U.S. Boots Russian Operatives, GOP Unhappy About New Western Monuments, Stats on Police Ambushes for 2016: P.M. Links

• 

  Kremlin Pool/ZUMA Press/Newscom

  The White House announced its punishment for Russia's alleged "meddling" with the election by hacking and releasing communications within the Democratic Party. The United States is booting 35 Russian intel operatives from the country and imposing sanctions on Russian intelligence agencies. The administration believes the Russians maintain a spying base in Maryland.

• Sikhs who work within the New York Police Department will be allowed to keep their beards and wear turbans.
• The libraries at the University of Kansas are giving out buttons to employees and students that indicate which gender by which they'd like to be referred.
• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he thinks U.S. envoys to his country are in cahoots with the CIA to undermine his leadership.
• Republicans are not happy about the two national monuments President Barack Obama designated in Nevada and Utah.
• According to number-crunching by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 2016 saw the greatest number of police killed in ambushes in two decades.

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Comments

[bacon-magic]

U.S. Boots Russian Operatives

meh

[bacon-magic]

Happy New Year all of you!!!

[Ted S.]

Happy new year, indeed.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[bacon-magic]

Confirmed! Thanks Rufus, I love you and all your Canukis! I will buy some maple syrup to pour one for my Rufus homey.

[Free Society]

Sound like something Canadian bacon would say. *spits*

[bacon-magic]

You take that back right now! *drops hockey gloves

[Pi Guy]

I will never eat pancakes again and not throw one backfire my homey Rufus.

*hand over heart, solemn gaze*

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Those are some Sikh links, Shakford.

[Playa Manhattan.]

"meh"

A throat-clearing isn't commentary.

[bacon-magic]

^h8ter

[bacon-magic]

"Meh" is an expressive term that his been used for a long time. Dave Chappelle even had a whole skit around the term.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

"Meh" is a very useful word for which there is no clear alternative. What is amazing is that the English language had nothing of the sort until recently. How did people express that sentiment previously?

[bacon-magic]

Ummmm, I don't know. It will hit me, uh, later.

[dschwar]

So, now what? (in Brooklyn Jewish grandmother accent)

[Enough About Palin]

"Simpsons did it"

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

How did people express that sentiment previously?

"Feh"?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Nu?

[Groovus Maximus]

"Meh" is a very useful word for which there is no clear alternative. What is amazing is that the English language had nothing of the sort until recently. How did people express that sentiment previously?

Nu?

?? ??????!

[Free Society]

Why do you hate Dave Chapelle, Playa? I think we all know...

[thrakkorzog]

His support for the KKK?

[Free Society]

I don't see why not.

[Austrian Anarchy]

So Obama knew about them all along and did nothing. Maybe they just showed up yesterday. Any way you cut it, Obama is acting like the kid who just got caught cheating on his times tables exam.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The United States is booting 35 Russian intel operatives from the country...

They could have stayed if Hillary won?

[bacon-magic]

You have been Fisted, by the candy of meats. Eat it. EAT IT!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Uuuuuuuunfortunately you quoted a headline instead of one of the links. Better luck next time, though.

[bacon-magic]

Go blow billygoats, I won and you know it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, my. You did get the honest firsties. 2016 just may be your year.

[bacon-magic]

May you have the rest of the year to yourself sir. 2017 is going to be whoever the highest bidder for this information is. I will accept payment in gold, bitcoin, paypal, lube, shiny objects that cost more than they are worth, scotch, irish whiskey, bourbon, weed, orphans and top shelf prog tears.

[TheZeitgeist]

It is a buyer's market in top shelf prog tears, and should remain so in the immediate future. Hasn't been a bumper harvest like this in decades; 2016 will be a legendary vintage of both quality and quantity of the delicious commodity.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

What does a dram of TopShelf Prog Tears go for these days?

There has to be an oversupply since Nov. 9th.

And I think there will be a huge (yuuuuuuuuuuuge?) re-supply effort 1/20/17 ...

[Playa Manhattan.]

Russia invades Crimea: oh well

Russia shoots down airliner: mistakes happen

John Podesta falls for phishing scam: RESTART THE COLD WAR

(stolen from IowaHawk)

[Conchfritters]

Go Hawks

[Juvenile Bluster]

Iowahawk continues to be a national treasurer. Trump should name him the Twitter Laureate.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Meh.

[bacon-magic]

Don't mock meh. ;p

[John Titor]

The Russia shoots down an airliner thing is the most interesting one, because I seem to recall some kind of similar incident provoking a lot more of a response previously.

[Ted S.]

KAL 007, or the Iranian plane the Americans shot down?

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

You should go where the streets have no name.

[Pat (PM)]

Somalia?

[Swiss Servator]

No no! They have no streets!

[pan fried wylie]

That's the point. If there's a street, people are going to call it SOMETHING even if there's no signage. Therefore the only possible place where the streets can have no names is a place without streets. Duh.

[Tagore Smith]

Vermont?

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

They've fully embraced the "you're either with us or against us" rhetoric on this, as well. The majority who are shrugging this off or laughing at it? Treasonous anti-American scum. Democrats are now the 'true' patriots because they are shitting their pants over Russia.

[Bill Dalasio]

That has been something I've been wondering about. Is anyone really buying this horseshit? I mean, yeah, libertarians are going to be skeptical about just anything anyone in the government says. And conservatives aren't going to buy into it because its against their interests to do so. But, the middle of the road people, are they convinced that Boris Badinov and Natasha Fatale were secretly behind the U.S. election results? Or is this just something that the left is just using to justify their loss (and getting carried away with by letting it spill over into actual policy)?

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

Check out my facebook feed.

[DenverJ]

Yes

[BigW]

The rubes in flyover country voted for Trump because of Russian mind control. MIND CONTROL I TELL YOU.

/progderp

[Hyperion]

No doubt, the Super Putin controls all. I've been buying Russian vodka lately and I just realized it must be because Putin.

[D.D. Driver]

My gut says "yes." But my gut also says that the vast majority of the population couldn't name one "damning" revelation from the Podesta emails. It was the tree that fell in the forest that nobody heard but still somehow effected the election because the NY Times told us so.

Let's just play along for a second and assume for the sake of argument that Russia was behind the "hacks" (Assange says they were leaks and not hacks): doesn't this just prove how lame Russia is? Russia publicizes bitchy emails between Hillary staffers that no one except political junkies gave two shits about? The Kremlin became Gawker so gradually I hardly even noticed.

[Sour Kraut]

That is spot on

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sikhs who work within the New York Police Department will be allowed to keep their beards and wear turbans.

So long as they remain overweight and there's a cop stache somewhere in the mix.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Sikh comment, Fist.

[Zunalter]

Keep working it, you might eventually start "a thing".

[Groovus Maximus]

Christ, what a euphemism! Abstraction, so very lacking...

[AlmightyJB]

They need to have holes cut in their parathas so they look like donuts.

[gaoxiaen]

What about the Pastafarians?

[pan fried wylie]

Colanders still prohibited.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he thinks U.S. envoys to his country are in cahoots with the CIA to undermine his leadership.

Seems a bit too subtle of an approach for the CIA.

[AlmightyJB]

That's going to be the next Venezuela.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Are you saying they are gonna end up hungry hungry?

[AlmightyJB]

Well this guy's as coo coo for cocoa puffs as Chavez so would not surprise me.

[Sour Kraut]

But he doesn't spout the 1950s era commie rhetoric that causes American progressives to swoon the way Chavez did.

[TheZeitgeist]

His psychosis just skips the ideological middle-man and reaches for the scimitar.

[Pope Jimbo]

If Minnesota doesn't step up and allow thousands of young Philippina refugees to come to our great state, I'm going to be really, really urinated off.

Fuck little Mogadishu, I want Little Manilla somewhere nearby.

All the Philippino refugees can go to Wisconsin or somewhere else.

[Ted S.]

Duterte learned it from Obama!

[TheZeitgeist]

CIA antics, real and otherwise, are a rite of passage for Spanish-speaking banana dictators.

[Tman]

Good thing we don't have any astronauts at the ISS depending on Russia's space agency to bring them home!

'Cause boy that would be a pickle INDEED.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

No shit!

I went to school with Shane Kimbrough.

[Tman]

Dang, just read his Wiki-Kimbrough.

"He was part of the first group of candidates selected for NASA astronaut training following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. He is the current commander of the International Space Station."

NOT BAD.

[croaker]

The first live test of the SpaceX manned capsule is in 2017.

[Tman]

NASA still hasn't signed off on that date because of the previous launch failure, last time I checked.

SpaceX Has Delayed First Manned NASA Launch to 2018 from 2017 Company assessing designs, systems and processes in wake of September explosion

The US currently has ZERO (0) available craft that could launch within the next year to the ISS. Not as if this matters to President Not My Fault but there's the facts.

[Pat (PM)]

New Zealand woman rides jumping cow after being denied horse as a girl

INVERCARGILL, New Zealand, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old in New Zealand has trained her cow to jump after being denied her own riding horse as a girl.

Hannah Simpson shared video of her 7-year-old Brown Swiss cow Lilac leaping over a large tree root on her family's farm.

"Here's a video, not the best but it'll do," she wrote.

Simpson's bond with Lilac began when she was 11 years old and her brother suggested she ride the six-month-old calf after her parents would not give her a horse, she told the New Zealand Herald.

"I've always loved adventure and stuff like that. I wanted a horse and I couldn't have one," Simpson said. "We just jumped on and away we went, there was no training. And she's got better the more I ride her."

[Gadfly]

Please repost the link. It broke, and you cannot offer us video of an 18yo farm girl riding a jumping cow without a proper link.

[Pat (PM)]

Remember kids, always close your tags.

[Free Society]

There's something about a barely legal girl on cowback..,

[gaoxiaen]

That's udder insanity.

[Ted S.]

She should have channeled it into hatred.

[Enough About Palin]

What a cow!

[pan fried wylie]

Is a cow really much cheaper than owning a horse?

[Tagore Smith]

At least when it comes to a jumping horse, yeah. It's bit ironic- horses have been around for a while, but cows are something we essentially made. Despite that... jumping horses are the dumbest, most over-bred animals I've ever met, and it costs a fortune to keep them from killing themselves through sheer stupidity, let alone train them. Cows, on the other hand, are fairly bright, and just need a pasture, somewhere to shelter, and some hay in the winter. And they give milk in return if you manage them properly. Bulls are a third story...

[Playa Manhattan.]

"and imposing sanctions on Russian intelligence agencies."

Whatever the fuck that means.

[Jerry on the sea]

Clearly, they crossed a red line.

[Charles Easterly]

What were the dimensions of said line, Jerry?

Thick?

Thin?

In between?

[Charles Easterly]

Disregard, if you will.

[JW]

It means that they won't unlock their iPhones for them.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he thinks U.S. envoys to his country are in cahoots with the CIA to undermine his leadership.

Encrypt your emails, Rod!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

According to number-crunching by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 2016 saw the greatest number of police killed in ambushes in two decades.

The only statistical information the police can ever be bothered to divulge about their yearly operations.

[Pat (PM)]

Red Solo Cup Inventor Robert Hulseman Dies at Age 84

Robert Hulseman, who in the 1970s invented the Red Solo Cup for family picnics only to see it embraced as the go-to beverage holder at college keg parties and football tailgates ? and even the inspiration for a country music party hit ? has died. He was 84.

The former president and chief executive of his family's Solo Cup Co. died at his home in Northfield, Illinois, on Dec. 21 of health complications following a series of strokes, his son Paul Hulseman told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The younger Hulseman said his father never fully understood how massively popular the large red plastic cup became in pop culture. He said the cup was intended for families, and recalled being about 10 years old when he and his siblings helped their father choose the cup's first colors: red, blue, yellow and peach.

"That product was never intended for keggers," the younger Hulseman said.

[Ted S.]

Waah, waah, waah, how dare people use my product in a way I don't like!

[Heroic Mulatto]

They never said they didn't like it, just that they never envisioned it being so popular for that purpose.

[DOOMco]

what was it meant to be used for?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Bra cups for small-breasted women.

Obviously.

[Groovus Maximus]

Only if they are in a 90's Madonna video.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I think you meant this comment for the jumping cow link above.

[Gene]

I've started hundreds of cannabis plants in them over the years.

[Krabappel]

You're my hero. I've only ever grown two plants.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Obligatory.

Princess Leia Memorial Version.

[gaoxiaen]

"That product was never intended for keggers," the younger Hulseman said.

Maybe they should alter their molds to say that before they get sued, or at least put a label on the package.

[Playa Manhattan.]

"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he thinks U.S. envoys to his country are in cahoots with the CIA to undermine his leadership."

We would never interfere in another country's affairs. Why, just today, we expelled diplomats from another country for allegedly doing the same thing. Allegedly.

[John Titor]

So wait, we were supposed to be worried about Trump having access to nuclear weapons, when THIS narcissistic child was in power?

[Rufus The Monocled]

His true colors are showing.

[Ted S.]

And that's why you hate him.

[John]

The irony of that is killing me. Obama is everything these assholes claimed Trump was.

[Suthenboy]

Yep. I think this has been pointed out a time or two by one or two commenters.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The libraries at the University of Kansas are giving out buttons to employees and students that indicate which gender by which they'd like to be referred.

