driven office workers to abandon the cities and head to illegal pit mines in the jungle, willing to subject themselves to armed gangs and multiple bouts of malaria for the chance to earn a living.

Doctors have prepared to operate on bloody tables because they did not have enough water to clean them. Psychiatric patients have had to be tied to chairs in mental hospitals because there was no medication left to treat their delusions.

[Slammer]

Why don't they just make it mandatory to buy food?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Venezuela has suffered from so many ailments this year"

Just one natural disaster after another. Human decisions didn't really have anything to do with it.

[DJF]

One ailment, many symptoms.

[Citizen X]

Terrible luck, is what it is.

[Tyler.C]

Heinlein had a saying about bad luck... now what was it again?

[gaoxiaen]

FYTW

[Swiss Servator]

If this doesn't end in violence in a few months, I will be surprised.

[robc]

It says something about humans in general that it hasn't already.

It is depressing.

[Zeb]

Sadly, unless a society already has a good tradition of property rights and self-reliance, like the colonies that became the US did, a revolution is unlikely to produce the sort of outcome that will lead to a stable, liberal country where people can prosper.

[robc]

While I agree, I will still hope that there was an instinct to fight back.

[Tyler.C]

I've thought about this a lot, and I think the reason it isn't is because fighting back has a good shot at making things slot worse, even if only during the war. See Syria.

[Zeb]

I think that's a lot of it. People won't risk the immediate safety and security of their families unless things are really desperate.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

The depressing thing is that eating one's own family members does not seem to qualify as "really desperate."

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Well, it is the holidays and all, so eating some of those motherfuckers may start to sound like a good idea.

[pan fried wylie]

People won't risk the immediate safety and security of their families. When there is no safety and security left....

[Zeb]

I suspect there will be at some point. Seems like the people there still have some spirit left. Doesn't seem likely to turn into another North Korea.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I think there's actually been plenty of violence, it's just poorly organized and not necessarily directed at the government.

[Lord Humungus]

Instead of revolution, countries get criminal gangs. Because at least the gangs make things work - for better or worse.

[Michael]

I'm actually surprised it hasn't already.

[Rhywun]

Yeah but who has all the guns? If they're like every other authoritarian regime they will have completely disarmed the subjects by now.

[Zeb]

Maybe they can pick up some cheap weapons from Colombia now that their civil war thingy is mostly over.

[LoneWaco]

It's a good thing joe is too short to look at himself in the mirror.

[robc]

It's a democracy, what could go wrong?

[Groovus Maximus]

Where shall I start?

[Free Society]

HL Mencken then work your way to Hans Hoppe.

[robc]

Ukraine?

[Groovus Maximus]

I dunno, they've tried many of the things you folks have suggested, such as:

1) Violent Revolt;

2) Ousting a corrupt leader;

3) Dissolving Parliament and starting anew;

4) Lots of Breasticular Laden Protests (FEMEN flavoured);

Aaaaand, still in the same gear as it was beforehand (Neutral, at best - arguably reverse & worse in some areas).

About the only thing they have done right is the SCOTUS here upheld the validity en toto of both public and private contracts made before The Maidan Revolution and dissolution of the Gov/VR here, which did affect me directly.

[robc]

Wouldnt that be SCOTUKR or something?

[Groovus Maximus]

Sure, robc. Whatever.

[Swiss Servator]

"You know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine."

[Free Society]

UKRAINE IS GAME TO YOU?!?

[Groovus Maximus]

Say that to this guy, Swiss. I'll sit back and watch.

*I have met this man in person. He makes Warty Hugman look like Robby "Belsen" Horses. His hands, when clenched, look like frozen turkeys.

[Warty]

He certainly has arms, doesn't he? I wonder what his dosages are like. Are you helping him keep his liver and kidneys alive?

[Swiss Servator]

*paging SugarFree, Mr. SugarFree to the red courtesy phone*

[Aloysious]

"Hugman."

Now I've got a mental image of Warty running around hugging everybody. Thanks a lot.

[Lord Humungus]

He hugs you alright - from behind

[SugarFree]

His hugs are free. And hard. Very hard.

[Citizen X]

Ever wonder how SugarFree lost his pancreas?

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Are they hugs with nuclear arms?

[pan fried wylie]

You can't hug children with nuclear arms. Adults, works just fine.

[Episteme]

Can you hug your children with cyborg arms powered by an internal nuclear engine?

[pan fried wylie]

Can you hug your children with cyborg arms powered by an internal nuclear engine?

Check with Underwriters Laboratories first.

[gaoxiaen]

By licking my taint.

[Suthenboy]

I am starting to see reports of cannibalism in Venezuela. No worries, they have a long tradition of that there.

Yay socialism.

[Groovus Maximus]

It's requirement of Socialism and Communism to literally, "Eat your own." Venezuela is no different.

[Libertarian]

I wish the Leftists who promise to move to Canada whenever a Republican wins would instead move to Cuba or Venezuela. It's what Obama would call "a teachable moment."

[Citizen X]

American socialist will be along shortly to completely ignore any reference to Venezuela and say that he wants to move to Denmark, where the REAL socialism is.

Never mind that Danes themselves hate it when American retards think they have a particularly socialist government.

[Zeb]

A popular meme/talking point among Bern Victims was that everything the government pays for is "socialism". So if you like roads and fire departments, you be a socialist.

I don't know if it was an attempt to make socialism more palatable to more people or to confuse the meaning of the word so people didn't know what was going on. Probably a bit of both.

[BestUsedCarSales]

The more I talk to people like that, the more often it appears the answer is, "They actually believe it."

[Suell]

Leftists love mangling the meaning of words. See: Liberal.

[SQWRLZ: Deplorable Woodchipper]

Bern victims!
So stealing this.

[Holger da Dane]

Hey Zeb, ever read "The Law"? Bastiat would agree with the Bernie Bros. Then he would school them on why they should embrace private enterprise.

[Zeb]

Yeah, they are right in a way. And no, I have not read that, but I have been meaning to read som Bastiat.
But I think in the current context, calling all government provided services "socialism" just muddies the waters. When you are calling Venezuela or Cuba the same thing as you call Denmark or Canada (or the US), you need to use some more precise language. Government trying to control more aspects of society is always bad, but it's a lot worse when they think they can control the whole economy.

