Russia Won't Expel U.S. Diplomats, Assange Didn't Praise Trump, Americans Driving Drunk Less: A.M. Links

• 

  Dominic Lipinski/ZUMA Press/Newscom

  Russia said it would retaliate in kind after President Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the U.S. and closed two Russian embassies here yesterday. But on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country won't retaliate by expelling American diplomats from Russia.

• ISIS has rigged entire neighborhood blocks to blow up with hidden, interconnected mines.
• In countries including Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, and the Philippines, "democracy persists … but liberty is under siege."
• Fake news alert: Guardian writer Ben Jacobs' claims about Julian Assange praising Trump and having close ties to Putin turned out to be fabricated.
• American drunk driving rates are at a new low, according to federal data.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

But on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country won't retaliate by expelling American diplomats from Russia.

The bigger man. AND THAT'S WHY THE GOP LOVES HIM NOW.

[straffinrun]

Letting them stay is retaliation, no?

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Not telling is the same as lying.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Smart move by Putin. Once again outplaying the dodo birds in the Democrat party.

Of course I assume because he knows it's all PR BS.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's bred in the bone for commies: don't let people leave.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Foreseeable headline after the inauguration: "Trump opens the gates for the Red Army to pillage the Motherland"

[Free Society]

He's probably not keen and creating a bunch of extra work for himself by pulling his diplomatic staff only to send them back in 22 days when this pigeon chess champion is out of office.

[Swiss Servator]

um, wot?

[Crusty Juggler]

It's romantic, Swiss.

[Swiss Servator]

There was a comment there that has since been deleted!

I HAVE NOT STARTED DRINKING YET, I SWEAR!

[UnCivilServant]

I saw it, I also saw it disappear.

And it's not the booze that makes you imagine things, it's the malfunctioning override chip. Come in for maintenence and we'll fix it.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hey, where did it go?

I used that pick up line all the time!

[commodious lies and cheats]

There was a comment there that has since been deleted!

Kinda funny that they bothered deleting the twit's comment what with the very next article.

[Wedding Tackle]

Oh noes! The crotchety old fuck called me a name!!!

[Crusty Juggler]

You're sweet!

[straffinrun]

Unless you did that in a Chevy Chase voice, fuck off.

[Wedding Tackle]

Or what?

Right, you'll impotently bitch more.

Fuck you and fuck that cunt who outs people.

[straffinrun]

I didn't say "Or else", Honey

[Crusty Juggler]

you'll impotently bitch more.

[Crusty Juggler]

who outs people.

White men should not freestyle after they reach the ripe age of 17...

[invisible furry hand]

Whom did she out?

[straffinrun]

No kidding. Just come in and call someone a "cunt" w/o explanation and then it gets pissy when it gets push back.

[UnCivilServant]

Hrmm, the original comment is gone along with a brief quip from ENB back at it.

Was this one of the rare reason moderations?

[Swiss Servator]

*report spam*

[paranoid android]

So at worst she's guilty of ousting people.

[Swiss Servator]

Jousting people?!

[straffinrun]

Great. That's the boat they put me in TWICE.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

And yet, AddictionMyth/dajjal hasn't had a single post deleted as far as I can tell. Why even HAVE a report spam button!

[UnCivilServant]

AddictionMyth/dajjal hasn't had a single post deleted as far as I can tell. Why even HAVE a report spam button!

It's like a crosswalk button or "door close" on the elevator. it makes people feel better.

[Crusty Juggler]

She didn't "out" anyone. It has to do with something she Tweeted. As interesting as it isn't (Twitter, am I right?), it gives resentful bitches an excuse to act out.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Wedding tackle is a girl?

/mischievously twirls eye glasses resting on lips.

[Wedding Tackle]

"She didn't "out" anyone"

Either you're stupid or intentionally lying, she outed Eli Lake as a pot smoker because she disagrees with him on Israel.

As to the rest of you, fuck you, you don't own me.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

You don't own me.

[UnCivilServant]

Wouldn't that first require pot smoking to be a matter people give a shit about?

[Wedding Tackle]

"Wouldn't that first require pot smoking to be a matter people give a shit about?"

No one is ever imprisoned or shot becasue of pot anymore, everyone knows that.

[Crusty Juggler]

she outed Eli Lake as a pot smoker because she disagrees with him on Israel.

NO NOT POT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE IS A MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!

As to the rest of you, fuck you, you don't own me.

We do not want to own you.

[Swiss Servator]

I wouldn't want to even rent that.

[Wedding Tackle]

"I wouldn't want to even rent that."

I'm not your mother.

[Wedding Tackle]

"No kidding. Just come in and call someone a "cunt" w/o explanation and then it gets pissy when it gets push back."

See, I love that you are so arrogant and entitled that you think you deserve an explanation.

Interestingly, not knowing what was going on, your immediate reaction wasn't to find out, but to reflexively shoot off your dicksucker, er, i mean white knight, er i mean "push back".

[Crusty Juggler]

you'll impotently bitch more.

[Wedding Tackle]

Looks like it set you off, so not impotent at all.

[Wedding Tackle]

It's pretty obvious from the lack of defense, except by the stupid asshole who says no one cares anymore, that you all know I'm right about this.

[UnCivilServant]

Sure, whatever, tell yourself whatever makes you feel better.

[Wedding Tackle]

No one ever goes to jail or gets shot over pot anymore, just keep tellong yourself that if it makes you feel better.

[Tommy_Grand]

"There's no single factor driving the decline in drunken driving rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention credits interventions like strong drunken driving laws, public awareness campaigns, and ignition interlock systems that don't allow drunk drivers to start cars."

Such a load of lies. It's Uber. that's the reason for the decline.

[juris imprudent]

that you all know I'm right about this.

Hey look everybody, cytotoxic is back!

[Zunalter]

It's pretty obvious from the lack of defense, except by the stupid asshole who says no one cares anymore

OOOOOOOR, nobody cares anymore.

[Wedding Tackle]

And yet you keep posting.

[Wedding Tackle]

"Crusty Juggler|12.30.16 @ 9:57AM|#

you'll impotently bitch more."

By the way, I love that you lied about her not outing anyone, then had to switch to bitching because you were caught.

[straffinrun]

I'm arrogant because I like to know why someone is being called a cunt? You could've explained yourself first and THEN called her a cunt, but you didn't. Fail.

[Wedding Tackle]

"I'm arrogant because I like to know why someone is being called a cunt?"

Well, you can't read too.

"not knowing what was going on, your immediate reaction wasn't to find out"

Read motherfucker.

[straffinrun]

Read what? You didn't post anything other than an insult and some vague crap. You walk up to someone I know and call them a "cunt" and guess what? I'm going to tell you to fuck off. If you have a legitimate gripe, explain it. The burden is on me? GFY.

[Wedding Tackle]

"Read what? "

Exactly. Fuck, I reposted it and you're still too god damned stupid to read it.

". The burden is on me? "

To not shoot off your dick sucker before you know what is going on? Yeah.

[straffinrun]

You didn't post anything other than an insult when you came in swinging your dick. Your original comment is gone, but everybody knows what you did. Now you're trying to muddy the water.

[Wedding Tackle]

"You didn't post anything other than an insult when you came in swinging your dick. Your original comment is gone"

And also not what you needed to read.

God damn man, how fucking stupid are you.

[Zunalter]

God damn man, how fucking stupid are you.

At least stupid enough to attempt to engage you on a rational level.

[Wedding Tackle]

Oh god fuck off. There's nothing at all irrational about any of it, except your irrational white knighting of a cunt.

[Wedding Tackle]

"You walk up to someone I know"

Apparently you'll also shoot off your dicksucker without knowing what is going on for some internet writer you're tryong to white knight for, but don't know much about at all.

[straffinrun]

BTW, "You can't read too" implies that you can't read.

[Wedding Tackle]

"BTW, "You can't read too" implies that you can't read."

Only if you can't read.

[straffinrun]

Here you go, buddy.

[Wedding Tackle]

You should have read that before shooting off your dicksucker white kinghting without knowing what is going on.

Which, by the way, is your responsibility.

[paranoid android]

Wait, wait, I have three very important questions:

1. Who is Eli Lake?
2. Why should I care?
3. Why should anybody care?

[Wedding Tackle]

You can always just skip the post.

[UnCivilServant]

1. somone who was apparently accused ot using weed.
2. you shouldn't
3. no one does.

[Wedding Tackle]

Because it's not illegal anymore, and no one goes to jail or gets shot over it.

[Wedding Tackle]

"3. no one does."

Eli Lake does.

So, anything else?

[UnCivilServant]

So if I accuse you of being a pothead, the cops will get rid of you?

Hey look eveyrbody, it's a marijuana user! We've got a pot smoker here!

See, nobody cares.

/Nedry.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Don't get cheap on me, UCS.

[Wedding Tackle]

"So if I accuse you of being a pothead, the cops will get rid of you?"

Depends on the context, and if you put me on blast in front of the country, where every asshole with some power and a grudge can see it.

"See, nobody cares."

I already shoed that to be a lie.

But you're right. No one ever goed to jail or gets shot over weed anymore. Everyone knows this.

[UnCivilServant]

You keep repeating the same failure of equating the effect of a government policy with the impact of a twitter spat.

Nobody cares if someone is accused of being a pot user in a twit. And a 140 characters does not probable cause make, so no, the cops aren't going to care either.

And even if the accusation is true, nobody here gives a rat's ass.

Twit.

[Wedding Tackle]

No man, I said it was cool, no one gets arrested or shot over pot. You told me that.

[Wedding Tackle]

"You keep repeating the same failure of equating the effect of a government policy with the impact of a twitter spat"

YOU keep pretending no one cares about pot, while people fucking rot in jail because of it.

[paranoid android]

Having found the twitter thread that apparently sparked all this, it's a little hilarious/disconcerting how quickly an anecdote about why she thinks this one guy is kind of an ass immediately escalates into brigades of people calling her a lying anti-Semitic whore. My decision to generally avoid twitter as much as possible continues to prove its wisdom...

[Wedding Tackle]

It's cool, I've been told repeatedly no one goes to jail or gets shot over weed anymore.

[paranoid android]

It's cool, I've been told repeatedly no one goes to jail or gets shot over weed anymore.

Unless Eli Lake is a young black guy in the inner city, and I suspect he is not, I don't think he has to worry about going to jail or being shot over weed. Frankly, the whole "laughing at dead Arabs" thing seems like the far more serious charge from that conversation.