They have a supply of 58 different badges on hand?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

They are also color coded. Green means go, yellow means ask first, and red means you are aggressing by even thinking about it.

[Crusty Juggler]

Do they have a "don't talk to me" badge?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Isn't that your preference? Crusty doesn't do pillow talk.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

According to an earlier thread, he only 'responds' to threats.

[Sour Kraut]

Know who else handed out badges to identify "alternative sexualities"?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Swing party organizers?

[Tonio]

Organizers of grievance conferences?

[Vernon Depner]

Grade school bullies?

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Furry Convention?

[thrakkorzog]

Do they have any for people who identify as Welsh who prefer to be referred to as whegilaoylegeranafrok?

[Pat (PM)]

How Trump's victory turns into another 'Lost Cause'

(CNN)After President-elect Donald Trump's recent victory, some of his supporters celebrated by flying Confederate battle flags from pickup trucks and waving them at rallies.

But Trump's victory may mark the resurgence of the Old South in another more sinister way: The return of "racial amnesia."

That's what some historians are saying as they watch a familiar storyline emerge. Trump's triumph is now being roundly described as a revolt by white working-class voters; racism, sexism and religious bigotry had little, if anything, to do with it.

People making this argument are following a script first honed by another group of Americans who made history disappear. After the Civil War, "Lost Cause" propagandists from the Confederacy argued the war wasn't fought over slavery -- it was a constitutional clash over state's rights, they said; hatred toward blacks had nothing to do with it.[...]

"It's already happening again," says Brooks D. Simpson, a leading Civil War historian who teaches at Arizona State University. "A lot of people are saying we're going to have to unite behind the new guy and forget what he had to say. People who feel that they are part of those populations targeted by Trump are going to be told by whites to get over it."

Like "elections have consequences" or "go to the back of the bus", say.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Our candidate couldn't have been awful, it's all those other peoples' fault!

[John]

And isn't it the Democrats who claim that Hillary lost because a bunch of racist angry white men voted for Trump? If anyone restarted the lost cause, whatever that means, its the Democrats.

[SimonD]

That makes sense, since it was Democrats who started the 'Lost Cause' the first time.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

GET IT OVER IT, PAT!!

[Zunalter]

So Trump voters = Confederate South. Got it. Need to keep up on whether misogyny, fascism, or racism is the reason de jure on the progtard left so I can translate my Facebook feed.

[Hyperion]

It's Russians now. You gotta keep up.

[pan fried wylie]

South Russians.

[Episteme]

Explains the Crimean Lost-Cause-ism.

[ant1sthenes]

Like "Democrats were the party of slavery and ran the Confederacy".

[Crusty Juggler]

According to number-crunching by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 2016 saw the greatest number of police killed in ambushes in two decades.

How many innocent civilians were killed by police in ambushes?

[Ted S.]

Zero. The police can get anybody found guilty of something.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

There are no innocent civilians, there are only first time offenders and repeat offenders.

[thrakkorzog]

Just sprinkle some crack on them afterwards.

[TheZeitgeist]

Looked like a gun.

Next.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Hard to say, the chest cams got all switched off in all the excitement.

[dschwar]

The real question, how many police were killed by police in ambushes?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Hey, a season 2 True Detective fan?

[PapayaSF]

Democrats 1917-2015: "Russia is not a threat."
Democrats 2016: "OMG THE RUSSIANS!!!"

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Woodrow Wilson freaked out about Russians.

In fact, he was so freaked out about it, he sent the US Army to Russia to aid the White Army.

[PapayaSF]

You are correct. Perhaps the first date should be 1920 or so. Certainly no later than 1933.

[Pat (PM)]

Finland jails police chief Aarnio for drug-smuggling

A Finnish court has sentenced the former head of Helsinki's anti-drugs police to 10 years in prison for drug-smuggling and other offences.

Jari Aarnio was found to have helped a gang to import nearly 800kg (1,764lb) of hashish from the Netherlands and sell it in Finland in 2011-2012.

Aarnio, 59, was found guilty of five drug crimes and 17 other offences.

These included trying to frame an innocent man for being in charge of the drug ring.

An accomplice of the former senior policeman, described as a top local criminal, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Aarnio spent 30 years in the anti-drugs force and was arrested in 2013.

He denied all the charges against him, claiming his actions were all legal and undertaken in a policing capacity.

His legal team said Aarnio plans to appeal the district court's sentence in the Helsinki Court of Appeal.

In a separate case in September, Aarnio was sentenced to three years in jail for fraud.

[Fist of Etiquette]

These included trying to frame an innocent man for being in charge of the drug ring.

This seems like it might be the biggest offense.

[Michael S. Langston]

Agreed. The audacity of trying to deflect criminal responsibility to a completely innocent person is astounding. Assuming of course he's not completely stupid and that he understands basically how/why/what happens during a police investigation, you'd think he'd pick as his patsy someone involved in the game, so the untrue charges would likely be assumed to be true.

It should be said that framing criminals is likely riskier to life than framing innocents, but I'm wondering what else he's gotten away with to be confident enough in this idea to pursue it. It could be he's done things like this so many times before, he was overly confident and missed the big, obvious risk/failure point in selecting a victim with "no dirt".

Of course it likely isn't that difficult for a willing cop, even with below average intellect, to rise fairly high in a local/regional street side pharmaceutical sales.

Combined with Occam's Razor...and it's more likely that he's an idiot, saw the heat, knew someone had to take the fall, and picked someone far outside his circle of "associates", because....well, because he likes those dudes.

But I'd love to know if he was a planner and if so, there's likely many more stories just waiting to be found.

[Sour Kraut]

The drug war is so fucked up, it even turns Finnish people into Heisenberg.

End the fucking prohibition already.

[Conchfritters]

I lived in Sweden for a while, and the Scandanavians are about the biggest drug warriors around. There used to be a neighborhood in Copenhagen, Kristiania I think it was, where people having fun was "tolerated", but I think they bulldozed most of it down.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I certainly think it's time...

[dons sunglasses]

to Finnish the prohibition.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

The drug war is so fucked up, it even turns Finnish people into Heisenberg.

Which explains the popularity of kilju.

[Crusty Juggler]

Planned Parenthood Joins The Women's March on Washington

After the initial flurry of excitement, followed by fears about a lack of permits and organizational experience, the Women's March on Washington is firming up with a planned starting location and new, high-profile help.

Organizers announced today that Planned Parenthood is joining as a "key partner" and Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte will serve as honorary co-chairs.

"This is an historic moment to come together to protect the progress we've made," Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards said in a statement. "We will send a strong message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive health care, abortion services, and access to Planned Parenthood, as they intersect with the rights of young people, people of color, immigrants, and people of all faiths, backgrounds, and incomes."

So desperate they had to dust off Steinem and Belafonte?

[Pat (PM)]

Nothing says female independence like dragging out a past-expiration male celebrity to get yourself some attention.

[John]

Harry Belefonte is still alive?

[Juvenile Bluster]

He's alive and he makes Sean Penn look sane when it comes to talking about Venezuela.

[Juvenile Bluster]

As an example

[John]

The funny thing is that Belefonte is one of the worst cultural appropriators of all time. His entire career was based on singing music he stole from the Caribbean.

[westernsloper]

Alive? I am more surprised to find out he is a woman.

[Episteme]

Next time, look at which button he's wearing?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

We need to send in Robert Smith to Rochambeau him for this!

[Crusty Juggler]

Fact: Robert Mitchum was a better calypso singer than Harry Belanfonte.

[Ted S.]

I just wish Bop Girl Goes Calypso were on DVD.

[Gene]

+1LordFlea

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

Doesn't sound like Robert Mitchum. Well, he always gave me the creeps in movies, maybe that's it.

[XM]

I don't care what Robert Mitchum says, I'm not marrying a woman uglier than me. If she has money and has the courage to go to Korea and get a plastic surgery I might marry her.

"From a logical point of view" WTF

[Gadfly]

"We will send a strong message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive health care, abortion services, and access to Planned Parenthood, as they intersect with the rights of young people, people of color, immigrants, and people of all faiths, backgrounds, and incomes."

This intersectionality thing the progressives have been going for recently always strikes me as odd. I know it's an attempt at coalition building, but it just dilutes whatever message they are trying to send by bringing into the equation a bunch of unrelated and tangential topics. Perhaps they don't really feel confident in their arguments so they are just throwing everything at the wall in an attempt to distract their listeners. Or perhaps those who do it don't really have much passion for the topic at hand and so want to change the subject while pretending not to, since they feel they have to care about everything. Whatever the reason, I find it annoying.

[C. Anacreon]

Bay Area newspaper "letter to the editor" sections (not sure if this is the case elsewhere, probably so) tend to have streaks of almost identical letters about Democrat/progressive issues. The letters, typically over the course of a week or so, have such similar structure and viewpoints (usually in identical order) that they have to have been coordinated or come from some organization's mailer urging people to write certain templates to their local rags.

This past week or so all these letters have been about how Trump is going to do all he can to overturn Roe v Wade and do other things to destroy women's rights.

Funny, although I recall Trump paying some lip service to the SoCons about abortion, I don't believe it's at the top of his list, nor is he a crusading member of the religious right. And even when the GOP had Bush and legislative power, somehow Roe v Wade was left untouched -- and if it was ever going to happen, that was the time.

Are members of the Left just throwing any possible issue at Trump, hoping something sticks and gives them popularity again? Still doesn't seem to be working.

[John Titor]

I finally got around to using the Star Wars Intro Creator someone posted, and why the hell hasn't anyone made the obvious yet?

[waffles]

I'm simultaneously disgusted and turned on.

[Crusty Juggler]

Pics and more pics? Thanks.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

+1 charming smile

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

*looks in the mirror* More of a toothy grin, to be real.

[SugarFree]

Damn fine work, sir. Damn fine indeed.

[Col. Chestbridge]

*standing ovation*

[Ska]

Referencing your time travel was beautiful. Are you down with Steins;Gate?

[John Titor]

El Psy Congroo.

[Lord Humungus]

very good indeed!

[Zunalter]

retreating to AN 87th century...

FFS. 😉

[DEG]

That is awesome!

[PapayaSF]

Obama's actions have nothing to do with the Russians. It's just an attempt to hobble Trump. It's like Saddam Hussein burning the Kuwait oil fields while retreating. When Trump undoes the sanctions, Democrats will claim it's "proof" that Trump and Putin were in league all along.

[Pat (PM)]

Mennonite ties to Mexican drug cartels years in the making

Canadian and American authorities are concerned about Alberta Mennonites bringing Mexican cartel drugs into Canada.[...]

Members of Canada's Mennonite communities began migrating to Mexico in the first few decades of the 1900s.
Several factors influenced the exodus: Canadian laws required children to attend school, keeping key farm hands out of the fields, and at the same time the Mexican government was trying to ramp up agricultural production in Mexico.[...]

Schrant says eventually the cartels cozied up to their Mennonite neighbours, forming an alliance with some. But social problems, economic hardship and violence have driven hundreds back to the Canadian Prairies over the last two to three years.

With connections already generations deep, the cartels now have trusted allies in the north.

[Ted S.]

Reason #275207486972867897305 why the War on Drugs is evil.

[John Titor]

Can't trust an Anabaptist. Sure, they sell themselves on the pacifism and honest living crap, but then, when you least expect it, BAM, they're kicking the Papists out of Munster.

[Sour Kraut]

Is this Ireland? Or did you forget an e or an umlaut, your choice?

[John Titor]

I could look up the hotkey for an umlaut, but I'm lazy.

[But Enough About Me]

"M?nster"

You're welcome.

[John Titor]

Some of us don't have the free time that living at the Old Canadians Nursing Home provides.

[But Enough About Me]

In addition, some of us actually know how Windows Character Map works, and can use it to advantage (assuming reason's racist commenting system doesn't reject the non-English characters). 😉

S????????, ????.

[gaoxiaen]

Can't use Chinese, so a lot of puns just don't translate. Grass dirt horse.

[Ted S.]

Some of us use Linux, so Windows Character Map would be useless to us.

(I've got a "show current layout" option, so I can see where all the dead keys are to make various characters. Supposedly I'm using a Western European keyboard, although I think it can make all the Slavic characters except for the Polish ?.)

[Hyperion]

Who will stop this Mennonite/Mexican menace? I can't even sleep at night now.

[Conchfritters]

I'm literally sharking

[dschwar]

Where can one go for sharking? Other than dorsal fins, is there any market for the end result?

[But Enough About Me]

sharking, sharting, whatevs.

[Pat (PM)]

Who will stop this Mennonite/Mexican menace?

Whoever it is, his Achilles' heel will be Mexonite.

[Groovus Maximus]

Indeed, the Chosen One shalt be named:

Velmontus Jedediah Sanchez, Jr.

[DenverJ]

Fun fact: Mary and Joseph were both Mexican. I mean, who else would name their kid J?sus?

[gaoxiaen]

It's as bad as the Amish Pagan's MC.

[The Fusionist]

OK, put that on the list of news items I didn't expect to see.

[The Fusionist]

"According to number-crunching by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 2016 saw the greatest number of police killed in ambushes in two decades."

The same National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund which commemorates Edward Gorsuch?

