Obama's Final Presidential Press Conference, Senate Committee Approves Mattis for Defense, Senegalese Troops Move Closer to Gambian Border: P.M. Links

• 

  White House

  At his last press conference as president, Barack Obama insists Julian Assange's offer to surrender himself played no role in the decision to grant Chelsea Manning clemency. The president also pardoned Baseball Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, who plead guilty to tax evasion in 1995.

• Donald Trump said he doesn't like to tweet. Earlier today he tweeted a photo of himself purportedly working on his inaugural address three weeks ago while at Mar-a-Lago, which he described as the "Winter White House."
• The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 26-1 in favor of the nomination of Gen. James Mattis to defense secretary. The sole no vote came from Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY).
• United Nations ambassador nominee Nikki Haley became the latest Trump pick to criticize Russia at her confirmation hearing.
• The death toll is climbing in the bombing of a refugee camp in Nigeria, which the government called a "regrettable operational mistake." More than 70 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
• Troops in Senegal are moving closer to the border with Gambia, giving the president there a midnight deadline to step down from power.
• Barbara Bush has been hospitalized along with her husband, George H.W. Bush.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Barbara Bush has been hospitalized along with her husband, George H.W. Bush.

Would Melania do the same?

[bacon-magic]

You've got some kind of deal with Ed, don't you? Let me guess...beard oil mined by your orphans?

[Ed]

I got this one into the back end right at 4:30 to prevent shenanigans and he still fired two off before anyone else had a chance.

[bacon-magic]

Thanks for looking out for all of us Ed. *marks Ed down as one of the good ones

[BestUsedCarSales]

"Ed, you seem pretty cool, don't come to the comments section on Friday."

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

These euphemisms are out of control.

[Private Chipperbot]

The committee breaks tradition and immediately votes Ed into the comment HoF.

[Jimbo]

Jesus F Christ!
I second that!

[MarkLastname]

Dammit! I was about to ironically say 'that's what she said.'

[Playa Manhattan.]

That's because there's a secret. It publishes someplace else first.

[bacon-magic]

I know that one, but Ed just pointed out it wasn't in that spot...back to the FOE time warp conspiracy.

[Ed]

Yeah, it didn't publish anywhere before 4:30

[bacon-magic]

Illuminati confirmed!
Thanks Ed, you just increased next year's donation drive by $25. *adjusts tinfoil hat in exhilaration

[Citizen X]

Eugene is a slippery bastard, it is known.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Literally.

[bacon-magic]

You make alt-text great again, too!

[Tonio]

Best comment here ever, Ed.

[Playa Manhattan.]

He had you at "back end"?

[Tonio]

😛

[Fist of Etiquette]

At one point men of industry and accomplishment were lauded by the people for their trailblazing. Eight years of Obama has achievement being branded shenanigans.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

You know who else got one in the back end?

[Rat don't serf]

Hitler, with a pineapple.

[Cdr Lytton]

Andy Dufresne?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

That is how you do a good euphemism.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Hola Rufus! How's the Great White North?

[C. Anacreon]

Coo loo coo coo, coo coo coo coo!

[gaoxiaen]

You are the walrus?

[68W58]

Oh, hello eh.

[DEG]

G'Day

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Yoha ma Broha.

[Raven Nation]

Saw your response to my question about the WC - thanks.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Water Closet?

[Raven Nation]

Yep. The American idea of having the toilet in the same room as the tub is gauche.

[End Child Unemployment]

Oh look at you, Mr. fancy french man, parking your car in a garage. Why can't you call it a car-hole like the rest of us regular joes?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Hello, Rufus.

So you guys might remember a while back I encountered a dude brushing his teeth while taking a shit in the stall next to me. Well, today I ran into what is hopefully the same guy, and he was flossing in there. He had a whole dental hygiene kit laid out on the floor of the bathroom stall. I can't even.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

I can't even.

Indeed, that is quite odd.

[Col. Chestbridge]

*throws up in beak*

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

At my previous job, we had an employee who was known to eat lunch sitting on the toilet?

[MarkLastname]

Well, may as well go in the same room place it goes out.

Not anatomically speaking of course...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump said he doesn't like to tweet.

He hides it well.

[SugarFree]

he doesn't like to tweet he has to tweet to fend off the muslimsjwweigals! asdo[qe[g-q-]werkg!

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Sugarfree has been hospitalized with suspicion of a stroke along with Barbara Bush and her husband, George H.W. Bush.

[SugarFree]

Give me the old man's pudding!

[PBR Streetgang]

So much euphemism...

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

The euphemisms are getting rather blatant and fetishized.

[__Warren__]

Choco-pudd! Choco-pudd!

[John Titor]

"Ah yes, we must transfer Mr. Sugarfree to another room..."

"What, again?"

"Yes, more complaints about him writing things on the walls with his feces. But they're not complaining about the feces part, just what he's writing."

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I always pictured Geoffrey Rush as depicting SugarFree on the big screen.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 26-1 in favor of the nomination of Gen. James Mattis to defense secretary. The sole no vote came from Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY).

Huzzah! err. wait. The Age of Heroism is dead like it never were.

[C. Anacreon]

What a shock that the only no vote came from the poor man's Hillary Clinton.

[TheZeitgeist]

Kristen is the rich man's Hillary Clinton now.

[Drake]

She's the dumb man's Hillary - much like Hillary.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I prefer the rich man's Tipper Gore, TYVM.

(I know you're talking about that other Kristen...the one whose contribution to human history is far less than my own)

[MarkLastname]

Dunst?

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

Melancholia FTW.

[commodious is fated to pretend]

It's the age of hedonism, you square.

[Tonio]

From Willamette Week: Delicious infighting among leaders of Women's March on Portland

New Organizer of Women's March on Portland: "Let Me Educate You, So We Can Move Forward Together in Fighting Trump Supporters"

[...]

As WW reported last week, the Portland branch of the NAACP removed its support for the march Jan. 11, even after Jacobsen took control. Branch president Jo Ann Hardesty said the march had been irreparably harmed by the previous organizers' failure to include discussions of racial discrimination, plans for a Muslim registry, and the plight of immigrants and refugees.

"Putting a black woman's face at the beginning of the march doesn't fundamentally change the reason we withdrew our support," Hardesty says. "It's always been the case that if somebody suffers a racist incident, you're just supposed to suck it up and then, for the sake of unity, let's all join hands and pretend it didn't happen. I'm just at a place where I don't think that's healthy or wise anymore."

The conflict in Portland reflected strife that also occurred among national women's march planners: An older generation of feminists disagreed with younger activists about whether there could be unity on women's issues without reference to discrimination against racial, ethnic and sexual identities.

[...]

