Trump Believes Assange, Schumer Promises Payback Over SCOTUS Pick, Huckabee Doesn't Think Israel is Occupying the West Bank: A.M. Links

• 

  Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

  President-elect Donald Trump says he believes WikiLeaks' Julian Assange's claim that the Russian government was not the source of the leaked DNC emails.

• Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has promised to make things difficult for any Supreme Court nominee Trump puts forth.
• Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ak.) rejects the idea that Israel is occupying the West Bank, saying "There is no such thing as a West Bank…There's no such thing as an occupation."
• A North Carolina female high school student was brutally slammed to the ground by a school resource officer. The incident was captured on video, the girl was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two other girls.
• Mariah Carey is blaming Dick Clark Productions for her disastrous New Year's Eve performance, even though Carey reportedly declined to do a soundcheck beforehand.
• Notorious mass murderer and erstwhile cult leader Charles Manson is "seriously ill."

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

President-elect Donald Trump says he believes WikiLeaks' Julian Assange's claim that the Russian government was not the source of the leaked DNC emails.

Can't imagine why.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Obama just made Trump and Assange BFF.

[Tyler.C]

Real News!!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has promised to make things difficult for any Supreme Court nominee Trump puts forth.

As he puts 'em on the glass.

[WTF]

Of course Harry Reid showed Republicans the way around such obstructionism.

[Brian]

We cannot have a dysfunctional, so-nothing congress.

[Tyler.C]

RepublicansDemocrats are just the party of NO, where are their Solutions? They have none, the just want to stop progress. /refurbishing old mantras into new.

[Brian]

They had their chance to do something. They didn't. So now we're going ahead without them. Or something.

[DRM]

Except the Republicans don't even need to go nuclear. They just need to agree to go into recess, and Trump can put someone in. Then the Democrats can decide how much they want to obstruct a vote on someone who is getting to cast Supreme Court votes, in the face of a 2018 Senate election that geographically favors Republican gains.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

He's going to conduct the hearings topless.

[Tyler.C]

:barf: Politics is Show biz for UGLY people.

[The Grinch]

As much as I disagree with his politics I must admit admit he does have nice tits.

[Rich]

The way he keeps licking his lips, that would be *awesome*.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

You sure have some strange choices in porn, but Rule 34, eh?

[Citizen X]

+1 YKINMK

[Rhywun]

"Suck on this government teat!"

[Citizen X]

Shit, dude, i just ate!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

273) I've noticed a lot of hysteria in the Washington Post, Slate, etc., about the upcoming (hopefully) repeal of Obamacare. The general tenor seems to be about what a backwards step our health care system will take. But I also couldn't help but notice this recent article on how US life expectancy fell in 2015 for the first time in 23 years. If Obamacare is so great, shouldn't life expectancy be rising? I mean, what more basic health indicator is there than life expectancy?

[UnCivilServant]

All the imported illegals with their shorter lifespans, obviously.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Geez, give me time to finish!

[straffinrun]

Unciv only needs a minute. Pleasure is painful to him.

[Cdr Lytton]

The title sez it's a thought not a sermon. False advertising!

[Tonio]

I suggest using "cont'd" at the end of posts like this to let folks know there is more coming. I've been thinking a lot about this since I'm going to be posting some fiction here in the coming weeks.

Either that or introduce decimal numbering, ie 273.1. 😛

[Lee Genes]

Either that or introduce decimal numbering

The "just a thought" Psalms?

[The Fusionist]

"I'm going to be posting some fiction here in the coming weeks."

SugarFree and certain Reason staffers have had the fiction angle covered for a while.

Can you top them?

[Tonio]

Can you top them?

Eddie, you little tease!

I'm not trying to outdo Sug, but to explore new territory. Already published the first one several weeks back.

[invisible furry hand]

linky-winky please

[Tonio]

Thanks for your interest. I'd rather not since it was so atrociously formatted, but I will post that and all future writings to an external website as well as posting here. Stay tuned.

[SugarFree]

"There's a million way to be, you know that there are."

[Just a thought not a sermon]

But you know what? One year might be a statistical anomaly. So I went to the CDC to find older statistics. It took a little digging, but this CDC publication has statistics going back to 2000 (check the table on page 34).

Now according to Wikipedia, Obamacare took effect in March 2010, with most major provisions in place by 2014. Between 2010 and 2015, US life expectancy at birth went all the way from 78.7 to 78.8 (one entire month), with, as noted, a slight drop in 2015.

Better or worse than prior to 2010? Much worse. From 2000 to 2005, it went from 76.8 to 77.6 (nearly a year). From 2005 to 2010, US LE went from 77.6 to 78.7 (more than a year!).

So on this most fundamental of health indicators, we've gone into reverse under Obamacare.

[Free Society]

The improvement in health outcomes, like all other things he touches, has stagnated at the very least. Funny how he fancies himself the smartest and most empathetic man in the world while having achieved nothing but failure. Though he is good at winning elections for himself and only himself, I'll give him that.

[Mantis Toboggan, Jr.]

His coattails are tearaways.

[The Fusionist]

He's wearing a skimpy bikini without coattails.

[The Last American Hero]

Lifespans under single payer are shorter than in the US (especially pre-Obamacare) if you take away homicides and car accidents. He's just trying to make us more like Europe.

[Rich]

If Obamacare is so great, shouldn't life expectancy be rising?

"We never claimed it was a perfect law!"

[WTF]

Higher costs, fewer options, more limited networks, and now shorter lifespans. Obamacare is clearly a success that must not be repealed.

[PBR Streetgang]

Well, if folks are dying younger that might mean less expenditures for end of life care, so perhaps that's how O-Care bends the cost curve?

[CatoTheChipper]

People fail to comprehend how fantastically successful ObamaCare has been.

1) Shorter life expectancy will shore up Social Security
2) Enhanced control over the health care industry will shore up Medicare and Medicaid
3) The ObamaCare subsidy system imposes a stealth tax on middle class taxpayers and creates a new welfare recipient class of Democrat voters
4) ObamaCare destroys the old-fashioned notion of a doctor-patient relationship and replaces it with a more modern and appropriate veterinarian-herd model for health care delivery
5) ObamaCare rewards cronies and punishes dissenters, especially old-fashioned doctors and patients
6) The incipient failure of the ObamaCare system paves the way to Canada-style single-payer or UK-style nationalized health care (TBD), in which the accomplishments #1-#5 can be further enhanced.

Only a fool would think that ObamaCare was designed in their interest as an individual. It was designed to benefit government and to expand its power.

[Uilleam]

Exactly. Feature not a bug.

[geo1113]

If you like your malady, you can keep it.

[Rich]

LO***cough-cough-HACK***L

[Rhywun]

As long as everyone has the same lower life expectancy, it's working as intended. See: every other progressive policy.

[Rufus The Monocled]

No because GOP obstructionism didn't make O-care all it could be.

[Marshall Gill]

All it could be?! It is a complete success!!

http://www.wsj.com/articles/st.....1483488481

[CatoTheChipper]

I'm a small businessman, and my premiums have increased by 85% since ObamaCare took hold despite higher deductibles and a greatly reduced provider network.

But Zeke Emmanuel is an expert, so I guess I should believe him when he pisses on my leg and tells me it's raining.

[Suell]

Think of how much more they would have increased had there not been Obamacare! Success!

[Rhywun]

Obviously you weren't paying your fair share. Being an evil capitalist, I'm sure you thought you could just keep on rolling around in piles of cash forever.

[Enough About Palin]

All those murders in Chicago have to be pushing the number downward.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The incident was captured on video, the girl was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two other girls.

Horning in on the resource officer's job!

[Swiss Servator]

DAMMIT!

[Domestic Dissident]

Will today be $20 trillion national debt day? We're pretty close now. The world watches and waits with anticipation.

[Rich]

No problemo, because the DJIA will hit 20K.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Obama: Can't we just remove a zero or two?
Advisor (looks down on notes): No.
Obama (Pulls out crayon. tongue sticking out slightly. Writes on paper): There. Did it. Less debt. Next.
Rookie advisor (to advisor): Is this guy for real?
Advisor (in heavy whisper): LET. IT. GO.

[Rich]

I've been predicting the Nuevo Dollar for some time.

[Tyler.C]

anything like new coke?

[Citizen X]

In that everybody will hate it and it will be a total flop? Exactly like New Coke.

[Col. Chestbridge]

Nobody was inexplicably eating anything. You expect me to believe this is an authentic Rufus imaginary scenario? Forgery! Fake!

[Lord Humungus]

Man has scissors removed from inside him after 18-year stomach ache

Ma Van Nhat, now 54, underwent surgery in 1998 after a car accident and only recently discovered that doctors had left an unwelcome gift behind when they closed him up.

Doctors in Vietnam discovered the 6ins scissors near his colon after a recent ultrasound.

He had a three-hour operation at the weekend to remove the scissors, according to Ngo Trung Thang, deputy head of general affairs at Gang Thep Thai Nguyen hospital, 50 miles north of Hanoi.

[UnCivilServant]

This time they only left a pair of surgical clamps.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I bet they're glad to have their scissors back.

[UnCivilServant]

They were tired of sharing the other pair.

[Roger the Shrubber]

'Has anyone seen my good scissors!'

[Fist of Etiquette]

Notorious mass murderer and erstwhile cult leader Charles Manson is "seriously ill."

Hopefully his mind is still as crisp and clear as ever.

[Anomalous]

So 2017 is going to have lots of celebrity deaths too.

[Free Society]

The good kind apparently.

[UnCivilServant]

Anomalous|1.4.17 @ 9:04AM

So 2017 is going to have lots of celebrity deaths too.

Free Society|1.4.17 @ 9:14AM

The good kind apparently.

Live action remake of Celebrity Deathmatch?

[Free Society]

That's got golden globes written all over it.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

First bout:

Lena Dunham vs. Jesse Eisenberg

[Lord Humungus]

German man's front door walled up overnight

Police say a man in western Germany ran into a wall, literally, as he opened his front door to leave the house earlier this week.

The man was heading out of his house in Mainhausen, near Frankfurt, on Monday morning but found that unknown perpetrators had ? it seems quietly and without attracting anyone's attention ? built a wall in the doorway during the night. He had to tear down the wall to leave.

A police statement said the man "must have felt like a Berliner in August 1961," referring to East Germany's unannounced sealing of its border with the Berlin Wall.