"Rank: Posseman
Panel: 55-W: 27
Department: U.S. Marshals Service
End of Watch: September 11, 1851
Cause: Gunfire
Age: 57
Years of Service: 2

"Description: Posseman Gorsuch, deputized by U.S. Marshal Henry Kline, was shot as he and a posse attempted to capture two slaves that had fled the Gorsuch plantation in Maryland. A warrant had been issued under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1851. The slaves were located at a farm where they had been granted refuge by two white men who were opposed to slavery. Someone inside the house blew a horn, and within minutes the posse was surrounded by a group of black and white men and fired upon. Posseman Gorsuch was mortally wounded. Marshal Kline and three other posse members were wounded but survived. This incident became known as the Christiana Riots."

(Reason covered this before)

[Pat (PM)]

You know who else had a posse?

[Ted S.]

Mr. Comitatus?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Andre the Giant?

[Groovus Maximus]

That was a Brute Squad. In fact, he was The Brute Squad.

[bacon-magic]

Wyatt Earp?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Those insane clowns?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Buck Angel?

[Crusty Juggler]

Mario Van Peebles?

[classy mouth-feel]

Lebron James?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Leonardo Dicaprio and Tobey McGuire?

[Groovus Maximus]

Arsenio Hall.

Pathetic, all of you. The fact that most of you grew up during that period and FAILed to name this is appalling. You all disgust me. You must all commit seppuku. You have dishonoured your family names.

[DenverJ]

Arsenio Hall?

[Groovus Maximus]

Your katana and rice paper, DenverJ-san...

[Chipper Morning Wood]

48 views. Lol.

[Groovus Maximus]

The Original Posse from Arsenio Hall Show, featuring bandleader Michael Wolff. Starr Priodi was a cutie back in the day, actually.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Grab them by the posse.

[gaoxiaen]

Tha taint right.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Sikhs who work within the New York Police Department will be allowed to keep their beards and wear turbans.

This will also stop hair from falling into the cake batter.

[Sour Kraut]

The poor Sikhs. A pretty chilled out secular group of people from what little I've experienced of them. But the headgear gets them mistaken for extremist Muslims all the time. I remember the only "revenge killing" after 9/11 was some idiot killing a Sikh at a gas station.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

That is sad, but I can think of a few thousand other "revenge killings" that didn't happen on US soil.

[Lurk Diggler]

Doesn't seem they are treated poorly. People have to bend over backward to appease them while they get to get away with more than any other group.

It's one thing if the police or military didn't have uniform and appearance rules and then changed them after hiring Sikhs. It's another to know those rules, join, and then claim discrimination for being held to the same standard as everyone else.

[Sour Kraut]

I agree, uniform and appearance rules should not be changed to pander to any religion.

[Lurk Diggler]

Or any non-religion.

[DenverJ]

It's one thing if the police or military didn't have uniform and appearance rules and then changed them after hiring Sikhs.

IIRC, that's kinda the modus operandi of the Sikhs the past several hundred years. They have served as bodyguards and in the military/government of Hindu, Christian, and Muslim nations, and have been allowed to keep their own traditions, probably because they are kinda bad ass and people prefer their talents over their conversion.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If it was good enough for the British Empire, it's good enough for the fucking NYPD.

[Free Society]

I think tolerance, especially in that time and place, was borne of necessity. Brits would have a shit time governing India if they were to be intransigent about something that matters little in comparison to a well functioning colonial dependency. Does the NYPD need the Sikhs? I think not, but it still matters very little what's on their head, even if they are changing rules for the wrong PC reasons.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, that shit is fucked up.

[SimonD]

The poor Sikhs. A pretty chilled out secular group of people from what little I've experienced of them. But the headgear gets them mistaken for extremist Muslims all the time. I remember the only "revenge killing" after 9/11 was some idiot killing a Sikh at a gas station.

There is a relatively large Sikh community here in Indianapolis, so I interact with individual Sikhs fairly regularly. They are pretty good at not starting crap, but not taking crap either. I guess that comes from seven centuries of being slaughtered by Muslims in India.

[Crusty Juggler]

The patent for Amazon's "airborne fulfillment center utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles for item delivery."

Described is an airborne fulfillment center ("AFC") and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles ("UAV") to deliver items from the AFC to users. For example, the AFC may be an airship that remains at a high altitude (e.g., 45,000 feet) and UAVs with ordered items may be deployed from the AFC to deliver ordered items to user designated delivery locations. As the UAVs descend, they can navigate horizontally toward a user specified delivery location using little to no power, other than to stabilize the UAV and/or guide the direction of descent. Shuttles (smaller airships) may be used to replenish the AFC with inventory, UAVs, supplies, fuel, etc. Likewise, the shuttles may be utilized to transport workers to and from the AFC.

[Libertarian]

"Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he thinks U.S. envoys to his country are in cahoots with the CIA to undermine his leadership."

This is the first intelligent thing I've heard him say.

[Domestic Dissident]

I miss the days when sabotage was limited to removing all the "W" from the White House computer keyboards.

This motherfucker is apparently determined to carry out his dream to scorch the earth and burn it all down the ground.

[bacon-magic]

He fucked your mother too? That monster! I do agree he is a big baby that doesn't like the U.S.A.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I honestly think he might've done the same thing if Hillary had won. Obama has always been about himself and his own legacy.

[TheZeitgeist]

Obama's wrapped up in himself too much for his own legacy; when he leaves, he's gone completely. None of Obama's people have any credibility or influence beyond their proximity to him, they will not be appearing in other campaigns or organizations of note.

[Suthenboy]

He is just personally disappointed in all the black people that didn't vote to preserve his legacy.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

It's always fun when Mike M. makes posts with proper nouns. So let's begin:

I miss the days when sabotage was limited to removing all the "W" from the Fight Mouse computer keyboards.

If one was in need of more protracted satisfaction, however....

I piss the ways when have-o-tage was scimitar to reboob all the "W" from the Fight Mouse compy-comp machine boxes.

This mothersmucker is apphairently determined to fairy out his cream to scorch the earth and burn it all down the fart.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I once tried to mention the "All laws may lead to death" theory to some prog friends of mine when they were crying for new laws about one thing or another. Not only did they not take it seriously, they now joke about it amongst themselves whenever something new is proposed by the government.

I really need some new friends.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

But I'm sure they'll tell you how much #BLM.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Oh, I've already gotten into it with them about that. Came from California's insane cigarette laws when I brought up Eric Garner's name.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Maybe you should consider them as whipping boys rather than friends.

[Lurk Diggler]

Technically they could just lead to men violently forcing you into a cage against your will. It's a simple point to inderstand though so they are probably just pretending to be stupid. Better off ridiculing them than trying to convince them with logic.

[JW]

Not only did they not take it seriously, they now joke about it amongst themselves whenever something new is proposed by the government.

You just need smarter friends.

[DenverJ]

*hiccup* they're not shmart! They're stoopit! I love, no seriously man, I love you, man! Here, have a drink and be my new friend.
*Falls facedown on floor*

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House announced that The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah will cover 1.35 million acres in the Four Corners region.

The GOP was just going to turn it into trailer parks anyway.

[True Scottsman]

Trailer parks are better than national monuments.
Yes, I am serious.
"Manufactured" housing, also know as a trailer, is pretty much the same thing as these smug leftists assholes call "tiny houses"
The only difference that I can tell is the political proclivities of their residents.

[Hyperion]

"Manufactured" housing, also know as a trailer, is pretty much the same thing as these smug leftists assholes call "tiny houses"

No, trailers are bigger, and attract tornadoes (AKA redneck population control), more, because of the greater tin content.

[Free Society]

Fact.

[True Scottsman]

"AKA redneck population and control"

More or less what I meant to convey about the political proclivities of their residents.

[True Scottsman]

Sonofabitch, fine, I will learn html to properly quote.
Fucking autocorrect.

[Hyperion]

I should have also mentioned that trailers are cheaper. You can get a double wide with garden tub on the cheap. And your trailer park buds will be so impressed with your new mansion. One of the local tube top hotties might even pay you a surprise visit while the wifey is away, wink wink.

[DenverJ]

Fun true fact: mobile homes are not named such because they are movable. After WWII, the booming population required cheap, quickly erected houses. The answer? Modular units, built in Mobile, Alabama. They're not mobile homes, they're Mobile homes.

[ant1sthenes]

Then shouldn't it be pronounced mo-bill homes?

[pan fried wylie]

She may not have all her teeth, but trust me, that's a feature not a bug.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

"Manufactured" housing, also know as a trailer, is pretty much the same thing as these smug leftists assholes call "tiny houses"

I ruined the Tiny Houses HGTV show for my wife by pointing that out. Now she can't watch it without laughing.

[Hyperion]

I have a tiny 3000 sq ft home that I might have to move back into soon, damnit the hell. If I could just move it about 500 miles farther south I would be ok with it. Unfortunately, it didn't come with the wheels.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Thanks Obama!

"...Second, Mr. Obama changed dramatically the way the United States represents itself to the world. For the first time this century, the United States was not the problem. The world's agenda was no longer largely devoted to finding ways to deal with what Washington had just done, or to work around the Americans to accomplish something."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....e33424030/

[Rufus The Monocled]

"...Lots of things didn't happen. It was a time when key countries ? Russia, Israel, lately Turkey ? had leaders who were all problem and no solution, who didn't represent their populations and served only themselves. Mr. Obama supported the right sort of popular movements against the wrong sorts of leaders in Ukraine and Egypt and Libya, but those liberations were thwarted by darker powers."

How good is that? He went there. Libya and Egypt were successes!

[John]

Mr. Obama supported the right sort of popular movements against the wrong sorts of leaders i

Like when he stood up for the Green Revolution in Iran, right? You remember that don't you?

[Tman]

If I had to pick the worst Foreign policy decision President Not My Fault made, it would be his complete and utter abandonment of the democratic voices from Iran during the Green Revolution. History will not be kind to him when telling that story, and Iranians should condemn him on the same level as Carter when it comes to his support for their freedoms.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

That leads to the question, what should have he done? He could have verbally supported the protesters I suppose. At that point the regime would have labeled the protesters lackeys of the US. I'm not sure he had many options.

[thrakkorzog]

It's too bad the US has a policy of not arming insurgents of enemy states, or he could have armed them.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Two things.1) These were peaceful protesters not insurgents. 2) How often does that work out well?

[thrakkorzog]

I'm not saying it was a good idea, just that Obama couldn't have done anything, since the US government has a long history of screwing with other country's governments. (A tradition Obama was happy to embrace.)

As for offering some sort of verbal support, I doubt it would have made much of a difference, since a mullah in Iran can't stub his toe in without blaming it on the CIA or Mossad.

[Tman]

He could've just repeated this-

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

But he was too worried about getting a deal done with the Iranians so he could pump his "legacy". Nothing he did while in office was done for a reason other than he thought it would make him look good.

He could've done a number of things, such as helped twitter stay upright during the protests, or broadcast the stories about women being beaten by the Regimes thugs to the precious UN.

He did nothing.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

That leads to the question, what should have he done?

He could have droned them. 😀

But, yeah, keeping out of Iran's internal affairs is good practice for keeping out of all other countries' internal affairs.

[Sour Kraut]

Or HW Bush, telling the Iraqis to rise up, then backing down and letting Saddam kill them by paving them into the road. I always wondered how he was able to live with that.

[John Titor]

Former director of the CIA, he slept just fine.

[TheZeitgeist]

Michael Jackson expiring that same week didn't help Iranian democracy efforts either.

[John Titor]

The "darker powers" in these scenarios, of course, turn out to be the members of the popular movements.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Fuck the Globe and Mail with their 'peer reviewed' comments section. What fucken nonsense.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

Putin has a lot more support from everyday Russians than Obama. Particularly, I'd guess, for his foreign policy. Gibberish not even worth responding to.

[Gadfly]

Add to that the fact that the leaders of Israel and Turkey were elected and reelected by their people, so the whole "don't represent their populations" line is utter fabrication. But I guess admitting that representing the will of a population can result in "all problem, no solution" is something the author just can't accept.

[John Titor]

Obama massively delegitimizes U.S. diplomatic power worldwide through incoherent foreign policy that largely caters to "what plays well with domestic interests" and of course he'll have people to lap that shit up. Let's topple the Libyan government and arm rebels, but for the first time this century the United States is not a problem. It's actually in many ways a bigger problem, because of how goddamn arbitrary and nonsensical its become.

[american socialist]

I forgot to crap all over Thomas Sowell's retirement. Sorry.

Here's the time he compared Obama to Hitler

[bacon-magic]

I'm glad you are finally coming to the realization that you are sorry. The first step. 11 more.

[Pat (PM)]

I forgot to crap all over Thomas Sowell's retirement.

You spent well over an hour discussing it in yesterday's PM links. Senile AND retarded is not a good combination. Kudos on figuring out how href tags work this time though.

[Rufus The Monocled]

You have no shame. None.

You linked to a sophomoric screed yesterday with no intellectual value and here you are again.

[Heroic Mulatto]

No national leader ever aroused more fervent emotions than Adolf Hitler did in the 1930s. Watch some old newsreels of German crowds delirious with joy at the sight of him. The only things at all comparable in more recent times were the ecstatic crowds that greeted Barack Obama when he burst upon the political scene in 2008. Elections, however, have far more lasting and far more serious?or even grim?consequences than emotional venting. The actual track record of crowd pleasers, whether Juan Per?n in Argentina, Obama in America, or Hitler in Germany, is very sobering, if not painfully depressing.