[cont'd below]

[Tonio]

Let me educate you, so we can move forward together in fighting Trump supporters. I really, really, really believe in educating people who think they're not racist because sometimes their racism is even scarier.

Most of us don't care for oppression Olympics. We would simply like to be validated where we are and have help and support so we can move forward. So we don't have to have fears daily.

Did you vote for Clinton?

No, I didn't. Well, my kids actually used my ballot. I let my son write in my ballot, and he did vote for Hillary. He's 6, and he's very obsessed with politics and presidents...

See, they are already eating each other over intersectionality. They are spending all their energies on a People's Front of Judea vs Judean People's Front catfight. Strongly suggest reading the whole thing, if you can stomach it. There is so much doublethink and lack of self-awareness.

[end]

[Tonio]

Oops, here's the linky.

[PapayaSF]

Thanks. I left a comment there.

[Tonio]

And a good one, too.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Most of us don't care for oppression Olympics.

[citation needed]

[Citizen X]

Same way Trump doesn't like to tweet.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Is Oppression Olympics a contest to oppress or a contest by the oppressed? Cause would watch.

[jack sprat]

+1 What have the Romans ever done for us?

[Citizen X]

"Putting a black woman's face at the beginning of the march:" excellent euphemism, or just pretty good?

[Playa Manhattan.]

Well, it would look pretty bad if they sent her to the back.

[C. Anacreon]

Putting a black woman's face at the beginning of the march

I recall hearing of this elsewhere as a military strategy, known as "Operation Get Behind the Darkies".

[PapayaSF]

Useful in minefields.

[Rat don't serf]

I don't listen to hip hop.

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

What about her ass though?

[Playa Manhattan.]

That's fucking beautiful.

But also a little scary. Who's actually going to be effective in opposing Trump while these people are busy clowning around?

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Who's actually going to be effective in opposing Trump while these people are busy clowning around?

Amash, Massie & Paul?

[DEG]

It depends on how you define "effective". They might just be lone voices in the wilderness.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Reason Magazine?

[DEG]

I'm feeling especially cynical right now.

[Tonio]

Welcome to my world, DEG.

[DEG]

Thanks. I brought booze.

[Tonio]

You are a good person, DEG.

[C. Anacreon]

Amash, Massie & Paul?

Seeing this immediately made me think of the song "Abraham, Martin and John". Was this intended or just serendipity?

We could probably change the names in the lyrics and have a pretty cool 2017 anthem.

[PapayaSF]

Amash, Massie & Paul: I remember them from Inside Llewyn Davis. Their one album never took off.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I saw Amash, Massie, and Paul at Austin City Limits and they killed.

[flye]

Did they play "Man Of Constant Sorrow"?

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

+Oh, brother!

[jack sprat]

Rand Paul?

[bacon-magic]

Rand Paul 2020 & 2024

[Brett L]

I think you mean 20/20!

[bacon-magic]

No, no eye don't.

[MarkLastname]

I think he meant RuPaul. He's both the hero we need and the one we deserve.

[TheZeitgeist]

But also a little scary. Who's actually going to be effective in opposing Trump while these people are busy clowning around?

It will be interesting to watch unfiltered pure-prog version of Barry Obama wander into the intersectional minefield he has constructed; a quadrant of the left with himself as the locus.

Given power-vacuum in Big Left after Clintonworld implosion, Barry's shtick is it.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Most of us don't care for oppression Olympics.

We just want you to acknowledge that we already have the gold medal tied up and want you to sit quietly in the back of the bus.

[Col. Chestbridge]

I let my son write in my ballot, and he did vote for Hillary. He's 6

This . . . is actually kind of apt, isn't it.

[PBR Streetgang]

Voter Fraud!!

[Tonio]

I'm not familiar with the voting laws of Oregon, but quite possibly so. She gets called out on that in the comments.

[PBR Streetgang]

In all seriousness, it might be.

[Conchfritters]

"I knew there was a women's march taking place in Washington, [D.C.,] and I was really doubtful about it. Most women I knew who were going were white women. I felt like that was enough for me to know that it probably wasn't for me. And they weren't addressing people of color, queer people, trans people. It was just women marching."

It was just women marching?!?! I thought that was the point!!!

[MarkLastname]

Wait till she finds out most of the women in America are white.

[Rebel Scum]

I let my son write in my ballot, and he did vote for Hillary. He's 6

Something something fraud.

and he's very obsessed with politics and presidents...

If your son is only 6 and is "obsessed with politics", you're a bad parent. That said, modern self-described "liberals" and "progressives" do tend to have the political demeanor, deductive reasoning skills, and emotional control of small children. So I suppose this is fitting.

[Col. Chestbridge]

This is one of the cases where there's very little effective difference between "obsessing" over progressive politics and obsessing over celebrity gossip.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I'm pretty sure I was obsessed with Hot Wheels and dinosaurs at six. You know, like a normal person.

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

Hot Wheels and dinosaurs? I loved six year old you.

[waffles]

There are so many isms for us to fight and I can't bring up each and every one in each comment

Bwahahah. I dove into the comments to harvest some derp. There's no self awareness. None.

[ant1sthenes]

Their whole modus operandi is to infect, subvert, and corrupt every institution to become an implement for their obsessive, sacred agendas, but now they've devolved into subverting each other, so the black issues people are trying to turn the women's issues march into a black issues march and the trans issues people are trying to turn the women's issues march into a trans issues march, and and and. If it keeps up, they're all going to loathe each other as much as everyone else loathes them.

[l0b0t the deplorable]

"That organizer, who asked not to be named because she fears being targeted by anti-government militias..."

What the ever-lovin' fuck?

[MarkLastname]

Wait, aren't they protesting the government? Or just the guy in charge of it? Wouldn't anti gov militias be anti Trump, or with him at the helm did they all just become pro-government militias?

[one true athena]

She misplaced her Oppression Olympics scorecard so she couldn't keep track of what side the 'racist deplorables' are on today.

[Fist of Etiquette]

United Nations ambassador nominee Nikki Haley became the latest Trump pick to criticize Russia at her confirmation hearing.

After they got her would-be boss elected? Sad.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Troops in Senegal are moving closer to the border with Gambia, giving the president there a midnight deadline to step down from power.

Anybody care to Senegamble whether Obama will get us involved in this skirmish in the next 18 hours?

[Ted S.]

Senegambia was a thing....

[Jerryskids]

Troops in Senegal are moving closer to the border with Gambia, giving the president there a midnight deadline to step down from power.

Bet he wishes now he'd built a wall.

[DRM]

I rather doubt it. Senegal being a French colony, with their troops already acting it would be a hostile act for Obama to intervene without a French invite.

(Note I did not say "former French colony". Just like there are in fact two separate Chinas, there are no actual former French colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The only thing "decolonization" did was hand over Belgian colonies to France.)