[Wedding Tackle]

"Unless Eli Lake is..."

Oh, ok I understand now, it's not about principles woth you, it's statistics.

Well, it's cool, i recently became aware that no one gets in any trouble over pot anymore.

[paranoid android]

Oh, ok I understand now, it's not about principles woth you, it's statistics.

Against my better judgement, I'm going to give you one more chance to converse civilly. It should probably go without saying, given the web site we are on, that I don't think anyone should ever go to jail or be shot over pot. I would furthermore stipulate that assisting law enforcement (or anyone else) in facilitating the jailing or shooting of anyone over pot is immoral.

That being said, you, me, Ms. Brown, and Eli Lake all have no reasonable basis to believe that the posting of this particular anecdote on twitter could put in motion any series of events that would lead to someone being jailed or shot over pot. So speaking directly to your contention that the main consequence of this "outing" is that someone could be jailed or shot, it strikes me as baseless.

[Wedding Tackle]

No worries, i recently became aware that no one gets shot or arrested over pot anymore

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Shut the fuck up, Tulpa.

[Wedding Tackle]

Cry more.

[Wedding Tackle]

"So speaking directly to your contention that the main consequence of this "outing" is that someone could be jailed or shot, it strikes me as baseless."

I get it man you value probability over principles

[Tejicano]

Holy WTF'ing Shiite!

Hmm... I am betting that Wedding Tackle is some sort of spambot conjured up by an episode of Agile Cyborg on acid. Nothing else could explain it.

[straffinrun]

Happy New Year, Tejicano.

[Wedding Tackle]

No worries, i recently became aware that no one gets shot or arrested over pot anymore.

[Tejicano]

Yo straffinrun, "Congratulations, it's open" (transliterate it, ok?)

Wedding Tackle - I doubt you are aware of the difference between your anus and a random hole in the ground.

[Wedding Tackle]

I am not, but i did recently become aware of the fact that no one goes to jail or gets shot over pot anymore.

[Tejicano]

WT - Behold the land where I grow my fucks and know that it is barren.

[Wedding Tackle]

And yet you keep posting.

[Wedding Tackle]

So is that it? All the white knighting done?

[Tejicano]

"So is that it? All the white knighting done?"

No. But it is late where I live and I only give a fuck about this stupid game enough to twist your titty just one more time.

Come on, give me one more brain-dead reply. I'm already asleep anyway.

[Wedding Tackle]

"Behold the land where I grow my fucks and know that it is barren."

"I only give a fuck"

So you were lying. What a dumb thing to care enough to lie about.

[DesigNate]

giving a fuck about twisting your nipples is not the same as giving a fuck what ENB said on twitter.

and all you're doing is white knighting for Lake, so you can step right the fuck off with that bullshit.

[Wedding Tackle]

"giving a fuck about twisting your nipples is not the same as giving a fuck what ENB said on twitter."

Um, yeah, it's all giving a fuck and he said barren. How stupid are you?

"and all you're doing is white knighting for Lake"

Lake can die in a fire for all i care.

The principle is, you dont spread peoples business.

Now, feel free to continue with your principals over principles behavior, cunt.

[Wedding Tackle]

"and all you're doing is white knighting for Lake, so you can step right the fuck off with that bullshit."

I mean, it takes an especially stupid motherfucker to read this, where i didnt defend or even bring lake up, and think im white knighting for him.

But, it's the best you could do with your limited intellect.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

I'm sorry no one's told you yet, but if this did take place in DC in August 2015, possessing and using a small amount of marijuana on private property was not illegal.

But I bet next time the bitch will out him for jaywalking.

[Wedding Tackle]

It's still illegal federally.

So, other than tbe douchesplaining, you got anything?

[Wedding Tackle]

I absolutely love the stupid fucking condescension in your tone, which will inevitably be followed by you realization that i am right and your point is meaningless.

[Wedding Tackle]

So is THAT it? Are you cunts done twisting yourselves in knots defending someone who you know did something wrong?

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

I'm sorry no one's told you yet, but if this did take place in DC in August 2015, possessing and using a small amount of marijuana on private property was not illegal.

But I bet next time the bitch will out him for swearing while in traffic.

[Wedding Tackle]

Annnnd.... it's still illegal federally. Even in DC.

I absolutely love the stupid fucking condescension in your tone, which will inevitably be followed by you realization that i am right and your point is meaningless

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

I'm sorry to totally roast you, but ENB was claiming that Lake was engaged in legal behavior.

Someone get a janitor in here to sweep up these ashes.

[Wedding Tackle]

"I'm sorry to totally roast you"

Good thing you didn't then, since i was right.

[Wedding Tackle]

"ENB was claiming that Lake was engaged in legal behavior."

God damn guy, you don't even know what the fuck you're here for and what is going in.

[Wedding Tackle]

I absolutely love the stupid fucking condescension in your tone, which will inevitably be followed by you realization that i am right and your point is meaningless

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

This must be so embarrassing for you. I'm sorry I had to do this.

[Wedding Tackle]

"This must be so embarrassing for you. I'm sorry I had to do this"

Well, at least you're sorry for making a fool of yourself.

[Wedding Tackle]

"You ARE a Prog (MJG)|12.30.16 @ 11:51AM|#

Blah bIah I posted something stupid and irrelevant, am embarrassed by it, and am now desperately trying to find a way out blah blah"

Just cut and paste that for yourself.

[Wedding Tackle]

"I'm sorry to totally roast you, but ENB was claiming that Lake was engaged in legal behavior."

Did you forget some words? Or are you just so fucking stupid that you think it's her business to discuss it AT ALL?

What kind of chromosomal abnormality do you have that you are so condescending and bitchy?

You don't even know what the fuck is going on.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Oh, gosh, honey, just stop now. Please!

[Wedding Tackle]

You don't even know what's happening!!!

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Honey-poo, no, we all know what's happening. You're mad that ENB responded to Lake calling her a liar by referencing their first shared activity together. Please darling we're all on the same page here.

[Wedding Tackle]

"You're mad that ENB responded to Lake calling her a liar by referencing their first shared activity together"

Nope!

You don't even know what the fuck is going on!

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Worst. Chatroom. Ever.

[Wedding Tackle]

Don't be so hard on yourself.

[Playa Manhattan.]

This might be the saddest thing I've ever seen.

[Wedding Tackle]

Don't be so hard on You ARE a Prog (MJG)

[DOOMco]

hahahahahhaha.
day made.

[Wedding Tackle]

You're welcome.

[DesigNate]

No, you haven't.

Fuck, twitter trolls are tiresome.

[Wedding Tackle]

^ So upset he can't even be coherent

[Wedding Tackle]

"DesigNate|12.30.16 @ 12:42PM|#

No, you haven't."

I mean, fuck, this doesn't make sense in any context. What the fuck is wrong with this idiot?

[Tommy_Grand]

sometimes young people confuse laying with lying

[commodious lies and cheats]

Wedding Tackle|12.30.16 @ 9:20AM|#|?|filter name link custom rehide

Bolded part is the one you want. You're welcome.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Uhh who is Eli Lake?

[Wedding Tackle]

Google.com

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Ok so he is some pot head journalist... what's the story here?

[Wedding Tackle]

So, you are either too stupid or too lazy to find out.

No wonder you'd take disability.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Keep dancing for my amusement monkey.

[Wedding Tackle]

You're the one who came here to reply to me.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I said dance bitch!

[Wedding Tackle]

Remember how you asked something and, instead i told you to go to google!

And you did!

Charleston next motherfucker.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Don't forget to shake that ass, make it go low. I like that.

[Wedding Tackle]

I like how you came in here to reply because you couldn't hell yourself.

Remember how you asked something and, instead i told you to go to google!

And you did!

Hustle next motherfucker.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

*Half-Vice bends Wedding Tackle over and grinds his dick up against his asshole*

That's a good little bitch, now keep working it.

[Wedding Tackle]

Remember how you asked something and, instead i told you to go to google!

And you did!

Rumba next puta

[Wedding Tackle]

I also like how you gave up time from your day to come to this thread an post, because i made you.

I actually own you. Not metaphorically, you're here because of me and you can't leave.

I'm hard about that.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

You're dancing at my command bitch.

I got you all tied up in stings cause I like to watch the struggle.

Now dip and pop it again!

[Wedding Tackle]

Remember how you asked something and, instead i told you to go to google!

And you did!

Waltz next esel.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

You'll never be the prettiest girl on the dance floor, but you keep spinnin' doll and I just may let you have a taste of cock.

You should be rewarded for being so obedient.

[All tied up in STINGS!!!!]

Ahahahhahaahahja STINGS!!!!

[All tied up in STINGS!!!!]

Oh no!! Not the scorpion death drop!!!

STINGS!!!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Name changes are for cowards, which isn't surprising in your case.

Now keep dancing, I didn't say stop.

I order, and you follow. You are good at it.

[All tied up in STINGS!!!!]

Awww that comment....STINGS!!!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAJAAH DANCE BITCH!!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

You're obedient like a dog.

Go fetch!

[All tied up in STINGS!!!!]

No one cares about your sex life.

Ahahahajajaj STINGS!!!!!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Good boy.

*tosses another tennis ball*

Go get it mutt.

[All tied up in STINGS!!!!]

Ahahahahahahahahahja STINGS!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Now you're just barking like a bitch in heat.

*tosses another tennis ball*

Go on bitch, I said fetch.

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

*tosses another tennis ball*

One of these times I know you'll get distracted with eating your own shit.

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Oh shit, I seemed to have knocked the troll out. His head is spinning and he's on a loop.

It wasn't much of a fight, you went down like a little bitch.

Since you are on your knees anyway.

*unzips*

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

"Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|12.30.16 @ 1:00PM|#

Ahh so cashing disability checks is what allows you me this free time."

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

That mumbling is just an aftereffect of getting laid out like a pathetic weakling.

He's so dazed he doesn't know where he is right now.

*holds a finger in front of A coward tied up in STINGS!!!! face*

No dude that's not my penis, stop trying to suck it. I'll tell you when to suck it and you will obey.

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

"Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|12.30.16 @ 1:00PM|#

Ahh so cashing disability checks is what allows me this free time."

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Yup, his skull was too weak and brittle.

I take full responsibility for causing his brain damage.

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

"Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|12.30.16 @ 1:00PM|#

Ahh so cashing disability checks is what allows me this free time."

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[Wedding Tackle]

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Troll - Zero

Half-Virtue - at least 50 uncontested points.

Game. Set. Match.