[Holger da Dane]

I suppose it's a sliding scale, and maybe it depends on the policy area you're talking about. Both Denmark and the US have some thoroughly socialist policies though.

Leftists argue that when you like the non-socialist parts of the US, it makes you a secret socialist because the US has some socialist policies. Or that you should like a massive welfare state because you like Danish business policy.

The idea that it's an argument for socialism is where the error is. You can like Denmark's business climate and dislike their expansive welfare state or intrusive nannying of individual liberty at the same time.

I mentioned Bastiat because it's interesting to see the things that was considered socialist at the time, things most people take for granted today. It makes you think about what won't be thought of as socialist in 50 or 100 years.

https://bastiat.org/

[Free Society]

Psychiatric patients have had to be tied to chairs in mental hospitals because there was no medication left to treat their delusions.

And yet the 20 percent of the Venezuelan public still supporting the Chavistas get to roam free.

[Libertarian]

Just twenty percent? That percentage is a lot higher right here in the USA. I wonder why.

[Free Society]

I suspect that the Chavista approval ratings are highest at the New York Times. I wonder why...

[CatoTheChipper]

I'm pretty sure that the ratings are higher in Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

Who could have foreseen this??

[Elspeth Flashman]

The problem with socialism is that it hasn't been tried by the right people in the right way . . . yet.

[Episteme]

Socialism...in SPAAAAACE!?

[Jerryskids]

Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term, while Trump tweeted "NO WAY" that would've happened

I approve of the idea of Trump being beaten. In fact, I approve of the idea of all politicians being beaten.

[Swiss Servator]

Placed in a burlap sack and beaten with reeds?

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

+1 pretty standard fare, really

[Elspeth Flashman]

something something meat helmet.

[Zeb]

Whenever there is an election I always think how much better it would be if they all could lose.

We really need a "non of the above"option on the ballot.

[Episteme]

Elect some random dog like they do in those various Upper Midwestern mayoral races?

[Rich]

Police are looking to social media after a series of post-Christmas distubances at malls across the United States that were allegedly "loosely organized" on those networks.

Fake "loose organizations", though.

You can't have it both ways.

In any event, BAN MALLS -- FOR THE CHILDREN!

[Lord Humungus]

Tweet

Mario Loyola ?@Mario_A_Loyola 2h2 hours ago
Does @reason's @nickgillespie stand by this unprofessional and revolting tweet about @EliLake and Israel supporters?

ElizabethNolanBrown @ENBrown
I've seen Eli Lake partying w/Israel lobbyists & literally laughing about dead Arabs. Stop pretending he's some neutral dude on Israel

[Idle Hands]

Jesus, do people not do jokes anymore?

[Groovus Maximus]

Only when it involves White Genocide and mass rape and slaughter of Yazidi and Euro-landian women; then, it's perfectly acceptable, and, I dare say, a gas.

[Free Society]

Like racism, it's not possible to be genocidal towards white people since for it to be genocide you need to be murdering and/or replacing down and white people have all the power. So what you think of as genocidal intent against white people, is really just social justice.

\hypothetical prog argument

[Mr. Paulbotto]

Michael Hihn approves of this message.

[Citizen X]

BULLY!

[Rhywun]

Oh, no you didn't.

[Tyler.C]