[Pope Jimbo]

Troops in Senegal are marching? What is up with all these gals marching?

What about the Seneguys?

[jack sprat]

"Donald Trump said he doesn't like to tweet."

I have a few things I would like to stop doing as well.....

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

If you quit, your carpal tunnel might clear up.

[Col. Chestbridge]

Look, nobody enjoys tweeting. But if you have to tweet, you might as well enjoy it.

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

+1 "It's Nature's pocket!"

[bacon-magic]

At his last press conference as president, Barack Obama

Letting this one sink in. *aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[C. Anacreon]

Please open a window if you're going to do that.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Donald Trump said he doesn't like to tweet. Earlier today he tweeted a photo of himself purportedly working on his inaugural address three weeks ago while at Mar-a-Lago, which he described as the "Winter White House."

Tweeting is his duty as President, established by precedent of past Presidents. One doesn't have to like their duty, they just have to do it.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

WW3 takes a few steps back?

Russia and Turkey 'in first joint air strikes on IS'

Russian and Turkish jets have carried out their first joint strikes on so-called Islamic State (IS) inside Syria, the Russian defence ministry says.

IS was targeted in the suburbs of the town of al-Bab, Aleppo province, where Turkey suffered heavy casualties last month battling the group on the ground.

Turkey's military was quoted by Reuters as saying Russia had carried out air strikes "in co-ordination with Turkey".

[tarran]

... and Obama's complete mishandling of the Arab Spring lurches to its appropriate conclusion. Russia will continue to expand its diplomatic and millitary ties with Turkey and thus remove the Bosporus as a strategic block to its Black Sea fleet.

So, basically, the authoritarian governments the U.S. was allied with have fallen or been weakened. The authoritarian governments the U.S. was opposed to have not been replaced with friendly countries. The people hate America even more. Russia now looks like the grown-up in the room and everyone knows that the secret to getting treated nice by the U.S. is to acquire nukes and never to to trust any guarantee from the U.S. government.

Which, from this anarchist's perspective isn't such a bad thing. It makes for fewer entangling alliances. Not so good for the outgoing winner of the affirmative action Nobel prize.

[Rufus The Monocled]

The U.S. lost the leverage-influence plot in the Middle-East thanks to this dope and the other unhinged moron.

[BigT]

everyone knows that the secret to getting treated nice by the U.S. is to acquire nukes and never to to trust any guarantee from the U.S. government.

Um....Trump!

He's a business man. Past performance is no indication of future performance.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

WW3 takes a few steps back?

So it can get a running start?

[Brett L]

Just trying to figure out which side Ze Germans will be on this time.

[tarran]

Russia. Seriously. They shut down their nukes and need both coal and natural gas from Russia to keep warm in the winter.

Merkel, who started her life in the East German communist party, which essentially was purposed to keep the Germans a colony of Russia has done a great job in making it very difficult for Germany not to be a client state to the Russians going forward.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Also, chance for the Fifth Partition of Poland. How can they pass it by?

[Brett L]

Well, good. Because they always lose. I'd hate to be on their side.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

But it also means that we're once again, stuck with the French.

[Pro Libertate]

They don't always lose. The Franco-Prussian War, for example.

[Pan Zagloba]

They are also pretty good if you need some South-West African nations crushed and pulped.

[Pro Libertate]

And there are the Romans.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, the wrong side. That's their idiom.

[Pan Zagloba]

I believe that this is the first time in history Russian and Turkish forces fought on the same side (if you don't count USSR sending arms and money to Ataturk during his rise to power). Another Obama achievement!

[Pro Libertate]

It won't last. These are not natural allies.

[Aloysious]

You know, if John McCain and the rest of our idiot leaders who are so anxious for war don't spark a major conflict, I will be very surprised.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I bet no one ever predicted that the first nuclear war was gonna get started via Twitter.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

+1 Tweet of Mass Destruction

[GILMORE?]

"Its not me: its you"

Obama Says "US-Russia Relations Important" but Russia Keeps Fucking Up

I know, the way they keep imposing sanctions on us? those jerks.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

And where do they get off, kicking our diplomats out of the country?

[GILMORE?]

After all we've done for them??

[Episteme]

I hope that that title is a direct quote. Were I Obama, I'd totally spend the last press conference with a cigarette and beer, swearing up a storm.

[tarran]

I just sat through a presentation at work about an international trip some of our staff took. The last day of their trip happened to be on election day.

They spent 5 minutes discussing how everyone in the country they were visiting was understanding and helpful as they processed their trauma. Also discussing how this country was superior to the U.S. because it was against the law not to vote.

ALL OF WHICH HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PRESENTATION!!!!!

[Brett L]

Also discussing how this country was superior to the U.S. because it was against the law not to vote.

Isn't it also against the law to write in candidates other than Kim in N. Korea?

[Citizen X]

Voting is mandatory in lots of places. Australia, for instance.

[flye]

You can't not vote in here, this is the democracy room!

[Brett L]

MINE IS FUNNIER!

[BigT]

Isn't it also against the law to write in candidates other than Kim in N. Korea?

Half the population is named Kim, so this is not a very tough law to observe.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Troops in Senegal are moving closer to the border with Gambia, giving the president there a midnight deadline to step down from power.

Mexico is planning the same intervention for Trump.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Paradox games are not a fucking how-to manual, Senegal!

[Kevin Sorbos Manful Locks]

What, are they just gonna let that CB expire?

[Rich]

The Gambia's entire armed forces are made up of only about 2,500 troops, making it difficult to see how they can defeat a regional force if it moves in

This has "made for TV movie" written all over it.

[C. Anacreon]

Michael Caine will have to be in it.

[Col. Chestbridge]

+1 ruby the size of a tangerine

[gaoxiaen]

He was great as a seventy-year-old forty-year-old in The Quiet American.

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

YOU DIDN'T BLOW THE BLOODY DOORS!!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

United Nations ambassador nominee Nikki Haley became the latest Trump pick to criticize Russia at her confirmation hearing.

All the greats have worked out using this punching bag.

[BigT]

Would.

[Citizen X]

Donald Trump said he doesn't like to tweet.

So his constant tweeting is an uncontrollable and unpleasant compulsion? Sad!

[Playa Manhattan.]

Korean Tacos, bitches! I... just... can't... seem.. to get up.... under.... my own power....

[bacon-magic]

Is that another term for hooker? If so...citation, pictures, links & recommendation please.

[DEG]

There are pills for that.

[Playa Manhattan.]

The only cure is more tacos. 4 down, 2 to go.

[Brett L]

And then another six at dinner, right?

[Playa Manhattan.]

Possibly. I'm stuck at home bagging up toothpaste, meds, and food because my house is getting fumigated.

Eating tacos is probably the most exciting thing I'll do today.