[Swiss Servator]

And people say the Germans have no sense of humor...

[Jordan]

The guy's neighbor must be a Trump supporter. The bill for materials and labor will be in the mail.

[Rich]

And, would you believe the man's name is Fortunato?

[Tyler.C]

Ahh you beat me to it....

[Tyler.C]

A real life Cask Of Amontillado

[The Grinch]

I'm sure this man's retaliation will be swift, merciless, and brutal.

[R C Dean]

That's funny.

The followup could be to wall up his door while he is out at work, and refinish the wall so its completely invisible, like it never existed.

[Rich]

Notorious mass murderer and erstwhile cult leader Charles Manson is "seriously ill."

Well, I suppose that's better than "evil".

[commodious just wasting time]

Sick dude.

[The Fusionist]

ill, sick, bad, it's all good

[Hamster of Doom]

A North Carolina female high school student was brutally slammed to the ground by a school resource officer. The incident was captured on video, the girl was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two other girls.

And then the brave officer went home safe, and his loving wife met him at the door. "Thank God!" she wept, falling gratefully into his arms. "I was so terrified you wouldn't be able to win against a teenage girl."

[WTF]

He lays his life on the line, every day. A true hero.

[Cdr Lytton]

As a school resource officer, I bet he's used to slamming teenage girls on a regular basis.

[straffinrun]

Incontinentia Buttocks?

[Tonio]

Rousing applause for Ham and a big "fuck you" to Dunphy.

[Lord Humungus]

'Star Trek' Science: Why Vulcans (and Other Aliens) Look Like Humans

Human life, seeded to other planets by an extraterrestrial civilization, could explain why so many of the aliens in the fictional "Star Trek" universe resemble human men and women.

After studying scenes from the various shows and movies, one evolutionary biologist posited that the galaxy-wide distribution of Earth-based life-forms could help to explain some of the resemblance between Kirk and Spock.

"This model ignores things like the difference in heart placement ? perhaps unlikely ? or the Vulcan copper, rather than human iron-based, blood ? also unlikely," Mohamed Noor, an evolutionary biologist at Duke University in North Carolina, told Space.com by email. "But the overall principle is more probable than the notion that the species evolved completely independently to look almost the same after billions of years." Noor presented the results of his off-hour research this summer at Atlanta's Dragon Con.

[UnCivilServant]

While convergant evolution is something we have seen, the specifically humanoid form is not the only (or necessarily the best) way of picking up traits that encourage intelligence and tool use.

[Gadfly]

Considering its the only known form (out of a million known) that has intelligence and the ability to use tools in any significant manner, it's probably a safe bet that it is the best, so it's not a stretch to pretend that convergent evolution would lead to a universe full of humanoid intelligent life (the universe being full of intelligent life is probably the greater stretch, after all).

[Episteme]

One could imagine an infinite universe having all sorts of body templates among intelligent life, but each template effectively self-segregating from those either more difficult or even impossible to interact with. In a STAR TREK situation, one would see Humans, Vulcans, Klingons, etc. all interacting while usually ignoring the overlapping Horta, Shelliak, or energy cloud ecosystems overlapping them.

[thrakkorzog]

Wasn't there an episode of Next Generation about this? It wasn't even subtle, they straight up said precursors seeded the galaxy. Great, he managed to turn text in text.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The Chase", nerd.

[Tyler.C]

Yeah if i remember right, Vulcans and Romulans were quite closley related (on a galactic evolutionary scale) and more distantly related to Humans.

[UnCivilServant]

If I remember correctly, they came from the same population and the Romulans were actually a Vulcan Diaspora.

[Tyler.C]

Ahh yes! That's right.

[Zeb]

Which I guess also explains the interbreeding. Seems like probably the most plausible thing they could have come up with.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Nope, it actually ended up being a recipe for biscuits.

[WTF]

"It's a cookbook!!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Space God made everyone in His space image.

[Hamster of Doom]

But why does God need a spaceship?

[straffinrun]

Just "Jefferson" would be a stupid name for a band?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Starship, not spaceship. YOU ARE NO NERD.

[straffinrun]

There's already a band named Jefferson Starship. SMDH.

[invisible furry hand]

We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune

[A Thinking Mind]

Misquoting Star Trek V probably does a great service to the film.

[Free Society]

To spare two of every alien from the space flood.

[Episteme]

For the same reasons that Green Lantern Abin Sur needed one?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Umm, I'm pretty sure there was TNG episode that addressed this specifically.

[Zeb]

Or maybe it's because the show started when special effects weren't very good, so they went with relatively simple costumes and funny ears.

[Hamster of Doom]

+1 Angry Forehead

[Swiss Servator]

http://www.theonion.com/articl.....ally--4265

[Holger da Dane]

+1 We do not discuss it with outsiders.

[Gadfly]

Not to mention that its easier to sympathize with creatures of the human form than with more imaginative creatures. There's a reason why even with the superb special effects of today most of the aliens we are supposed to like look/act suspiciously human.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Can he explain how some planets like the one in Bread & Circuses managed to independently develop a culture exactly identical to Rome right down to the names of the gods?

[Zeb]

Some kind of Collective Unconscious?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Yeah, something Jungian like that. I bet Counselor Troi could explain it.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Forget it. He's too Jung to understand.

[Holger da Dane]

I'm a-Freud you're right.

[SugarFree]

That was just the times they went through the mysterious Back Lot wormhole.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Oh, I like that idea. Since multiple universes exist an interdimensional wormhole appeared suddenly in the wardrobe department of Desilu Productions and started seeding random planets of the galaxy with all their left over costumes from the 1950s.

[SugarFree]

[fires exact replica of a Tommygun that a biography of Al Capone taught me to make]

[Episteme]

Maybe we only saw the incidents where the Enterprise meets up with humanoids, while the time in between two episodes where the crew meets the Planet of Sentient Farts just wasn't transmitted to us?

[Free Society]

That right there, is why I could never bring myself to be a treky. They want me to work really hard to suspend my disbelief.

[UnCivilServant]

You made it past "Functioning Communist State"?

[Zeb]

It's easier to believe when you can just make whatever you want out of magic.

I also find that part easy to ignore because the shows I've watched don't really get into what society outside of Star Fleet is like.

Star Trek is just fun. The imagined science is kind of stupid and it's a bit too utopian, but it's just amusing stories.

[UnCivilServant]

I remember liking it better when I was a kid.

Now I just keep seeing flaws in logic, making it harder to get lost in the story.

[Zeb]

I've been watching Voyager a bit lately. It's fun, but the "science" makes me cringe sometimes (and the holodeck is dumb). They can't even get right what an event horizon is.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

To be fair, money exists during the time of TOS and it's explicitly mentioned on multiple occasions the crew of the Enterprise gets paid for their work along with capitalist entrepreneurs like space miners.

And to my recollection Bread and Circuses is the only TOS episode where a planet just happens to have an identical Earth culture. Other examples like the Nazi planet or the Chicago 1920s gangster planet were direct results of Prime Directive violations.

[UnCivilServant]

There was the one with the exact replica of the flag and constitution that just happened to exist...

[SugarFree]

And the one that somehow perfectly replicated Native American culture.

[SugarFree]

And the one where the entire race decided to be Ancient Greeks for some reason.

[Rasilio]

Yeah the Barbarian Yangs and "civilized" Kongs

Come to find out the Barbarian Yangs were the descendants of the "Yankees" who lost a nuclear war to the "Communist Chineese" whose descendants became the "Congs"

[Azathoth!!]

Since there were--according to the episode 'Who Mourns for Adonis', Olympian gods wandering about the universe, it's not really a stretch for them to pop up on other worlds--or for their culture to appear on other worlds

And it's Yangs and Kohms

And I think those Indians were actual transported Indians from Earth, not a parallel culture.

[The Fusionist]

There's going to be a tendency for a military organization to be run on socialist lines.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

identical to Rome right down to the names of the gods?

The Universal Translator mapped their culture to the closest Earth one and translated all the names into Roman gods.

[Mansplainer]

Civilization appropriation.

Not cool

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

It's a fucking TV show?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"or the Vulcan copper, rather than human iron-based, blood"

Would that make their blood green, the oxidation color of copper??

[UnCivilServant]

Copper-based blood is blue not green.

Oxygenation causes a color change between the colorless Cu(I) deoxygenated form and the blue Cu(II) oxygenated form

[Tonio]

Or....budgetary limitations and primitive special effects. I can see some sort of convergence in form - as seen in real life with ichtyosaurs (fish-like lizards) which closely resembled sharks. But the notion of Vulcans and humans producing viable offspring is willing suspension of disbelief territiory.

[Azathoth!!]

actually, it was Science that did it. Spock was a test-tube baby.

[Lord Humungus]

Nerds!!!! /Ogre

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Because heavy use of prostheses and makeup is expensive?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mariah Carey is blaming Dick Clark Productions for her disastrous New Year's Eve performance...

Okay.

[Swiss Servator]

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has promised to make things difficult for any Supreme Court nominee Trump puts forth.

RETHUGLIKKKAN OBSTRUCTSHUNIZM!!!!

A North Carolina female high school student was brutally slammed to the ground by a school resource officer. The incident was captured on video, the girl was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two other girls.

Job competition is fierce!

[Lord Humungus]

Swedish Six-Hour Workday Runs Into Trouble: It's Too Costly

Swedes looking forward to a six-hour workday just got some bad news: the costs outweigh the benefits.

That's according to the preliminary results of a two-year experiment carried out in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, the home of Volvo. Working hours were shortened to 6 for the 68 nurses at the Svartedalen old people's home, who got to keep the same salary level. To cover for the reduction, the city had to hire 17 extra staff at a cost of about 12 million kronor ($1.3 million) for the duration of the project.

The study showed that employees at Svartedalen residential home felt healthier, which reduced sick-leave absence, and that patient care improved. But the city won't push ahead to make the plan permanent.

[Hamster of Doom]

Bah. Wh are these people? I'd rather work four 12-hour shifts. That's, like, the perfect easy work week.

[Pope Jimbo]

12 hours? That is a half day.

Who doesn't want a job where you work half days?

[Rich]

As my old boss might say: "*12 hours*?! Most people aren't worth a shit after *three*!!"

[Tyler.C]

It takes me 5.5 hours just to get warmed up.

[R C Dean]

These euphemisms. . . .

[Rufus The Monocled]

"....who got to keep the same salary level...."