Only in the most mendacious, bad-faith reading of this passage could one claim Sowell was comparing Obama to Hitler.

The people who voted for the respective candidates however...

[american socialist]

Here's the actual article where he compares Obama to Hitler. Then he advocates for war with Iran. That's some libertarian!

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Sowell is not a libertarian. He is a neocon.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And he's not even a heterodox Austrian-school economist!

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Is that an Austrian economist that believes in math?

[DenverJ]

I disagree. Sowell is not a neocon, in any commonly used definition of "neocon". (I respect the hell out of Sowell, BTW. )
The word "neocon"has a very specific definition, and Thomas Sowell does not meet that definition. You can't just throw words around; they mean things and represent ideas. Don't think sloppy.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Sigh.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

How many facepalming pictures of him are there????

[Rufus The Monocled]

Are you retarded? Were you held back for reading comprehension? Are you this daft and ignorant of history?

Where does he explicitly call for war with Iran? AND, if anything, that's how a responsible writer deals with Hitler for a comparison to contemporary times. For an irresponsible and child-like take, just visit any progressive site who have little or no understanding of Nazi Germany. Which explains why they always fall flat on their faces when attempting to draw analogies with Hitler.

Hitler's Germany, when treated properly, is a useful event in human history where we try to draw lessons.

Sowell did nothing wrong here.

Idiot.

[Heroic Mulatto]

At this point, I'm going to advance the hypothesis that English isn't AmSoc's first language.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

I'd bet against that hypothesis with 5:1 odds.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

AmSoc's first language is love. Love of the proletariat.

[John Titor]

To find anything comparable to crowds' euphoric reactions to Obama, you would have to go back to old newsreels of German crowds in the 1930s, with their adulation of their fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. With hindsight, we can look back on those people with pity, knowing now how many of them would be led to their deaths by the man they idolized.

The exultation of the moment can exact a brutal price after that moment has passed...

...A leader does not have to be evil to lead a country into a catastrophe. Inexperience and incompetence can create very similar results, perhaps even faster in a nuclear age

Clearly this is a direct comparison to Hitler, and not an overall argument about the nature of leaders who generate emotional responses not necessarily being good ones. Nor is it a discussion about the nature of hindsight, and how euphoria can wipe away rational thought for the present.

[John Titor]

Do you even read the articles you link? He's comparing Obama's crowds to Hitler's crowds, and extreme popularity of leaders:

No national leader ever aroused more fervent emotions than Adolf Hitler did in the 1930s. Watch some old newsreels of German crowds delirious with joy at the sight of him. The only things at all comparable in more recent times were the ecstatic crowds that greeted Barack Obama when he burst upon the political scene in 2008. Elections, however, have far more lasting and far more serious?or even grim?consequences than emotional venting. The actual track record of crowd pleasers, whether Juan Per?n in Argentina, Obama in America, or Hitler in Germany, is very sobering, if not painfully depressing.

Both you, and the author, are too stupid to understand that his actual point is that leaders who invoke an emotional response are not good leaders by proxy, many actively have a track record of disaster. He is using this argument to criticize support for Donald Trump, because he sees the same emotional response in his movement.

If people want to read what Sowell actually wrote, not Amsoc's dishonest spin, here's the actual article (which, of course, Esquire didn't source either, because incompetent journalist).

[Suthenboy]

Anything Sowell writes is worth reading, but I have to disagree with him on this. Trump support springs mostly from people who are fed up with Obama's socialist progressive bullshit and condescension. They want to see his legacy, as it were, dismantled. The Trump crowd isnt cultish in the way those other leaders supporters were.

Trump supporters are not going to defend him to the hilt no matter what he does. He is going to have to serve them, not the other way around.

[John Titor]

There are some cultish as fuck Trump supporters, and remember, this was written about a year ago. There's certainly a large group of people who voted Trump as a response to Obama, or Clinton, or social justice, or the Democrats ignoring the working class, etc, etc. But there was also a core support block that thought the Donald could do no wrong, his reddit was filled with these people. Everything was about how Trump was misquoted, his past history of politics didn't matter, any gaffe was some brilliant Machiavellian manipulation, etc.

[Calidissident]

That's a good one.

[american socialist]

"Trump supporters are not going to defend him to the hilt no matter what he does. He is going to have to serve them, not the other way around."

Hilarious.

[Gadfly]

Trump supporters are not going to defend him to the hilt no matter what he does. He is going to have to serve them, not the other way around.

You may have a point, as evidenced by the people continuing to chant "lock her up" at his rallies even after he's tried to distance himself from that sentiment. While there definitely seem to be some people who love him and will go with him no matter what, the control he wields over his broader movement appears less like a man steering a car and more like a man steering a bucking bronco.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Trump supporters are the sort of people will tolerate that up to a point and then ask them to put a cork in it.

They will always exist but will be marginalized.

I could be wrong but that's my view.

[chemjeff]

"Trump supporters are not going to defend him to the hilt no matter what he does. "

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

yeah we'll see about that

[Ted S.]

The Trump crowd isnt cultish in the way those other leaders supporters were.

[cough] SIV [cough]

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Okay, racist. We already know you're a racist.

[Tyler.C]

Glad too see you got the HTML tags this time. To bad you can't remember the shit you posted yesterday. But you know what they say, baby steps.

[DenverJ]

Leftist morons are allowed to compare Republicans with Hitler. Calling a leftist a fascist is either racism, islamiphobia, sexism, or climate denialism. Or: fuck you, we control the narrative, and have you stopped beating your wife yet?

[GILMORE?]

The administration believes the Russians maintain a spying base in Maryland.

I always knew there was something strange about Chesapeake Bob's Crab Shack.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I always wondered why their waiters were able to upsell you to the full bushell of jumbos with just a stare.

[Lurk Diggler]

Government releases Russian hacking report.

http://thehill.com/policy/nati.....ia-hacking

All I see is an accusation and 10 pages of security tips. It smells like "quick, someone do something official sounding!"

[Lurk Diggler]

The link to report is in story. The site doesn't like the link.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

It's painfully clear that they don't actually have proof of much of anything. Even if Russia 'hacked' the DNC, they aren't even bothering to show that they leaked the documents to Wikileaks.

[Suthenboy]

Or that the content of the leaks is inaccurate.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Scribd.

Yep. Not a fucking shred of evidence.

[TheZeitgeist]

If I recall the DoD was doing push-back against White House and State Dept. about joint targeting/comm efforts with Russian forces in Syria, as specified about two or three cease-fires ago, due to possible compromise of classified methods/technologies with the Russians.

All this going on while allegedly we were watching and warning Russians - over the Red Phone no less - not to electronically mess with our elections.

Of course all totally believable.

[Lurk Diggler]

Doesn't matter, it's already being reported as a government joint intelligence report detailing all the evidence which was probably the point.

When your audience is idiots it makes life easy.

[Free Society]

This document provides technical details regarding the tools and infrastructure used by the Russian civilian and military intelligence Services (RIS) to compromise and exploit networks and endpoints associated with the U.S. election, as well as a range of U.S. Government, political, and private sector entities.

I've read this precious document, all they seem to be doing is repeatedly eschewing the term "unknown actor" in favor of the term "RIS" (Russian Intelligence Services). For evidence, towards the end they give a few lines of code that are apparently associated with Russian coding, but it's not evidence of Russian involvement anymore than a guy in Florida getting shot by an Ak-47 would be evidence of Russian involvement in a murder.

They offer no real clues as to why this hypothetical actor should be referred to as "RIS" instead of "some guy with a computer somewhere". The report just states the obvious, that some breaches occurred somewhere in the span of 2015 to 2016. It goes on to talk about how hackers have historically targeted certain types of institutions and persons and how they happen to think some hacker breached ostensibly secure networks on this particular occasion.

This is almost as lousy of a narrative as saying that a youtube video killed an ambassador.

[GILMORE?]

The report

They claim there were 2 acts they can attribute to russians. One in summer of 2015, and the next in the spring of 2016

he U.S. Government confirms that two different RIS actors participated in the intrusion into a U.S. political party. The first actor group, known as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 29, entered into the party's systems in summer 2015, while the second, known as APT28, entered in spring 2016.

Observation #1 = if these were the only instances of known russian activity, these don't support any conclusions that they'd be "intended to influence the election". They would not even have known who the final primaries winners were at either point, and any information gleaned would be ultimately useless.

Observation #2 - the first of those 2 instances wasn't even specific to any political group =

In Summer2015, an APT29 spearphishing campaign directed emails containing a malicious link to over 1,000 recipients, including multiple U.S. Government victims. . . In the course of that campaign, APT29 sucessfully compromised a U.S. political party

IOW, they weren't targeting political parties initially= they just *happened to net someone associated with one*. And their second attack was simply further exploiting those they'd netted.

basically, no evidence at all of political motive.

[paranoid android]

The report could have read "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" repeated for a hundred pages and it wouldn't make any difference. The media know what their talking points are and will repeat them as many times as necessary until they are Common Knowledge.

[GILMORE?]

i know.

the fact they even bothered releasing this at all is just proof they've got nothing. this is less convincing that their vague-assurances.

[Libertarian]

Observation #3: although the second instance was in the Spring of 2016, it didn't become a problem until the Fall. Specifically, November 9th.

[GILMORE?]

Sure.

I think more important would be to note that it seems there's absolutely no evidence being presented suggesting any connection between wikileaks and russians.

[Hyperion]

Also, what exactly does this mean?

"compromise and exploit networks and endpoints associated with the U.S. election"

[Free Society]

shorter: "embarrassed Democrats"

[westernsloper]

The libraries at the University of Kansas are giving out buttons to employees and students that indicate which gender by which they'd like to be referred.

If the buttons are shaped like the genitalia they are supposed to represent, I fully support this.

[Crusty Juggler]

What up!!! We're three cool guys looking for other cool guys who wanna hang out in our party mansion. Nothing sexual. Dudes in good shape encouraged, if you're fat you should be able to find humor in the little things. Again, NOTHING SEXUAL.

[westernsloper]

That's not what I meant, but it made me laugh. I was not thinking a silhouette, I'm talking 3D printed likenesses.

Lady handing out buttons: And which button for you?
Me: Cock and balls maam, Cock. And. Balls. And let me have a twat for my fridge. Do you have magnets?

[GILMORE?]

WHAT THERE'S NOTHING GAY ABOUT THIS ITS JUST DUDES DOING DUDE STUFF

[Heroic Mulatto]

YURI ON ICE CONTAINS NO YURI!

[Crusty Juggler]

There was a suspicious lack of Kevin Costner in that link.

[dajjal]

Help I think the Russians hacked my brain to vote for Trump using Podesta emails and suggesting Bernie might be an atheist! What should I do??

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Tweet your story to the Washington Post.

[waffles]

Uhm, Netflix and chill?

[Sour Kraut]

How about JSTOR and chill

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Hawt. Would.

[Lurk Diggler]

Brains are very susceptible to hacking and other tricknologies. That's why you should not use your brain but use your feels.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

I agree, you need help.

[GILMORE?]

The libraries at the University of Kansas are giving out buttons to employees and students that indicate which gender by which they'd like to be referred.

I would wear them all, and then feign outrage at constantly being misgendered.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

I was fucking around last week, looking to change my gender on the Derpbook hoping it would show up on my timeline at the least. Sadly, it does not. But looking at the list, it reminded me of just how much overlap and redundancy there are in the terms. Shit just gets made up, and then no one wants to be the one to say...hey, don't we already have a term covering that? Because doing that may open you to accusations of bigotry.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I'd turn to the one that's identifying as female queer and ask, "Which one do you want me to wear, babe?"

[AlmightyJB]

Only 3? I'm outraged

http://live.att.net/news/read/.....noun_pi-ap

[AlmightyJB]

Only 3? I'm outraged

http://live.att.net/news/read/.....noun_pi-ap

[The Fusionist]

I don't think *Kansas* is in Kansas any more.

[Groovus Maximus]

All we are is dust in the wind....

[The Fusionist]

True story* - every member of Kansas grew up in the same Brooklyn, New York neighborhood.

*Probably not a true story

[Playa Manhattan.]

Uber Driver discovers child sex trafficking ring.
Unions hardest hit.

[Crusty Juggler]

Avila says he had just picked up the two women and a 16-year-old girl and brought them to a Holiday Inn, where the two women allegedly pimped the girl out to a man for sex.

Minutes after dropping them off at the hotel, he called police for help.

"Police arrived fast. They don't play. They do not play. Not when you're doing child sex-trafficking," he said.

Police arrested the two women, Destiny Pettway and Maria Westly, for various charges relating to pimping and pandering.

KTXL reports that the suspected John, identified as Disney Vang, was arrested for sex with a minor.

Teach black women not to pimp! Also, Disney Vang is a real person and fucking 20. Fuck you, Uber driver!

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

And "Disney Vang" goes into the future screennames bin, thanks.

[PapayaSF]

LOL

[Suthenboy]

So, an actual case of child sex trafficking. From the info in the article, good on him.

One case does not make this the scourge it has been portrayed as.

[Sour Kraut]

The residents of Rotherham would like a word with you.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

All the crafty sex traffickers use Lyft.

[0x90]

Probably he was in on it, probably the ringleader, and he preemptively ratted out his partners to prevent suspicion.