[BigT]

my house is getting fumigated.

Wild lifestyles have their downsides.

[Playa Manhattan.]

The goat just wouldn't leave.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I told you not to have Crusty over.

[DEG]

Kids call Viagra tacos these days?

[Brett L]

Yes. I know the feeling.

[GILMORE?]

U.S Army to begin environmental study of Dakota pipeline

Because the company that invested billions into the thing didn't do any of their own risk-management homework. but whatever

The U.S. Army on Wednesday began the process of launching an environmental study of the Dakota Access pipeline crossing in North Dakota, a move that has been challenged by the company constructing the controversial project.

I'm pretty sure things will speed up sooner than expected.

[Brett L]

Didn't the Corps of Engineers already issue a ruling?

[Playa Manhattan.]

It was an act of mercy.

The coldest weather in years was only a week away, and a bunch of hippies from the west coast were having their own little version of Burning (Freezing?) Man. There would have been a sizable body count.

The ruling was just a delay. That pipeline is getting built in one form or another.

[Animal]

There would have been a sizable body count.

I'm waiting to hear the down side of that.

[bacon-magic]

Sometimes you just have to let nature run it's course.

[GILMORE?]

the entire purpose of the additional-review was for Obama admin to signal "We're with the protesters", while they headed for the exits.

which is why i said this pantomime-study will probably be nixxed as soon as Trump's people take over.

[Conchfritters]

A "regrettable operational mistake" is when I burn one side of my grilled cheese sandwich.

[GILMORE?]

No One Could Have Seen This Coming

People shot at Zombie Festival. In Florida.

[Brett L]

In our defense, there have been several notable face-eating incidents over several years. Better someone else dies than I get my face eaten off.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Or you can be the one eating faces. Are you a wolf, or are you a sheep?

[Brett L]

I'm just not convinced that people jowls taste like hog jowls.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Not if you don't pickle 'em!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Are sheep dogs still in play?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Also, in FLs defense, it wouldn't matter what kind of festival it was, someone was getting shot.

[Tonio]

This happened in 2015 and they still haven't arrested a perp. That's some fine police work, there, Florida.

[Brett L]

It was probably a cop or cops.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Wouldn't he have been promoted by now?

[Rich]

Experts warn extreme space weather would cause ?32.5 BILLION blackout across the Earth

Puts "climate change" into perspective.

[Brett L]

If only our CO2 emissions weren't causing this extreme space weather!

[Tonio]

Oh, I'm sure some unhinged luddite or greenie will blame this on satellites, space exploration, etc.

[John Titor]

Yep, tends to be my counterargument to the "WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING OR WE'RE DOOMED" brand of climate change activists. Immediately ask them what their plans are or how much funding we need for asteroid collisions and coronal mass ejections.

[gaoxiaen]

Stock up on the charcoal. Might as well have a big barbecue before everything rots.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Barbara Bush has been hospitalized along with her husband, George H.W. Bush.

This is sad, though I often wonder, can there be any surer sign of true love than to play out Where the Red Fern Grows?

[SugarFree]

Better that than Old Yeller.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I expect the Hollywood remake to begin pre-production any day now: Gentle Harambe

[Episteme]

Oddly topical...

Harambe's Grandmother Dies at Zoo Miami

[Episteme]

Oddly topical...

Harambe's Grandmother Dies at Zoo Miami

[Episteme]

(she was killed by squirrels)

[Tonio]

Possible she wore herself out caring for him.

[C. Anacreon]

Turned her hair white, it did.

[BigT]

She was caring for the other Bush.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

*pours bleach in eyes from euphemism horror*

[Fist of Etiquette]

The president also pardoned Baseball Hall of Famer Willie McCovey, who plead guilty to tax evasion in 1995.

AS PREDICTED IN AM LINKS.

[C. Anacreon]

That's a stretch.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

They were barely in the AM.

NEVER FORGET!

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

+1 base

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

We can finally gaze upon McCovey Cove without shame.

[DEG]

Department of Labor sues Oracle

Warning: auto-play video

Oracle is the latest technology company to face scrutiny from the U.S. government over its hiring practices.

The Department of Labor is suing Oracle (ORCL, Tech30) for allegedly paying white men more than other employees and discriminating against non-Asian job applicants when hiring for technical roles.

The lawsuit stems from Oracle's role providing cloud computing software to federal agencies, totaling "hundreds of millions" in contracts, according to the Department of Labor.

As a federal contractor, Oracle is obligated to show the government that its hiring doesn't discriminate based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender and more.

The legal complaint asks the court to order the cancellation of all of Oracle's federal contracts unless it prohibits discriminatory hiring practices and makes up for lost compensation and employment benefits to those affected.

[Brett L]

Oracle is obliged to show. Fucking shit. Do administrators administrate? No, they administer. I'm going to start chopping hands off everyone who went to J-school and writes "obligated".

[Ted S.]

Good luck proving a negative.

[Playa Manhattan.]

We need to conversate about this.

[Brett L]

I'll get on my soapbox, right here and now. Orient yourself to proper verb use, I will even host the orientation, after which you will be not orientated, but oriented.

[C. Anacreon]

The one that drives me crazy:

In recent years, there's been the development of the 'meeting before the meeting', which was labeled, in a a play on words on 'rehash', as a "Pre-Hash".

And so then, when they decided to also have the 'meeting afterwards to go over the meeting', did they then appropriately term it the "Rehash?".

No, the poor bastards couldn't help themselves. The after-meeting is called the "Post-Hash".

[BigT]

Those guys enjoying hash! I don't see the problem.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Lacist much Brett?

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Good thing you used "use" and didn't utilize "utilize".

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

Orient yourself

Uh, Asian-American yourself is the preferred nomenclature, dude.

[gaoxiaen]

I can't. I have other obligions.

[Ted S.]

What Lynch and Obama are using their last 48 hours in power to do....

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Sounds like the start of some SugarFree horror story.

[tarran]

Gosh! It's almost like doing business with the state is a deal that gets worse all the time!

[But Enough About Me]

"I have altered the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

[Playa Manhattan.]

"discriminating against non-Asian job applicants when hiring for technical roles."

Well duh. That's just a good business practice.

[CZmacure]

The reason that (white female dominated) HR departments in tech have been going on and on and on about "diversity" (read: more (especially white) women) is that it is an easy conversation for them to have. If they weren't driving that phony baloney conversation, they'd have to talk about H1B and how the real divide is between citizen workers and their much less-expensive H1B replacements.

> paying white men more
> discriminating against non-Asian

It's almost like what's really happening is that Asian employees are less expensive than "white men" and that the "white men" are only hired when one cannot find a lower cost Asian to hire. I blame "tech bros" because it's totally their fault who management and the women in HR are willing to hire, and anyway men from India are clearly way more feminist than white American "tech bros."