I hear if you use bold tags inside a quote inside more bold tags, that it summons him to rape the thread with comments long after everyone has left for the next links thread.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

~~~~spooky~~~~

[(((Renegade)))]

Well, to be fair, she's Auschwitz-skinny.

[AlmightyJB]

LOL:)

"ElizabethNolanBrown ?@ENBrown
@EliLake first time, we smoked a bowl together & I was subjected to your rapping as another male journalist showed me his HS yearbook pics"

[AlmightyJB]

Out: Cocktails
In: Bowls

[Zeb]

Why not both?

[Crusty Juggler]

TWITTER FIGHT!

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

another male journalist showed me his HS yearbook pics

So, ENB, did it work?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Of course, she saw that his senior quote was from Ayn Rand and fell head over heels.

[Slammer]

Russia says terrorism is unlikely in a passenger jet crash in the Black Sea that killed 92.

Finding a black box in a Black sea is going to be very difficult

[straffinrun]

They should've blamed Podesta.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[straffinrun]

Stupid mannequin game.

[Elspeth Flashman]

This is just "statues" like we used to play when I was little except people can film it now.

[DenverJ]

Racist

[Lord Humungus]

Montgomery: On UCSC's outrageous mass destruction of books
Librarians triaged 80,000 books to create?more room. Really.

Over the summer, workmen removed most of the remaining books from
our Science and Engineering Library at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Roughly 80,000 books, worth between $2-$6 million were destroyed or shipped off campus to distant storage facilities.

The act was taken with virtually no faculty input.

In 1990, when I arrived to work at UCSC, I took pride in our Science Library.

By 2000 new journals were no longer displayed.

By 2010 the journal room was gone, turned into a large study. We could no longer browse new journals.

After journals had been vanquished, the next enemy was clear: books.

At the beginning of this Fall quarter I entered the library. No books on the first floor. I walked up to the second floor, where the math and physics collection used to be. Nothing. No books.

You know who else destroyed books...

[Slammer]

Guy Montag?

[Swiss Servator]

+451

[(((Renegade)))]

SugarFree?

[Swiss Servator]

*stands to applaud*

[Citizen X]

Sure, destroying the concept of literacy counts.

[Rich]

The Pentagon?

[DJF]

Same thing happened to my local library. We used to have an old building stuffed with books, then they built a brand new larger library which now has far fewer books.

I guess that books are an inconvenient to librarians and keeps them from their busy day of doing stuff.

[Rasilio]

That is actually a really smart move for most local libraries. The reason libraries existed in the past was books were valuable sources of information and expensive, so much so that owning your own set of encyclopedias was once seen as a status symbol of wealth. Today books are cheap and the value of the tangible bound sets of paper has dwindled as well because the same information can be found online even cheaper and usually in a much more accessible form.

This means that in order to survive libraries need to adapt, they no longer serve a role as mere repositories of physical media but rather as places of public media access and research, as places to hold discussion groups and create new information and so on.

Libraries which see themselves as repositories of physical media will soon go the way of the dinosaur, those which expand their scope will thrive as critical parts of communities.

[Holger da Dane]

^This

Libraries lend out ebooks these days and provide access to other online resources. Only physical books that are valuable for other reasons than their content are kept around. And those are generally being scanned and kept digitally so you don't destroy them when you want to read them.

The days of libraries as "buildings full of books" are numbered, and it doesn't necessarily mean someone wants to keep people ignorant of math.

[Citizen X]

This is a major plot point in Vernor Vinge's Rainbow's End.

[Rhywun]

I remember SF building a fancy new library when I lived there a couple decades ago. There was hardly a book in sight.

[Suell]

You are more likely to see a vagrant injecting heroin in the Main Library of SF than to see a book. The last time I was there two of them were taking baths in the restroom sinks.

[Rhywun]

IIRC they had a tent city set up in front of City Hall next door. It's nice to know they have a place to freshen up after harassing the tourists and locals on Market Street. So progressive!

[Suell]

That's where you buy the stolen bikes.

[Rich]

China plans 'toilet revolution' to boost tourism

Oh, *come on*!

If you've never taken a shit through a hole in the floor of a moving train in pitch darkness you haven't lived!

[Zeb]

The first time I went to Europe, most of the trains still had toilets that just emptied out through a hole in the floor. 8 year old me thought that was pretty interesting.

[Rhywun]

It's the taking a shit through a hole in the floor of stationary public restrooms that's where it's at.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Nah man, you haven't lived until you shit from a hole in a moving airplane.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Rectal prolapse for the win.

[Lord Humungus]

Fear of Trump Triggers Deep Spending Cuts by Nation's Second Largest Union
An internal memo outlines plans to slash budgets by 30 percent at SEIU, the group behind the Fight for $15.

"Because the far right will control all three branches of the federal government, we will face serious threats to the ability of working people to join together in unions," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry wrote in an internal memo dated December 14. "These threats require us to make tough decisions that allow us to resist these attacks and to fight forward despite dramatically reduced resources." After citing the need to "dramatically re-think" how to implement the union's strategy, Henry's all-staff letter announces SEIU "must plan for a 30% reduction" in the international union's budget by January 1, 2018, including a 10 percent cut effective at the start of 2017.

[AlmightyJB]

Missing their sugar daddy already.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Just cut the lobbying department. That should be MORE than 30%. And if things are as dire as you say, your lobbying department can't do shit to effect the government right now anyways.

[Rufus The Monocled]

MAGA already.

I enjoy watching parasites scurry off.

[Mickey Rat]

Meaning they face a serious threat to their abilities to coerce workers into joining unions.

[Tyler.C]

There is no Right anymore. Just the Far Right and the Center-Left. /Democrats

[AlmightyJB]

This day in history:. FDR on a roll

http://www.history.com/this-da.....bile-tires

http://www.history.com/this-da.....omery-ward

[UnCivilServant]

Montgomery Ward was hoarding automobile tires?

[AlmightyJB]

#ridingwithhitler

[Domestic Dissident]

People in the west today who talk about "austerity" have absolutely no clue of what they're talking about. During World War II, almost everything of any value you could think of was being rationed (including here in the United States), and some things were basically outright confiscated. THAT was real austerity living in those days.

[Citizen X]

And you were there, huh?

[Tyler.C]

Lay off him man, can't you see Block Insane Yomamma has destroyed his sanity.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

If Mike M. gets fed up with the president-elect, I'd like to suggest Gobbled Rump for his go-to nickname.

[Swiss Servator]

How about Derpbald Dump?

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

Good one too. The choice, however, rests with Mike.

Either way, if he doesn't use Gay in place of the J., I will be disappointed.