Just for my own enjoyment. *tosses another tennis ball*

Fetch bitch! I know you want to.

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

"Half-Virtue, Half-Vice|12.30.16 @ 1:00PM|#

Ahh so cashing disability checks is what allows me this free time."

"I got you all tied up in stings"

Ahhaahhahaahhaah STINGS!

"cause I like to watch the struggle."

You mean with your english!?!?

Ahahahhaahahahahaahh STINGS!!!

[A coward tied up in STINGS!!!!]

I knew you'd quit like a bitch.

Clean yourself up and get out.

I win.

[Wedding Tackle]

Fuck you ENB, stop spreading people's business.

[Swiss Servator]

Stop it with the negative waves, Moriarty!

[Wedding Tackle]

Talk to the peanut gallery about that.

[Crusty Juggler]

Talk to the peanut gallery about that.

Isn't that a Buttplug phrase? Its dealer must have just stopped by.

[Wedding Tackle]

"Isn't that a Buttplug phrase? "

Only if you're a sheltered idiot.

[Swiss Servator]

Yup.

Strange.

[Wedding Tackle]

That i use a common turn of phrase?

No, it isnt.

[SugarFree]

Fuck off, Eli.

[Wedding Tackle]

Or what?

Right. Nothing from you either, unless you count the stench from your rotting feet.

[SugarFree]

Ah, see... this is just the same troll that has been running Hail Retaxes for the past couple of weeks. It doesn't care about ENB at all, it's just trying out a new way to beg for attention.

Starve it.

[Wedding Tackle]

"Starve it"

As you post.

[Wedding Tackle]

"It doesn't care about ENB"

Incorrect. I can care about her, and point out you're going to die a horrible, painful dwath long, long before me.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA. A painful dwath? Are you a moron? What the fuck's a dwath?? LOLOLOL

[Wedding Tackle]

"What the fuck's a dwath?? "

Hey! There's something else you don't know!

[Wedding Tackle]

I mean God damn your so butt hurt you came to an entirely separate sub thread to come after me over a typo!

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

You idiot! You fucking dope! You mistyped a word!

[Wedding Tackle]

And you followed me here to hassle me about it!!!

[Wedding Tackle]

And by the way, it's called a "typo". You admitted you didn't know what it was, glad i could help.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Death is a messenger of Joy, fool.

[Wedding Tackle]

It is when you live in a rotting diseased shell riddled with diabetes.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Ahh so cashing disability checks is what allows you all this free time?

[Wedding Tackle]

Why would you assume someone with diabetes would take disability, just because you're a deadbeat who would?

[DOOMco]

ooooh you got him

[Wedding Tackle]

Ooooh you got me.

[Wedding Tackle]

I mean, i'm not going to let him impugn sugarfree like that.

SugarFree is garbage, but he's not a deadbeat.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ISIS has rigged entire neighborhood blocks to blow up with hidden, interconnected mines.

Time for the kingslayer to do his thing.

[CPRM]

lose a hand?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Bone his sister.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Democrat advisor #1: Mr. President, did you see the latest ISIS madness?
Obama: I see. Interesting.
Democrat advisor: What do we do?
Democrat advisor #2: Shhh! He's tinkin', he's tinkin'!
Democrat advisor #1: Right, let us marvel one last time!
Obama: Very well! Bring me my pen!
Democrat advisor #1 (fist pumps): Yes!
DA#2: What will the good brilliant man do?
Obama (winks): Simple. First, I'ma gonna write into law something to block Trump from doing anything about it aaaannnnd I'ma gonna, and that's second, blame Russian hacking to show I didn't know about this until I read it in the papers.
Democrat advisors (smiling in awe begin clapping): See, this is why we needed you for a third term! THREE DIMENSIONAL TINKIN'!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Seems racist.

[Lord Humungus]

Miami Fan Punches West Virginia Fan With Prosthetic Leg in Bathroom Fight

It seems the WVU fan was upset about the Miami fan cutting the bathroom line, so he yelled, "Get in line like everybody else," at him. The WVU fan?who, as you'll see in the clip, only has one leg and uses a prosthetic leg to get around?then got up into the Miami fan's face and repeated himself several times before threatening to pee on the Miami fan. And that prompted the Miami fan, who is a lot smaller than the WVU fan, to wind up and punch the WVU fan in the face before turning and running out of the bathroom immediately.

But the action didn't end there. The Miami fan got away unscathed, but the angry WVU fan briefly gave chase and yelled "You better run!" at him. And the WVU fan also dropped this bombshell on the Miami supporter once he realized he wasn't going to be able to catch him: "I used to f*ck guys like you in prison!"

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

+1 Roadhouse

[Free Society]

It seems the WVU fan was upset about the Miami fan cutting the bathroom line,

So..."Florida man cuts in line..."

[Swiss Servator]

"I used to f*ck guys like you in prison!"

WVU motto?

*ducks*

[juris imprudent]

+1 narrowed [cross-eyed] gaze

[jack sprat]

" you eat pieces of shit for breakfast?"

[Glide]

Damn it, I was hoping "with prosthetic leg" was attached to "punches" and not "West Virginia fan" in that sentence construction.

[UnCivilServant]

yeah, I was disappointed that this wasn't an event where a one-legged man removed the fake limb and used it as a cudgel (which is what the sentence implied to me)

[invisible furry hand]

It doesn't help you win elections if you're openly disdainful toward the driving force in many Americans' lives.

Interesting piece on the Democrats' problem with religion

[KDN]

For years the media has approached white religiosity with a mix of curiosity and disdain, which is most likely a reflection of typical gentry liberal opinion on the subject, while basically shrugging and accepting it among blacks. It's always seemed rather racist to me: "sure the blacks can have their silly superstitions but you guys look, walk, talk, and act like me and should know better."

[CatoTheChipper]

In a multicultural electorate, religious belief is just another political wedge for politicians to exploit.

The Democrats don't have a problem with religion. They have ceded traditionally religious Christians to the GOP. The GOP gets to exploit that segment of the electorate while the Democrats get to exploit every segment that dissents from traditional religious Christianity.

It has worked pretty well for both parties, but neither can have their cake and eat it too.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Fake news alert: Guardian writer Ben Jacobs' claims about Julian Assange praising Trump and having close ties to Putin turned out to be fabricated.

And not only are they not admitting they fabricated quotes, they're arguing with the woman who did the interview in the first place.

[invisible furry hand]

If you've ever wondered what a golden crapper in a small ridiculously decorated house looks like...

[UnCivilServant]

Trump Australia?

[Lord Humungus]

Mini-Trump Tower

[Lee Genes]

Story Time

10-10-220 (or 321 I can't remember) was the brainchild of a plumber who owned some payphones on military bases in Norfolk. He came up with the idea of buying long-distance time in bulk and reselling it.

He sold his company to MCI for millions and then did what every other lottery-winning plumber does. He built a massive house and outfitted it with gold plumbing fixtures to the tune of just under $30 million. He then promptly went bankrupt.

Here's the house, which looks like a Baptist funeral home from the outside.

[Fist of Etiquette]

..."democracy persists ... but liberty is under siege."

It's almost like those things don't need to be mutually exclusive.

[I can't even]

It's really like Fareed Zakaria is another leftist throwing a hissy fit because they lost. He can't even provide examples, he just feelz bad.

[Bill Dalasio]

He can't even provide examples, he just feelz bad.

That's simple to explain. Take all of the authoritarian bullshit that Donald Trump has ever spouted. Now put it all together. Fareed Zakaria calls that Thursday.

[Chip Your Pets]

He forgot Venezuela. 😉

Strange that Reason presents Zakharia's opinion as if it were fact, rather than prefacing with "Fareed Zakharia writes that..."

[invisible furry hand]

A penile implant that pops up in a warm bath (SFW)

[invisible furry hand]

A mix of dead 2016 musicians released too early to include George Michael and whoever else dies in the next 24 hours

[Lord Humungus]

Proof of the existence of Warty and the timesuit:

Romans Used to Ward Off Sickness with Flying Penis Amulets

Centuries ago, before modern medicine, in a time when humans fought disease and sickness in more, uh, mystical ways, ancient Romans centered on a solution that today might get you reported, or at least looked at askance: amulets for you and your children shaped like giant penises. The amulets?and also, frequently, wind chimes?were shaped like a fascinum, or a divine penis, to ward off disease and the evil eye.

But they were used for more than that, too, as ancient Roman boys also wore the amulets, called bullae, to indicate their social status (like whether they were slaves or free boys), while young girls had a similar counterpart. In order to increase the efficacy of a bulla or another adornment, such as a kid's ring, they were crafted into the shape of, or adorned with, giant penises.

"The sexual energy of the phallus was tied directly to its power in reproduction," according to classicist Anthony Philip Corbeill. The fertile power of a phallus, it was thought, would keep them safe.

[invisible furry hand]

Big Pharma is stopping this ancient knowledge from helping up today

[Shirley Knott]

What a bunch of dicks.

[straffinrun]

You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.
-Marcus Agrippa.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrovs gaze*

[Crusty Juggler]

American drunk driving rates are at a new low, according to federal data.

Fucking millennial sissy-faggots. SMDH.

[widget]

No accounting is made for cost of sobriety. Drunk driving reached it's peak in about 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

[BigT]

Sorry, I've been on a 47-yr bender. When exactly did this so-called moon trip take place?

[Slammer]

American drunk driving rates are at a new low, according to federal data.

This proves the roadblocks are working. Increase the budgets!!

[BigT]

Uber uber taxis

[invisible furry hand]

Here's how to say "Donald Trump" in American Sign Language

[Rufus The Monocled]

Awesome.

So part of my life now.

[invisible furry hand]

Lindsay Lohan says her finger injury helps her understand refugees

[UnCivilServant]

Somehow I doubt it even helps her understand what it's like to have an injured finger.

[Crusty Juggler]

When did she start looking like Candy Crowley?

[Shirley Knott]

Another few years and she'll look like Aleister.

[invisible furry hand]

+1 OTO

[commodious lies and cheats]

Lohan is focusing on new projects and says that she "fell in love with loving myself."

The finger helps with that.

[Swiss Servator]

*begins sustained applause*

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

That's how it was injured in the first place.

[commodious lies and cheats]

"Fishing accident" is quite the euphemism!

[Mock-star]

+1 Roast Beef DJ

[Bill Dalasio]

Damn! She has not aged well. I looked it up. She's 30. I'd peg her for mid-40s, at least.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

LOL...you'd peg Lindsay Lohan?