[BigT]

As a federal contractor, Oracle is obligated to show the government that its hiring doesn't discriminate based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender and more.

There's your problem. I suggest we judge a person 'by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.' After all, we celebrate people that say such things.

[The Last American Hero]

We used to. Nowadays, MLK would be branded a KKKochsucking Teabagging Rethuglican for uttering such words.

[Juice]

A tech company is majority white men? You don't say.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The death toll is climbing in the bombing of a refugee camp in Nigeria, which the government called a "regrettable operational mistake." More than 70 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.

A great man once said, "War is all hell."

[Domestic Dissident]

And it's especially hellish when Islamonazi psychopaths like Boko Haram are trying to take over your country.

[bacon-magic]

You mean Bogo Harem, right?

[BigT]

Booger Harem.

Or is it ooga-booga harem?

[bacon-magic]

Uh...I was referring to "buy one get one" harem since they stole our girls. #bringbackourgirls

[Episteme]

Maybe they'll release them as soon as Trump is sworn in, like the Iranian hostages and Reagan?

[Crusty Juggler]

Mocha Islam.

[bacon-magic]

Blackqida

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The Talibad?

[Animal]

Taliban!

[Col. Chestbridge]

"War never changes."

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Troops in Senegal are moving closer to the border with Gambia, giving the president there a midnight deadline to step down from power.

This strikes me as just a typical day in Africa, my heart goes out to the children of that doomed, doomed, continent.

[GILMORE?]

WaPo "Style" Section takes to debunking conspiracy theories =

DNC Worker Murder Totally Not Conspiracy Because OMG Have You Seen the People Who Think This? UGH

Story asserts it was "painfully obvious" it was a robbery.... then notes in passing the person was not actually robbed.

have not read the whole thing. from a scan it seems long on throat clearing and narrative-forming. but still interesting maybe.

[Tonio]

WaPo "Style" Section

LOL.

Actually, they don't know the person wasn't robbed. But if it was a robbery the robber(s) showed no interest in his watch or wallet. So, very much appears to be targeted at the person, and not random street crime. They would have done better to have not mentioned this at all, rather than trying to push the totally-not-a-robbery narrative.

[GILMORE?]

n trying to push the totally-not-a-robbery

the wapo repeatedly suggests that "robbery" is the obvious conclusion

"'What seems painfully obvious to his family is that Seth Rich was, instead, the victim of a botched holdup, one of a series of armed robberies in the neighborhood around that time

[Ted S.]

But not the conspiracy theory that Russia hacked the election....

[SugarFree]

Here's all you really need to know:

The comment section on this story has been closed. You can leave feedback for the Post newsroom by using the form here.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Attach the form to a flaming bag of crap?

[PapayaSF]

Yup.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Cold-blooded assassination, possibly at the hands of US agents, as leaking of government documents is Treason adjacent.

Though it could also just have been Hilary's Hitman -- who I assume is an Irish mick with an ugly mug and a devil-may-care attitude.

[tarran]

... or the russians, cleaning up loose ends.

Or possibly all three. Maybe he was a quadruple agent!!!

[Domestic Dissident]

I think it was almost certainly one of Hildog's hillbilly hitmen.

It it had been CIA or one of their affiliates, it would probably have been a polonium-tipped umbrella like it was with Roger Stone.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

You google Roger Stone right now and none of the major news organizations are running a story. None of them.

This reminds me of when the mob kills federally protected witnesses before they can testify and the News is all mum on the subject.

They only want to show race baiting crime stories; real dastardly shit isn't news worthy.

Polonium is a by-product of uranium that only a nuclear nation could produce, made famous by the guy Putin killed in England a few years back.

[ant1sthenes]

I was always a little skeptical, but if Pravda on the Potomac says it was a robbery, it was obviously a hit.

[one true athena]

You can almost hear the sigh in the WaPo editorial yesterday. "FINE. Shirley in Style, you deal with the Seth Rich assassination, I mean, robbery. It's a robbery, got that? And you, whatever your name is, you're gay, right? You deal with Trump's slut's dress thing. Our friends need an appropriate link to use in comment threads. Paper of Record, people, Real News, The TRUTH. Let's do this."

[The Late P Brooks]

I watched a couple of clips from Morning Joke today. The assembled nodders were outraged- OUTRAGED! that Betsy DeVos, when asked by that jackass Senator from Connecticut about guns in schools, said she thought it was something best left to the discretion of local officials.

Mika went on a huffy tirade about how insensitive and horrible DeVos was for not caring about those poor murdered babies at Newtown, from her lofty perch atop the pile of dead Newtown babies.

DeVos should have known that question was coming, and... what? Kowtowed to a bunch of special interest zealots who couldn't care less about education?

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Is that channel still hanging around?

[PBR Streetgang]

You know who else was just hanging around?

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Harambe?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Bad guys who fight Spider-Man?

[bacon-magic]

Lynch victims?

[C. Anacreon]

Nathan Hale?

[68W58]

You only had one joke to give for you P.M. links thread and that was the one you went with?

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Chad from Florida?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Deez Nuts?

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

Michael Hutchence?

[B.P.]

My local news radio station said DeVos has been criticized for wanting to privatize public education. I'm assuming she's just a garden-variety voucher proponent or something.

[Crusty Juggler]

From the paper of record: Obama uses his final press conference to issue extraordinary warning to Trump that he will step in if he 'rounds up' children for deportation, hits voting rights or attacks freedom of the press

President Obama issued a farewell warning to President-elect Donald Trump, saying he would jump off the political sidelines if Trump goes against certain 'core values.'

At his last scheduled news conference before leaving office on Friday, Obama said if there was 'systemic discrimination,' efforts to 'silence dissent' or to 'roll back voting rights,' he would be 'speaking out.'

[Crusty Juggler]

If I saw systematic discrimination [is] being ratified in some fashion. I put in that category explicit or functional obstacles to people being able to vote, to exercise their franchise,' Obama said.

He continued: 'I put in that category institutional efforts to silence dissent or the press.'

He saved some of his most impassioned remarks for DREAMers. 'And for me, at least, I would put in that category efforts to round up kids who have grown up here and for all practical purposes are American kids, and send them someplace else, when they love this country, they are our kids' friends and their classmates and are now entering into community colleges or in some cases serving in our military ...'

'The notion that we would just arbitrarily, or because of politics, punish those kids, when they didn't do anything wrong themselves, I think would be something that would merit me speaking out. It doesn't mean that I would get on the ballot anywhere.'

Move over, Olbermann, the resistance has a new leader.

[GILMORE?]

I put in that category institutional efforts to silence dissent or the press.'

uh huh.

[BakedPenguin]

Yeah, coming from that prick, that's risible.