How else can it be explained? I mean, uber, what more needs to be said?

[Ken Shultz]

"The White House announced its punishment for Russia's alleged "meddling" with the election by hacking and releasing communications within the Democratic Party. The United States is booting 35 Russian intel operatives from the country and imposing sanctions on Russian intelligence agencies. The administration believes the Russians maintain a spying base in Maryland."

If the Obama administration knew about these operatives before the election, then why weren't they booted out of the country before?

What, do we only boot known spies out of the country when Hillary Clinton loses?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Reason fucked up the link description, the 35 are just diplomats that the state says are just being coincidentally booted and have ~nothing~ to do with Russia's punishment.

[Ken Shultz]

So he's throwing those people out.

So, he closed the retreat, so future Russian diplomats can't use it.

He ruined their summer vacations?

Is this not pathetic and ridiculous?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Oh it is pathetic and ridiculous, as is the assertion that this has nothing to do with petty payback for "hacking".

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"President Obama, in a statement, put in a subtle dig at Mr. Trump's unwillingness to talk about Russia's role. "All Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions," he said. He said he acted after "repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government" and called the moves "a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior.""

So how does this violate "established international norms of behavior" more than every time the US has historically interfered with another country's election.

Also didn't Obama try to influence the Brexit vote??

[John]

He did. And he also sent advisers and money to assist Netenhahu's opponent. He directly intervened in numerous foreign elections.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

I brought this up in October to some progs. They simply shouted that I couldn't prove America's actions were meant to tilt the Israeli election. I mean, I couldn't prove intent. This was after months of them defending Hillary along similar lines, so it was just a line of reasoning they thought was super slick.

Same people today are now just taking the word of the Obama administration - which admits it can't prove definitively any of its allegations, if you actually pay attention - that Russia is super guilty and we know their intent.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Awright, lemme say it. Go eat a lemon Obama and rub it in your eyes.

He's insufferable.

[Crusty Juggler]

Go eat a lemon Obama and rub it in your eyes.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, take it back a notch Rufus. Let's not get crazy here.

[Rufus The Monocled]

He just makes me so...so....upset!

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Please Hammer, don't hurt 'em.

[AlmightyJB]

Feds won't enforce Bloomberg's gun control measure

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....len-apart/

[dajjal]

Why do you hate me? I give you stuff to do. I thought that's what you wanted. You called it, "My sense of purpose."

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"In the end, Mr. Obama decided to expand an executive order that he issued in April 2015, after the Sony hacking. He signed it in Hawaii on Thursday morning, specifically giving himself and his successor the authority to issue travel bans and asset freezes on those who "tamper with, alter, or cause a misappropriation of information, with a purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions.""

Why the fuck is Obama still popular among the left?? What liberal can look at Obama giving Trump this new power and go, "Yeah, THAT'S a power I want Trump to be able to have."

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"But G.R.U. officials rarely travel to the United States, or keep their assets here, so the effects may be largely symbolic."

So "Here, Trump, have these brand new Sanctioning Powers I phone-and-penned up for ya!! Don't worry, I only used them symbolically and with no real effect whatsoever!!"

[John]

Because to go after Obama would mean admitting they were wrong about him. And the left can't face that. And Yes Obama is giving Trump all kinds of powers but Obama doesn't give a fuck. All Obama cares about is Obama.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"But there is no evidence, American officials said, that Russia sought to manipulate votes or voter rolls on Nov. 8."

What a great detail to add to the bottom of an article that spent the most of its time complaining about "the remarkable set of events that took place during the election"

[Lurk Diggler]

Haha

And also there's this one little thing that undermines everything Obama said and should be the headline. Let's just bury it at the end.

[american socialist]

Here's the article where Thomas Sowell backs Donald Trump despite the fact that, one, there were perfectly legitimate alternatives and, two, that he bitched about what a threat to democracy Donald Trump was for a bazillion years. All this because Republican Party voters didn't decide to nominate whatever theocrat he thought best. What a fucking hack!

W3Schools

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

Your continued existence is almost enough for me to hope there is a socialist revolution just so I can get to see you among the first lined up against the wall and shot. You sack of shit.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Go bitch about Sowell's politics on a neocon website.

[american socialist]

If he and his hack articles weren't getting such a spirited defense on a libertarian website I would. Sowell has called himself a libertarian on more than one occasion. Thus, I feel it an obligation to defend the label from an unreconstructed militarist and supporter of big government conservatism. Why is that such a problem?

[Sevo]

american socialist|12.29.16 @ 5:54PM|#
"Thus, I feel it an obligation"

I feel it an obligation to tell you to fuck off, asswipe.
The world would be a better place if your mommy had an abortion; you are a pimple on the ass of humanity.

[John Titor]

And Amsoc's profound lack of self awareness comes into play. You are an advocate of big government. You can't defend the label without being a massive hypocrite. Tell us again how you want big daddy government to take money from people you don't like and redistribute it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And that's a valid criticism of Sowell.

If you had just posted that as opposed to gleefully tarring him as an Uncle Tom, the majority of us here would have agreed with you.

But you just couldn't resist an opportunity to indulge in your racial bigotry, could you?

[The Fusionist]

Wait, "valid criticism" in what sense? Accurate? Or arguable?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Arguable, as opposed to gibbering a sequence of ad hominem attacks about him being a "token" or "doing what massa tells him to".

[Heroic Mulatto]

I do think it accurate too in that it's a bit hackish to spend 99% of the campaign as a staunch #NeverTrumper and then have a deathbed conversion on the morning of the election.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

"The Guardian's Summary of Julian Assange's Interview Went Viral and Was Completely False"

Despite how much online attention it received, Jacobs' Guardian article contained no original reporting. Indeed, it did nothing but purport to summarize the work of an actually diligent journalist: Stefania Maurizi of the Italian daily la Repubblica, who traveled to London and conducted the interview with Assange. Maurizi's interview was conducted in English, and La Repubblica published the transcript online. Jacobs' "work" consisted of nothing other than purporting to re-write the parts of that interview he wanted to highlight, so that he and the Guardian could receive the traffic for her work.

Ever since the Guardian article was published and went viral, Maurizi has repeatedly objected to the false claims being made about what Assange said in their interview. But while western journalists keep re-tweeting and sharing the Guardian's second-hand summary of this interview, they completely ignore Maurizi's protests ? for reasons that are both noxious and revealing.

[GILMORE?]

Glenn Greenwald has been one of the only people calling bullshit on the M.O. of the mass media lately. and there's been a lot for him to flag.

Fox and other right-oriented media either mock or ignore the stuff that the rest do, but he's pretty much been the only one deconstructing their bullshit and showing how shoddy it is. Particularly the entire contrived 'red scare' the MSM is flogging.

[GILMORE?]

Glenn Greenwald has been one of the only people calling bullshit on the M.O. of the mass media lately. and there's been a lot for him to flag.

Fox and other right-oriented media either mock or ignore the stuff that the rest do, but he's pretty much been the only one deconstructing their bullshit and showing how shoddy it is. Particularly the entire contrived 'red scare' the MSM is flogging.

[0x90]

I agree. I wonder if he'll burn out. But he's feisty, and probably thrives on it, to some degree.

[Ted S.]

Fake News for the win!

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

The libraries at the University of Kansas are giving out buttons to employees and students that indicate which gender by which they'd like to be referred.

I see you wearing one of these buttons, I'm going to refer to you as "Fucktatd Proggie."

Or "Weigle".

[PapayaSF]

Is "Your Majesty" an option?

[The Fusionist]

That's not a pronoun!

Wait, you can *identify* it as a pronoun, I suppose.

Carry on.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

I prefer "My Lord".

[Rhywun]

Call me Snake.

[Groovus Maximus]

Shouldn't that be, "Serpiente?"

[Darth Squirrel]

I heard you were dead.

[Michael]

The White House announced its punishment for Russia's alleged "meddling" with the election by hacking and releasing communications within the Democratic Party. The United States is booting 35 Russian intel operatives from the country and imposing sanctions on Russian intelligence agencies. The administration believes the Russians maintain a spying base in Maryland.

The most insidious part of this is Obama damn well knows that hundreds of thousands of people will end up believing that there actually has been some sort of widespread covert electronic hacking done by the Russians. My in-laws will never know the difference between active penetration testing and exploitation versus some dumb fucks at the DNC getting their email accounts compromised because they were stupid enough to fall for some lame phishing scam. They will, however, hear it from the current administration and instantly assume the absolute worst despite the fact that they haven't produced a single shred of evidence to support any of their idiotic claims.

[Rhywun]

Obama damn well knows that hundreds of thousands of people will end up believing that there actually has been some sort of widespread covert electronic hacking done by the Russians

Including the political class of Germany who are eager to whittle away at what passes for free speech there.

[Sevo]

"The White House announced its punishment for Russia's alleged "meddling" with the election by hacking and releasing communications within the Democratic Party."

Obo: "Our candidate sucked canal water, but we'll blame you!"

[PapayaSF]

Hey Sevo, I hope you can come to our meetup tomorrow.

[dajjal]

I'll come, Pappy.

[PapayaSF]

You'll fly to SF by tomorrow? I don't think you're a local.

[dajjal]

The Troll-pocalypse approacheth!

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Zzzzzzzz....zzz... "huh hey what?" ... zzzzz

[Derpetologist]

posted this in the wrong thread the first time

Old news, but maybe not here: LA Mayor "Yogapants" Garcetti thinks we should thank criminals for serving time. Also wants LA residents to give baskets of goods to homeless people so they feel welcome in the neighborhood.

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

From time to time, I am fooled by parody. People like Garcetti are the reason why. You see enough derp, it gets to be hard to tell the difference between the real and the fake.

here's the press release

Perhaps if CA arrested fewer people, there would be fewer unemployed ex-cons. But that would require them to repeal laws.

[PapayaSF]

Hey Derpy, are you going to make it to our SF meetup tomorrow?

[Derpetologist]

Sadly, I cannot. Maybe some other time.

[Groovus Maximus]

Try to be available in May of 2017, Derpy.

[0x90]

When derpy's getting derped, that's when you know we're all of us fairly well derped.

[Groovus Maximus]

The Derpocalypse is nigh!

[dajjal]

How are my sweet, clever little anarcho-frankentrumpkensteins doing today?

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

I don't know... you haven't told us how you are yet.

[dajjal]

OH GOD I can't wait for that bozo to leave office.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Yeaaahhhhhh

[Hyperion]

Don't even look at the front page of HuffPo. They've went off the deep end with dear leader.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

It really is like reading a retarded and witless Democratic version of Drudge lacking any and all actual vision. Drudge sets the talking points for the right. Huffington Post rides the wave of derp regurgitating them from the DNC itself.

[Hyperion]

Useful idiots all of them. The Democrats could tell their sheeps that lizard people are out to get us and they would believe it 100% and go looking for lizard people to attack. Seriously, I'm not even being sarcastic. This is literally the most pathetic thing I have ever seen.

[The Grinch]

As usual, the comments are fucking priceless and by priceless I mean delusional.

[Hyperion]

They're all living in a great hive of derp. It's insane just how childish and naive they are.

[Mr Lizard]

Stoooopid mammals, I welcome a frontal assault by your team blue half-sentient bipeds

[The Grinch]

Lowered the boom by expelling 35 operatives. Not a big deal really, Russia will retaliate and when Trump gets into office all this will go away. Huffpo has pretty low standards for what constitutes a boom lowering.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, but when you use a 72 pt bold red font to say it, that makes all the difference. The fluffpostians are now saying that this proves Obama is the toughest tough guy president, ever, lol. They also really believe that all Trump voters are KGB members.

[The Grinch]

They're being led around like a camel with a ring through its nose and they don't care. It's sad in a way.

[TheZeitgeist]

This is Huffpo's headline about Milo Yiannopoulos's book deal:

WTF: White Nationalist Inks 6-Figure Book Deal With Simon & Schuster

Milo Yiannopoulos is a...white nationalist?

[Hyperion]

We're all Trumputins now.

[John Titor]

I know plenty of white nationalists that let black men cum all over their face.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

+1

[kbolino]

Yeah, but do they brag about it like Milo?

[GILMORE?]

They decided to remove the "White nationalist" part from the headline

now its just

WTF: Milo Yiannopoulos Inks Book Deal With Simon & Schuster

[AlmightyJB]

"Don't even look at the front page of HuffPo"

Yeah, they've been horrible for ever. CNN trying to catch up though. It's pathetic and dad to see really.

[dajjal]

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together. 😉

[dajjal]

Did anyone just feel that?

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

No, that was just indigestion.

[Derpetologist]

Child kicked out of Boy Scout group for not being a boy; the decision has left some shocked and angry.

The Cub Scouts are facing a transgender controversy after an eight-year-old born a girl who identifies as a boy was asked to leave a New Jersey pack.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion.....versy.html

[Hyperion]

So there's a reason why they named it the boy scouts?

[Free Society]

Well I'll be damned.

[Ken Shultz]

If he identifies as a girl, why does he want to join the Boy Scouts?

Who's stopping him from joining the Girl Scouts?

[Ken Shultz]

It's because Girl Scouts don't want boys in the troops, isn't it.

[Hyperion]

Why those little racist bigot monsters!

[Derpetologist]

The child is biologically female, but decided to "come out" as a boy with the mother's encouragement.