I....see.

[R C Dean]

So they gave everybody a 25% raise, and lost money? Huh.

[Holger da Dane]

B..b..b..but INTENTIONS!

[Flying Poodle]

$75k starting salary for a nursing home nurse.

[Hamster of Doom]

Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ak.) rejects the idea that Israel is occupying the West Bank, saying "There is no such thing as a West Bank...There's no such thing as an occupation."

He's got no idea whatchoo talking 'bout, Willis.

[Tyler.C]

These are not the lands your are looking for.

[CatoTheChipper]

This is the logical extension of the mantra that "There are no such thing as Palestinians" which is a riff off a Golda Meir quote.

[R C Dean]

There are no such thing as Palestinians

They are disowned Jordanians. Sucks, I'm sure. But "Palestinian" as a people or "Palestine" as a nation is basically a propaganda front.

[Think It Through]

He's just reacting to being listed as being from Alaska.

[Princess Trigger]

This is a fertile land and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land! And we will call it? this land!

[G?C]

+1 sudden but inevitable betrayal

[Gadfly]

Well, the West Bank is the Jordanian term for the territory, but as they haven't owned it in nearly 50 years (and only owned it for 19), an argument can be made that it is more appropriate to use the Israeli term, Judea and Samaria. But as Israel has never annexed the West Bank (unlike East Jerusalem), he really has no grounds to say there is no occupation.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

There is no such thing as a Huckabee.

[commodious just wasting time]

The huckabeast is a cousin of the perfectly normal beast.

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

Lily Tomlin might agree.

[Episteme]

Legally speaking, that territory is basically an area whose post-Ottoman disposition was never fully clarified, such that Israel and Jordan traded back and forth disputed borders. It's the Arab League's later declaration that the then-PLO was the proper independent governing authority (a third party not involved previously in the same way) that caused all the havoc (compare to the agreements between Israel no Egypt over the similarly disputed Sinai/Gaza area where the two were able to agree on boundaries, even if the same later PLO issue came up on the Israeli claim).

Words like "occupation," in terms of Palestinian Arab claims, have actual meanings in the history of international law ? which not surprisingly the UN continues to ignore vs. voting for whatever standards they want on a given day. Although, there's the caveat that Huckabee likely realizes none of this and is just relying on the Bible...

[The Late P Brooks]

President-elect Donald Trump says he believes WikiLeaks' Julian Assange's claim that the Russian government was not the source of the leaked DNC emails.

A leak from a pissed off internal source at the DNC makes more sense.

[CatoTheChipper]

An internal source named Seth Rich?

[Tyler.C]

How could he be the source? He's De-... oh... yeah.

[Crusty Juggler]

Notorious mass murderer and erstwhile cult leader Charles Manson is "seriously ill."

Sad.

[Lord Humungus]

Attorney Ordered to Identify Dead Client Who Taunted James Woods on Twitter

Woods brought the lawsuit in July 2015 against "John Doe," an individual tweeting as "Abe List." According to the complaint, Woods wanted to send a message to those using social media to "propagate lies and do harm."

In February 2016, Woods experienced a significant victory when a judge rejected an anti-SLAPP motion arguing that the "cocaine addict" tweet was "a constitutionally protected political insult," the type made routinely by Woods as "a well-known part of Twitter's culture of political hyperbole."

The anonymous defendant filed an appeal, but that was cut short thanks to the reported death of "Abe List," whose social media profile identified him falsely as a Harvard-educated partner at an Los Angeles-based private equity firm.

Woods cheered the development.

"The slime who libeled me just dropped his appeal contesting my victorious SLAPP motion," Woods tweeted.

Upon a reply noting that the guy had died, with other commentators expressing outrage, Woods responded, "Learn this. Libel me, I'll sue you. If you die, I'll follow you to the bowels of Hell. Get it?"

[Crusty Juggler]

James, I loved you in Diggstown!

[thrakkorzog]

Cocaine's a hell of a drug.

[Citizen X]

Allegedly.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Why should he give a shit the guy died for what he did?

[Free Society]

Woods responded, "Learn this. Libel me, I'll sue you. If you die, I'll follow you to the bowels of Hell. Get it?"

I like James Woods. Though he should have just said "You what happened to the last guy to libel me? He died."

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

victorious SLAPP motion

These masturbation euphemisms ...

[Zeb]

There is no such thing as a West Bank

So the Jordan is an ocean, not a river?

[invisible furry hand]

The Snowflake Awards: for those who defined the term 'political correctness gone mad' in 2016

Your thoughts on who's missing / wrongly included below, please

[WTF]

No Trigglypuff?

[SugarFree]

She flew way on her bingo wings...

[commodious just wasting time]

bingo wings

Perfect.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I hope this awards show had a safe space.

[Holger da Dane]

Mtv deserves it. I love how they try to sojusplain their misunderstanding of what it means to be a white male. If you're not an authentic white male, you do not understand the white male experience and cannot speak on the subject. Case closed.

[SugarFree]

North Carolina female high school student was brutally slammed to the ground by a school resource officer. The incident was captured on video, the girl was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two other girls.

Someone go over to Tulpa's house and cut the power. He's going to break his dick off jacking it to the video.

[Swiss Servator]

No, no! Leave it on! That would leave him unable to contaminate the rest of the world!

[SugarFree]

OK, you convinced me.

I wonder if HM will dig up his blog for us. Tulpa was ecstatic over that first video of the girl getting thrown down and dragged out a classroom by Officer Friendly.

[Citizen X]

Christ, what an asshole.

[Citizen X]

Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ak.) rejects the idea that Israel is occupying the West Bank, saying "There is no such thing as a West Bank...There's no such thing as an occupation."

"There's no such thing as an Israel. There's no such thing as Arkansas. There's no such thing as a Huckabee!" [vanishes]

[Swiss Servator]

It is Last Call at the alehouse where Rene Descartes is drinking, and the barkeep asks, "will you have one more, sir?"

"I think not" he replies.... and vanishes in a puff of logic.

[Col. Chestbridge]

-1 drunken fart
+1 "I drink therefore I am"

[Lord Humungus]

Fake News: It's more dangerous than you think

The Daily Beast says it's reviewed some three years worth of reports and warnings issued by various US governmet agencies including the FBI and Homeland Security and as a result says that for nearly a decade various groups accused of working for the Russian government have used fake news in cyberespionage campaigns.

Those campaigns targeted government, military and law enforcement offcials, among many other targets and now, "Cyber-adversaries from Russia, China, and numerous other nations have been using real and fake news as social engineering lures (headlines, attachments, and links) because news/fake news is an effective topic to coerce targets to open the lure and self-victimize," according to James Scott an expert at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology.

And why does fake news work so well in order to get inside the computer neworks of targets? It's quite simple. Fake news (and even real news) is an effective lure because the human targets, "feel compelled to open the email or link in order to be informed [or] to be vindicated."

That bears repeating: people feel compelled to open what is given to them.

[Zeb]

Didn't we already know that pretty much every country with the means to do so does exactly this sort of thing?

[Tyler.C]

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, it is a well established fact, that when presented with fake news, the human psyche will rend itself apart if it does not pursue and peruse said news. My client bares no responsiblity for his actions in falling for such a stupid phishing scam."

[Suthenboy]

That's a big 'ol steamin' pile.

[Free Society]

Those campaigns targeted government, military and law enforcement offcials, among many other targets

So government, military and law enforcement are the targets of propaganda? Wow, that must be really hard for you guys, someone took your jarbs and now the shoe is on the other foot.

This is all just a pretext for clamping down on the first amendment. "Fake news" as a talking point is so hot right now.
Excuse me while I masterfully play the world's smallest violin.

[Free Society]

Those campaigns targeted government, military and law enforcement offcials, among many other targets

So government, military and law enforcement are the targets of propaganda? Wow, that must be really hard for you guys, someone took your jarbs and now the shoe is on the other foot.

This is all just a pretext for clamping down on the first amendment. "Fake news" as a talking point is so hot right now.
Excuse me while I masterfully play the world's smallest violin.

[Tyler.C]

The squirrels will not excuse you.

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

That bears repeating: people feel compelled to open what is given to them.

John Podesta, call email your office!

[Lord Humungus]

Ford Puts Faith in an Electrified Future with Hybrid Mustang, F-150, 300-Mile EV

"The era of the electric vehicle is dawning and we at Ford plan to be a leader in this exciting future," Fields said. "Leading in electrification, in autonomy, and also connectivity are critical as we expand to be both an auto and a mobility company."

While Ford hasn't yet had the time to outline the details of each new vehicle, Fields did refer to the hybrid Mustang as having "V8 power," and said the electrified F-150 could serve as a mobile generator for remote work sites. In fact, most of his electrification talk revolved less around fuel-savings and more around performance benefits ? the instant torque available via an electric motor, for example.

Both the Mustang and F-Series hybrids are slated for 2020, with the other vehicles arriving between 2019 and 2021. The first is a Transit Custom plug-in available in 2019, followed by two new pursuit-rated police vehicles. Both of the hybrid squad cars will be outfitted in Chicago and one will be built there as well, most likely indicating there is an electrified Taurus on the horizon.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"and said the electrified F-150 could serve as a mobile generator for remote work sites."

This actually sounds like a good idea. Sounds good for camping too.

[Gadfly]

Wouldn't a mobile generator for remote work sites have to be a combustion engine, though? I may have missed something, but last I knew batteries were barely good enough to drive a vehicle 200 miles, let alone allow you to also power work sites.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

I'm guessing they're just trying to hybridize their whole fleet.

[Rasilio]

yes, hence why it is a Hybrid and not a pure EV.

That said the amount of juice needed to push a 4000lb truck at 65 MPH for 200 miles would power a few dozen hand tools for days

[Zeb]

Electric delivery vans would be great in cities, I'd imagine.

Not so sure about the Mustang. Seems like the point of the Mustang is to be relatively simple and inexpensive compared to similarly powerful cars.

[Episteme]

The more quiet-running hybrid sports cars that are developed, the closer we get to a Batmobile going into stealth mode!

[Lee Genes]

First you're going to have to convince me the transmission can handle towing loads. If the F150 uses a CVT, I'm betting it can't.

[Zeb]

I bet they can figure something out. Ford sells a lot of pickups.

[Crusty Juggler]

I am with Lee - Ford is going to have to keep something other than electric/CVT for their heavy duty series.