[PapayaSF]

We wouldn't be punishing anyone by deporting them. We would be removing them from the racist, misogynistic, transphobic, xenophobic nightmare that is AmeriKKKa. It's a favor.

[That's A Bingo!]

efforts to 'silence dissent'

You mean like when you investigated whistle blowers?

[paranoid android]

No no, he means something truly egregious, like politicizing the IRS to target your opponents or something.

[DEG]

"he would jump off the political sidelines if Trump goes against certain 'core values'"

I didn't know "core values" meant "everything".

[tarran]

Oh yes, Obama. Keep pissing off Trump uneccesarily. Keep pissing off the guy who will be in charge of prosecutions and will have access to a lot of dirt about your illegal actions.

I'd say he's a moron, but an inability to walk away and the irresistible impulse to make grandiose and reckless claims and promises that are guaranteed to land one in hot water in the near future is one of the hallmarks of narcissistic personality disorder. Obama can't help it. He has to talk his way into the limelight no matter what the cost.

[Illocust]

That's actually a good point. A big reason to keep silent after leaving office is to not give the other guy a reason to haul you out on charges for the laws you broke while in it.

[BigT]

Obama's official actions in office are not open to prosecution.

[kbolino]

According to what court decision? The sitting President enjoys immunity from civil suits, but the questions of former Presidents and immunity from criminal prosecution are untested.

[BigT]

I restricted it to his 'official actions', which, for cops and Presidents, are covered by sovereign immunity. We may wish it were more limited, but it is what it is.

[ant1sthenes]

With any other president, I'd say he would be right in expecting MAD and DC's honor-among-thieves rules of decorum to protect him from retaliation.

However, he's poking his finger in the eye of someone known for holding grudges, and he's at the center of a shitton of illegal activity. If even they never nail him, they can taint his legacy irreversibly.

[Ted S.]

It's not as if he was going to stay on the political sidelines anyway....

[C. Anacreon]

How I wish someone would start a national movement to prevent asking for ID to buy liquor or get into bars, because doing so is systematic discrimination, creates functional obstacles to people being able to drink and to exercise their 21st Amendment rights.

[John Titor]

Threaten to do the thing he'll do regardless because he's a petulant narcissist? Oh no!

[GILMORE?]

Preview of the coming inaugural entertainment

*I think we should expect an equal level of 'competence' on display by DC protestors.

[flye]

I'm deciding whether to come into work in downtown Oakland on Friday. On the one hand, it could be a pain in the ass to drive in and out if cops start blocking roads due to protests/riots.

On the other hand, fuck them.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Hovering over that link made me fucking giggle... Is that wrong?

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Barbara Bush has been hospitalized along with her husband, George H.W. Bush.

Some people will go to any lengths to avoid the inauguration. My money's on Jr43 poisoning them so he'd have a ready excuse to avoid attending.

[Brett L]

I think it was JEB!

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

But unlike Jr43, he isn't expected to attend by virtue of being a previous President.

[JaimeRoberto]

Nah, he's too low energy. Not enough fuel to burn. Sad.

[Not a True MJG]

Please croak.

[Mazakon]

Washington Post: Declining to Dress Melania is Nothing Like Not Baking Same-Sex Wedding Cakes

On the face of it, this may seem like a reasonable question. If it's wrong to say that you won't bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, why isn't it also wrong to announce that you refuse to make a dress for Mrs. Trump? She has rights, too, doesn't she? Or maybe this is one of the "extra rights" that Ben Carson, the nominee for secretary of housing and urban development, claimed at his confirmation hearing last week that LGBT people seek. For the record, I ? and every gay person I know ? seek equal, not extra, rights.

Fischer's tweet came in response to an unprecedented reaction by certain A-list designers who announced that they would not dress the new first lady. Sophie Theallet proved to be the most vocal ? and political ? when she tweeted: "I will not participate in dressing or associating in any way with the next First Lady," calling out the rhetoric of "racism, sexism, and xenophobia" in Donald Trump's campaign. She then called on all designers to join her in refusing any such assignment ? a fashion boycott, if you will.

[Brett L]

Of course not, the principal is icky in the former!

[Col. Chestbridge]

equal, not extra, rights

When do I get my right to legally force people to sell me stuff?

[Krabappel]

Religious beliefs are less important than political ones.

[gaoxiaen]

She should show up naked to protest her oppression. .

[ant1sthenes]

In both cases, it seems like you're refusing to do business with someone on the basis of not liking who they chose to marry.

[Domestic Dissident]

Psychotic Obama momma from California tries to immolate himself outside the Trump Hotel in Washington, and sadly fails to complete the job.

But I approve this message.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Self-immolation takes the stoicism garnered from a lifetime of Buddhist meditation.

The shock of a cry baby not being able to handle the fire...

[Playa Manhattan.]

Obama momma?

WHAT DID WE TELL YOU ABOUT THIS?!?

[Crusty Juggler]

Gayer Vanfappened

[Crusty Juggler]

Hairy Can Crappin'.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Playa, it's like trying to teach a dog to use the toilet.

[Crusty Juggler]

America's Great Working-Class Colleges

Yes, the universities that educate students from modest backgrounds face big challenges, particularly state budget cuts. But many of them are performing much better than their new stereotype suggests. They remain deeply impressive institutions that continue to push many Americans into the middle class and beyond ? many more, in fact, than elite colleges that receive far more attention.

"There is a real problem with the elite privates and flagship publics in not serving as many low-income students as they should," John B. King Jr., President Obama's education secretary, told me. "These institutions have a moral and educational responsibility."

[Crusty Juggler]

he reason is clear. State funding for higher education has plummeted. It's down 19 percent per student, adjusted for inflation, since 2008, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The financial crisis pinched state budgets, and facing a pinch, some states decided education wasn't a top priority.

"It's really been a nightmare," said Diana Natalicio, UTEP's president and herself a first-generation college graduate. "The state does not recognize ? and it's not just in Texas ? the importance that the investment in public education has for the economy and so many other things. Education was for me, and for many of the rest of us, the great opportunity creator."

[DEG]

State funding for higher education has plummeted.

There can be no other reason. None! Don't even think about it. You're just a science denying tractor-pull loving knuckle dragger if you think anything other than state funding is to blame.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

working on his inaugural address three weeks ago while at Mar-a-Lago, which he described as the "Winter White House."

Trump, the greatest shit-talker of all time.

[GILMORE?]

The One That Got Away

All evidence suggests = Indians

[OneOut]

Look for some sick fuck in the neighborhood.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I got a few seconds of it and even that didn't shield me from his full of shitness.

He said he 'worried growth would slow'.

Last I checked GDP wasn't all that under his light bringing guidance.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Smart growth, something a Canadian wouldn't understand.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Look at PM Zoolander's hair. Now there's a Canadian who knows all about smart growth!