Apparently any girl that likes playing in the dirt and having short hair is actually a boy.

[Hyperion]

Huh, we always called them tomboys when I was a kid. I can't recall any of them getting a penis sewn on, removing their boobs, and demanding to be called a boy, though. Most of them retained those traits into adulthood and got married and had kids like normal women. I guess they must have been oppressed by the patriarchy.

I'm getting really sick of this crap already. You want to change sexes? Fine, do it, and shut the fuck up, everyone does not want to hear about it 24/7.

[The Fusionist]

Fine, she can identify herself as a Boy Scout, too, regardless of those transphobes who say she was rejected for membership.

She can just say that the *did* accept her and made her a secret member.

[ant1sthenes]

No, identifies as a boy. But is a girl by sex. At that age, it's sort of petty, but it's probably best to nip it in the bud. Given the sheer scale of bullying I encountered in scouts for people with much lesser differences, that "boy" will be driven to suicide if she gets in.

[Hyperion]

And meanwhile at Salon:

Hatred of women was on the ballot in November, and it won.

Yep, everyone who voted for Trump, it was only for one reason. They all hate women. All 60 some million of them. Did you hear me!? If you don't vote for democrats, you hate women! You better listen to me!

/Herp derpity durrrr!

[Free Society]

That's Slate not Salon. There is a huge difference. It's like 0.001% less retarded.

[Hyperion]

Shit, Slate has finally become as stupid as Salon! Thanks for the correction.

[The Fusionist]

Meanwhile, the people who voted for the candidate who wants to kill black girls in the womb...those people are loving!

[ant1sthenes]

Slate has been as stupid as Salon for a while now.

[Free Society]

Highly debatable. I don't say that to defend Slate. I just don't see how there's anything in the mainstream worse than Salon. (they may be the 2nd string of the mainstream, but still mainstream)

I firmly stand by my assertion that Salon is 0.001% more retarded.

[Hyperion]

New Republic? I mean, really, have you ever read anything written by one Brian Beutler? I'm totally NOT suggesting that you do so.

[Free Society]

New Republic is indeed bad. But honestly, Salon makes Jezebel look like Leviticus.

[0x90]

There it sat in its jeweled case, taunting him yet again.

And again he heard Lavrov's words, "We don't know what it will do, Vlad."

Such a mystery it had been, its cryptic block letters spelling out "OVERLOAD".

How could such a mistake have been made? Who was he dealing with, really?

"Fetch the key to the north display case, Aly?na."

The intercom static had barely cleared the air when the familiar sharp pain once again shot down his spine; the doctors had blamed the polonium attack, but he knew better, and so far, the premonitions that invariably followed had proved reliable. Every time.

But this was somehow different, it was not just a feeling this time, but a vision; or was it a hallucination? The sky spread out before him, crimson, and he heard the rustle of every blade of grass brushing his khakis as he made his way forward. It was one of the familiar hunting trips to ?????, no?

He was snapped back to reality by the creaking of the doorknob, "Here you are, sir, do you require anything else?"

"No, thank you Aly?na, that will be all."

What was he doing? He was now out of his body, observing himself, seemingly powerlessly, as he got up from the desk and approached the cabinet. Now the key was in the lock, the cylinder was turning, he could hear each tumbler as it fell into place.

The device was in his hands.

He pushed the button.

[Groovus Maximus]

Pozhalujsta, chto vy hotite delat'? ["Your pleasure, sir?"]

[0x90]

Here, have some tasty vintage Russian propaganda.

[Groovus Maximus]

I was referring to this, actually....

Also, ROOSKIE HELLRAISERS~!

*My wife DESPISES Aljona Minkovski, FTR. Thinks she's an utter imbecile.

[Hyperion]

What is it with libertarians and metal? Those riffs are obviously sexist and racist and Congress must do something, for the children!

[Groovus Maximus]

Obama already did. Why else do think he really imposed sanctions? (Nevermind that rap & hip hop is arguably the most popular type of music in Russian and Slavic cultures right now - there's quite a few though).

[Ted S.]

What is it with libertarians and metal?

Some libertarians unfortunately have lousy taste in music.

[Hyperion]

Ok, dust off your Mel Torme albums now, old man.

[Ted S.]

Also, ROOSKIE HELLRAISERS~!

Rockets in the air, everywhere I look around
Rockets in the air, every sight and every sound

[The Grinch]

If you enjoy looking at the left's idiocy you should really check out Democratic Underground. I really think they have all the others beat by a pretty good measure.

[Hyperion]

They're already calling for rounding up the kulaks and wreckers.

"We also need a list of domestic enemies who enabled this attack"

[Hyperion]

Also, is is just me, or is there some derptastic irony in the fact that the very same people who were all excited and posting dancing banana gifs over Jill Stein's recount scam, are now doing exactly the same over this? They're like 5 years old, they can find out the Easter Bunny is not real, but 5 minutes later, you can tell them that there's an Easter Squirrel and they'll believe it and get all giddy with excitement. The only rational conclusion one can come to with progs is that they never really mature intellectually or emotionally beyond the level of a 10 year old.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

The only rational conclusion one can come to with progs is that they never really mature intellectually or emotionally beyond the level of a 10 year old.

I've come to believe that emotional maturity is a discipline, not something you grow into. In a world where kids spend the first 25 years of their lives in government babysitting centers, any emotional maturity beyond "don't disrupt the classroom" is damned rare.

I'm reminded of this video making the rounds on social media.

[Hyperion]

I was having a meeting with a female colleague one day and her cell phone starting making the 'someone texting me' sound. At first it was just one, then little pause, another, and then all of sudden it's going crazy. So she said just a minute and picked up her phone. Then she looks at me and said 'OMG, my friend is freaking out'. Apparently she freaked out because she didn't get a text right back and started going off on a tirade about 'you don't like me anymore, what did I do?, etc, etc'. She said 'wow, she's wacked, how can I like ... break off being friends with her without freaking her out?'. She showed me the texts. I told her that she'd better just do it before this person starts stalking her, lol. It's amazing how many emotionally unstable people there are these days.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

I had a similar (but sans crazy) convo with my wife when we were first dating. Turns out I'm not much of a texter, and she got irritated when I didn't text her back within a few hours. I thought she was being a bit ridiculous about it, and we were in a relationship. I can't imagine the craziness required to harass a friend about not texting back soon enough... especially while they're at work.

[ant1sthenes]

Had the same thing happen to me. But she adjusted.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, I know, I told my co-worker that there were red lights and sirens going off with that one. I met one wacko when I was doing the online dating thing and I blocked them immediately, and reported the person. You don't want to be screwing around with crazy, that's a way to make the front page news in not a good way.

[Hyperion]

I'm not one to answer texts or calls very quickly either and I cannot stand to be on the phone for long periods of time. My wife, whom I dated for 2 years before we got married, has never been bad about that. If anything I'm worse because she travels a lot and I get worried about her. And by that I mean if she doesn't answer a text or phone call for more than one day, I get irritated because it makes me worry. The only time I can remember her getting upset with me was when she was out of the country once and I went to a bar with a friend and got smashed drunk and slept almost the entire next day. So she had called me a few times and was texting me and I didn't answer until the 2nd day after because I was incoherent, lol. But we've never had any real issues over that.

[DEG]

I'm reminded of this music video

[Derpetologist]

I just got back from visiting my sister. She's always liked Disney movies and Moana is her new favorite. I think she likes it because it has a female hero going on an adventure. She also liked the new Ghostbusters movie.

The main lesson I got from Moana is that teenage girls can go on adventures and do heroic things...as long as they get a great deal of help from a demi-god and the forces of nature.

Also, the great heroic feat of the story is returning a pebble.

Girl power?

The Shallows portrays a much better heroine. She had to rely on her guts and wits.

[Free Society]

The important lessons that pop culture has a social responsibility to instill in our young girls, is that they don't need men for anything and that women are just as good, nay, better at all things over men. And that they will be much happier if they jump head first into a demanding career and wait until their late 30s and early 40s to start a family, and that they deserve more pay to make up for time taken off work to live out their life choices. They are QUEENS and the world would be a better place if they ran things.

[Groovus Maximus]

I see you have been talking to our hospital's CFO equivalent.

[Free Society]

That's your CFO in Ukrakistan? Was she the topless blonde that chainsawed the crucifix at the top of the hill looking over Kiev?

At least the Ukrainian feminists have the common decency to be hot before they take their shirts off.

[Groovus Maximus]

No, she and my wife attended medical training together, and the CFO is just very success driven, and that in itself isn't a bad thing (she just can't seem to look past only numbers and figures, and tends to miss the forest for the trees). CFO got burned really bad (figuratively) by an ex and she is married to her job only. Sad too, because she is really pretty and quite smart. Very, very bitter. We've had epic battles over surgical expenditures, since I was trained with redundancy in sterile technique and surgical preparation, since the cheapest way to avoid poor outcomes and lawuits, not to mention dead patients from surgical site infection (SSI), is prevention by redundant sterile equipment and rigourous technique.

Dr.ZG *really* hates FEMEN (my wife is rather traditional, actually), too, but does readily admit that FEMEN is quite....dedicated....and FEMEN's noted hatred of and protesting against Islamo-Mohammedans is commendable.

[Free Society]

We've had epic battles over surgical expenditures, since I was trained with redundancy in sterile technique and surgical preparation, since the cheapest way to avoid poor outcomes and lawuits,

And she disputes that? I'm obviously not intimately familiar with torts in the Ukraine, but I assumed that the financial cost of a dead patient far exceeds the relatively marginal increase of prep expenditures just about everywhere north of the 38th parallel.

Dr.ZG *really* hates FEMEN (my wife is rather traditional, actually), too, but does readily admit that FEMEN is quite....dedicated....and FEMEN's noted hatred of and protesting against Islamo-Mohammedans is commendable.

That's great. I generally place a strong premium on traditional values even though I don't live by them in many ways. My wife certainly got a hell of a lot more conservative in her views since moving to the states. (It was the guns that really won her over.) Though she got plenty of practice interacting with the Mohemmedan migrants in the old country, so she had already broken with leftist dogma over that issue by the time she got here.

[Groovus Maximus]

And she disputes that?

No. The disputes generally are over whether my requests for rather expensive draping (such as impregnated incisional drapes), my preference cards stating sterile handling procedures over and above minimum requirements (as how I was trained - I am religious in my orders of, "When in doubt, throw it out!") and other stuff that they basically state bare minimum is adequate, and I have certain standards I simply will not compromise. My techs are required to double-glove during setting up back tables and instrument stands, and are NEVER to leave a sterile area when it's set up. FULL STOP. All this increases patient safety, but admittedly increases costs, and submitting cost budget analyses from the USA as justification (and CFO speaks fluent English) can be difficult to get OKs if she thinks the difference margin is numerically unjustified in the short term.

[Groovus Maximus]

I assumed that the financial cost of a dead patient far exceeds the relatively marginal increase of prep expenditures just about everywhere north of the 38th parallel.

Medical Torts are weird in Slavic countries, to put it mildly, since most medical care is state centralised, and successful lawsuits (like the one in the UK over all those botched baby deliveries) are not the norm. Because we are (for now, anyway) totally private, many of the Tort protections state facilities get, we don't by very nature of the business. Still *WAY* more difficult to sue me here, than in the USA (where 9 out of 10 times, it's a settlement, not a judgement, that's desired). But just because I can guard against lawsuits so much easier, doesn't give me free reign to be bereft of conscience to provide what I know (and trained against) to be mediocre and sub-standard care.

[Free Society]

But just because I can guard against lawsuits so much easier, doesn't give me free reign to be bereft of conscience to provide what I know (and trained against) to be mediocre and sub-standard care.

Absolutely. I'm not one to make utilitarian arguments where ethical ones are better suited. But approaching it from the amoral perspective of cost can be helpful because consciences don't bless all of us equally.

[gaoxiaen]

Except for changing a flat tire.

[ant1sthenes]

I plan to deprogram the shit out of my girls.

Dad's plan for female success:
1. Be smart and driven, but also work on being attractive. It isn't fair, but reality gonna reality regardless of your opinion of it.

2. In late teens, learn to detect the traits that make a man a good husband, and those that do not. Selection of boyfriends is coursework. Selecting none is the correct answer, because the only males you're allowed to date don't have the proper level of maturity.

3. As early as possible after high school, ideally by 20, be married to someone you won't want to divorce. College is a good way to meet husband candidates. 3-7 years older is ideal, since he'll be starting his career soon.

4. After marriage, while still in early college years, get knocked up. Ideally you will be done having babies by 30, and that's only if you're having 3 or 4. It's a lot easier to balance a partial course load and maybe some part time work with babies than a real job in its critical stages. And it's a lot easier and healthier to have a baby at 20 than at 35. You'll have to sacrifice, live in a cramped environment (your husband's at the start of his career and you're at most working part-time), go without, and take traditional family roles.

[ant1sthenes]

5. If you time it right, you're starting your career around the time your kids are getting into school, and it's much easier to proceed without distraction. Your husband is hopefully more established and you can enjoy life more, get a bigger place for your bigger family, and so on.

6. By the time you're 40, your kids are starting to move out; these are also prime career years for you, so pursue your dreams for the next 2-3 decades before retiring.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

I enjoyed it as a naive pop-intro to what I assume was intended to be a telling of Polynesian mythology of some kind. The character Moana came off as just a person.