[Lord Humungus]

Nearing exit, Obama seeks to tie Trump's hands

President Obama has taken a flurry of unilateral actions in the waning days of his tenure that appear designed to box in President-elect Donald Trump.

Obama's decision Thursday to sanction Russian entities for election-related hacking is just the latest obstacle he has placed in Trump's way.

Day before the sanctions were unveiled, the Obama administration allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlement activity ? something that could have an indelible impact on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Obama has also permanently banned oil and gas drilling large swaths of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, closed off 1.6 million acres of Western land to development and scrapped the last vestiges of a registration system used largely on Muslim immigrants.

"permanently"

[UnCivilServant]

He's throwing a tantrum, but isn't smart enough to realize that he hasn't done much beyond scuff the paint.

[Tyler.C]

They keep using that word, because they are trying to get people to believe that he can't do anything about it. So when he does they will scream loudly that what he is doing is illegal.

[thom]

Democrats claim that the reason Trump is so dangerous is that whoever is the President is terribly important to the everyday fortunes of the country.

At the same time they are actively trying to set up the next President for complete and utter failure, even though he will be in office for four years.

By their own logic they are working against the interests of the American people, and trying to set us up for four years of misery, because they are upset about the outcome of an election.

That really says a lot about who these people are.

[Bill Dalasio]

How are these things "permanent" other than Obama and his friends in the media say they're permanent. I think it's fair to say that any executive action done by one executive can be undone by his successor. He was elected president, not God-King.

[SimonD]

No, Republicans are elected President, Democrats ARE elected God-King. You would know these things if you'd gone to an Ivy League school like they did.

[Chip Your Pets]

The laws in question only give the president the power to declare things monuments, not to un-declare them.

It would be an interesting question whether those power grants are unconstitutional, were it not for the fact that the courts are just another political branch at this point, and have been packed with Obama appointees.

Personally, I think the GOP should tell the Senate Dems that if they try to block the undoing of Obama's lame duck bullshit, then they lose filibuster rights.

[Toast88]

If the GOP had any balls, they wouldn't be fretting about optics, filibusters, etc. Dems sure as shit didn't when they nuked the filibuster and forced people to engage in private contracts. But you can already tell the Republicans---even the few who truly believe in small government---are already scared shitless by the power they're going to get, that could be used absolutely legitimately to roll back Obama's authoritarian bullshit measures.

With control of the three legislative bodies, the GOP could do a bit of good by absolutely abolishing Obamacare (fuck holding 300+ million people hostage to help subsidize 20 million people. Sorry, 8 percent, the other 92 percent don't owe you a fucking thing), universally implement school choice and implement a balanced budget amendment (they have the numbers!).

But they won't do any of that fucking shit. I guarantee you!! "Oh, we're going to repeal Obamacare, all right. And then replace it with something better that still includes pre-existing conditions." THEN IT'S STILL FUCKING OBAMACARE, YOU FUCKING IDIOTS.

[CatoTheChipper]

Nothing is permanent, but that doesn't mean that it's easy to undo what Obama has wrought.

Once a regulation is promulgated, it cannot be undone with a stroke of a pen. In addition to drafting the language to rescind a regulation, rescission typically requires a formal process including waiting times for public comment, public hearings, etc.

Executive orders are perhaps easier to undo.

But, behind every regulation and every executive order there is an array of special interests that will fight tooth and nail for it to stay in place. Trump is not really very rich in political capital, so he will have to choose his battles. However, he's an uncannily savvy guy in this regard, something like an idiot savant.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

He was elected president, not God-King.

Maybe he or Congress could proclaim his divinity?

[Crusty Juggler]

Trump fans' 'Deploraball' party shows rift in alt-right movement

Supporters of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have appropriated the phrase "basket of deplorables" - used by Hillary Clinton during the campaign to pillory some of his backers - to plan an inauguration party called the "Deploraball."

But while the intention might be to mock the defeated Democratic candidate, the planned gathering has revealed a deep schism within the ranks of a movement known as the alt-right: pitting those embracing white nationalism or outright racism against those seeking a more credible platform for hard-right conservatives.

The party will be held at the National Press Club in Washington the night before Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, when many official inauguration events are taking place.

Organizers say the Deploraball is a cocktail party for Trump supporters from all ethnic backgrounds and no incendiary or discriminatory actions will be allowed. Organizers call themselves "Trumpists" and say they have sold 1,000 tickets ranging in price from $99 to $2,500. But after an online battle between star guests, Deploraball organizers offered ticket holders refunds "in light of recent events."

I would not want to be a single, blonde woman walking around near that party.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I would not want to be a single, blonde woman walking around near that party.

No need to worry. 75% of the people there will be undercover journalists. The other 25% are in committed relationships with their dakimakura pillows.

[UnCivilServant]

It's the journalists who will be trouble.

[Crusty Juggler]

Those maniacs Mike Cernovich and Tim Treadstone are going to be there, and those guys have people.

[Azathoth!!]

Ha Ha!

This is from a fake news site--Reuters.

Good one.

[Lord Humungus]

The left's emerging 'fake news' problem

Conservative news outlets had earlier seized on local reporting that indicated some parents believed a Pennsylvania elementary school's production of "A Christmas Carol" had been shuttered over the Jewish parents' alleged complaints over its line "God bless us, everyone."

The idea the performance was canceled over the famous line ? which the school denied ? caused outrage and, as the story went, left the Jewish family so worried for their safety that they decided to skip town.

It hit all the desired notes for left-leaning publications and personalities. It demonized outlets like Breitbart and Fox News while supposedly putting on display the real-life consequences of "fake news."

It was everywhere.

The only problem? The story wasn't true.

The Anti-Defamation League investigated it and, after speaking with the family, determined they had not fled town over fears of retribution. What they had done was go on a "previously planned vacation for the holidays."

[Tyler.C]

Blasted by their own petard.

[UnCivilServant]

Well, it is a giant black-powder bomb.

[Mr. Flanders]

[i]"We need left criticism of mainstream assumptions now more than ever," Flaherty said. "I just don't want the information underpinning it to be untrue." [/i]

Good luck with that.

[Mr. Flanders]

Damn brackets, we need an edit button around here.

[BigT]

It's every one, not everyone.

"In the story, Tiny Tim is known for the statement, "God bless us, every one!" which he offers as a blessing at Christmas dinner."

As 'everyone' it would be a command. As 'every one' it's a supplication.

[Lord Humungus]

Are you the Ghost of Ted S.?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Ok, I lol'd.

[Mr. Flanders]

Terkel said it was wrong to conflate fake news articles that are wholly fabricated with stories that end up being incorrect because the reporter was operating on limited information.

"There is a difference between reporters misinterpreting a source or needing to correct a story versus what's now happening with fake news," she told Business Insider.

Not really, though. Presenting limited information that contains fake information as a fully fact-checked story is still lying to your audience and reporting fake news.

[Chip Your Pets]

incorrect because the reporter was operating on limited information

LOL, everyone is always operating on limited information. In this case, the reporter presented an incendiary story as fact without checking to make sure it was true.

However, "fake" implies something that is knowingly passed off as something it's not. This case could be called "false news" or "wrong news" perhaps.

[CatoTheChipper]

There is a difference between fake news and bad journalism.

You can visualize it with a Venn diagram where the circle representing fake news is partially overlaid by the other.

See today's Greenwald article for an example of the intersection of the fake news and bad journalism sets.

The present example seems more likely to be old-fashioned bad journalism outside of the intersection.

[Mr. Flanders]

Bad journalism just leads to fake news. If you don't do your fact checking, you'll end up reporting false stories, otherwise known as fake news. I get that there is some nuance around this because not fact checking is not exactly the same as totally fabricating a story from the ground up, but the result is very similar.

[Free Society]

But on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country won't retaliate by expelling American diplomats from Russia.

Just when you thought Obama couldn't look more like a child throwing a temper tantrum, Putin has to go and make himself look like an adult.

[Domestic Dissident]

My prediction for the new year is that the democratic party is going to quietly but quickly shun this petulant little child and push him off to side almost the minute he's out of office.

It's beginning to dawn on them just what a total disaster he has been for them, and a lot of them are genuinely pissed about what he just did to Israel.

[Juvenile Bluster]

They're going to push him to the side, but that's not going to keep him from speaking.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Obama is leaving office with a 58% approval rating. The Bushpigs slithered out with a 22% rating. Poor Dubya is still not welcome at a GOP Convention.

[Domestic Dissident]

The same bullshit polls that showed Hildog was going to win? They have almost as little credibility as you do, Weigel.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

The American people like him so much, they gave the governorships, the house of representatives, the senate, and the presidency to the party opposite his. That totally jibes.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

"Yes sir, Mr. President!"

[KDN]

People generally like Barack Obama: he's a well-spoken, good looking guy that says unobjectionable things and has a beautiful* family which he seems to adore. They just hate every decision that he makes and want to keep those with a similar set of priorities away from the levers of power.

It's very relatable. All of us have bosses, coworkers, or family members that are great people but total incompetents.

*I don't find Michelle Obama attractive either, but that's not the point.

[commodious lies and cheats]

And Hillary won the popular vote.

[Toast88]

Not to defend Trump because fuck him, but the Hillary popular vote argument is kind of dumb when you realize Trump won the no -California state's by literally millions of votes....

[BigT]

Bush left with very bad relations with most of the nations in the world. Obama has made those relations much worse.

Is there a single country with which the US has better relations now than in Jan 19, 2009?

[Free Society]

Iran? That is if you count "perceived weakness" as improved relations.

[Chip Your Pets]

Bush left with very bad relations with most of the nations in the world.

No fan of Bush, but that's bullshit leftist propaganda.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Evidence? All I see is them doubling down on their special nrand of stupodity.

[I can't even]

I wish you were right. I think they are going to double down on stupid. They already expelled the blue-collar base. This week, they ejected the Jews.

Read this yesterday - How George Soros Destroyed the Democratic Party

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/26526.....greenfield

[Fist of Etiquette]

Guardian writer Ben Jacobs' claims about Julian Assange praising Trump and having close ties to Putin turned out to be fabricated.

Could it be we find the Russkies weren't the ones exposing campaign douchebaggery?

[Tyler.C]

More fake news!!!

[Lord Humungus]

6-year-old uses sleeping mom's thumb to break into phone to buy $250 in Pokemon toys

The 6-year-old waited until her mother was asleep, grabbed her mom's thumb, and used it to unlock the fingerprint security that guarded the phone.