[Zeb]

Yeah, probably.

Hybrids are kind of stupid anyway. The onboard generator would be a nice feature, though.

[Pope Jimbo]

Not sure if you guys covered this yesterday, but the local radio guys are still freaking out about the two protesters who climbed up in the rafters of the Vikings stadium last weekend and unfurled a banner.

I actually thought that everyone sort of behaved well. The cops didn't shoot/taze/beat the protesters. They came down at the end of the game and were booked without incident.

The two radio idiots I listen to in the morning are still venting about this. I think a big part of it is that they hate the commie pipeline protesters. But another part of it is that they really thought the stupid security screening at the stadium was effective. They are flabbergasted that people can get rope and caribiners into the stadium.

They don't seem to grasp that those aren't dangerous objects and if the security trolls at the stadium get the power to start banning things that might be used by protesters, things will not go well.

On the other hand, nothing would make me happier than to see the rubes who go to NFL games get harassed beyond belief.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I got my tiny Swiss Army pocket knife confiscated at the Bell Centre. Pissed me off to no end to the point I ain't going there anymore. Jesus, at least give me a chance to retrieve it later.

And fuck the fucken Habs.

As far as I'm concerned they stole private property.

[Rich]

My empathy, Rufus. I started to "stash" mine under an external trashcan and got threatened. It's outrageous.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I'm still livid about it.

I refused to buy a single item once in. My kid wanted to go see a Habs game so I held my nose and took her. She loved it (it wasn't her first game) so there's that. But those fuckers didn't get a red cent out of me. No beer, hot dog, nothing.

[Free Society]

Well, they got a nifty pocket knife.

[Rufus The Monocled]

That's the other thing. I should have destroyed it somehow and taken out the removable parts. But I was put off guard, there was a massive line up behind me, my kid was already through so I just told them 'keep the fucken knife'. They told me it got sent out to some shelter or something. Bull shit. One of them have a free knife.

Bah.

And the Habs won. Again, the only thing that was tolerable was the girl's happiness.

[Pope Jimbo]

For several years after 9/11 and the TSA rampup, all the shit confiscated at MSP airport was put in a big locker down in the basement of the terminal. Anyone who worked at the airport could basically go in and get whatever they wanted.

Eventually someone got busted selling the shit from there in pawn shops and they locked it down.

[R C Dean]

I had a really nice knife confiscated by security. I now have a separate briefcase I use when travelling that never has a lighter or a knife in it.

Pissed me off no end that they can't bag 'em under your name and let you pick it up after. The only reason not to do that is so they can steal it, either individually or as a department for resale later. And, yes, Homeland Security periodically sells off stuff that they stole.

[flye]

At the state surplus property auctions in Sacramento they have a TSA section of items where you can buy bags of confiscated knives, bottle openers, snow globes...

[Zero Sum Game]

I'd be really pissed too. I've had my Swiss Army knife for 25 years. It's possibly the most useful gift I have ever been given.

[Pope Jimbo]

Not sure if you guys covered this yesterday, but the local radio guys are still freaking out about the two protesters who climbed up in the rafters of the Vikings stadium last weekend and unfurled a banner.

I actually thought that everyone sort of behaved well. The cops didn't shoot/taze/beat the protesters. They came down at the end of the game and were booked without incident.

The two radio idiots I listen to in the morning are still venting about this. I think a big part of it is that they hate the commie pipeline protesters. But another part of it is that they really thought the stupid security screening at the stadium was effective. They are flabbergasted that people can get rope and caribiners into the stadium.

They don't seem to grasp that those aren't dangerous objects and if the security trolls at the stadium get the power to start banning things that might be used by protesters, things will not go well.

On the other hand, nothing would make me happier than to see the rubes who go to NFL games get harassed beyond belief.

[Citizen X]

I think you covered it about half a second ago.

[Hamster of Doom]

His Holiness has always been a thorough man.

[Pope Jimbo]

You would think that I would post at least once more to represent the Trinity.

[commodious just wasting time]

Maybe he should have thoroughn one of his replies out.

[Pope Jimbo]

Every comment is sacred! A reply can begin making sense after only 4 characters. How dare you thoroughn one out before it has a chance to form a complete idea and end in a period.

[commodious just wasting time]

end in a period

Always a great source of relief.

[Crusty Juggler]

Leslie Jones Slams Publisher for Book Deal with Conservative Activist Who Subjected Her to Online Abuse

Simon & Schuster released a statement defending the book deal, saying "we do not and have never condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form." However, they said they "have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions" and the opinions of the authors do not reflect their company.

Jones shot back on Twitter by saying, "Yea but you still help them spread their hate to even more people."

Boom.

[UnCivilServant]

Who?

[Crusty Juggler]

Sassy!

[SugarFree]

The best thing about this entire kerfluffle is that Twitter has defined as hate speech telling someone that you don't think they are funny. Because that was all Milo himself did.

[Crusty Juggler]

Remember when you used to be funny? You're not funny now. You're stupid.

[SugarFree]

Shut your whore mouth.

[Rich]

A *ten-dollar* whore mouth?!

[SugarFree]

Maybe with severe inflation.

[Crusty Juggler]

Maybe with severe inflation.

I'd inflate your face with my severe cock, you stupid stupid stupid stupid.

[straffinrun]

Is that how Harriet Tubman got on the tenner?

[Rich]

HATE SPEECH!

[straffinrun]

Who hates ten-dollar whores?

[SugarFree]

Rich, with only $9 in his pocket.

[straffinrun]

No worries, Rich. I got your back.

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

Ewww.

[Tyler.C]

HATE!! NAZI!! You are terrorizing me with this speech!

[The Grinch]

Ironic that she'd complain about a hate forum on Twatter.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

REKT

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

Leslie Jones doesn't care about gay people.

[Lord Humungus]

Cato On Mariel

Second, Nowrasteh (perhaps unwittingly) blows up the cornerstone underlying the Card-Peri argument that immigration has not made low-skill Americans worse off. That cornerstone is the assumption that high school dropouts and high school graduates are productive clones (or "perfect substitutes"). That assumption is what gives the researcher "permission" to pool those two groups. Because there are many fewer dropouts, the wage trend will essentially reflect whatever happened to the wage of high school graduates.

Nowrasteh's documentation that Mariel had very different effects on high school dropouts and high school graduates flatly contradicts the assumption that the two groups are productive clones. If the two groups were clones, they should have reacted in exactly the same way to Mariel. But they didn't. Instead, they are complements, implying that the two groups should be studied separately. Those who buy into the Card-Peri argument need to go back to the drawing board if they want to salvage the conclusion that immigration didn't really harm the least skilled Americans.

[Homple]

Is it possible that supply, demand and price work together in some mysterious but generally predictable way?

(Note to self: must think about this, maybe form theory, publish it, get famous.)

[invisible furry hand]

You'll need some metaphor to really help explain it

[Tonio]

[Narrows gaze]

[John]

That is a really interesting article. It is shockingly honest for something coming out of CATO. In the end, it doesn't make the case that the author or CATO wants it to. The article makes a valid point that not all refugees are the same and not all refugees are unskilled. Indeed, most immigrants do have skills. That is what gives them job prospects and a reason to come here. That is true as far as it goes. But it just means they drop the wages and earnings of those people with those skills not always or necessarily those with the lowest skills.

Nice of CATO to be honest about that but I don't see how it makes much of a case for open borders.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

?Notorious mass murderer and erstwhile cult leader Charles Manson is "seriously ill."

The lengths some celebs will go to not play at Trump's inaugural.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows tattooed gaze*

[Lord Humungus]

People moving from New York outnumber arrivals by nearly two-to-one, report says

Where were people moving? Mostly to western states and the Carolinas, with one exception. That exception was Vermont, which ranked second on the list of states with the highest proportion -- 67 percent -- of inbound moves.

South Dakota had the highest share of inbound moves, at 68 percent.

New Jersey and Illinois, like New York, saw outbound moves making up 63 percent of all moves.

"This year's data clearly reflects retirees' location preferences," said Michael Stoll, an economist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Interestingly enough, these retirees are leaving at such a fast pace that the movement of millennials to urban areas in the Midwest and Northeast is being overshadowed."

In New York, inbound millennials were 27 percent of inbound moves and 19 percent of those moving out. But of those over 65, 26 percent were outbound and 20 percent were inbound.

[Jordan]

One more year and I can escape this goddamn police state.

[Hamster of Doom]

They're just fleeing Trump. That's all.

[Mantis Toboggan, Jr.]

South Dakota had the highest share of inbound moves, at 68 percent.

"Bah! Rubes in fly-over move-into country!"

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

Sorry. Typo. That's supposed to say "inbred" moves.

[Rhywun]

Good. It's too crowded around here anyway. It will be nice to get a seat on the subway again.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Just solidifies my decision to scratch VT off my move-to list. I'm now down to CO and NH.

[commodious just wasting time]

NM didn't make the cut? We're not the 47th state for nothing. 47th in education, 47th richest, 47th safest...

[invisible furry hand]

It's cool, a bite from the red-bellied black snake won't kill you. Probably.

Terrifying moment a deadly black snake pops its head out of the bonnet of a car travelling at 100km/h - leaving the female driver so scared she abandons it in a paddock

[Citizen X]

"Abandons it in a paddock" is the masturbation euphemism to beat this week, folks.

[SugarFree]

bonnet
paddock
km/h

I am so sick of nonsense words.

[Lord Humungus]

Fake News!

[commodious just wasting time]

But it's on the windshield...

[commodious just wasting time]

Sorry, windscreen.

[Zero Sum Game]

Such a dumb name. A screen a partially permissive device. A windshield blocks wind, shields you from it, and is complete.

I wonder if they call riot shields "riot screens."

[Zero Sum Game]

Probably the most interesting day in that snake's life. It looks like it's enjoying the ride, though.

[Rich]

Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ak.) rejects the idea that Israel is occupying the West Bank, saying "There is no such thing as a West Bank...There's no such thing as an occupation."

Hsst. Ask him about Aleppo.

[CatoTheChipper]

He's just riffing off the slogan that "There is no such thing as Palestinians."

[Lee Genes]

Don't disagree with me, that's abusive

Gaslighting ? manipulating people into questioning their own perceptions ? is often described as an emotional abuse tactic.

But beyond its employment by verbally and emotionally abusive people, gaslighting is actually built into our language.