[Domestic Dissident]

No I wasn't, I'm just educated and I read books, unlike you, retard.

[Citizen X]

You're as good at comebacks as you are at nicknames.

[SugarFree]

Him educated Him read books. Him smart.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

BULLY!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"FDR seizes control of Montgomery Ward...By December of that year [1944], Roosevelt was fed up with Sewell's obstinacy and disrespect for the government's authority. (The uber-capitalist Sewell's favorite insult was to call someone a "New Dealer"?a direct reference to Roosevelt's Depression-era policies.) "

[Tyler.C]

Don't disrespect my Authority!

[Lord Humungus]

Served with horseradish sauce?

[Mickey Rat]

Fight fascism with fascism!

[Lord Humungus]

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. After 11 days off I'm back at work, feeling miserable. I already miss sleeping in, drinking G in the afternoon, and working out on my own schedule.

Another sad moment: I got to spend the last Christmas at my parent's old house, which was built by my dad back in '83. The 7000 and 20,000 square foot houses going up next door are monstrosities.

[Lord Humungus]

"G" = "G and T"

[Crusty Juggler]

"G and J" or gtfo.

[bacon-magic]

And smokin' Indo.

[Pompeius the Quant Retard]

Laid back?

[UnCivilServant]

20,000?

I'm trying to get a mental fix on the size of that house. My house is not large, I have just over 1000 sqft. I can't picture a footprint with floorspace twenty times that being a single residence.

I'll have to find some excuse to conduct a prolonged inspection of the facilities to come to grips with it.

[Lord Humungus]

The 20k house looks like a small Holiday Inn - also includes a kennel with eight cages for the guy's hunting dogs. His main hobby is hunting - including big game in Africa.

It's a father and son duo - the old man is building the smaller house so he can be right next to his grand kids.

[Free Society]

Good for them. Of course if I had millions to spend on housing, I wouldn't build a palatial mansion, I'd build a genuinely fortified castle.

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Alligators in the moat

[Zeb]

If I was super rich, I'd certainly build something big and interesting. But I sure as hell wouldn't cram it into some residential neighborhood. Compound in the woods is the only way to go. And castle sounds like a fine idea too.

[UnCivilServant]

I always thought of something that resembled a monastary, complete with stained glass windows in a big chamber, but deliberately picking something off-beat as the subject matter.

[Pompeius the Quant Retard]

+1, Stained glass representation of a Mike M. screed.

[R C Dean]

I prefer acreage over square footage, myself. Maybe put up a separate guest house, but the main house probably wouldn't be over 3,000 square feet no matter how much money I had.

[AlmightyJB]

I agree. As much remote acreage as I couod get. Respectable 2500 sq ft ranch sitting a top a fortified bunker.

[Free Society]

Yeah if you can piss on your neighbors house from your house, you're too close to neighbors. If you can see the lights from your neighbors house on a clear dark night while pissing, you're still too close to neighbors.

Yet so often you see someone with a shit ton of money build an expensive yet unremarkable cookie cutter house that's basically just for walls with vinyl siding except bigger than usual. What a waste.

[Zeb]

Yeah, I'm a little disappointed that I can see my neighbors' house in the winter. If I had the means, I'd be somewhere in the middle of at least 100 acres.

[Warty]

My wife-woman has some friends who inherited a fuck-you amount of money. They have an old Italianate mansion on the lake in Bratenahl, the kind of old money house that has a name. You can easily get lost in that thing, and it's only 10k square feet. 20k is hard to imagine.

If you ever have fuck-you money, by the way, a mansion on Lake Erie seems like a wise investment. Sunsets and shit.

[Citizen X]

Yeah, but there's more feces in a cup of Lake Erie water than there is in a cup of feces.

[Warty]

Only some of that is true!

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

It's the feces part, isn't it????

[GSL in E]

Eh. If I ever have money like that, I'm going to spend it making sure I never have to live in a climate as hideous as the Great Lakes.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Livin' out your fantasy
Sleepin' late and drinkin G

[Pompeius the Quant Retard]

Pin and spruce

[Lord Humungus]

Bonus: I managed to finish 95% of my novel - now I just need an ending and some final edits. Another post-apocalyptic road trip book with shitloads of gratuitous violence.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Bonus: I managed to finish 95% of my novel - now I just need an ending "

Congratulations! In my experience, that "last" 5% takes about 33% of the total writing time you'll spend on the project.

[UnCivilServant]

In my experience, that "last" 5% takes about 33% of the total writing time you'll spend on the project.

In my experience, the last 5% should be easy because the first 95% all converged on that point and you know what is going to happen by the time it comes to put it to paper. The one work where that didn't had been a mess to compose and I'm not particularly happy with the result.

I suppose it's a difference in style and technique. It's the middle 50% that's hard.

[R C Dean]

From what I can tell, good endings are the hardest part of writing fiction. Good luck, Lord.

[UnCivilServant]

I have to focus on one work and knuckle down. I've been writing several in parallel, so I missed my goal of a release in 2016. 🙁

[Lord Humungus]

This project has been on the back burner for over a year. The recent rewrites have given it a much better direction than my original idea.

Something meteorite storm something alien virus something kills of 99% of animal life something vampires

[Eternal Blue Sky]

You still got 5 days, don't be such a defeatest.

[UnCivilServant]

None of my editors turn around work in less than a month, and I don't want to get dinged again for a plethora of proofing errors.

[R C Dean]

You might be able to convince the commentariat to proof it for you.

[UnCivilServant]

Um... no. I need to reduce proofing errors, not introduce more typoes and have protracted arguments over word order between "technically correct" and "sounds best for the story flow"

[R C Dean]

Yeah, if you could trust us to just proof-read, and not edit for content, but I see the flaw in my proposal . . . .

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Defeatest!! If you had a can-do attitude you'd just kidnap a bunch of editors and force them to do the work in five days!!

[AddictionMyth]

He called on the public not to be too harsh on the school's teachers and students, as they have been under tremendous pressure because of the incident and have learned a valuable lesson from it.

I know the feeling.

[Idle Hands]

Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term, while Trump tweeted "NO WAY" that would've happened.

ugh.

[AddictionMyth]

I definitely would have voted for him over Hiltary and Der Drumpf. Meaning, he didn't stand a chance.

[AddictionMyth]

a series of post-Christmas distubances

ISIS - right?

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Forty people were shot in Chicago over the Christmas weekend; 12 were killed.

Unpossible! Guns are highly illegal in Chicago, so I know for a fact that it's the most peaceful city on earth!

[Zeb]

Don't forget that guns are more available to law abiding citizens in Chicago than they once were, post McDonald. I'm kind of surprised that that doesn't get brought up more by the anti-gun people.

[Mongo]

If another cheezy 80s 'celeb' dies before the year end, I will be overjoyed.

Don't let the door hit yer dead ass, Alan Thicke and George Michael. Take The Donald with you.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