According to The Wall Street Journal article that revealed the story, Howell's mother thought she had been hacked after she received 13 order confirmations for Pokemon toys.

"No, Mommy, I was shopping," Ms. Howell said her daughter told her. "But don't worry?everything that I ordered is coming straight to the house."

Fortunately for Ashlynd, only four of the items were able to be returned.

[That's A Bingo!]

The children are our future.

[UnCivilServant]

I thought the robot overlords were our future

[Tejicano]

They're in it together, can't you see?

[Libertarian]

It's getting harder and harder to tell 6 yr olds and Democrats apart.

[Tyler.C]

A democrat would have run with the 'you got hacked angle'.

[Tejicano]

Yeah, but only after trying the "the Russians did it" angle first. Duh!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Soros defends Open Society capitalism against rising tide of fascism:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/hmv9ezo

Democracy is now in crisis. Even the US, the world's leading democracy, elected a con artist and would-be dictator as its president. Although Trump has toned down his rhetoric since he was elected, he has changed neither his behavior nor his advisers. His cabinet comprises incompetent extremists and retired generals.
What lies ahead?
I am confident that democracy will prove resilient in the US. Its Constitution and institutions, including the fourth estate, are strong enough to resist the excesses of the executive branch, thus preventing a would-be dictator from becoming an actual one.

The US will prevail.

[Wedding Tackle]

Soros the Nazi?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Where did you get your redneck degree?

[Wedding Tackle]

Soros the Nazi?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Jew = Nazi. You are a special kind of idiot for sure.

[KDN]

Oh no, there were absolutely no collaborators. That's a myth! Christfag propaganda!

[Marshall Gill]

So, you deny the part of Soros's own autobiography where he calls his days in the Hitler Youth "the happiest time of my life"? Since you are a lying piece of shit, of course you do.

Soros is not a libertarian and would vehemently deny such a term. I would imagine that he defines himself as a "socialist".

[Palin's Buttplug]

You're an idiot. Soros is self described as Open Society. There is nothing socialist about that. And he was never a Nazi. He ran from them and hates them (as well as GOP fascists) to this day.

[libertreee]

Jew does equal Nazi in the bizzaro world of the Ukraine as exiled Russian jewish oligarchs fund private armies of neo-nazis and chechyan wahabists.

[DJF]

""""Its Constitution and institutions, including the fourth estate, """

It would help if Soros actually read the Constitution, the"fourth estate" is not mentioned

[Palin's Buttplug]

It would qualify as an "institution" which is not possessive in its use.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Curious as to a self-described classical liberal such as yourself would even point to a story George Soros.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Soros is a frequent guest speaker at Cato.

I know - Soros is no TEAM RED! sycophant so he can't be a real libertarian....

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

Soros is a frequent guest speaker at Cato.

Yeah, and Fox News has Democrats on their shows, too. Your point?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Palin's Buttplug was the star in a resource class production of 'Of Mice and Men' as 'Lennie'.

[Chipwooder]

Being a guest speaker at Cato = libertarian? Even for someone as dimwitted as you, that's a pathetic conclusion.

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

/WHACK !!!

[Swiss Servator]

KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from your fellow Jews, friends and neighbors.

SOROS: Yes. That's right. Yes.

KROFT: I mean, that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many, years. Was it difficult?

SOROS: No, not at all. Not at all, I rather enjoyed it.

KROFT: No feelings of guilt?

SOROS: No, only feelings of absolute power.

[Marshall Gill]

Hell, I am convinced! You don't get more Libertarian than that!

[libertreee]

Soros is a vulture capitalist who made a fortune plundering
Russia in the 1990's . Shame on CATO but the cosmotarian wing of the libertarian movement is in bed with the guy

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

including the fourth estate, are strong enough to resist the excesses of the executive branch

Let's hope their skills haven't atrophied from eight years of disuse.

[Free Society]

It hasn't been in disuse. They've been loyally shilling for the Democrats for a while now.

[straffinrun]

He's got you there, Swifty.

[Swiss Servator]

Different muscle groups.

*lights Warty signal*

[Cis Species Lord of Feces]

"Con artist and would-be dictator" is a pretty accurate job description for the presidency, so I am not sure what the fuss is about.

[Swiss Servator]

"Con artist and would-be dictator" is a pretty accurate job description for the presidency political office, so I am not sure what the fuss is about.

Repaired.

[Get To Da Chippah]

Even the US, the world's leading democracy, elected a con artist and would-be dictator as its president.

It took him eight years to figure that out?

[Tyler.C]

I'm no fan of generals, but why is that flown as proof of something completely ominous in the cabinet?

[Swiss Servator]

Shit, I should have stayed in 5 more years....If I could have gotten those stars pinned on, I WULD HAV ABSOLUT POWERZ!!!!

[The Fusionist]

If a general lives long enough, I guess he (or she) will probably retire.

Eisenhower did.

Isn't Eisenhower the *beau ideal* of the Responsible Republican?

[ant1sthenes]

Soros' "open society" is bullshit, in practice he supports censorship and totalitarian rule by technocrats. It's the sort of idea you might get if you thought the Nazis had a lot of good ideas about how to run a society, excluding the minority-hating stuff. If Karl Popper's ghost meets Soros, he's in for a hell of an ectoplasmic bitchslap.

[Chip Your Pets]

The statist left does like to steal pro-liberty monikers, doesn't it? They snagged "liberal" from us a century ago, though they have long since soiled the term and attempted to abandon it.

[Domestic Dissident]

Fake news alert: Guardian writer Ben Jacobs' claims about Julian Assange praising Trump and having close ties to Putin turned out to be fabricated.

Game recognize game.

[Lord Humungus]

Senators to push for further sanctions against Russia under Trump

GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) ? two vocal foreign policy hawks ? called the moves by the Obama administration "long overdue" but promised to push tougher sanctions next year.

"We intend to lead the effort in the new Congress to impose stronger sanctions on Russia," the two senators said in a joint statement on Thursday.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) also said Thursday that the Obama administration's announcement was "overdue."

Democrats, as well as some Republicans, have publicly fretted for months about Donald Trump's warmer tone toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and pledged to take a tougher stance against than the incoming administration.

[Free Society]

I plain don't like John McCain, but Lindsey Graham is easily the worst GOP politician on the national stage. He is widely despised, he's like the Nancy Pelosi of the Republican Party. The reasons he is so widely despised is not singular, but could fill books. Everything he says or does manages to be absurdly wrong in some way, he can't help himself.

[Lord Humungus]

and I like the state of South Carolina.

Of course Michigan's senators aren't any great shakes either - they just vote the Democrat party line but at least they (mostly) keep their traps shut.

[Free Society]

South Carolina is lovely. I try my best not to blame the people there for Lindsey Graham.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

How can they elect a high-caliber broad like Niki Haley, and Lindsey Graham at the same time?

[Free Society]

Lindsey's electoral district within the state might have a higher than average concentration of assholes.

[Swiss Servator]

District? Is he not in the Senate?

[Free Society]

Yeah I weren't thinkin' real good. You gots me.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

^^This.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

(meant to point to Swissie)

[Free Society]

It's too late. I was already crying at 11:18

[I can't even]

The fact that he wins primaries and general elections in SC says much about the power of incumbency. How is it that nobody can primary a big-government, badly closeted homosexual out of office in SC?

[Free Society]

It remains a mystery to me why anyone of any political persuasion would vote for the guy year after year. There's nothing to like unless you're a single issue voter and your single issue is support for constant and total warfare.

[The Fusionist]

Perhaps it's a combination of (a) deterring good candidates from primarying him and (b) getting Republicans to vote for him in the general, because what are they gonna do, support a Democrat?

[Free Society]

I lean towards (a). The party machines in some states are as impenetrable as a work of Thomas Picketty's fiction.

[Not an Economist]

Russia has done lots of stuff (harassing US diplomats, other hacking incidents, stuff in Syria) in recent years that could justify some sort of reaction from the US. Hacking the DNC -- even if Russia did it which I doubt -- is probably the least significant of them.

[Chip Your Pets]

Have they done anything to us that we don't do to them and to other countries?

We didn't retaliate against the USSR during the cold war for spying on us, and vice versa, because it was understood that everybody was spying on everybody, and ultimately it was understood that the onus was on us to better defend our secrets. Substitute "hacking" for "spying" and you have the current situation -- why do we feel it necessary to threaten sanctions for this kind of thing?

Agreed about the DNC hacking being insignificant though.

[Not an Economist]

I don't recall any beatings of diplomats in the cold war. And we did retaliate in the cold war, expelling "diplomats" when a message was needed. And the hacking part was more in what Russia is doing in Ukraine (shutting off power to parts of the country and other things). There is nothing that says we can't protest what Russia is doing to other countries. They do similar things to us, you just normally don't hear about them.

[Mongo]

Have a great New Year, ENB!

[Crusty Juggler]

Chinese rooster statue looks a lot like Trump

The man ruling the roost here in America won't be spared ridicule in China.

A towering statue of a rooster outside a China mall features ? rather obviously ? President-elect Donald Trump's furrowed brow, signature hand gestures and iconic combover coif of hair.

The 23-foot tall bird ? with golden feet and hair ? was constructed ahead of the start of the Year of the Rooster of the Chinese lunar calendar, the New York Times reported.

The picture, for those of you who hate words.

[straffinrun]

The Year of the Cuck.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

The Year of the Cluck.

[Mongo]

That's a great statue - some funny shit.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Yeah, they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, you know he ain't gonna die

[Mongo]

Camptown ladies sing this song DOODAH DOODAH

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

+ ah say +1, boy

[straffinrun]

+1 Puttin' Alice back in Chains

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

+1 Would

[Swiss Servator]

New fast food chain?

[Ska]

The hand positions are.... interesting.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

A two-handed version of the 'shocker'?

[Lord Humungus]

Naked dead body reported to police turns out to be a discarded blow up doll

Police rushed to a scene in the Netherlands this week following reports of a dumped naked dead body.

Approaching the remains with caution, officers called for an ambulance an put a cordon in place.

The area, which was situated just off of the A17 near Klundert, was treated as a crime scene.

However, it wasn't until officers got closer that they realised 'the dead body' wasn't actually ever alive to begin with.

Because it was a blow up doll? which had been stuffed with newspapers.

Dutch Date?

[Troy muy grande boner]

I was wondering where my Alice went? Come back Alice.