It rears its head every time someone with hurt feelings is accused of being too sensitive, taking things too seriously, or taking offense too easily. It also shows up in some of the supposed wisdom we teach our children ? and often continue teaching people well into adulthood.

After constantly hearing that I shouldn't be feeling what I was feeling and that my observations couldn't be trusted, I began to label myself hysterical, dramatic, and other words used to make people ? especially women ? discount their emotions.

To this day, when someone offends or hurts me, there's always that little voice in the back of my head saying "Maybe you're just blowing it out of proportion" or "Maybe this is your problem."

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"To this day, when someone offends or hurts me, there's always that little voice in the back of my head saying "Maybe you're just blowing it out of proportion" or "Maybe this is your problem."

This voice is a little something called common sense, or you're not the only person in the world, or take a chill pill drama queen, and you would do well to listen to it more often.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Gaslighting ? manipulating people into questioning their own perceptions ? is often described as an emotional abuse tactic.

That's because more often than not a child's perception IS out of whack and needs direction and guidance. To NOT do so is irresponsible parenting. I always tell me kid to tough it up whenever I see she's making excuses. Believe you me, it helps them to understand what's real *pain* and challenges in life and not. You're a complete derelict if you don't teach your kid.

Idiot.

[Zeb]

This gas-lighting sounds like a positive thing to me. Shouldn't people be encouraged to question their perceptions and emotional reactions?

[Lee Genes]

No, if you self-identify as a victim, then that is what you are. Unless, of course, you're a straight white dude.

[CatoTheChipper]

And ... if you self-identify as a victim, you should nurture your sense of victimhood.

Because your victimhood identifies who you really are.

[Tyler.C]

Yeah, That was my thought. Isn't a premise of good reasoned thinking is the ability to question your assumptions. Obviously you can't always question them, but you should definatly question your newest, untried beliefs and assumptions.

[Zeb]

I like how almost all of the hyperlinks in the text are to other articles at the same site.

[WTF]

I began to label myself hysterical, dramatic,

Sounds like an honest self-assessment to me.

[John Titor]

Look, either you recognize that a lot of your emotional state is a product of electrical and biochemical responses that you can largely control (there's exceptions to some rather obvious chemical imbalances and what-not, but guess what, we have drugs for that) or we go for my Plan B, which is much more invasive, and involves a brain surgeon and a car battery.

Also, anyone else remember the old anti-suffragette argument that women are inherently irrational and unable to control their emotions, which is why they shouldn't be trusted with political power? Yeah...

[Free Society]

In our current culture of gaslighting, people not only blame individuals for their emotional reactions, but also dismiss the concerns of entire communities as the complaints of the "PC police" or "social justice warriors."

SJWs are like so totally oppressed, man. You can't just like, dismiss our complainy community''s complaints. That's not woke, brah.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Shit, I didn't realize that having a discussion qualified as "gaslighting."

[Griffin3]

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means" == gaslighting.

[Lord Humungus]

Willie Nelson
?@willienelson
Thank you @SnoopDogg for the Christmas Sweater

[John]

Everyone loves Willie. And you are not a real celebrity or music star if you don't know Willie Nelson. Willie is a national treasure in every sense of the word. We should all thank God we live in a country that can give the world Willie Nelson.

[Lord Humungus]

I grew up listening to a lot of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash... and Cat Stevens. Ah the wonderful world of the 70s.

[John]

I don't care if Cat Stevens became a crazy Muslim or that they now use one of his better songs in a Jeep commercial. Sadly, too many people only remember that stupid Morning has Broken song. He did a lot of good music in his day, including the song in the Jeep commercial. Besides, that song was in Harold and Maude which washes away all sins as far as I am concerned.

[Zeb]

Yeah, he had a lot of great songs. Odd that his cover of a hymn is one of his better known recordings.

[Lord Humungus]

Cat Stevens is just fantastic - and when I listen to Teaser for the Firecat, I feel like I'm in an angsty coming of age movie from the early 70s.

[John Titor]

that stupid Morning has Broken song.

Catholic churches use it as a hymn now. Reason number 467321 that Luther was right.

[Zeb]

It was written as a hymn in the early 20th century. And protestants use it to. I remember it from church when I was a kid.

[John Titor]

That doesn't make it better, that makes me want to burn down churches.

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

He knew to keep Tea for the Tillerman at like, just over a minute long.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I would listen to Johnny Cent.

/ducks.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Why does he have two first names if he's such a treasure?

[commodious just wasting time]

Would you prefer Willie Fisterbottom?

[commodious just wasting time]

I saw Dylan, Nelson, and Mellencamp in concert maybe eight years ago. Dylan sucked, Nelson and Mellencamp were terrific.

[Citizen X]

As of right now, that is my favorite celebrity friendship to know about.

[Hamster of Doom]

Right? Tell me that didn't make y'all cynical bastards smile. I sure did.

[John]

I saw on cable the other day that Snoop and Martha Stewart are doing a show together. I can't really explain why, but I really want to watch that.

[Crusty Juggler]

Agreed. They have surpassed the Sir Patrick/Sir Ian bromance.

[Citizen X]

Fo shizzle.

[????? ????]

How could this beeeeeeee???

According to the Taipei Times, 60 universities are slated to be closed, meaning that 12,000 instructors will be out of a job, out of 48,000 in the system.

The massive subsidies of the Lee and Chen Administration to universities had two effects. First, they encouraged the vocational schools to "upgrade" to universities, destroying the vocational universities, an incredibly useful source entrepreneurs, and they encouraged proliferation of universities. Many construction companies opened universities to farm the subsidy system -- if a university reached a certain minimum number of students and certain facility minimums such as a library with X number of volumes and a running track, then it received subsidies.

Turns out subsidies can distort outcomes:

The statistics also showed zero enrollments in 151 departments and graduate programs at universities and technical and vocational colleges, most of which were master and doctoral programs, including 64 public and 87 private institutions. Among them, National Taiwan University (NTU), the top university in Taiwan, had the most doctoral programs with zero enrollments, including theater and drama, anthropology, sociology, social work, ecology, art history, evolutionary biology and translational medicine.

[Tyler.C]

Of all groups to be systmaticaly unemployed, i think academics are the least dangerous. When Self-Driving Trucks come about, prepare for roving bands of unemployed Truckers who go around destroying Trucks and stealing the goods.

[Episteme]

+1 smashing the looms

[Rich]

The chief executive of the world's largest social network has made it a personal challenge to have visited people in every state in the US by the end of the year, to discover how they are living, working and thinking about the future.

Sheesh, Mark -- Just use your Oculus Rift data!

[Rufus The Monocled]

'Whoa. You, like, have to get up at 5am? People still do that?'

[Crusty Juggler]

Disgraced feminist traipsing around in a bikini

[SugarFree]

I want her take me, I want her to break me, and I want to her to throw me away.

[invisible furry hand]

As our resident poet, you cannot be tempted by this false muse. Your fate is to be touched by divine fire in your lonely room and sing of Hat/Hair to an indifferent universe

[straffinrun]

Was hoping for Ivan Lendl. You big tease.

[Brochetta's magic (((pants)))]

Poor man's Anna Kournikova. Sad.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

*gruff yelp*

[Lord Humungus]

I've got something in my eye...

Teens step forward to serve as pallbearers for veteran with no family

No family. No friends. He died alone.

Jerry's body lay unclaimed for several weeks at Riemann Family Funeral Homes.

"No one stepped forward," funeral home worker Cathy Warden told me. "He just didn't have any family."

Miss Cathy explained the situation to her colleague Eva Boomer and together they decided something must be done to give this veteran a proper send off.

"Something had to be done with respect," Miss Cathy said. "We had to give him what he deserved. Nobody should go alone."

Miss Eva, who is also a veteran, wondered if some of the boys at Long Beach High School might be willing to serve as pallbearers. It was a longshot, though, seeing how most of the students were out on Christmas break.

But Miss Cathy called her teenage son Bryce who in turn texted some of his friends ? and within a matter of minutes, six young men had volunteered to serve at a stranger's funeral.

Nobody should go alone.

"It was the right thing to do," 17-year-old Bailey Griffin told me. "He served our country. He fought for our rights. For him to be buried with nobody there was just sad. I told myself I was going to do it and I did it."

[Crusty Juggler]

More pussy millennial men, acting like the weak fags they all are.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I'm really not impressed with them.

I was just telling my wife last night. At least Get X were sill had a competitive spirit in the sports field (we would have rebelled if someone told us games have to end in a tie. I personally would have slapped out anyone who proposed it), we grew up during the Cold War and weren't so vulnerable to stupid philosophical fads like communism and Marxism, the lessons of the Wars were still fresh and clear.

This bunch just have their heads down staring at those stupid fucken phones while sporting bears and wearing tight jeans in Snow Goose jackets.

/waves fist at clouds.

[Rufus The Monocled]

'still had'

[Tyler.C]

I don't know if i would complain about anyone who was sporting a bear. Seem's kind dangerous to piss off those types, ya know?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Yeh, but you can spot which is a Millennial beard and a real beard.

[Tyler.C]

This bunch just have their heads down staring at those stupid fucken phones while sporting bears and ...

sporting a bear

i'll just leave that here

[Tonio]

Ahem.

[cbone]

there really is nothing sadder than seeing GenXers trying to cling to relevance and claim *their* rebellions mattered, but nothing since has. Like you Reality Bites fucktards aren't in anyway responsible for the following generation.

[Rasilio]

Given that most of the millenials are our younger siblings from our Boomer parents second marriages and not actually our own kids we don't bear as much responsibility for them as most generations do. I'm among the very oldest of the Gen X'ers (69) and my own kids are all post millenials at 14 and 8 years of age.

Also remember, High School kids of today are mostly not millenials any longer. Only about half the Seniors and a handful of the Juniors were born before 2001

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Bravo.

[Jerryskids]

Speaking of veterans - just yesterday talking to the Little One about her relatives who had served, she knew both her Paw-paws had fought in Vietnam and I told her that her Great-grandfather, my dad, had fought in WWII. After thinking about it a minute, she asked me "Did he fight against Hitler or for Hitler?"

I laughed, but after thinking about it a bit it's a little disconcerting to wonder if she really has such a tenuous grasp of history that she really doesn't appreciate who Hitler was and what he represented. Is that just something you wouldn't necessarily expect a fourth-grader to know or is that some sort of warning about people who fail to learn from history?