All I know is, if Hall & Oates are smart, they'll get a full medical work-up TODAY.

[straffinrun]

Hey 2016. 1980 called. It wants it's musicians back.
*Not mine.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term"

His popularity hasn't been all that great... but I think he's probably right. The Democrats probably could have run a tunafish sandwich for president and won, but they just HAD to nominate Clinton because Muh Dynasty.

[Free Society]

That theory fails to account for the tremendous down ballot shellacking the Democrats experienced. They ran tunafish sandwiches in hundreds of races around the country and lost big in most of them. It's the Republicans who were in a position to run tunafish sandwiches and they're in that position because of the Lightbringer President, approval ratings or not.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

I was /only/ referring to the presidential race. You're right in the fact that in most elections everywhere the Republicans could have done anything and still won.

Even with the presidential, any Republican could have beat Clinton (as Trump showed), but any Democrat except Clinton, I think, could've won against Trump. But they just HAD to try to coronate the most obviously corrupt, cliche politician in human history.

[Free Society]

You think Bernie or Big Chief Warren could have beat Trump? Those two are weak candidates because they're so fucking stupid, as much as that may help them in the Democratic primary. Joe Biden maybe, but then he'd be running for Obama's third term without the "likability" of Obama himself, so I wonder.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

Hillary Clinton, who isn't known for her gaffes, made the infamous "basket of deplorables" remark during the campaign. I guaran-damn-tee that Joe Biden would have said at least five separate statements that were no less stupid than that.

[thrakkorzog]

Well Biden probably wouldn't have ignored the working class white vote. And while he would have said plenty of stupid things, I doubt any of them would be as bad as the basket of deplorables comment.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

I guaran-damn-tee that Joe Biden would have said at least five separate statements that were no less stupid than that.

Yeah, but the difference is that everyone expects Biden to say something goofy at any time of the day. Clinton is supposed to be this cold, calculating politician who doesn't even blow her nose without running it through a focus group first. That she decided going with the "basket of deplorables" speech showed just how far up their own ass her campaign team was.

[CatoTheChipper]

Not even Joe Biden is stupid enough to run his campaign against the voters.

It's one thing to run against a candidate; it's quite another thing to run against the voters who may or may not actually turn out to vote for him.

[Free Society]

You mean attacking the electorate as evil irredeemable savages is a bad way to get the electorate to vote for you?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Bernie or Big Chief Warren"

Yeah, actually. They have a thing that Trump and Obama had also had but Hillary totally lacked: A cult of personality.

And I've known moderate liberals to be able to hold their nose and vote for an extreme liberal plenty of times.

Though the extreme liberals tend to be turned off by the sort of candidate that Clinton was.

Get one of those cult of personality types in the slot and you'll get more people going out to vote for the Democrat side, like they did with Obama.

Lib-moderates are fine with pulling the lever for lib-crazies every now and then. Even if they're illiterate at math, at least they "have good intentions", or whatever. Lib-extremists aren't all that motivated for Clinton though. So going for an extremist with the cult of personality necessary to motivate the crazier liberals to actually go vote would be the key to winning.

But the Democrats, instead, went with a candidate that demotivated the base by being everything the liberals claim to be against. And still even then the vote was pretty close.

[R C Dean]

The Democrats probably could have run a tunafish sandwich for president and won

I thought they did, and lost.

[Groovus Maximus]

Had Huma been the VEEP nom, then a tunafish sandvich, you would have had.

Shill-Bot merely reeks of tuna. And urine. And rat poison. And formaldehyde.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

I think people need to remember that it's not only Hillary's existence that lost her the election, but likely her team's terrible strategy. Obama, besides being more likable and having less baggage, would presumably have the smarts and the endurance to hold rallies in the rustbelt and in PA outside of Philadelphia.

[AddictionMyth]

Forty people were shot in Chicago

Drug addiction - right?

[OneOut]

Someone else's addiction more likely.

What is your handle supposed to convey ?

That addiction is a myth ? Literally ?

[Ken Shultz]

"High school students in Taiwan organized a Nazi-themed parade."

I'd complain about the cultural appropriation, but since Trump has been elected, I guess we're all Nazis now.

How come the little racists never dressed up like Obama when he was elected?

[Free Society]

Blackface is strictly verboten.

[Ken Shultz]

There's always an excuse!

[Zeb]

But whiteface is very popular in Asia.

(a friend of mine who was living in Veitnam for a while complained that she couldn't find any face cream that didn't have skin whiteners in it)

[Free Society]

The spokesperson said police are working to determine what caused the fights and told ABC News that they are looking into social media to see if the incident may have been planned or organized.

Black Lives Matter rally gone awry.

[Lord Humungus]

Seen on a porn video site: Black Dicks Matter

White women dressed as cops... something something the cable gets fixed.

[Trolleric the Goth]

don't be fatuous, LH.

[AddictionMyth]

I fear I might have been radicalized online by fake news to vote for Trump/boycott Israel/join ISIS/view drugs in a positive light/take part in a disturbance in a suburban mall. What should I do?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Throw your computer, phone and/or tablet into the ocean, and never purchase any new device that can access the internet.

It's the only way.

[Domestic Dissident]

You should give in to your manic-depressive misery and kill yourself, Weigel.

[AddictionMyth]

Yikes. Someone piss in your cheerios this morning, DD?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Well shoot up on some heroine, join ISIS, but refuse to use any weapons captured from Israeli forces on principle, then show up to the disturbance to escalate the situation.

[AddictionMyth]

Good to know I don't have to sacrifice my principles.

[AlexInCT]

Which ones? The double standards?

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

If having standards is a good thing, it must be great to have twice as many!

[Ken Shultz]

"Police are looking to social media after a series of post-Christmas distubances at malls across the United States that were allegedly "loosely organized" on those networks."

They're just acting like when Trump tells Republicans to bash minorities in his tweets.

Did you know that during the campaign, Republican operatives were caught on tape admitting that the Trump campaign paid people to perpetrate violence at Hillary Clinton rallies in a false flag operation?

[Suthenboy]

That is fake news Ken. If it was real Reason would have reported it.

[AddictionMyth]

How are my filthy little anarcho-frankentrumpkensteins doing this morning? Santa bring you any good prezzies??

[Ken Shultz]

Poe's law in action.

You try to capture the stupidity of TDS victims through mockery, but there's no way to parody TDS victims when the stupid shit they say is even dumber than advertised.

[AddictionMyth]