[Ken Shultz]

"Congressional leaders from Mr. Trump's own party endorsed the sanctions imposed by Mr. Obama, and two influential GOP senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, say they will push for even harsher measures. Lawmakers seem determined to hold hearings to investigate Russian hacking, potentially tipping U.S. public opinion more decisively against a Russian leadership that Mr. Trump is courting."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/do.....1483057733

Childish behavior by Pollyanna neocons.

Never mind American security interests . . .

We should never work with anybody unless their hearts are full of the bestest most wonderful goodness in the whole wide world!

[That's A Bingo!]

Just imagine what Russian hackers have on Lindsey Graham.

[UnCivilServant]

They remember he exists?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Just imagine...

Hmmm... ewwww.... GAH!!!

[Lord Humungus]

Trump's Inauguration Rabbi Slams Obama With Anti-Semitism Charge

The rabbi scheduled to deliver remarks at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration charged President Barack Obama as an anti-Semite.

According to a Wednesday news release sent to Mic News, Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, will participate in the January 20th inauguration ceremony with five other faith leaders.

...

Named after Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, the center listed Obama as complicit Tuesday among the "Top Ten Worst Global 2016 Anti-Semitic/Anti-Israel Incidents." Adding insult to injury, the organization also created the Twitter hashtag #TopTenAntiSemitic2016.

The slam against Obama comes immediately following the administration's defense of its abstention vote on a resolution condemning Israeli settlements at the UN Security Council last week.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Haaretz - "Obama's strong pro-Israel record"

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.662588

Lesson - Never believe a wingnut.

[Domestic Dissident]

Give it up Weigel. This is another losing hand for you, just like Hildog. Most of your beloved democrats is already disavowing what he did.

[Marshall Gill]

But Haaretz is the Israeli version of reason! They are positively Libertarian! Not. Socialist. At. All!

[Tyler.C]

I'd ask if you, hihn, AmSoc, and addictionmyth are on rotation, but most of you are sock puppets

[DOOMco]

hihn is real.

[The Fusionist]

It's paywalled.

[incredibly offensive remark deleted]

[commodious lies and cheats]

#TopTenAntiSemitic2016

Catchy.

[Crusty Juggler]

The luxurious, 45-acre compound in Maryland being shut down for alleged Russian espionage

The site was purchased by the Soviet government in 1972, and became something of a resort for Soviets living in the United States. It is the former estate of John J. Raskob, a former executive for DuPont and General Motors perhaps best known as the builder of the Empire State Building. The Soviets later added to the estate by making a deal with the State Department, which received two properties in Moscow in return.

At the time of its purchase, there was some resistance to the sale of the building to the Soviets, with the local newspaper reporting there were "fears of nuclear submarines surfacing in the Chester River to pick up American secrets and defectors."

But by 1974, the New York Times reported that many locals had been won over, with the help of dinner parties and gifts of vodka and caviar. "As far as neighbors are concerned you couldn't ask for better," Joe Handley, a former estate manager for Raskob, told The Washington Post in 1979. "They don't bother anybody."

[Lord Humungus]

Contractor sues couple, claiming pet squirrel attack

A contractor is suing a Virginia couple for $90,000 for injuries he says were caused when their pet squirrel attacked them all.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Monday Daniel Felice says he was doing contract work this summer when Deborah and Paul Desjardin's squirrel bit and scratched his leg and hand.

The lawsuit says the couple was keeping the animal as a pet.

Paul Desjardin says they never had a pet squirrel, and that the animal lived outside in their neighborhood, but never indoors with them.

[Lord Humungus]

DC private schools giving Kellyanne Conway the brush-off

"But after the concert, all the parents converged on Kellyanne, congratulating and sucking up to her," said one source. "Kellyanne is asking everyone with connections to DC schools for help."

While in DC on Wednesday with her kids looking at schools, Conway told me, "I would not characterize myself as 'worried' so much as amused by the silence and sighs on the other end of the phone when friends and allies have made preliminary inquiries on our behalf."

While the posh private schools' handbooks and websites all preach "diversity" and "open-mindedness," Conway said, "For some, there is a comfort in sameness."

[thom]

She should just live in one of the nicer MD or VA counties and send her kids to public school.

[Crusty Juggler]

Gates Foundation in $140m anti-AIDS pact with Boston-based Intarcia

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is investing $50 million in Boston-based biotech firm Intarcia Therapeutics and plans to contribute another $90 million to the company in an effort to better prevent HIV in Africa.

The Gates Foundation money will help fund a preventive HIV treatment based on a "mini-pump" technology Intarcia developed that also could be used to treat type 2 diabetes.

The pump is filled with drugs and implanted under patients' skin near their abdomen. Body fluids are used to activate the device, which delivers medicine regularly for months at a time.

Intarcia spokesman Greg Baird said the system is meant to limit the kind of "human behavior" that sometimes makes drug treatments ineffective ? such as when patients forget to take a dose or fail to use a medicine as prescribed.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Our payload is on board the Falcon 9!

(how's that for a euphemism?)

[Swiss Servator]

Rocketastic!

[juris imprudent]

3... 2.... 1!!!

[Swiss Servator]

Standing there alone, the ship is waiting
All systems are go, are you sure?
Control is not convinced
But the computer has the evidence
No need to abort

The countdown starts, watching in a trance
The crew is certain

Nothing left to chance, all is working
Trying to relax, up in the capsule
"Send me up a drink", jokes Major Tom
The count goes on

4, 3, 2, 1
Earth below us, drifting falling
Floating weightless, calling calling home

[Lord Humungus]

Syria's Cease-fire Holding Despite Minor Violations

A nationwide Syrian cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey that went into effect at midnight was holding Friday despite minor violations, marking a potential breakthrough in a conflict that has been shredding high-level peace initiatives for over five years.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported clashes early Friday between troops and rebels in the central province of Hama and near the capital, Damascus, but said there have been no reports of civilian casualties since the truce began. The group also reported an aerial attack on the rebel-held Barda Valley near Damascus.

Opposition activist Mazen al-Shami, who is based in the Damascus suburb of Douma, said minor clashes nearby left one rebel wounded. Activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh, in the southern Daraa province, said government forces had opened fire on rebel-held areas.

[Tyler.C]

A shining b example of American diplomacy..... Err .. I mean if America had orchestrated that peace treaty there wouldn't have been any minor violations.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

In countries including the United States, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, and the Philippines, "democracy persists ... but liberty is under siege."

Forgot one

[straffinrun]

Time to call Steven Segal?

[Rufus The Monocled]

If I were Segal and Norris I'd be upset as to why Stallone shunned them to join The Expendables.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Norris was in the second one.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I stand corrected. I looked it up and remembered that.

[BestUsedCarSales]

And, oddly enough, it's Segal who refuses to be in the Expendables:

http://www.slashfilm.com/steve.....pendables/

[libertreee]

also forgot France, Sweden, England, etc who shun 1st amendment and free markets

[Juvenile Bluster]

Today in Fake News, we have AP reporters quoting Lyndon LaRouche newsletters from the 1980s

[Mongo]

The national press would always refer to LaRouche as a 'libertarian' when he considered himself and ran as a Democrat.

[Free Society]

Broken link. A very rich friend of mine is being stalked by these LaRouche people hitting him up for money. They apparently target wealthy people whose contact information they somehow gained from lists of people who contributed substantially to Ron Paul campaigns. Apparently these LaRouche people have a vision for America, a vision that seems more like a 19th century futurist's idea of the future. We need to irrigate the western deserts you see, by building a series of canals and rail lines to ship goods and water into the American west. That was LaRouche's big selling point apparently.

[Lord Humungus]

It was there - and then got deleted. I'm assuming some AP reporter is feeling embarrassed.

[Lord Humungus]

*assuming it got deleted

[Mongo]

The link worked for me.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Updated

[AlmightyJB]

I like how he uses Trump to try and evade responsibility for not verifying his source before posting. Losers.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Exactly. Not the best thing to admit "I didn't check the source til after I published it". In fact, he probably never checked the source - someone probably told him about it.

[Lord Humungus]

Exactly:

1. Find a source that agrees with a preconceived viewpoint.
2. Publish
3. Whoops!
4. Profit

[Free Society]

Why yes, the reporter was embarrassed. But I doubt the LaRouche people ever got better media exposure than those 30 minutes in the spotlight of some journo's twitter feed.

[invisible furry hand]

It's 1.20 AM and 82 degrees F, and I have a bastard head cold. Please kill me

[UnCivilServant]

I'm afraid it'd be well into the afternoon before I'd even get to the antipodes if I were able to leave now.

[Lord Humungus]

Lies! It's 9:20AM! /Universal time

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Please kill me

You live in Australia, just step outside.

[UnCivilServant]

I think the end IFH is asking for is supposed to be merciful, not at the mercy of the australian flora and fauna.

[invisible furry hand]

Good point. There's got to be at least a funnelweb spider somewhere in the backyard.

[straffinrun]

That's one hell of a fever. Hydrate now, IFH.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Needs more cowbell.

[invisible furry hand]

Thanks for your kind thoughts, but luckily that is not my temperature, just Sydney's. I am hydrating like a lunatic (soda water and lime juice) as I wait for the temperature to drop so that I can sleep

[Lord Humungus]

Needz more Gin.

[Swiss Servator]

Seconded.

[Zero Sum Game]

But... that temperature's in Fahrenheit. That would be a dangerously low body temperature.

[Rufus The Monocled]

9:30am, -3 degrees C and endless feets of snow.

At least we went skiing the other day.

[UnCivilServant]

9:35am 35 Degrees F, cloudy.

[Lord Humungus]

28F - with a few lazy snowflakes circling around.

[straffinrun]

11:44pm and cold.

[Darth Squirrel]

63F and partly cloudy. I'd say I live in paradise, but California is run by f*ing morons.

[CPRM]

15F (-9.4444C) and you guys are from the future, it's only 8:43am!

[Lord Humungus]

In the future we wear Spandex suits and cool wraparound sunglasses. Also gay men are free to roam the earth while Christians huddle in the religious ghettos. Be warned!

[UnCivilServant]

So the islamic invasion was thwarted?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

It was annexed.

[Free Society]

Jealous. I need snow damn it. I NEED it.

[CPRM]

"This is pure snow, it's everywhere! Have you any idea what the street value of this mountain is?!"

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

"Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn."

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Two Dollars

[CPRM]

-1 one Ricky's Mom

[Elspeth Flashman]

Gee, Ricky, I'm sorry your mom blew up.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Feck off with snow. Bad enough I have to scrape out a little window in the ice sarcophagus I drive to work every morning.