[R C Dean]

We just laid my father-in-law to rest. Marine veteran of the Pacific theater. He had a bronze star, from when they weren't just passing them out. He never told anybody what he did to earn it. The one story I heard was that he was a door gunner patrolling the islands, shooting up anything that moved.

He was buried in Minnesota during the pre-Christmas blizzard. Full Marine contingent for the burial. Man, did they look cold. And those guys had burials stacked up for most of the day.

[The Late P Brooks]

People moving from New York outnumber arrivals by nearly two-to-one, report says

Where were people moving? Mostly to western states and the Carolinas, with one exception. That exception was Vermont, which ranked second on the list of states with the highest proportion -- 67 percent -- of inbound moves.

South Dakota had the highest share of inbound moves, at 68 percent.

Build the fence!

[UnCivilServant]

How many people moving to Vermont are New Yorkers just hopping the fence?

[John]

There are a decent number of if not small government at least not insane Prog New Yorkers. I would imagine those people are moving to South Dakota. The ones moving to Vermont are the ones you need to build a fence to keep out, but Vermont has already been ruined anyway.

[WTF]

They must be blissfully unaware of Vermont's constitutional carry. Or maybe they just know their gun hysteria is bullshit.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Is SD most inbound from NY or just most in general? They're still having an oil boom, right?

[John]

Assume for a moment Russia actually did hack the DNC emails and release them to affect the election. Why would they do this? They would do it because it would weaken the resulting President by creating doubt about the electoral process and thus reduce the winning candidate's democratic legitimacy and power. The Russians have an interest in a weakened US President. Given that, why would they tell Assange to lie about their doing it? If your goal is to weaken the incoming President, you want the American public to know you were behind the leaks. Otherwise, your releasing the emails doesn't achieve its intended effect.

So yeah, Assange is likely telling the truth. If Russia had done it, they would want the world to know about it and would have instructed Assange to say so.

[Zeb]

Yeah, that seems about right. The whole thing, as it's being presented, makes little sense.

[John]

The other thing that never gets mentioned is that if Russia was reading the DNC's emails, the last thing they would have wanted to do would be to leak them and let the DNC know it was reading its emails. The thing to remember is that few people in the media or politics thought Trump had any chance of winning. Russian intelligence doesn't know anymore about American politics than the people who live here do. They rely on the same open source materials that we do. So, Russia no doubt figured Hillary was sure to win. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Russia was reading the DNC's emails and a lot more. But Russia reading them doesn't preclude insiders from leaking them or private hacker groups pissed off at Hillary and the Democrats from hacking them and leaking them. The chances that Russia are behind the leaks is very small.

[Zeb]

I hadn't thought about that aspect. It could well be that Russia was snooping on DNC stuff (and probably anything else they could get into). No one should really be too surprised that that kind of spying goes on. That doesn't mean they are the ones who leaked the stuff that became public or that the leaks were intended to help Trump.

[Artifex]

I think this is a little short sighted and not exactly right. If I am Putin, I am not trying to get Trump elected with a leak. Only a moron or my Labrador retriever would think such a thing. I still have incentive to leak though. I am really aiming for as much chaos in the US as I can get.

By exposing the sheer incompetence and corruption of the Democrats, even if Hilary had won I would be fostering a strong opposition. This opposition would be useful when POTUS Warbitch undoubtedly tries military force against external enemies to distract from her inevitable continuous domestic corruption issues.

[John]

Yes, if they did this, it wasn't to tip the election. It was as you describe to weaken Hillary as President. The Russians had no way of knowing Trump was going to win and no doubt figured Hillary was sure to win. So the idea would have been to leak these things to weaken her as President.

I would point out one other thing. If the point is to create chaos, you don't have to actually leak the emails or do anything. You only have to create the perception you did. The perception is what causes the chaos and does the damage. Here is what I think is happening. I don't think the Russians leaked the emails or had anything to do with their hacking. After they were hacked and leaked, the Russians have for the reasons you describe every reason to want the American public to think they were behind it.

So if there is anyone on the Russian payroll, it is the people claiming the Russians did it. If there is a Russian intel operation going on, it is to convince the public they leaked this and damage the legitimacy of Trump and reduce his power as President. Even if they had leaked it, it doesn't do nearly as much damage if people don't know they leaked it. I think the Russians are just being opportunistic here by creating the perception they were behind the leaks.

[CatoTheChipper]

It makes a lot of sense.

There's a set of facts (real facts, not fake news) about Russians, hacking, and Trump. The facts get jumbled, and Democrat shills get to go around saying "The Russians hacked the election" and "Trump is a stooge for Putin" over and over. Throw in a story about the "The Russians hacked the power grid" now and then. Then Obama expels 35 Russians and shuts down their dachas to retaliate.

As a result, 50% of Hillary voters think the Russians manipulated vote totals to achieve a Trump victory.

[Rich]

Germane

"Why didn't you tell the world, eh?!"

[SimonD]

The Russians may not have given it to Mr. Assange personally, but they certainly could have given it to a third party to give to him.

PS: I think it's mostly B.S. too, but for a different reason. Russia's economy is dependent on oil. Republican policies would tend to lead to lower oil prices, while Dem policies would tend to lead to higher prices.

You can say a lot of things about Mr. Putin, but he's not stupid. He surely understands this.

[John]

Yes, the idea that Putin would want Trump as President instead of Hillary given that his being alive likely depends on the price of oil being high enough to allow him to buy off his enemies is a bit curious to say the least. Trump is Putin's worst nightmare as President.

[R C Dean]

Why would they do this? They would do it because it would weaken the resulting President by creating doubt about the electoral process and thus reduce the winning candidate's democratic legitimacy and power.

Which would mean its now the Dems who are dancing to Putin's tune.

[Brochetta's magic (((pants)))]

Media continues to fawn over Kelly. Apparently, she was 'respectable,' unlike most of their other personalities. It's like these people don't realize they lost the election, and most of the American people don't find the 'establishment' credible. Fox continues to dominate ratings even if it is an echo chamber as you morons pretend that half the country is fringe.

[John]

The media loves few things more than a conservative apostate. Also NBC has a whole lot of influence with the wider media and has every reason to rehabilitate Kelly among its liberal viewers. By hiring Kelly, NBC is gambling that she can attract viewers beyond those who watch Fox. She will bring a few viewers with her from Fox but not enough to justify her salary. To justify her salary, NBC has to rehabilitate her with liberals by making her into a conservative apostate. Basically, she is going to become a professional concern troll to the right. Expect to hear a lot of "I was a Republican but the party left me because of its crazy views on gun control, abortion, or whatever else is the issue dejour and of course TRUMP!!". Kelly's role will to allow liberals to point in shame at conservatives and Republicans and say "see even one of your own things you are evil and racist."

[WTF]

Winnah, winnah, chicken dinner!

[spqr2008]

The amount of stupid and dangerous this is for NBC is YUUUUGGGEEEEE!!!! The more they piss off Trump, the more likely he is to pull a Teddy Roosevelt and break up cronyist Comcast, NBC, and GE. This, of course, will piss off the left to no end, since he's punishing a stalwart leftist institution that covers for one of the evil "corporations", and amuse me to no end, since it's fairly predictable, and maybe might lead each of those companies to reexamine their failed business premises when government contracts start drying up.

[????? ????]

Comcast purchased the remainder of GE's stake in NBCUniversal a few years ago. They are out of the picture.

[spqr2008]

They did? I thought GE still had 49% of it.

[????? ????]

Following regulatory approvals, the transaction completed on January 28, 2011. Comcast subsequently owned 51% of NBCUniversal while GE owned 49%.[10][11][12] Comcast intended to buy out the rest of GE's stake over the following seven years, but nothing happened until February 12, 2013, when Comcast announced its intention to complete the purchase all at once and assume 100% ownership of the company by the end of March.[13][14] The deal was finalized on March 19, 2013.[15]

[spqr2008]

Using the Google-fu, I found out You are right. It's a shame. I was hoping Trump would manage to disincentivize GE's crony ambitions by applying bitch slap strength derpitude to them using Anti-Trust regulations. Damn.

[Brochetta's magic (((pants)))]

Salon: Impeachment beings now Idiocy originated with Huffington Post which is actually setting the standard in hysterical Trump derp.

Yes. They want to begin building evidence for impeachment immediately over the fact that Trump is a businessman, and something about him being a Putin Manchurian candidate. It's treason or something, even though, last I checked, Putin is not our enemy. We have not declared war on Russia.

[John]

Trump has to be the luckiest President in history regarding his enemies. All Trump has to do is act reasonable. The more reasonable he acts, the crazier his enemies are going to become and the more reasonable and successful Trump will become. His approval ratings have gone up significantly since the election. Progs have done nothing since the election except confirm to a skeptical electorate that they made the right choice electing Trump.

[Tornado35235gsg35423ttg3gt3g3g]

This. The progs set the bar so low

[Tyler.C]

What's sad is that with Pussygate, there semeed to be some ground for begining some impeachment process, but the left decided to go chasing fictitious Russians under the bed instead.

[Brochetta's magic (((pants)))]

There was zero substance to 'Pussygate.' Nothing you could take into a court of law for sexual assault let alone rape. Unless they managed to get Trump under oath and catch him in a blatant lie, there's nothing there.

[Tyler.C]

But there was more there, than there ever was to "The Russians installed Trump" argument. Perhaps there was nothing legally, but i think to get an impeachment process started, they would have found more Republicans sympathetic to "Pussygate" than to "The Russians are Coming". (Of course i say that and then think about McCain et. all). In the End starting an Impeachment is purley political, so the best route to go is the one that will garner the most political support in the House.

[R C Dean]

But there was more there, than there ever was to "The Russians installed Trump" argument.

Talk about a low bar.

[Jerryskids]

If you're going to impeach him, just impeach him over his claims to know things about the DNC e-mail leak that nobody else knows. The only way he could possibly know something nobody else knows is if he's the one who did it. I mean, the guy who actually infiltrated the e-mail system and got a hold of the e-mails surely knows if he was working for the Russians, doesn't he?

Or maybe the claim to know more than the hacker about hacking belongs in the spam folder along with his claims to know more than bankers about banking, more than generals about the military, more than lawyers about the law, more than tax accountants about taxes, more than diplomats about foreign relations, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.

[SimonD]

"It was me! It was me all along! Muah-hah-hah!"

[commodious just wasting time]

Impeachment beings

I missed that episode of X-Files.