Trump will fix it. Just shut down parts of the internet. We have to do it, folks. Of course, just the naughty parts.

[AddictionMyth]

Did TrumPutin nuke north africa yet? I hope they do it soon. I'm tired of paying these sky-high gas prices.

[Swiss Servator]

Hihnfected yesterday, and today shriek gets into the coke early.

We are gonna need HAZMAT suits soon.

[Groovus Maximus]

I suggest a flamethrower. Fire is cleansing, you know. Good, clean, fire.

[straffinrun]

Saw that. John Galt II. As if we wouldn't recognize that particular style of communication.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

I give him a tiny shred of credit, though: whenever Tulpa is spotted socking, he always always always plays dumb: "Tulpa? Who is that?" Hihn didn't deny that it was him yesterday.

OTOH, why sock if that's the case.

[Citizen X]

Because Hihn is nearly one hundred years old, and he gets confused easily.

[Crusty Juggler]

(giggles)

[Swiss Servator]

BULLY!

[Pompeius the Quant Retard]

(snickers)

(walks away laughing)

[straffinrun]

TBF he didn't show his hand right away. He waited until people engaged him knowing that getting in the last word can be a libertarian weakness.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

He waited until people engaged him knowing that getting in the last word can be a libertarian weakness.

Yeah, but he can be baited far too easily on that himself--I've trolled him in the past by mocking his inability to not respond with his usual hysterics, and he can't help but post one of his bolded-word shriek-fests in response. He has a rather manic need to get in the last word, as if it's the last thing he has in this life to enjoy now that he can't even control his bowel movements.

[Groovus Maximus]

He has a rather manic need to get in the last word

Noted corpsed thread-fuckers Cytotoxic and HazelMeade suffer from this as well.

[The Grinch]

Hihn is the sorriest sack of shit on this site by far. Not only is he a troll and an asshole, he whines like a three year old who's lost his lollipop.

[Rhywun]

getting in the last word can be a libertarian weakness

Sez you.

[straffinrun]

You've left me speechless.

[Groovus Maximus]

Good. Then it's settled.

[Swiss Servator]

Perhaps not.

[Citizen X]

We'll see.

[straffinrun]

Good night.
*Fingers in ears, runs from room*

[bacon-magic]

You don't say?!

[Juvenile Bluster]

Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term, while Trump tweeted "NO WAY" that would've happened.

Probably would've.

I'm thankful for the 22nd Amendment.

[R C Dean]

If not for the 22nd amendment, we'd be wrapping up the sixth Bill Clinton term right now, wondering what he would do to spice up his 7th inauguration.

[Groovus Maximus]

Not, "what," Counselor. "Who." And that's not a singular, "who," either.

[Sevo]

"Joe Biden says Hillary Clinton didn't know why she ran for president
The vice president said that Clinton probably felt obliged to run for feminist reasons."
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/us-vi.....ent-709669

I think he's already angling for the 2020 nod.

[AlmightyJB]

Run Joey Run

https://youtu.be/cUVZsu36SW4

[DJF]

He should run for Vice President again.

[Libertarian]

According to the headlines today, he's denying that the U.S. was behind the recent UN vote. Time will tell if he's outright lying or not.

[AlexInCT]

Oh come on. who is going to be surprised that a corrupt administration that holds grudges against allies and can't drop to its knees to suck the nation;s enemy's cock fast enough, holds grudges and resorts to this kind of shenanigans out of spite?

[robc]

He got a number of things right.

You have to run ON something, present some sort of positive view going forward. Trump did that, even if it is wrong. Ditto for Obama.

You can't run an "anybody but" campaign, that doesnt excite people to show up.

Running against someone works great for mid-term congressional elections. Dems may make huge gains running against Trump in 2 years, depending on how things go.

[R C Dean]

Comes down to the economy - if its reasonably good, the Dems won't make it out of their electoral hole. If we get another big contraction, the pendulum will swing.

[Libertarian]

I hate to disillusion Biden and his fans* but he is 74, and when (if) he is 78, the math and his goals are not going to be the same.

*confession: I would LOVE to disillusion Biden and his fans

[AddictionMyth]

Did Trump kick out all the illegals yet? I hope he does it soon. I'm tired of paying so much for french fries and car washes.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

My Xmas haul:

Gear VR (from me to me)
Custom-printed boarding pass throw pillows (from me to me)
Betsey Johnson hat and scarf set
KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment
Nice check from my Pa (cash is king!)

[straffinrun]

The only thing I recognize is the check. My dad passed away about 10 years ago. I received a check in the mail from him that same Christmas. I've never cashed it. Just never wanted to.

[Trolleric the Goth]

the ice cream maker attachment is excellent, just be careful to always keep it in motion once you pour the mix in the bowl - let it sit for more than 3 or 4 seconds and it'll seize up.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Yeah, the paddle seems lightweight. I think I might bust it out this weekend. I have a couple vanilla beans I've been meaning to use. I have to pre-freeze the contraption, I'm assuming?

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

I wish you had missed the threading for this particular comment. "Euphemism" doesn't begin to cover it.

[Slumbrew]

Yes, it's like the Cuisinart one I have - you'll want a solid 24 hours of freezing for the insert before using it. I can highly recommend the David Lebovitz ice cream book, though be sure to read the introduction bit first as he goes over the generalized details of making the custard, etc. there - the recipes assume you're familiar with those details.

[Atanarjuat]

I got a game camera. So far I've got some night action shots of a housecat.

[R C Dean]

Those can be a blast, once you get the right spot for them. I had one set up in southern Wisconsin that caught all kinds of deer, foxes, etc. Even one buck with three main beams that nobody had ever laid eyes on.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

If I had one of those, I'd catch a bunch of squirrels fucking and maybe the occasional rat looking for garbage.

[R C Dean]

I've been looking for a good place to put mine around our house. We regularly get deer, javelina, coyotes, and semi-regularly get bobcats and god knows what else (up to and including mountain lions? which I haven't seen, but are definitely in the area). I just haven't pegged the right spot.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Nice, all I got were some day money shots of a pussy cat.

[AddictionMyth]

Check out my shiny new UN 2334. It's awesome!

Thanks Santa!!!

[Krabappel]

El Al has special flights for the ultra-Orthodox to selected destinations

Take 'em all to Las Vegas. They'll appreciate the illegal Mexicans handing out strip club advertisements.

[AddictionMyth]

All I want for Christmas is white genocide?

Come on people, that was supposed to be funny!!

[AddictionMyth]

Did Trump restore law and order to the inner cities yet? I hope he does it soon. I'm tired of having to sit through all the gun shot reports just to see the pet-of-the-week this week.

[AddictionMyth]

Hey - I heard Trump is looking to hire prison guards to watch over the illegals while we hold them until the wall is built (which will be done so fast your head will spin, and if you question that you're an idiot and the wall just got 10 feet higher, jackass). Where can I sign up for that?

[AddictionMyth]

I'm running on a platform to abolish safe spaces for trolls. Can I count on your vote?

[Lord Humungus]

And AddictionMyth gets the full block treatment.

[UnCivilServant]

I just muted him so I could see any amusing abuse he gets in reply.