[The Late P Brooks]

At his last press conference as president

Which can only foreshadow a barrage of breathless promos for Live! exclusive! Tomorrow night! Barack Obama's first press conference as a private citizen!

[That's A Bingo!]

Oh god... That could happen.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

No, it will happen.

Reams of articles from the press on Obama's wisdom from beyond the public sector grave will grace every news outlet in America... for decades to come.

[__Warren__]

I wonder if he's going to keep his influence amongts the permanent bureaucracy. I could see him trying to keep control of the machinery of government through off-stage whispering to the besotted and benighted functionaries who think he is the light and the way.

[BigT]

I could see him trying to keep control of the machinery of government through off-stage whispering to the besotted and benighted functionaries who think he is the light and the way.

THAT could get him an indictment, depending on the people he calls. He doesn't need to do that, he can just talk to the press to get his message out, they will continue to suck his dick.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Justin Trudeau is just being an asshole now:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.....-1.3940058

[John Titor]

Pierre may have been a scumbag, but he's a scumbag that would have slapped the shit out of his idiot son for stuff like this.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

A woman asked in English what would be done to help Anglo-Quebecers seeking mental health services when those services are only available in French.

"Thank you for your use of both official languages," Trudeau replied in French.

"But we're in a French province so I will answer in French," he answered, as the woman grew visibly annoyed.

OK, in the context, that's some (evil, granted) master trolling of the poor woman. It's like, 0.8 Milos. Not sure concern for mental health deserves such trolling, but hey, evil.

Keep it up, Zoolander, and I'll upgrade you to "PM Pepe".

[grrizzly]

It's interesting that French is not his mother tongue.

[Pan Zagloba]

No, but Self-Aggrandizing Preening is.

[Juice]

he answered them all in French ? because, he said, "we're in Quebec."

meh

[Rufus The Monocled]

Except it's not meh.

It's EXACTLY the wrong thing to do. It shows lack of character and judgment.

If someone had done this to a French speaking Canadian/Quebecer forget it about it. THE END OF THE FUCKEN WORLD.

Not only that, he's on a cross-country bull shit to try and 'reconnect' with Canadians and has always talked about a more 'tolerant' Canada.

This is Obama level disingenuous retardation.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Time to start pronouncing his name in that other official language -- "Justine Trudy".

[Playa Manhattan.]

French is stupid. There, I said it.

[bacon-magic]

My boss occasionally takes on a fake French accent. *longs for sweet, sweet death

[John Titor]

Alright, now go to the poor French side of Sherbrooke, and yell that really loudly.

[bacon-magic]

Let me guess, they will run after Playa instead of away from him?

[Ted S.]

You mean he wasn't being an asshole all along?

[B.P.]

I went to the doctor today to get the go-ahead on an MRI for my knee, since I wrecked it this past weekend on the slopes. I received a lecture about borderline troubling drinking habits. I was amused. Apparently having five drinks ten times over a three month period is a problem. Pikers.

[__Warren__]

I'm tired of hearing about these B.P. spills.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Not even close to borderline.

If you're driving drunk to the store to get more booze, then we'll talk conversate.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

About your ability to properly plan.

[B.P.]

Yeah, there was a battery of questions pertaining to whether I've been in an accident due to drinking, poor decision-making, etc. I told him I make all of my poor decisions when stone-cold sober.

[waffles]

I'm sorry to hear that. I fear for my knees because I'm a skier. My season starts slowly with conditioning and I'm not really in full ski shape until late February. Sucks man. Hope it heals quickly and you don't need to get it scoped.

[B.P.]

Thanks. First time anything has happened to my knees, and I've been skiing for over 3 decades. It was fairly horrific feeling (like my knee came apart and came back together), and it's pretty huge. I'm not optimistic.

The snow was fantastic while my season lasted.

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

I was told there would be no math.

[The Late P Brooks]

Speaking of the best and the brightest-

It's Davos Time! The .0000001% gather in luxury which would make the court of Louis IV look like an eighteenth century pig farmer's outhouse and scratch their collective chin on behalf of the proles. I watched part of some panel discussion about the "plight of the middle class" or "the perilous chimera of populism" or some such selfcongratulatory hogwash, and world class pompous ass Larry Summers said something so egregiously stupid I just about laughed myself into a coughing fit.

Nobody in the audience even rolled their eyes, so far as you could tell.

[PapayaSF]

Davos Elite Eat $40 Hot Dogs While "Struggling For Answers", Cowering in "Silent Fear" A picture of the menu is included. It's in Swiss francs, but the franc about 1:1 with a dollar.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Holy shit, that has an excellent opener:

For those unfamiliar with what goes on at the annual January boondoggle at the World Economic Forum in Davos, here is the simple breakdown.

Officially, heads of state, captains of industry, prominent academics, philanthropists and a retinue of journalists, celebrities and hangers-on will descend Tuesday on the picturesque alpine village of Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum;

Unofficially, it's the world's biggest echo chamber, where wealthy, influential and/or powerful people, yet vastly out of touch with the rest of the world, sit down with other wealthy, influential and/or powerful people who are just as out of touch, to validate to each other that nobody really knows anything (also known as the "ratings agency effect"), but because the press is there and fails to point out that these emperors of industry, commerce, entertainment and politics are naked in hopes of maintaining their annual invitation and direct access, everyone goes home happy. And just as clueless.

Hence Trump.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Beyond the boring, ineffective, and circle-jerking lectures and panel discussions, a much more important agenda unfolds after sunset. One notable event, according to the NYT, is a simulation of a refugee's experience, where Davos attendees crawl on their hands and knees and pretend to flee from advancing armies. It is one of the most popular events every year. The theme of this year's conference is "Responsive and Responsible Leadership." But attendees like to play as hard as they work.

For a nightcap, the Davos crowd traditionally retires to the Tonic Bar at Hotel Europe, sipping cocktails while the forum fixture Barry Colson leads the crowd in Billy Joel singalongs.

This sounds so awful it's strangely awesome.

[BigT]

Davos attendees crawl on their hands and knees naked and pretend to flee from advancing armies

They left out that little detail

[B.P.]

Sometimes they crawl through several European countries until they find the one with just the right social safety net.

[Sevo]

Good ol' Zero Hedge:

"It remains to be seen if there will be as much "elevator rejoicing" when the market finally crashes under Trump, an inevitable outcome which some speculate is precisely why Trump was allowed to become president: so that all the blame on the grand crash, once it, happens can be placed on him."

The tin foil hats are cheap...

[Pan Zagloba]

the court of Louis IV

I was gonna make some stupid crack, then I looked him up and fuck, not an awesome life. I mean, you could do worse as a King of France, but damn, Charlemagne would have bitchslapped him so hard...