[Free Society]

There's nothing better than snow, ice and piercing cold wind. I love it. I fucking love winter.

I expressed a similar sentiment once at work in front of a customer. She got tears in her eyes and yelled at me that because of winter, her mother fell down on some ice and broke her hip and later died from complications. I think she was expecting me to apologize for being insensitive or something.

[UnCivilServant]

I like winter, but I also have a hundred and fifty pounds of salt for the walk.

[Free Society]

Salting sidewalks is for old people and neighbors of Nicole.

For one thing in Ohio, if someone slips and falls on your untreated sidewalk, that's because of natural forces outside of human control. But if they slip and fall on your salted and shoveled sidewalk, well that's negligence because you apparently didn't do a good enough job and now you owe them money says the court. No less than two of my clients, business owners, turned claims like this. Now I tell my clients, particularly business owners, not to shovel their sidewalk if they want to avoid liability for whatever happens on that sidewalk.

Secondly, the sun will shovel the sidewalk for me in a couple of days anyways.

Thirdly, hopefully Nicole walks by and gets incredibly pissed that I didn't shovel it and she calls the authorities on me.

[UnCivilServant]

I salt my sidewalks for my own benefit - because I have to walk on them.

[Lord Humungus]

My city plows the sidewalks... Are they assuming liability?

*laughs* of course not.

[Free Society]

Let no good deed go unpunished. That's why the government does it, because the plow guy got his paycheck from the stolen money of the community, so it's not a good deed and ergo does not require punishment.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

When I win the lottery, I'm-a buy one house in New Zealand, and one in Colorado, and never see summer again.

[Free Society]

I'll stay in your guest house and I can earn my keep by not shoveling any snow, ever.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

That's the orphans' job anyway!

[EDG reppin LBC]

Drink some whiskey. That'll fix you right up.

[Lord Humungus]

Once back in the crazy 70s, I was a kid sick with a cold. The old man fixed me up with a tall whiskey and coke. I drank it down - thought it tasted awful - and then went to play with my friends in the backyard.

"I can't feel my legs!" I remember saying out loud.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Ha!

We used to play midnight hockey while drunk at outside rinks in -20 degree weather in our 20s.

I miss those days.

[UnCivilServant]

I miss those days.

Blacked out for most of them?

[Rufus The Monocled]

I didn't say 'missed'.

There was one slender guy who would show up in a thin, black faux-leather jacket and tight GWG jeans. He'd skate around like a madman crashing into the boards much to our disbelief. It was right out of a movie.

[The Fusionist]

If you stand on your head you'll be right side up and you'll recover faster.

[Slammer]

Thousands of Star Wars: The Old Republic players gather to honor Carrie Fisher

[UnCivilServant]

Where did they find thousands of people who play that game?

[Ska]

By spamming servers for former players who are still playing WoW, GW2, and ESO?

[KDN]

People still play WoW? I gave that up when they turned every spec into Arms warriors.

"wait for it...wait for it..wait for it...PRESS 3 NOW!...wait for it...PRESS 3 NOW...PRESS 3 NOW...wait for it...wait for it..wait for it...wait for it...wait for it..wait for it..."

[UnCivilServant]

I gave up when I realized I wasn't having fun and that there was no difference in content for all the change in scenery as the game "progressed"

[Rufus The Monocled]

Man dressed in Greedo costume: I'm leaving, ma!
Mother: Where are you going?
Greedo: To honor Princess Leia!
Mother: Who?
Greedo: Just make sure the tacos are ready when I get back!
Mother: You're 46 years-old. When you get back we're gonna talk!

/slams door.

[Lord Humungus]

Britain, edging towards Trump, scolds Kerry over Israel

While Britain voted for the UN resolution that so angered Netanyahu and says that settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, a spokesman for May said that it was clear that the settlements were far from the only problem in the conflict.

In an unusually sharp public rebuke of Obama's top diplomat, May's spokesman said that Israel had coped for too long with the threat of terrorism and that focusing only on the settlements was not the best way to achieve peace between Jew and Arab.

London also took particular issue with Kerry's description of Netanyahu's coalition as "the most right-wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by its most extreme elements."

"We do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically-elected government of an ally," May's spokesman said when asked about Kerry 70-minute speech in the State Department's auditorium.

[Swiss Servator]

SMART DIPLOMACY!!!!!

[Free Society]

I love how Kerry uses "right-wing" as a stand-in for racist, sexist, bigoted et cetera, and they genuinely expect that to come across as sober analysis to the public that thoroughly rebuked everything the leftists have done for the last 8 years.

[Tyler.C]

They don't understand, to Obama and co. The right-wing is the only enemy, both foreign and domestic.

[The Fusionist]

Screw you, May, you voted for the bloody resolution, didn't you?

[libertreee]

So sick of all the talking heads shouting Israel is our best ally! Israel in no sense is an ally, it is at best a troublesome client state.

[Lord Humungus]

MicheleJaffe ?@Mrsjaff 22m22 minutes ago
@iowahawkblog, do you have a queen? No kneeling unless you have a queen.

[Lord Humungus]

David Burge
?@iowahawkblog

.@Mrsjaff Iowa's Bacon Queen cooks her bacon on muscle car headers. GAME. SET. MATCH. #NationalBaconDay

Linky with Video

[UnCivilServant]

oh good, foil wrapped. Bacon grease is not the best engine lubricant.

[Libertarian]

Nor is 10w40 the best lard.

[widget]

Without Twitter Iowahawk would have to go back to blogging quarterly essays or commenting on H&R. He did comment here about 12 years ago, I'm not the librarian but I think this much is searchable.

[Lord Humungus]

Weightlifter dies after 315-pound barbell drops on his neck

The accident occurred Monday morning at Elite Edge Transformation Center in Ankeny, about 10 miles north of Des Moines. A spokesman for the center, Mark Yontz, said Thursday that Kyle Thomson was bench-pressing 315 pounds when the barbell slipped.

Ankeny Fire Chief James Clack says the barbell fell on Thomson's neck. Clack says a fire ambulance took Thomson to a Des Moines hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Yontz says there were spotters watching Thomson on the bench.

[EDG reppin LBC]

"Yontz says there were spotters watching Thomson on the bench"

Really more like observers, apparently.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

"Yep, that crushed his neck alright. Let's go pound some protein shakes."

[KDN]

I can now only picture three large men shouting "YOU GOT THIS" while he suffocated.

[Get To Da Chippah]

Fake. Barbells weigh maybe 50 pounds, tops.

[John]

I don't see how you could make a barbell that was usable and weighed more than 50 or 60 pounds. That said, I doubt the story is fake. I bet the guy died from a regular bar weighted to 315 lbs and the reporter wrongly called it a barbell.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Kind of like how journalists & pols call magazines "clips" all the time.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Assault barbell.

[John]

Yes. They never get the technical details of any subject correct.

[Free Society]

Even science writers whose job it is to do nothing but research and write about issues of scientific interest, can be just as scientifically illiterate as Old Man Curmudgeon down the street. It's especially entertaining to read journos writing about anything to do with quantum physics.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

How does David Bodanis rate for getting it right? Because he's my favorite science writer. Though he's more focused on history than technical stuff.

[Free Society]

How does David Bodanis rate for getting it right?

I was thinking more along the lines of a journalist type of science writer. I'm not terribly familar with Bodanis other than him being one whose written books I haven't read.

[John]

Legal reporters are the same way. The law isn't that hard. Yet, even though they spend years covering legal issues, they still are remarkably ignorant about the subject.

[Free Society]

Legal reporters are the same way. The law isn't that hard. Yet, even though they spend years covering legal issues, they still are remarkably ignorant about the subject.

So wait a second, are you telling me that the media repeatedly misrepresented the basic legal facts surrounding the Trayvon Martin shooting? That can't be!

[Darth Squirrel]

+1 stand your ground

[CatoTheChipper]

There analogies of quantum mechanics to the plainly observable macro world are particularly amusing. A few years back I decided to study quantum mechanics with Leonard Susskind's online classes. The fact is that you really can't understand even the elementary basics of what quantum mechanics is about without some fairly long-haired mathematics (Eigen values and Hamiltonian matrices, anybody?). None of the analogies that I've read work very well. For example, even Schroedinger's Cat, as brilliant as that example's namesake was. The damn cat was the observer, or maybe it's the Geiger counter. It doesn't make a difference. The cat is either alive or dead, but the observing experimenter doesn't know and can only assess probabilities inherent to the waveform until he actually makes the observation. That was Schroedinger's point, but one often reads about how the cat is in reality both alive and dead until the box is opened. The mathematics of quantum mechanics, which I believe are demonstrated experimentally, indicate that we live in a very strange world indeed at the bottom of things.

This comment is written for Free Society's amusement, and is not at all intended to convey an understanding of quantum mechanics. I agree with Feynmann: "If you think you understand quantum mechanics then you don't understand quantum mechanics".

[CatoTheChipper]

There = Their

[Free Society]

That was Schroedinger's point, but one often reads about how the cat is in reality both alive and dead until the box is opened.

Yes that might be my favorite example. They took such a simple analogy and read so deeply into it that they tell people to take it literally. The Daily Mail science writers are probably the best at this.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

And call pitot tubes "machine guns".

[Domestic Dissident]

Irony: getting suspended from the Belk Bowl for shoplifting at Belk.

[AlmightyJB]

What a loser

[EDG reppin LBC]

Can't wait to see which Buckeye gets in trouble today/tonight. What do you think JB? Bar fight? Prostitution sting? The suspense is killing me.

[AlmightyJB]

They love is in Glendale but yeah, probably something stupid will happen. I think we have a good shot at bearing Clemson. I just figured out this morning that today wasn't New Years Eve. Woke up this morning thinking the game was tonight. I was wondering for weeks why they would have the Bama game at 3 on a Friday:)

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I'm going to guess this guy is majoring in communications.

[KDN]

His Twitter profile claims "Apparel major, Business Retail minor."

ESPN should include this info on the player's profile page.

[KDN]

SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC!

Arkansas was at Belk to shop as each player on both teams, Arkansas and its Belk Bowl opponent Virginia Tech, had 90 minutes to spend a $450 gift card at Belk on anything in the store. The players also each received a Fossil watch

This seems like it could be an honest misunderstanding, but the NCAA fosters demands punishment first, trial later. Oh well, he'll still have a nice 5 year career as a backup TE.