[Lord Humungus]

I normally mute too - but this is getting to uber-troll levels

[UnCivilServant]

I think it's more spammy. An uber-troll would actually know what buttons to push to get a rise out of people instead of just acting like that kid in the row behind you who won't stop kicking the seat.

[Zeb]

Or, if HM's theory is correct, he takes massive amounts of cocaine and spews his brain droppings all over the place.

[straffinrun]

I have him on auto-play. Sounds like this.
*Sorry, I just like that.

[Pompeius the Quant Retard]

The proper term is crapflooder

[Citizen X]

It finally got through my thick skull that there is no point in trying to interact with AM/dajjal. Friends, it feels as though a great weight has been lifted.

[AddictionMyth]

Well - Look at YOOOOOOOU!

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

That's who that is? I have so many blank white spaces from blocked users in my thread this morning, I thought Herc or WI was back.

[Citizen X]

It is all one unhinged retard, desperate for the attention no one in the real world will give it.

[AddictionMyth]

LOOK AT MEEEEE!!!!!

[robc]

That seems awful slow.

[UnCivilServant]

Rule says I'm supposed to take offence or somesuch as I muted at around the same time Lord H decided to block.

But I can't get too worked up over stuff people post online. That may be why it took so long anyway.

[Lord Humungus]

He's normally muted, as I like to read the responses to his idiotic posts. And it's fun to try and glean what the OP was based on the responses. But some sockpuppets are no fun.

Speaking of socks, I listened to a Sword and Scale podcast about this freak

Magnotta himself was the source of these comments and questions. It was later established that he had created at least 70 "sock puppet" accounts on Facebook, and at least 20 websites devoted to Luka Magnotta. His Google carpetbombing helped his name show up when people searched for famous, or infamous, names.

"He was trying to troll people to get famous," says Moovan about Magnotta. "Bottom line."

It wasn't working, so Magnotta took a different approach.

"There's this unwritten rule of the Internet," says Vaccumer Kitten Killer groupmember Green. "It's called rule zero. And it's you don't mess with cats."

Not unless, that is, you want attention.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

"...And it's you don't mess with cats."

Not unless, that is, you want attention.

Great. You just gave AM ideas, I hope you're happy.

[John]

The trick to cat ownership is knowing how to give them a proper annual performance review.

http://hackernoon.com/a-guide-......u375xjtql

[Citizen X]

Yeah, i've got that coming up next month. I am not looking forward to it.

I should never have let them unionize.

[John]

Big mistake. You would think the dogs forming a union would be the problem. No, its the cats. Individualistic my ass.

[Citizen X]

They let the dog be a provisional member, but the union rep won't even return his calls.

[Tyler.C]

It's great cause no one replied to him. It's a good day when that happens.

[Domestic Dissident]

Weigel is already mentally ill by his own admission, and we get closer and closer to the end of the rule of his beloved Obamessiah, he's clearly going over the edge. He may not be able to make it four more years.

[John]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/.....uses-earth

Gene editing may also prevent the birth of innovators and geniuses. Wow, fucking with something that fundamental to life could have unforeseen and potentially catastrophic second order effects. Who could have seen that coming.

[Sevo]

You're right.
GMOs will be the death of humanity!

[John]

Messing with plants is not the same as messing with people. Plants are not conscious and are there to serve a purpose. They are a means to an end. People are an end in themselves.

It amazes me how the same people who rightfully reject central planning because of the information problem will turn around and deny there could ever be any downsides or unforeseen and nasty second order effects to technology. Some Libertarians worship technology.

[Sevo]

John|12.27.16 @ 10:29AM|#
"Messing with plants is not the same as messing with people."

First Test-Tube Baby - Louise Brown - history1900s.about.com

[Groovus Maximus]

Louise Brown: Kingdom Animalia. A cucumber: Kingdom Plantae.

Please tell me you studied biology without FAILing, Sevo. Otherwise, you are seriously arguing there is no difference between you and a dandelion. I have yet to have a head of romaine lettuce protest before becoming a tasty Caesar salad. Whereas, I'm quite sure Louise Brown might just object. Strenuously.

So, no. Messing with plants is not the same as messing with people. Messing with genetic codes, alleles, and other aspects of husbandry and genetic engineering, yes, there is overlap there on the cellular level, since both fall under Domain Eukarya (though plants have cell walls, not cell membranes).

The techniques applied may be similar or the same, but the test subjects are as different as night and day.

[Sevo]

GM, no, I am not claiming flora = fauna.
I'm simply pointing out that bell has been rung; we're already 'messing with people'.

[Groovus Maximus]

As a matter of editing then, I suggest just limiting the quoted comment to, "[M]essing with people.**" The way you quoted, and responded to, John, suggests otherwise. That said, your clarification is correct.

**GFT, ZFT, and other methods of in vitro, petri dish fertilization and implantation aren't 'messing with people', per se either, but the discrete gametes to create them. For Louise Brown, there wasn't any change in her DNA structure either before or after conception. The goal was simply to fertilise extra corpus, then introduce intra corpus for implantation. Granted, it's a quibble, but an important distinction.

[Krabappel]

And we should keep messing with people until we have humans that glow in the dark.

[x'); DROP USER Tony;]

"Plants are not conscious and are there to serve a purpose. They are a means to an end. People are an end in themselves."
****************************

something something facts not in evidence something something

[Tyler.C]

You know funny thing is. Genetics are not predestination, nurture has a lot to do with it.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Don't worry John. Life, uh, finds a way.

[John]

Sure it does. It just doesn't always find a very pleasant one. it is entirely possible that the human race could render itself quite literally fat dumb and stupid in its endless quest for paradise on earth free of depression and all other forms of existence perceived as less than ideal.

There is an old Twilight Zone that takes place in a future Dystopia where everyone gets this surgury that makes them good looking, smart and content and conformist. Sadly, I think a lot of people see that episode and don't understand it is a Dystopia not a Utopia.

[OneOut]

Brawndo has what plants crave .

[robc]

So TZ ripped off Brave New World?

[Zeb]

Or maybe we'd have more geniuses that don't go crazy and kill themselves or alienate the people around them.

[John]

Maybe that is the price of being a genius? Perhaps there are trade offs in life. Who knew?

[Zeb]

I certainly don't know the answer. Maybe it's the price of genius. Or maybe those troubledd geniuses would have been even greater geniuses without their other problems. Hard to say.

The way I see it, people are going to do pretty much everything it is possible for people to do. So you just have to hope for the best.

[robc]

And maybe some parents will select FOR those genes in the hope of getting a genius.

[Elspeth Flashman]

OT: I got a sort of promotion at work by being added to a list for court-appointed attorneys for neglect/abuse and delinquency cases. Can't wait.

[John]