[Derpetologist]

"Moana" means "ocean" in a bunch of Polynesian languages. In Maori mythology, the ocean is the wife of a god. Their children are all the sea creatures.

Like many other cultures, women generally only show up as symbols of temptation:

Another tradition states that as M?ui plants his hook at Hamakua, to fish up the god of fishes, Pimoe, M?ui orders his brethren not to look back, or the expedition will fail. Hina, in the shape of a baling-gourd, appears at the surface of the water, and M?ui, unwittingly, grasps the gourd and places it in front of his seat. Suddenly there appears a beautiful woman whose beauty none can resist; and so the brothers look behind them to watch the beautiful water-goddess. The line parts, Hina disappears, and the effort to unite the chain of islands into one solid unit fails.

[Derpetologist]

The nagging mother/wife is also a common motif in mythology, WHICH OF COURSE HAS NO BASIS IN REALITY YOU SEXIST PIG!

M?ui's next feat is to stop the sun from moving so fast. His mother Hina complains that her kapa (bark cloth) is unable to dry because the days are so short. M?ui climbs to the mountain Hale-a-ka-l? (house of the sun) and lassoes the sun's rays as the sun comes up, using a rope made from his sister's hair.[2] The sun pleads for life and agrees that the days shall be long in summer and short in winter

[Heroic Mulatto]

The main lesson I got from Moana is that teenage girls can go on adventures and do heroic things...as long as they get a great deal of help from a demi-god and the forces of nature.

*shrugs*

So? Supernatural aid is the 3rd step of Campbell's Hero's Journey framework.

Monomyth is going to Monomyth, brah.

[Derpetologist]

It just seemed to me that in other stories, the human hero has to do a lot more work. And yet in this female empowerment tale, the female hero does a lot less work. Her only unaided accomplishment is tricking the crab monster. She basically gets carried across the finish line. I'm sure Odysseus would have loved it if he could just tell the ocean what to do, but he had to do things the hard way.

Upon further reading, Maui may be just one of the many incarnations of Warty Hugeman:

His last, fatal trick was on the Goddess Hine-nui-te-p?. In attempting to make mankind immortal by changing into a worm, entering her vagina and leaving by her mouth while she slept, she crushed him with the obsidian teeth in her vagina.

[ant1sthenes]

I assume rule 34 already has this covered too.

[Ted S.]

I wonder if these people have heard of the tough actresses of the 30s like Barbara Stanwyck, or even a female screenwriter like Frances Marion.

[american socialist]

Hey Buttplug,

If you're reading this... can you imagine the reaction of the right-wingers here on the comments page if Russian hacking had been done on behalf of Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump? Oh my!

[Juvenile Bluster]

Remember, talking to yourself isn't a form of insanity, but getting a reply is.

[Ken Shultz]

Even if he isn't talking to himself, how pathetic is it if you have to turn to Palin's Buttplug for validation?

[0x90]

You have to love some of the sentences that make sense in this place...

[The Fusionist]

"Pot, Mexicans and ass-sex made this country great - Trump will let us keep at least one of these!"

[Krabappel]

lol, "Russian hacking"

[ant1sthenes]

You mean, the reality where Trumpists claim that the Russians leaked the Billy Bush pussygrabber tape, the President immediately makes the intelligence agencies formally, publicly debunk those claims, the media all repeat the debunking over and over and mock anyone that believes otherwise as at best stupid, if not dangerously close to treasonous, and the whole subject gets tabled except among birthers, birchers, infowarsers, zero hedgers, and other conspiracy-loving sorts?

[Derpetologist]

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Matthew Yglesias, the greatest unintentional comedian ever:

Looking back to the campaign trail, it's not hard to see what Trump was doing. Whether it was taking care of vets or respecting cops or reopening coal mines or getting Americans jobs in steel mills, wherever there was a stereotypically male occupational category, Trump was there to rhetorically elevate its social status.

[Krabappel]

He should have called them all deplorable because that's a good way to get votes.

[Hyperion]

New Sadbeard? What a treat, thanks!

[Tyler.C]

Yes it was posturing for sexual not posturing as someone who cares about the common man.

[The Fusionist]

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Becket. Kevin Williamson has some thoughts.

"...Some things are not subject to the king's command.

"The American constitutional order is an attempt to preempt these questions: The Bill of Rights protects the private conscience, as it is expressed not only in religious exercise but in political speech, agitation, publishing, and association. As the members of Alcoholics Anonymous say about their program: "It works if you work it." But conflict is inevitable. Conservatives who today are the greatest friends of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and its state-level counterparts were not always quite so enthusiastic about it back when it was a question of whether Indians could take peyote for religious purposes. There are many quondam friends of the First Amendment who want to imprison flag-burners and the like. This is only partly a question of hypocrisy ? the more important issue is that it is not always obvious where the lines should be drawn."

[Ted S.]

Will no one rid me of this meddlesome fusionist?

[The Fusionist]

Hey there, Preet, got another one for ya.

/strictly satire

[Derpetologist]

Amanda Marcotte

On Christmas Eve, a leftist political theory scholar at Drexel named George Ciccariello-Maher sent out a now-legendary tweet saying, "All I Want for Christmas is White Genocide." He was clearly joking, tweaking the noses of white supremacists who have developed this paranoid belief, but Warner Todd Huston at Breitbart pretended to take Ciccariello-Maher seriously, writing, "The professor's Twitter feed is filled with hateful, obnoxious messages, anti-Americanism, slams of President Donald Trump, attacks on Jews, as well as pro-Black Lives Matter and pro-communist sloganeering."

A later tweet from him: "To clarify: when the whites were massacre during the Haitian revolution, that was a good thing indeed."

[Ted S.]

Carl Paladino claimed to be joking regarding his comments on the Obamas, but that wasn't a valid excuse.

[Crusty Juggler]

Member?

[Crusty Juggler]

That should have been 'member. Member is something else...

[The Fusionist]

New Years' Resolutions: Progs resolve to prog harder in 2017

DON'T GET MAD, STAY MAD: "At some point, I have to let go of the anger and resentment. I have to actively seek out the good in people who don't think like me, to engage with them and let them restore my faith in humanity.

"I'm not ready to do that yet. Maybe by next New Year's. (If the nuclear winter doesn't come first."

NO MORE MR. NICE GUY: "We don't go looking for conflict. But when conflict comes to us, we don't wuss out. We figure out how to apply our gifts and we get to work."

STOP WASTING TIME: "At a different point, I would have just gotten mad and stewed about it. I still get mad and stew about it, but now I feel like I'm using my time and energy to actually do something. This also contributes to a sense of purpose, which permeates my other resolutions, such as getting back into shape, going to bed before 1 a.m., and so on."

[The Fusionist]

FIGHT THE DEPORTATION SQUADS: "...As the results rolled in, the room quieted, and people began to leave. I left too, an hour early?and I cried the whole way home....

"...We will resist Donald Trump's ignorant and hateful rhetoric not only because it's our right to do so, but because this is our home. We belong here. We will make this work."

WORK WITH THE NEW ADMINISTRATION TO...HA HA, JUST KIDDING: "I figure it never hurts to aim high with New Year's resolutions, so what the hell: my resolution is to contribute to the process that results in Donald Trump's impeachment in 2017."

JUST KEEP DOING WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING: "If we mobilize, if we stay angry enough, we can make the bastards pay for what they've done to our state."

[Zero Sum Game]

I left too, an hour early?and I cried the whole way home....

Huh. I started laughing and have not had cause to stop yet. Is there a virus going around that causes proggies to cry and everyone else to laugh at them? If so, best...epidemic...EVER.

[PapayaSF]

Welcome, President Pence!

[Ted S.]

WORK WITH THE NEW ADMINISTRATION TO...HA HA, JUST KIDDING: "I figure it never hurts to aim high with New Year's resolutions, so what the hell: my resolution is to contribute to the process that results in Donald Trump's impeachment in 2017."

So they're the obstructionists they spent the past eight years bitching about.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Who's still giving M. Night Shyamalan money? Or is making deliberately terrible circus fodder now his thing?

[kbolino]

Who's still giving M. Night Shyamalan money?

Theatergoers, oddly enough.

Or is making deliberately terrible circus fodder now his thing?

It is strangely profitable.

[The Fusionist]

I'm doing a movie about a woman who, while getting spanked by a reclusive billionaire vampire, receives a call to save the Galactic Republic from a gigantic Death Star and an emo space-wizard!

[The Fusionist]

Stand back, baby, I wouldn't want you to drown in the money that's going to spill out of my wallet!

[commodious lies and cheats]

You need a twist to really sink it. A huge, dumb, predictable, dumb, insulting, steaming turd of a twist.

[Derpetologist]

M Night Shamma-lamma-ding-dong's greatest mystery is his career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7T30bg66U4

[JayU]

Eh.

The Sixth Sense made nearly $700m at the box office. And it came out while DVD's were still a thing and the internet wasn't so big. Probably made another couple hundred million in home video sales. On a budget of $40m.

That's one of the greatest ROI's on a movie. Ever.

[Rhywun]

DVDs aren't a thing? Kids these days.

[PapayaSF]

Attention Hit & Run readers! If you are in the San Francisco Bay area tomorrow, we will be having a meetup. Email me at my handle @ gmail.com for details.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Joke's on you, I won't be anywhere near the bay.

[Hyperion]

Is Thiel going, or is he too busy in Putin's underground lair?

[Hyperion]

Also, if Thiel does show, can you ask him to hack the NFL playoffs so that the Raiders can win without Carr?

[LynchPin1477]

Moxie will lead you to the promised land.... Until you face the Steelers.

[Hyperion]

Heh, the squeelers are the least of my worries.

[Suell]

I am thinking that McGloin may actually pull off a win on Sunday. Vegas currently has it as Raiders +1. If they do, it is not completely improbable that they win the first playoff game. New England is going to kick their ass though.

[Libertarian]

"If you are in the San Francisco Bay area tomorrow, we will be having a meetup."

What will you be doing if I'm not in the area?

[Hyperion]

From one the threads at DU. And everyone there actually believes this bullshit, lol.

So I'm in line at the grocery store, and the lady in front of me used Food stamps and the guy in

back of me started hemming and hawing. He said, "My god, do you believe this?" like trying to get me and the others in line to participate in his disgust. As loudly, and roundly as I could, and my theatre background lets me PROJECT people:

"FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE"

He was shocked. I mean shocked. "I'D RATHER SEE MY HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS GO TO FEED HER OR ANY OTHER FAMILY INSTEAD OF LAUNCHING A 20 MILLION DOLLAR MISSILE AT A CAMEL'S ASS. SHE'S IN A VETERAN'S FAMILY, DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT? YOU HAVE THE FUCKING NERVE TO SPIT ON OUR TROOPS BY AIRING YOUR SHIT NOW?"

Cont...

[Hyperion]

"You think it's me and *MY* mouth?" he said,

'TRUST ME. EVERYONE HERE IS MORE OFFENDED WITH YOUR LITTLE DISPLAY THAN MY BIG ONE. YOU ARE A FUCKING TRAITOR AND ASSHOLE AND YOUR ACTIONS TOWARD THIS WOMAN IS WAY WORSE THAN MY PROFANITY ANYDAY"

The cashier laughed. I got three thumbs up and a high five.

Really.

Today.

About an hour ago.

After I cashed out, the hoopla went down, the lady approached me in the parking lot and told me thank you. Then, with pride, her eyes glistened, she said, "My father served in the Navy and my husband was a Marine before he died. How did you know?"

"I am the daughter of a Veteran too, we just have to stick together now. My Daddy didn't fight on foreign soil to see ours starve here. That man is the worst type of man"

Then she hugged me.

And I cried.

[straffinrun]

But the fact that it could have happened is all that really matters.

[Hyperion]

These people are fucking insane, and they live among us.

[Free Society]

SHE WAS THE CHILD OF A VETERAN YOU PIECE OF SHIT

[Hyperion]

Well, I mean at least I'll give her really, really bad writer of fiction.

[Free Society]

SHE HAS A BACKGROUND IN THEATER. SHE CAN PROJECT. WHAT CAN YOU DO?

[Hyperion]

Well, I do have to give her credit for making up ridiculous fantasies and getting everyone at DU to actually believe it... ok, well never mind. I wonder how many of them are flat earthers? Did you know that's really a thing? I mean, today, not 1000 year ago. They have a website. It's slightly less ridiculous than DU, but not by much.

[LynchPin1477]

There Flat Earther thing is weird. There ones I once read about were obsessed with Rasputin.

Wait a minute....RasPUTIN??? Fuuuuck. We are through the looking glass here people.

[Free Society]

I remember looking at flat earther websites back in the mid 90's, a very short time after Al Gore invented the internet. That really might be one of the first supremely dumbfuck conspiracy theories ever floated on the internet.

[straffinrun]

Hey, buddy, hangover going on here. Can you keep it down?

[Ted S.]

Too much sake?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Too much para para.

[straffinrun]

What part of "hangover" did you not understand?

[Hyperion]

You're doing it wrong. If you have a hangover, you have to drink it off. I'm actually doing the same. I drank way too much last night, but it was my Bday.

[straffinrun]

Happy Birthday. Here's you B day card.

[Hyperion]

Oh, gee thanks, bro.