[????? ????]

This (months-old) piece has plenty of derp and condescension peppered through it and I don't much care to comb through it. But I will highlight a choice portion:

That opposition to [affirmative action] would be so loud on a WeChat group for parents of students perhaps isn't surprising, but this appears to be a top issue for many Chinese immigrants supporting Trump. Resentment at preferential treatment allegedly given to other underprivileged minorities easily elides into opposition to anything labeled "politically correct," and they come to admire Trump's open contempt for the whole liberal agenda of social justice.

Emphasis mine. Affirmative action allegedly gives preferential treatment to certain groups; it's not, you know, an explicitly stated goal.

[commodious just wasting time]

I like that "minorities," no matter their families' financial status, are "underprivileged," where as the son of lower-middle-class parents is privileged simply because he's white. Yet they claim they're not racists.

[R C Dean]

Somebody pointed out that Obama's daughters would be affirmative action beneficiaries, but the daughters of a poor white family in West Virginia without indoor plumbing would not be. Because great justice.

[Lord Humungus]

Russia Isn't Our Friend, But That Doesn't Make The Left's Conspiracy Theories True

In politics, proving something isn't nearly as important as feeling it. So it's not surprising that last week, Economist/YouGov found that 52 percent of Democrats now believe Russia "tampered with vote tallies" ? not that it leaked real-life emails to the public, but that it altered the outcome of the ballots in a presidential election. There is no proof of this happening or that it was even attempted. If we're to believe YouGov, Democrats are more likely to believe the Russians installed Trump into the presidency than Republicans are to have ever believed Barack Obama was a Muslim.

[Tyler.C]

something, something FAKE NEWS, something, something.

[Tyler.C]

Democrats: The Party of Science!

[Rufus The Monocled]

"96% of scientists agree with everything we say!"

[Drake]

VDH still writing great articles while the rest of National Review flounders. Actually living in a rural part of the country gives him insight into what's actually going on in the country - stuff columnists in coastal enclaves keep missing.

It's Still a Mad, Mad California

http://www.nationalreview.com/article.....ddle-class

[CatoTheChipper]

VDH asserts that U-Haul rates out of CA are much higher than those to CA.

I decided to check this out.

Lo, and behold! The LA - Austin rate ($1496) is about double the Austin - LA rate ($785).

[Drake]

I'm surprised they charge at all if you are willing to drive one of their trucks back to LA.

[R C Dean]

That's been true for years. I see updates periodically; not sure where.

[Lee Genes]

Cognitive dissonance, how the fuck does it work?

The right-wingers, and their endlessly orbiting, peripheral Arkham Asylum of associated organizations, have been clamoring since the end of Reconstruction for a return to a 'states-rights' interpretationof the US Constitution.

blah, blah, various words, blah, blah, blah....

Blue State residents, like me, who have visions of a liberal Balkanization, may not get The Republic of Cascadia, or the Independent Republic of California just yet. But if we play our cards right, we can resist and turn away from the klop-klopping of Federal jackboots, and look to our states until Der Orangefuhrer is taking away in a straitjacket.

[straffinrun]

How dare you skip "Der Gropenfuhrer". Those are much more than various words.

[Lee Genes]

I was tempted, but it distracted from my point.

[straffinrun]

Waiting for Der Gropenfuhrer to be taking [sic] away in a straitjacket sounds like a perfectly reasonable plan.

[Lee Genes]

Waiting for Der Gropenfuhrer

My new play

[straffinrun]

Brecht is Recht!

[SugarFree]

The actors actually go out into the audience and grope them.

[Lee Genes]

Two hipsters sit on a park bench and twitter about nothing.

[straffinrun]

I always wanted to slip Godot some viagra.

[Tyler.C]

Two hipsters sit on a park bench and twitter about nothing.

I see that play every time i pass a park.

[Brochetta's magic (((pants)))]

The progressive agenda requires centralization. Their states can't afford all the bullshit on their own, and they need the federal government and its ability to take on massive amounts of debts for any of it to work.

[CatoTheChipper]

I seem to recall that, before ObamaCare, Vermont looked into the possibility of statewide single-payer health care and determined that it was economically infeasible.

But somehow it becomes feasible when it's a national program.

[Tornado35235gsg35423ttg3gt3g3g]

Colorado voters rejected it as well.

[Tornado35235gsg35423ttg3gt3g3g]

Colorado voters rejected it as well.

[R C Dean]

But somehow it becomes feasible when it's a national program.

Things become feasible why you can print your own money.

[Citizen X]

"Cognitive dissonance" is a cishet white patriarchal construct, shitlord! Why must you microaggress against Other Ways Of Knowing?

[Lee Genes]

I would never aggress against otherkin.

*stashes wolf howling t-shirt*

[BestUsedCarSales]

Wear it proud, boy.

[????? ????]

Related CNN piece: Blue states should take Trump's tax cut money and run

Most of the proposed federal tax reforms would leave more wealth in the affluent blue states. They could capture some of it through their own taxes and economic activity unleashed by residents with more money in their pockets.

There's no reason why like-minded states can't get together and solve problems, including local challenges and international ones like climate change. For the richer blue states, a reduced federal tax burden would leave them with the added means to address these challenges. And the nicest part: They can spend the money at home.

Apparently federal taxes now affect economic prosperity. Though not state taxes...?

[John]

So lowering taxes unleashes economic prosperity and increases economic activity. Did someone hack CNN's website and start posting fake articles? Good for them if they have just now figured this out but I don't think that fits with the party line.

[commodious just wasting time]

Much like economic spending is stimulating only when TEAM BLUE does it.

[Tornado35235gsg35423ttg3gt3g3g]

So liberals are advocating trickle down economics lol
Good good my apprentice

And they need to understand individuals not states pay federal income taxes. The higher your income more you are taxed

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Andrew Cuomo's tax-free for 10 years thing basically means he admits that taxes kill business.

[Jerryskids]

That don't even make sense. Most of the proposed federal tax reforms would leave more wealth in the affluent blue states. They could capture some of it through their own taxes and economic activity unleashed by residents with more money in their pockets. So you're suggesting the heresy of admitting that lower taxes would unleash economic activity and create more wealth - and what?, proposing that the states seize this wealth lest the citizenry must endure such a calamity as wealth and prosperity?

[R C Dean]

Of course, they will need that tax revenue to fund their pensions, so the idea that it will support an expanded state government is, shall we say, questionable.

[Rhywun]

There's no reason why like-minded states can't get together and solve problems, including local challenges and international ones like climate change

Because climate does not cross state boundaries. Jesus, how stupid does CNN think people are?

[CatoTheChipper]

Their audience is progressive ... so: really, really stupid.

[CatoTheChipper]

I love this line of thinking! Seriously, I really love it.

I heartily endorse the progressive strategy of advocating higher taxes to spur economic prosperity and battle climate change. I am very much encouraged by their selection of visionary progressives like Pelosi to lead their minority in the House and Schumer to lead their minority in the Senate. I just hope they are successful in putting Keith Ellison in charge of the DNC so he can transform the Democrat Party to a fully progressive institution that excludes old Blue Dogs, Jews, capitalists, taxpayers, and other deplorables.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I have no objection with letting them fall assbackwards into a Federalist view of the Constitution and states' rights. By all means, let California and Massachusetts set up their own single payer healthcare systems and tuition free college.

[commodious just wasting time]

Remind me again who governed the south after Reconstruction, and founded the KKK. Pretty sure it wasn't "right-wingers, and their endlessly orbiting, peripheral Arkham Asylum of associated organizations." Also, "endlessly orbiting, peripheral" adds nothing to the writer's injunction against those "associated organizations." It's not opprobrius, it's just verbal fodder. So why add it? For all their education, progs are shit writers.

[Heroic Mulatto]

DENT/NIGMA 2020

[UnCivilServant]

Three candidates for the price of two?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Checks and balances against Karlo running for all 535 Congressional seats.

[The Late P Brooks]

Blue State residents, like me, who have visions of a liberal Balkanization, may not get The Republic of Cascadia, or the Independent Republic of California just yet.

Wait, what?
Aren't these the people who seem to be openly advocating for the dissolution of all state governments, in favor of an all-encompassing federal monolith?

You know, the ones who think Wyoming getting to have just as many Senators as California is the height of unfairness. The ones who cannot tolerate the notion of state by state wage differentials. The ones who believe the Presidential vote should be an aggregated popular vote.

[SimonD]

Aren't these the people who seem to be openly advocating for the dissolution of all state governments, in favor of an all-encompassing federal monolith?

I'm sure you know the answer to this. They want the dissolution of all state government in favor of an all-encompassing federal monolith with them in charge.

(I felt like playing with HTML today.

[Tonio]

Congrats on the HTML. Makes life better for everyone, including you [pauses to glance at refuseniks].

But, yes, their own greed and hubris could be their undoing. Let them discover the joys of a smaller federal government, confident that they will prevail in the states. Then watch their shock and disbelief as state voters continue to kick them out of office.

[Pope Jimbo]

Why do the voters of Minneapolis keep falling for schemes like this?

A non-profit promises to raise a bunch of money to pay off something. In this case it was a park next to the new Vikes stadium. They start raising money but to get it done, the city (or the developer in this case) fronts them the money. Years will pass and the loan is never paid off.

The same thing happened when they had to "save" the Schubert theater and moved the entire building 5 blocks. Then it sat there for years before they gave up on private money and raided the state's general fund.

[CatoTheChipper]

I think that public choice theory explains this phenomenon very well.

[Ken Shultz]

"Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has promised to make things difficult for any Supreme Court nominee Trump puts forth."

One of the problems for the Democratic Party associated with being chased out of so many states that aren't deep blue is that it makes them less concerned about the problems of Democratic senators from red states.

Charles Schumer is from a state where treating Trump's win with contempt won't lose him much support, but having a party leader who is contemptuous of Trump and the voters who genuinely like him probably doesn't help you much if you're from a swing state and trying to get reelected.

It is very much to the Republicans' benefit if the Democrats continue to blame Hillary's loss on something other than progressives and their elitist contempt for typical Americans.

[WTF]

Especially since the Democrats will have to try to defend 25 senate seats in 2018, many in swing states, while the Republicans only have to defend 10 mostly safe seats. Schumer is going to lead them to ruin.