Someone has to do it. God love you for doing it. But, damn, I am glad it is you and not me. Good luck not becoming an alcoholic.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I had a decent hazing by clerking for a judge and seeing the cases up close & personal. I spent two weeks going through a file to try and find a suitable family placement for a case with 5 kids and three different dads. The sad thing was there was no suitable family placement in that file.

[John]

I did a semester working for the country juvenile DA's office when I was in law school. God I hated that job. One tragic case after another.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I interviewed for that position in law school and they didn't take me as I needed less than 40 hours per week. I think I would have exploded to do 40 hours, taken classes, and graduated on time.

[UnCivilServant]

Representing which type of party?

[Lord Humungus]

The Nazi Party! /clicks boots together

[Elspeth Flashman]

Defendants.

[UnCivilServant]

So the people accused of abuse and/or neglect. I can see how that can get fairly stressfull (especially since there will be some proportion who are actually guilty horrible people still deserving of a proper defense).

Yet another reason I'm glad I work with computers.

Good luck, don't let it break you.

[John]

http://www.yahoo.com/news/tesl.....nance.html

Make Buffalo great again.

[UnCivilServant]

They still haven't admitted that "Solar City" is a farce?

[John]

it is a total farce. But at least someone besides connected millionaires will get some cash out of it. So there is that.

[Crusty Juggler]

That's impossible, because it's Buffalo. To be clear, SolarCity in New York is just plain, old fashioned New York corruption.

[UnCivilServant]

Oh come now, back in the days of the Erie canal when the Great Lakes were the trade artery in the country, Buffalo was a great city. So it is possible for it to be again... Theoretically.

[Crusty Juggler]

Oh, there is a lot of potential there - and it is the home of beef on weck - but Buffalo Billions is not going to help the area tap that potential.

[Rhywun]

If you were, say, self-employed and wanted to live cheaply in a huge old mansion you could do a lot worse.

[UnCivilServant]

Huge Old Mansion means huge maintenence costs.

[Crusty Juggler]

True. A relative had one of those mansions in the city - an absolutely beautiful, well-maintained home - but no one who could afford to maintain it wanted to live there, so it was sold. Sad.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

There are a few private islands for sale in Lake Champlain. They turn over every few years because the people that buy them find out how much they cost to maintain (and how the State taxes you unto death if you use it as a rental and don't live there full-time)

[Zeb]

I've always fantasized about having an island in a lake somewhere. But I have no idea what they sell for or what hidden costs I fail to think of.

[John]

You mean solar isn't the answer for one of the cloudiest spots on earth? I don't believe it.

[UnCivilServant]

To be fair (admittedly to the corrupt and irredeemable politicians) they never said they were going to set up a solar power plant there, just pretend to make the panels.

[Libertarian]

Also, to be fair, Buffalo has all the reason in the world to support solar power because if the oceans rise as much as Al Gore and NASA say they will, the Niagara river will back up and inundate the Falls, and no one will have a reason to drive through Buffalo.

[CatoTheChipper]

Barack Obama said he'd have beaten Donald Trump if he were able to run for a third term

Obama really does hate Hillary, doesn't he?

I suspect that, somewhere in his heart of hearts, Obama is actually pleased that Trump beat Hillary.

[John]

I don't think you would even have to look that deep. Had Hillary won, Obama would have become just another ex President. Now that Hillary has lost, he is the most important figure in the Democratic party.

[Crusty Juggler]

The Trump people and Twitter

Donald Trump hasn't even taken office yet, but already there's allegations of a staff sex scandal.

Jason Miller abruptly resigned as White House communications director on Christmas Eve, two days after landing the coveted role, to "spend more time with his family."

Insiders had already been buzzing about married Miller "spending time" during the campaign with Trump adviser A.J. Delgado ? the staffers who famously went to a strip club with the media after the final debate in Vegas.

A.J. Delgado is a strange lady.

[John]

Since when is someone going to a strip club a "scandal"?

[EDG reppin LBC]

Have you ever seen a lady at a strip club? Scandalous!

[UnCivilServant]

In theory, unless Jessie and Tonio dragged you there, there should be at least one.

[John]

never. No woman ever went to a strip club to make her boyfriend or husband happy or because she kind of liked it herself. That is just a lie people learn from watching porn.

[x'); DROP USER Tony;]

If you ever go to the strip club without taking a woman with you, you are completely missing the point of this fucking life.

[Crusty Juggler]

No, he resigned after the Delgado woman Tweeted he should, calling him "2016's John Edwards."

Also, strip clubs are no place for political debate!

[Citizen X]

Strip clubs are far too classy for politics.

[John]

Cash and lust are above and beyond all politics.

[UnCivilServant]

Just because you got rhetorically demolished by that entertainer doesn't mean it wasn't a great debate.

[Crusty Juggler]

Future dental hygienists know their stuff!

[Glide]

Nation's second largest union slashing budget by 30% in preparation for Trumpocalypse

Damned if the left is not determined to make Donald Trump my favorite politician with all this completely unfounded projection of small-government traits onto him.

Key quote: "As we prepare to fight-back against the forthcoming attacks on working people and our communities under an extremist-run government..."

Not forcing people to join unions = attacking them.

[Warty]

Fight-back is a verb?

[Sevo]

Some dim-wit columnist in the Chron is pimping The Resistance (caps in original)
Trump has managed to unhinge a YUGE number of people.

[Heroic Mulatto]

"dramatically re-think"

What the hell is it with the SEIU and completely unnecessary hyphenation?

Jesus, it's not like editors don't have a union.

[UnCivilServant]

That doesn't mean SEIU hires editors.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Way to support your fellow laborers in the struggle, SEIU.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Proof that the Union bosses are rational actor scam artists.

[R C Dean]

Is there a single hyphen used correctly in that article, other than "short-term"? "Extremist-run" is marginal, IMO - it works without the hyphen, so . . .

[Zeb]

I agree. If it reads fine without, leave it out. A good rule for punctuation in general.

[straffinrun]

At the same time, it cultivated close ties with President Obama, played a key role in passing Obamacare, and worked hard to elect Hillary Clinton.

I'm beginning to dislike these people.

[Sevo]

These are the folks who bring in hirelings to demonstrate at Micky Ds to push the M/W, claiming they are "strikers". I'd like to know what they are paid.

[Groovus Maximus]

I'd like to know what they are paid.

$15.00 per hour. Duh. Assuming they are ideologically consiste.....AHAHHAHAHAHA . Yeah, I couldn't make it without laughing, either.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Is spring (like, May) a good time of year to visit northern NM? Now that I get paid hourly and don't need to stress about how much vacation time I have, was thinking about some short trips. Went to NM last year and it was fucking amazing.

[R C Dean]

Indeed it is, Kurmudgeonly One. Its when Pater Dean takes his spawn on our annual fly-fishing trip near Raton. Probably the best time of the year for fishing, at least in recent years when the drought has hit later-season trout fishing pretty hard.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Carrie Fisher died.