[straffinrun]

No? Ok, lemme think. How about this?

[Hyperion]

Well, that's a little better.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Here's your card.

[The Fusionist]

Happy Birthday, Hyperion.

In honor of your birthday, I'll give you an appealing picture of a woman jumping out of a birthday cake, instead of doing what I sometimes do and have a joke link about a woman emerging from a birthday cake.

[commodious lies and cheats]

r/thathappened

[DEG]

So I'm in line at the grocery store, and the lady in front of me used Food stamps and the guy in

Food stamps? EBT cards. Could he at least bury the bullshit a bit better?

[Hyperion]

I watched her having to put those stamps on everything, poor woman, having to lick the glue and all, so humiliating, while her poor chillins in their tattered garments couldn't even pop open one of those bud lights to get some sustenance to sustain their deprived 3' 6" 300 lb frames.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Nice catch. That person doesn't even know someone on food assistance. Lolololol

[Ted S.]

I'll probably offend people by saying this, but the militarization of American society since 9/11 that's resulted in even the left fetishizing it hasn't been a good thing for society.

[AlmightyJB]

Militarization was rolling pretty good prior to 9/11 under Billy and Janet, 100K cops and spec ops dea, atf, and fbi and all that. 9/11 just gave them a carte blanche well beyond what had been taken to fight the WOD and the WOG.

[The Hyperbole]

How dare you!

[AlmightyJB]

America's response to 9/11 was revolting and pathetic. Most of Washington should be hung.

[Hyperion]

But... they hate us for our freedoms!

[Lurk Diggler]

No they hate us because we don't follow Shariah and allow drinking, and allow promiscuous women. Which I guess is totally different or something.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Most of Washington should be hung.

You have a strange fetish.

[AlmightyJB]

You have no idea:)

[lap83]

"Instead of launching a 20 million dollar missile at a

[Rufus The Monocled]

For 2017 I think I'm gonna introduce a 'Get to know Rufus' bit.

E.g. Did you know I like toilet paper?

[Free Society]

Tell me more!

[Ted S.]

E.g. Did you know I like toilet paper?

But enough about your kink.

[AlmightyJB]

Charmin Strong or Charmin Soft. I prefer the Soft.

[Groovus Maximus]

Girly Man Quilted? Or Manly Man Tree Bark-on-a-Roll?

[Sevo]

Corncobs.

[Rufus The Monocled]

MADE BY ORPHANS TINTED WITH THEIR BLOOD.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

This tells me you have a stinky ass. Civilized people use bidets, or at least Dude Wipes or something equivalent.

[Rufus The Monocled]

What on the Saskatchewan horizon are dude wipes?

[Groovus Maximus]

Hipster lacespun personal tissues.

[Rhywun]

OMG it's an actual thing? With hipster punch-faces and everything? Sigh.

[AlmightyJB]

Wipes are nice for camping. Doubt any better than traditional wipes and probably cost twice as much.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Flushable. Hard to find flushable wipes.

[Groovus Maximus]

Wipeys, regardless of the term, "Flushable," - implying they break down and don't clog up pipes and septics - well, even these allegedly Super Awesome Biodegradable Wipeys (I read their sales pitch - not impressed overall), shouldn't be flushed, IMHO. The other secret is to flush them ONLY one at a time, if one must flush the so-called, "Flushables."

Strictly speaking, *any* lacespun wipe can be flushed, but *should* they? And my opinion is no, toss them in lined rubbish bins, tie, and dispose.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Groovus shits in coffee cans. You heard it here first.

[Rhywun]

Howard Stern is a big fan of them.

[Groovus Maximus]

^Bidets FTW! Best for haemorrhoid sufferers, and the exceptionally hirsute. Dude Wipeys are for pansies and the Epiladies.

[DenverJ]

"like" like? Or just like?

[LynchPin1477]

The United States is booting 35 Russian intel operatives from the country and imposing sanctions on Russian intelligence agencies. The administration believes the Russians maintain a spying base in Maryland.

Umm... They knew/know about this and did/are doing nothing? Isn't "protect and defend...from enemies foreign and domestic" in the job description?

[Hyperion]

There's nothing but Russian spies in Maryland. I see the way they look at me in the grocery store. I knew it all along, but being a secret Trumputin yearning to join the new KGB, I did nothing. And now, it's too late, Obama, hahhahaahhaaaahhhaaa!

[LynchPin1477]

Isn't the whole idea that the Russians can subvert democracy just by using the tubes? Human spies seem so 20th century. That must be why Obama, the true 21st century president, paid them no heed before.

But then how is this supposed to be a substantial retaliation for the DNC hack? Oh well, it must be some 3D chess thing that I can't grasp.

[Hyperion]

You see, Obama, the master chess player, has just started making his genius moves. He waited 8 years just to fool us and the Russians into complacency and then... CHECKMATE! Oh, that so needs 72 pt bold red font!

/progderp

[Rufus The Monocled]

LP1477,

You're being waaayyyy to rational for politics.

Just embrace and trust your betters.

[Rufus The Monocled]

too

[Sevo]

"U.S. Said to Plan Release of Evidence Showing Russian Hacking"
[...]
"The FBI and Homeland Security Department will release a report Thursday with technical evidence intended to prove Russia's military and civilian intelligence services were behind hacking attacks during this year's presidential campaign, according to a U.S. official."
(Bloomberg)

Betting that the "evidence" of "hacking" will be some innuendo suggesting that the Russkis were able to gain access to not-very-secure servers.
And of course it follows that the (factual) information regarding that hag and her staff was released by them! It FOLLOWS, I tell you!
Ya know, you see pictures of dogs in funny outfits and think 'well, dogs have no shame'. Obo/DNC/Hag have no shame.

[Sevo]

BTW, the Bloomberg article is two hours old; is Obo gonna leak it out through an email from Valerie later tonight?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Evidence of Russian hacking.

[Sevo]

OK, but was that a D driving the car that had to swerve?! Do I have to get commie-kid hear to explain things?!

[straffinrun]

More evidence of Russian Hacking

[Sevo]

Linky no worky

[Groovus Maximus]

So meta. Much irony.

[straffinrun]

You get me. You really do.

[Sevo]

Took a while...

[straffinrun]

Can't blame you. It's a cheezy joke.

[Sevo]

notatall@.com

[ant1sthenes]

Actually, there is video of the DNC being hacked. It will blow your mind, as it reveals:
1. The Russians were indeed involved.
2. But it was primarily an inside job.
3. The DNC is involved with ISIS!

Where is the footage for it... ah, found part of it.

[Hyperion]

Me thinks Eddie Munster and Obama should get a room already.

Paul Ryan joins moron squad

You ain't gonna be POTUS, Eddie, and in fact, I doubt you'll be speaker for much longer.

[Sevo]

"US tech companies are by far the biggest beneficiaries of skilled foreign workers"
http://www.sfgate.com/technolo.....825431.php

And Trump is gonna....
Maybe, maybe not, but I seem to recall some of the lefty persuasion here a while back whining about those greedy companies hiring cheap foreign labor.
Now (assuming Trump does something about it) it's TRUMP/BAD!
(and when did Business Insider turn into The Guardian?)

[Rhywun]

I don't think Trump's going to "do" shit about immigration. Both the legal and illegal forms are too entrenched in the economy. There are not going to be any "deportation squads" or "papers, please".

[Rhywun]

*beyond the existing "papers, please", that is

[AlmightyJB]

I agree. Not going to happen.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Is Trump going to have an illegals to deport after Obama deported them all?

[SimonD]

(and when did Business Insider turn into The Guardian?)

It's been that way for a long time. Since Bush, at least. Except sometimes it's even more derpy than the Guardian.

[SimonD]

Business Insider is what you would get if you took the Wall Street Journal, fired everyone, hired half of the staff of the Washington Post, gave them lobotomies and sat them in front of typewriters.

[Sevo]

I've confused it with an actual business journal, sort of like confusing this guy with someone who has an inkling of how business is conducted:
http://www.sfchronicle.com/author/thomas-lee/
I'll bet you recognized the sources of his awards as, uh, some frat group or other...

[Agammamon]

Sikhs who work within the New York Police Department will be allowed to keep their beards and wear turbans.

Then its pretty obvious that having a beard (or a turban) does not make your appearance 'unprofessional' nor does it interfere with safety or the officer's ability to do his job.

So the blanket ban should be lifted for the rest of the NYPD?

[The Fusionist]

Seeing a Sikh march up to me would certainly be unsettling. They have the most non-hippie beards I can conceive of.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Why not? That seems to be the trend.

[Rhywun]

So the blanket ban should be lifted for the rest of the NYPD?

In effect, it already has been. If you want to grow a beard just tell your boss you're a Sikh. What are they going to do about it?

[Lurk Diggler]

Say your lying and fire you.

[Lurk Diggler]

Or just give you shit evaluations and duties forever until you quit.

[The Fusionist]

"So the blanket ban should be lifted for the rest of the NYPD?"

There's a blanket ban, too? Can they at least have pillows when they nap on the job?

[The Fusionist]

19th century cartoon about police beards

[Lurk Diggler]

It's pretty obvious wearing only T-shirts and underwear won't effect your job either but see how far it gets you.

[The Fusionist]

Isn't that the dress code for the Baywatch police force?

[AlmightyJB]

Your never too young to learn how to swear. Ok, maybe not those exact words.

http://nbc4i.com/2016/12/29/pa.....eir-sleep/

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm so sick of moral panics triggered by idiots and their pareidolia.

[The Fusionist]

Wow, that animal isn't even hatched out of the egg yet, and already it sounds resigned and cynical.

[Rhywun]

the toy seems to be muttering "F*** me."

Maybe I'm not an attention-seeking nitwit, but I'm not hearing that at all.

[Hyperion]

I think it's 'hug me'. Parents need to get their minds out of the gutter.

[AlmightyJB]

I haven't listened to it but that's what I figured.

[Hyperion]

I told you people these things wold become sentient and get your children! They're controlled by de debil!

[straffinrun]

Sounds exactly like it's saying "Vote Trump, Whitey". But, then again, everything sounds like that these days.

[AlmightyJB]

Shit I would buy one of those, and take it everywhere,

[Hyperion]

No doubt it's been hacked by the all powerful Trumputin.

[__Warren__]

Maybe it's just a bad yolk.

[The Fusionist]

Shell we descend into another round of puns?

[The Fusionist]

Just beak cause.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Just beak cause

[__Warren__]

That'd be might white of you.

[__Warren__]

Shell we continue?

[Hyperion]

Yall's freakin out, man.

[C. Anacreon]

You are albumin' out.

[The Fusionist]

What nefarious plots will we hatch next?

[The Fusionist]

Y'all are just a bunch of cosmotarian clucks.

[Darth Squirrel]

Comin' home to roost, buddy.

[buybuydandavis]

The libraries at the University of Kansas are giving out buttons to employees and students that indicate which gender by which they'd like to be referred.

I'll have my own digital screen which outputs random words at random intervals.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Salt Pork!

[Heroic Mulatto]

MEGA MILK

[The Fusionist]

I almost clicked that, but I'm fairly sure I'd regret it.

[The Fusionist]

Are you a sports fan and a Civil War buff but can't think of a way to combine these two obsessions?

You won't believe your Luck

[The Fusionist]

(Notice how I didn't say "you're *in* Luck")

[Sevo]

"Restaurant bans 'Nazi' Trump voters, suffers immediate online retribution"
[...]
"Cafe 8 1/2, an Italian eatery in Honolulu, posted a sign on its door after the election that read, "If you voted for Trump you cannot eat here! No Nazis." The restaurant was founded by San Francisco hair stylist Robert Warner and his wife Jali, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Jali Warner told Fox News that "Robert just wants to express how much he doesn't like Trump. If people take it personally or it hurts them, we cannot help. That's why we say they have [a] choice if they want to come or not come. We don't force them."
http://www.sfgate.com/news/art.....825058.php

STFU and bake that goddam cake, bitch!

[Playa Manhattan.]

I've had some GOOD food in Hawaii. None of it was Italian.

[Sevo]

Playa, reason to PANIC!
"Dungeness crab fishermen go on strike"
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....825234.php

Note the headline reads "fishermen" while the article refers to "fishers". Hmm; who did not get the memo?

[GILMORE?]

San Francisco hair stylist Robert Warner and his wife

didn't see that coming.

[SamHell]

I haven't seen this reported here or much of anywhere else Countering Disinformation And Propaganda Act
Maybe there's a chance this is fake news, and that's why it isn't being reported? Tell me this is nothing to worry about...

[Sevo]

Looks like a Zero Hedge scare piece.
The act certainly isn't anything to applaud, but it isn't about establishing a 'ministry of truth' or anything of the sort.

[widget]

President Obama was only referring to the "Islamic State of Iraq" [ISI?], not the Islamic State of Syria [ISIS] or the Islamic State of the Levant [ISIL]. Fake news writers would need the imagination of Frank Herbert to make this up.

[SamHell]

Sounds a lot like the PFJ.

[Mike Schmidt]

OK. Waaaayyyy OT, but I just "discovered" this song today and had to share: Detachable Penis

[Sevo]

I tried, but they wanna card me and I don't have any ID.

[thrakkorzog]

In a shocking discovery, Old people used to listen to college radio stations that played that Detachable Penis all the damned time. There's a reason people dismiss college rock stations.