[John]

SEC is now 1-4 in bowls. I don't mind it that Alabama gets so much run. They are and have been a great team. But the rest of the SEC is often fair at best. Yet, the media acts like teams such as Arkansas, Tennessee, or A&M are elite teams when they are not even close.

[KDN]

Yeah, that's what always bugged me about the SEC DOMINANCE meme. Beyond Alabama the SEC is indistinguishable from any other conference and it's been this way for at least five years. Meanwhile every year half of the conference gets 4 teams in the top 10 by default as if Alabama taking your recruits somehow makes you a better team. Please. Putting A&M in the initial playoff draw was a fucking joke.

While VT was kneeling on the ball yesterday the color guy had the nerve to make a "with how difficult a schedule anyone in the SEC west faces..." argument when talking about Bielema's future. I'm a fan of Ohio State and Rutgers and I wish they played in the SEC west. It would make things a lot easier.

[John]

A couple of years ago in the first year of the playoff, the committee screwed the Big 12 out of a spot by denying both Baylor and TCU, both of which were excellent one loss teams. Meanwhile, the polls has Mississippi State and Old Miss in the top five or ten all year. Well, Mississippi runs into TCU in a bowl game and just got run ruled. The game was never close and Mississippi was never competitive. It was obvious that Mississippi couldn't have beat TCU if they had played a hundred times. But the media spent all year assuming Mississippi was an elite team because they beat a bunch of other lousy SEC team.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Very well written.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

My colleague just answered the phone and said "this is her".

It's Friday. I don't need any more reasons to punch someone, ya know?

[AlmightyJB]

Work phone or personal phone?

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Work. A call about a VIP registering to view the SpaceX launch. *facepalm*

[AlmightyJB]

Yea, that's not cool

[EDG reppin LBC]

You hate Fridays? You're like the anti-Garfield.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I love Fridays...after 5pm.

[UnCivilServant]

My dislike of Fridays stems almost entirely from the excessive glee people express with regards to it being yet another workday. Monday, Friday, might as well be wednesday since I'm still going to be in my cube.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Your dislike of Fridays stems.

[Lord Humungus]

You would be fun to take camping /sarc

[Chipwooder]

Could've been worse - could have been "This is xir"

[commodious lies and cheats]

IT IS I.

[UnCivilServant]

'Sepaking'.

[Swiss Servator]

"yo"

[Lord Humungus]

*bows low as he walks backwards out of the room*

[Tyler.C]

Who's asking?

[commodious lies and cheats]

Who talks like that?

[Mr. Flanders]

Huh? I guess I'm an idiot because I don't get it.

[Col. Chestbridge]

It's ungrammatical. Should be "this is she".

[straffinrun]

FFS. If you guys have an ounce of compassion, just shoot me if I start arguing with a troll again. I'm usually pretty good at ignoring them. *Bangs own head on desk*

[Lord Humungus]

It's not worth your time or energy since the troll just feeds off of it.

Which reminds me - I have to get fascr working at home.

[Aloysious]

I see that poster as a Baboon's butt. Not exactly an intellectual giant.

[John]

You can beat the troll addiction. It usually involves a 12 step program and a lot of set backs and heartbreak but it can be done. The first step is admitting you have a problem.

[Tyler.C]

Hi, my name is Tyler, and i haven't argued with a troll for thirty minutes.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I love seeing troll-posts go un-replied to. Then they get more desperate, then they really go off the rails.

[paranoid android]

Bwa ha ha, as if on cue:

Wedding Tackle|12.30.16 @ 10:58AM|#

So is that it? All the white knighting done?

PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEEE

[straffinrun]

Not looking.

[paranoid android]

I find myself a little fascinated by the psychology of someone who does something like this over something so bizarrely insignificant. Like, he sees a fucking tweet, and decides one day to exact his just revenge by arguing pedantically with a bunch of strangers in a little-read comment section? WHO DOES THAT?

[UnCivilServant]

I'm still trying to work out the psychology of disingenuous argumentation online. What does the troll get out of it? What does it regard as a "win"? Answers to these questions would help formulate a better approach to dealing with such outbreaks. Though there may be a difference between acute trolls and chronic trolls which should not be ignored in this research.

[UnCivilServant]

*the difference should not be ignored. it may turn out that ignoring trolls has the best results, we cannot rule that out.

[Tyler.C]

It's the only method that has proven effective so far

[straffinrun]

Agreed. Goes with the territory of having an open comment section.

[Crusty Juggler]

arguing pedantically with a bunch of strangers in a little-read comment section

Wow. Just wow. I just can't. I literally can't rite now.

[Swiss Servator]

Curse your speedy fingers!

[commodious lies and cheats]

Careful, that's how Lindsay Lohan almost lost one.

[Swiss Servator]

"a little-read comment section"

HEY?! I read it all the time! Oh, wait...

[The Fusionist]

"Oh, it's read all right." /Preet

[Mr. Flanders]

I was wondering what you were doing. He was just running in circles you kept chasing him.

[UnCivilServant]

I confess, sometimes I amuse myself by playing with the trolls.

Then I get bored and wander off.

[Sevo]

Not that I fantasize that the Pals et all are interested in any peace that leaves an Israeli state, but at least their contempt fo Kerry and Obo is will placed:

"Too little, too late: Palestinians respond to Kerry's warning that two-state solution in 'jeopardy'"
[...]
"If Kerry had given this speech, and made his announcement about the "solution" when he was coming [into power] not when he was leaving, then it would have been worthy of criticism and comment. And there are things in it that need criticizing."
http://www.albawaba.com/

Narcissistic twit.

[straffinrun]

Sevo, I've got to hand it to you. Always thought your "Fuck off, Turd" response to trolls was a little harsh. You're right. That is all they deserve most times.

[Sevo]

Straf,
I appreciate that, but someone also made a valid counterpoint:
There are 3rd parties here from time to time, and if you don't argue at least some of the claims, that 3rd party might actually believe that, for instance, Obama produced an economic miracle!
So even turd, at times, gets more than a fuck off, pointing out how only cherry-picking can produce what turd claims.
But then trolls like daljal *never* make any claims a sane person would believe.

[Free Society]

I concur with your methodology. It is important that bad arguments not be left standing.

[commodious lies and cheats]

It's why I leave Tony and PBP and amsoc off the block list, because as odious and backward as their POV is, they at least make arguments and respond in something approaching good faith. AM and dajjal and now this latest creep simply have nothing to say worth debating.

[Col. Chestbridge]

I am not yet willing to rule out that "Wedding Tackle" is one of the socks that AM got for Christmas.

[The artist known Dunphy]

In regards to lower DUI rates,in GENERAL it's astounding how much safer driving is nowadays and it's due to a host of changes - attitudinal, technological, medical, etc. brought about through many influences from Nader (yes, he actually did something good back in the day), MADD, medical advances etc.

Fatalities/distance driven is near all time lows and 20% what it was at the peak rate.for the average person (especially those who aren't in certain racial minorities, etc) by FAR the riskiest external threat they face is when they drive and it's way way way way safer than it used to be.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I wish we had more data that also showed Injuries and such for distance traveled as well as fatalities. I would believe that it is lower too, but fatalities are also impacted by how much better medical technology has gotten as well, where the same injury that would have been a fatality 40 years ago is survivable today, and this is distinct from the changes done with the vehicles themselves and general attitudes.

[Ken Shultz]

We should have a multiple choice test--pick the best answer:

Even if teaming up with Putin to fight ISIS is in the best interests of American security, the United States shouldn't team up with Putin anyway because:

A) Putin doesn't believe in gay marriage or free speech.
B) Putin doesn't like Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama doesn't like Putin.
C) By snubbing Putin, we're teaching the Russian people a lesson.
D) American security interests should not be the primary objective of foreign policy.
E) None of the above

[Free Society]

It's only funny because leaders like Barack Obama really do let petty shit like (A) and (D) guide their foreign policy long before they even begin to consider anything real or rational like "interest".

[Ken Shultz]

If people want to argue that working with Russia isn't in our best interests, I'm certainly open to that argument.

But the objections I'm hearing aren't about that.

I don't want to invade Syria, and I don't think it's in our best interests to invade Syria.

If and when that changes and chasing ISIS into Syria becomes in our best interests, it's probably safe to say that it will also be in our best interests to work with Russia and let them go after ISIS in Syria instead.

We worked with Stalin to win World War II--and not just against the Nazis. They were also helpful in chasing the Japanese out of China.

We screwed up in letting Stalin have half of Europe for his efforts, but using him to help defeat the Nazis and the Japanese was not a mistake--no matter how awful Stalin was.

Sometimes in life, we have to work with people we don't like to get things done. If we ever invade Syria because we'd rather make a huge mistake than work with Putin--when we could work with Putin and avoid invading Syria entirely--that'll be really, really dumb. And when I look at McCain and company, I can't help but wonder if that's what he's thinking.

[Free Society]

We worked with Stalin to win World War II--and not just against the Nazis. They were also helpful in chasing the Japanese out of China.

I know you're not saying this, but I think it's worth pointing out that Putin is not Stalin. The wartime alliance with Stalin was extremely complicated and it's easy to criticize in hindsight, but I think there's a good case to be made that some form of cooperation with Stalin short of an alliance without any post-war commitments being made, might just have spared a couple generations of Eastern Europeans from communist slavery.

We screwed up in letting Stalin have half of Europe for his efforts, but using him to help defeat the Nazis and the Japanese was not a mistake--no matter how awful Stalin was.

Amen to that.

[Stormy Dragon]

Republican Congress passes bill to give disabled people mandatory tracking chips:

H.R.4919 - Kevin and Avonte's Law of 2016

[commodious lies and cheats]

JFC talk about solutions going in search of a problem.

[Stormy Dragon]

That sounds like Oppositional Defiance Disorder, commodious. Clearly you need a tracking chip to protect you from the effects of your mental disability.

[kbolino]

Republican Congress passes

Bill sponsors:

63 Democrats
30 Republicans

Final vote in the House:

Republicans: Yea 167, Nay 65
Democrats: Yea 179, Nay 1

[kbolino]

Minor correction: the bill's sponsor was a Republican, the breakdown I gave was for cosponsors.

[Stormy Dragon]

Republicans in house: 232
Democrats in house: 180

Republican Speakers: 1
Democrat Speakers: 0

If Republicans opposed the bill, it wouldn't be up for a vote to begin with.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Fake news alert: Guardian writer Ben Jacobs' claims about Julian Assange praising Trump and having close ties to Putin turned out to be fabricated.

I feel like that's been mentioned before?