[Gadfly]

To expand on this, the Dems have 25 seats (including 2 technical Independents), of which 10 are from states Trump won, while the Reps have 8 seats, of which only one is from a state Clinton won. The Reps need 8 seats for a filibuster proof majority, so the Dems should tread carefully if they don't want to be totally shut out.

[commodious just wasting time]

Nah brah. They're going to continue the histrionics.

[John]

He is making a mistake. They should roll over and be nice on the replacement for Scalia. They lost the election. They are not getting a liberal court. The best they can hope for is to keep it the same or prevent it from going too far right. Putting a conservative replacement for Scalia on the bench doesn't change anything so there is no point in fighting it. They should roll over and wait until the Notorious RBG or Kennedy keels over and then filibuster and throw a fit. Being reasonable now will make it seem more reasonable when they are unreasonable later. If they follow Schumer's advice and shoot their wad now, the Republicans will just use it as an excuse to go nuclear and deprive them of the ability to do anything when there is a nominee who really would shift the court. Moreover, since everyone knows Scalia is a conservative and the public outside the radical fringes always wants the Congress and President to shut up and get along for a while after the election, there will be virtually no political price for going nuclear. Going nuclear on a later nominee who is replacing a liberal and after the Democrats had already given Trump who he wanted on the replacement for Scalia would likely entail a political price.

The Democrats just can't help themselves with Trump. They never make the smart move.

[Ken Shultz]

And what are they going to do if Trump nominates a black woman?

[John]

Go full racist like they did with Thomas.

[Ken Shultz]

I think they'll have a hard time with that.

[R C Dean]

Only if they have principles and integrity, Ken.

[John]

He is making a mistake. They should roll over and be nice on the replacement for Scalia. They lost the election. They are not getting a liberal court. The best they can hope for is to keep it the same or prevent it from going too far right. Putting a conservative replacement for Scalia on the bench doesn't change anything so there is no point in fighting it. They should roll over and wait until the Notorious RBG or Kennedy keels over and then filibuster and throw a fit. Being reasonable now will make it seem more reasonable when they are unreasonable later. If they follow Schumer's advice and shoot their wad now, the Republicans will just use it as an excuse to go nuclear and deprive them of the ability to do anything when there is a nominee who really would shift the court. Moreover, since everyone knows Scalia is a conservative and the public outside the radical fringes always wants the Congress and President to shut up and get along for a while after the election, there will be virtually no political price for going nuclear. Going nuclear on a later nominee who is replacing a liberal and after the Democrats had already given Trump who he wanted on the replacement for Scalia would likely entail a political price.

The Democrats just can't help themselves with Trump. They never make the smart move.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

When did Huckabee move to Alaska?

[Sevo]

"President-elect Donald Trump says he believes WikiLeaks' Julian Assange's claim that the Russian government was not the source of the leaked DNC emails."

Here we go:
"The FBI and Homeland Security Department will release a report Thursday with technical evidence intended to prove Russia's military and civilian intelligence services were behind hacking attacks during this year's presidential campaign, according to a U.S. official"
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....58939.html
Bloomberg via Yahoo

Well, maybe they meant a Thursday in March.
Assange has some cred; the O-admin? About as much as commie-kid.

[R C Dean]

Unless they've got more than the private security firm analyses, they will prove no such thing.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

One of my friends is planning to attend this thingie. Seems like a tremendous waste of time when I first heard about it, but now it seems to be suffering from a high level of scope creep and consequently is quite entertaining. My friend doesn't make a lot of money, so it's kind of a head-shaker, since it looks pretty clear that this circus is likely to devolve into a giant version of the Kumbaya scene from PCU. ?\_(?)_/?

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I know people coming in from across the country for that. Good luck to them. I sense it's going to be an incoherent mess.

[Crusty Juggler]

I do as well, and it is going to be a mess. I do have some pity for those who live in that area.

[straffinrun]

Feminists are confusing the issue by making Trump's threat about themselves.

Uh....

[The Fusionist]

It's about *all* pussies, regardless of sex or gender.

[Rhywun]

What are they agitating for? If your friend can't answer that, ask him/her why they are bothering.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Because identity politics and the President-Elect's crass language. She wants to be present so that "women" can be heard. That's it.

[Free Society]

Another example of "I am woman, hear me roar".

[commodious just wasting time]

I don't mind it coming from Katy Perry.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

That's what they say, but it's more like "I am woman, hear me play victim". Women actually roaring (and shooting guns and kicking ass) is pretty awesome.

[commodious just wasting time]

I always preferred Kaylee to River.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Well, we never got to see much of River's real personality. But she did utter the best line in Serenity. I like Zoe the best, though. And Inara. OK, fuck. They're all awesome on that show.

[commodious just wasting time]

But she did utter the best line in Serenity.

Which is that? It's been a goodly long time since I've seen it. Should maybe rectify that this week.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

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

[commodious just wasting time]

God damn it, Fox. Makes you wonder what might have been if Netflix etc existed back then. Someone would have picked it up.

[CatoTheChipper]

https://youtu.be/g-alzyvTtVE?t=70

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

So much this.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Hooray U Wisconsin. Making the weak-ass weak-assier.

[Free Society]

Because the men entering college in 2016 weren't feminized enough.

[Pope Jimbo]

I wonder if there is some visible line that tells the UW Madison sissy boys when they have strayed off the liberal reservation.

Most of Wisconsin is pretty small town redneck. I'm sure any pansy who signed up for that class would be appalled by the behavior that can be found in most Wisconsin road houses.

Most of the other Wisconsin campus' are pretty normal too. You don't hear much nonsense like this from Osh Kosh or Stout.

[straffinrun]

Always loved the athletic conference acronym WSUC.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I sit next to the kitchen at my office, and the TV is always on CNN. So right now I have to listen to Tits McGhee's honking New York voice. It's more grating than Fran Drescher.

[Free Society]

FAKE NEWS: CNN says Trump is a conspiracy theorist for disagreeing with the Russian hacking narrative. He is the conspiracy theorist for doubting the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the election was "hacked". CNN goes on to explain that all US intelligence agencies are unanimous that "the Russians hacked the election". I guess citing anonymous sources unwilling to put their names to any unsubstantiated allegations themselves, qualifies as unanimity among all the agencies.

Washington (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter Tuesday evening to deride the US intelligence agencies due to brief him on alleged Russian hacking of American political groups.It was his latest attack on a key body he will rely on as commander in chief and again put him at odds with the agencies' unanimous conclusion that Russia hacked Democratic Party groups and individuals to interfere in the US presidential election.

[Lee Genes]

Humungus apparently spends thousands trying to recreate that AM radio buzz.

[John]

Snoop's gangsta act was always just an act. He is a middle class kid who figured out conforming to white stereotypes and being a way for white teenagers to shock their parents is a great way to make a living. Snoop is nothing but a hip hop version of Alice Cooper, who is also a pretty regular guy.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

It's already been airing for a while, and the reviews are awful. No chemistry, scripted to within an inch of its life, no natural banter. Too bad, because it is an interesting combination. They just needed to find people that can improv and trade quips.

[straffinrun]

He doesn't know how much I love him, but I love him like a son.

[SugarFree]

a repair manual for my Triumph

That must be a foot thick.

[Jerryskids]

Run, run, run, run awaaaaay.

[Lee Genes]

Not really, it's just a page torn out of the KBB with instructions on how to make a Craigslist posting.

[Citizen X]

Alice Cooper is a registered Republican and a semi-pro golfer.

[Crusty Juggler]

Why do you think that's true? He was a Crip, in an out of prison for a few years of his life, and went to trial for murder.

[straffinrun]

You I need your love, you know that I'll never leave, Jerry. *BTW the dude in that song sounds like a stalker.

[SugarFree]

No. This is my fate and I shall bravely submit to it.

[Pope Jimbo]

What about lions? Can it tow those?

[John]

You are right. I confused him with Tupac. Tupac was the middle class faker. Snoop was a crip. My mistake. I guess it makes sense that the middle class poser was the one who was dumb enough to piss off the wrong people get himself shot.

[Crusty Juggler]

Tupac's family was anything but middle-class, however, he did that opportunties because he was so gifted as a child. And then he decided to become an actual thug. He was not a choir boy, John.

[WTF]

No, it's too perilous, we shall save you from the peril.

[SugarFree]

I must go. Save yourselves. Goodbye.

[Citizen X]

+1 angry letter from a young Rashida Jones

[Citizen X]

"My maternal grandfather fought in World War II. He killed over 80 enemy troops. Then he spent the rest of the war in an Allied POW camp...

My father fought a different war. Diabetes."

[CatoTheChipper]

I used to work for a German guy who was in WW II.

He considered himself to have been extremely lucky. He was one of the few German soldiers shot by the enemy during the invasion of France. As a consequence, he got to sit out the rest of the war.

[Pope Jimbo]

This is what should happen to Stitch and Bella

[Crusty Juggler]

Right! The balls to argue with a middle-class white rural nerd about 90s hip-hop. The fuck?

[commodious just wasting time]

That's some good work, Lou. You'll make sergeant for this.

[R C Dean]

Ditto. Good on 'em, I say.

[John]

I am not rural nor really much of a nerd.

[Crusty Juggler]

Why would you pretend to know anything about Snoop and Tupac?

[Crusty Juggler]

It would be if you had your own place, because it's going to be like four of those screeching maniacs to one room.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Single dudes don't have any problems in the DC to begin with. If you're a dude and you can't get laid in DC, you need to do some serious introspection.

Anyway, I'm glad I work outside the Beltway now. I don't think I'll run into any of this shit.

[Heroic Mulatto]

This exchange was one of the most beautiful things I have seen on Hit 'n Run in a long, long time.

Perhaps there is hope for this place yet.

*wipes tear from eye*

[John]

I remembered reading something to that effect.

[Lord Humungus]

2.5 Lions to the hogshead.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Ah c'mon K, where's your sense of Sisterhood Solidarity after that nasty brute said lewd things? You should be out there with only a nebulous sense of herd purpose.

[John]

Did you ever watch Martha Stewart's daughter's show "Whatever Martha"? It was great. The daughter and her chunky friend basically played Mystery Science Theater 3000 with old Martha Stewart shows and tried to do the projects themselves. It was so funny.

[spqr2008]

Just he and Franz, the lucky ones

[lap83]

No one's going to mention Martha's transformation from Chanel model/babysitter to prison-hardened businesslady thug

[Citizen X]

John Is White, Film at 11