[ant1sthenes]

Not that I don't love the Swiss system of government in general, but... maybe it would not be a bad thing for humanity if we mark Davos as a refugee camp on the Nigerian air force's maps?

[tarran]

The Columbia Journalism Review tries to persuade Trump to be nicer to them using the tried and true negotiating tactic known as sneering, poorly-informed condescension.

An open letter to Trump from the US press corps.

[bacon-magic]

I'm beginning to think the Media wants their turn as the party of stupid.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

It turns out that there is not a limit on the number of times you can double-down on retard.

[Pro Libertate]

The media getting its comeuppance will be fun to watch. Though I do wonder what a very discredited press means for our republic. Not that they didn't do this to themselves.

[Crusty Juggler]

The media getting its comeuppance will be fun to watch.

Agreed.

Not that they didn't do this to themselves.

Agreed.

Not that they didn't do this to themselves.

Agreed.

[ant1sthenes]

I imagine it isn't much worse than a press that has undeserved credibility. Possibly better since something new can spring up in its place. Nature abhors a vacuum.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT ELECT:

In these final days before your inauguration, we thought it might be helpful to clarify how we see the relationship between your administration and the American press corps.

Oh shit this is gonna be good.

We, not you, decide how best to serve our readers, listeners, and viewers. So think of what follows as a backgrounder on what to expect from us over the next four years.

This isn't the reporter that was apologizing to John Podesta for writing articles critical of Hillary is it? It isn't the reporter who took dictation from the Clinton campaign on how to phrase his articles on her speeches, is it?

It isn't the news team that bathed Hillary in the Light of God(tm) when she accepted her nomination is it?

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

We, not you, decide how best to serve our readers, listeners, and viewers. So think of what follows as a backgrounder on what to expect from us over the next four years.

As evidenced by declining revenues, an approval rating lower than Congress's, and completely getting everything about the election wrong.

[BigT]

We, not you, decide how best to serve our readers, listeners, and viewers. So just keep on tweeting and we will all be out of jobs since anyone can get the naked truth without our interference.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

We decide how much airtime to give your spokespeople and surrogates.

that's not what I've been told by the get-the-money-out-of-politics crowd.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

We believe there is an objective truth, and we will hold you to that.

Good morning, sunshine!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

If we can remember how to do it after 8 years of inaction.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

We will set higher standards for ourselves than ever before.

Ok, FINALLY he uttered something that is true.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

What makes you think that would be true?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Previously there were no standards. Now there are standards. Therefore the standards are higher than ever before.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Objection! Relies on facts not in evidence.

[BigT]

We will set higher standards for ourselves than ever before.

Ok, FINALLY he uttered something that is true.

Um...there are already more fake news stories being trumpeted than ever before. They may set standards, but they sure as hell ain't upholding them.

[Crusty Juggler]

All of this, of course, is your choice and, in a way, your right

In a way?

We will set higher standards for ourselves than ever before. We credit you with highlighting serious and widespread distrust in the media across the political spectrum. Your campaign tapped into that, and it was a bracing wake-up call for us. We have to regain that trust. And we'll do it through accurate, fearless reporting, by acknowledging our errors and abiding by the most stringent ethical standards we set for ourselves.

By the way, any response to the fact that the current president spent a lot of time doing interviews with the likes of Zach Galifianakis and Jimmy Fallon, but little time being interviewed by so-called serious journalists? Or, that you allowed Obama to completely control his image?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

They didn't just allow Obama to control his image, they aided and abetted him.

[BigT]

They didn't just allow Obama to control his image, they aided and abetted him.

It's like they rubbed some of the lube off their limp cocks and spread it on their camera lenses.

[DEG]

Are you sure this wasn't intended to be comedy?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

It may be the most unintentionally funny thing I've read in the last couple of weeks.

[The Late P Brooks]

I do wonder what a very discredited press means for our republic.

It's... you know...fake news...

all the way down.

[DEG]

I refreshed, saw 276 comments, and was reminded of this cartridge.

[bacon-magic]

^Gun nerd.

[DEG]

I don't know enough to be a gun nerd. Owning a bunch of books from these folks isn't enough to be a gun nerd.

[Hyperion]

Every time I hear about Obama recently, he's having a 'last' something. Just how many 'last' somethings is he going to have and when exactly is he going to stop having them? Go away, Obama.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Obama's Last WH Supper is tomorrow night (on a Thursday, fittingly enough). He lecture his sycophantic followers about how much he's sacrificed for them and how they are all unworthy of his glory.

Ben Rhodes will then kiss him in a totally hetero way and beg to join team Trump. When Trump rejects him, he'll hang himself in a field.

[Hyperion]

"He lecture his sycophantic followers about how much he's sacrificed for them and how they are all unworthy of his glory"

This sounds exactly like him.

[DEG]

Obama's Last WH Supper is tomorrow night (on a Thursday, fittingly enough). He lecture his sycophantic followers about how much he's sacrificed for them and how they are all unworthy of his glory.

How long until an account is turned into the Gospel of Barack?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

It was already written in heaven at the beginning of time.

[TheZeitgeist]

Note no ceremony for last Whitehouse blowjob, which turns out was back in 2013.

Thanks (Michelle) Obama,

Sincerely, the 44th President

[BigT]

Note no ceremony for last Whitehouse blowjob, which turns out was back in 2013.

He was keeping the MIL around for something, so maybe not.

[Crusty Juggler]

Due to the impressive size of her tawdry meat hooks, he usually closes his eyes during the act, because there are only so many times a man can look at his penis and immediately think, "that's a can of pineapple juice." But on that fateful 2013 night, she insisted that he keep his eyes open.

[The Fusionist]

Since the thread about Fordham banning the BDS people seems to be dead, let me post some comments on that subject in this thread:

This is an example of Good Censorship.

Too many Catholic colleges allow extracurricular programs and outside speakers who try to teach principles contrary to what Catholic colleges are supposed to inculcate. And when they *do* practice censorship, it's in aid of the PC mob, not Catholic teaching. Witness De Paul's treatment of the gay Trump guy with the weird name - they didn't care that sodomy is against Catholic teaching, they were catering to the snowflakes and Democrats.

But finally Fordham has drawn a line.

Singling out one country for a hate and deligimization campaign in the context of regimes seeking that country's destruction is directly contrary to the Church's teaching about peacemaking, and good on the administration for pointing this out.

As to whatever internal policies Fordham may post, they are all subordinate to Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the Papal decree regarding Catholic colleges and universities, under which decree the whole educational effort of a Catholic institution of higher learning must be dedicated to promoting Catholic values.

[MarkLastname]

IOW, "it's not a foul when my team does it."

[The Fusionist]

Even FIRE acknowledges (p. 59):

"If a private college openly stated in its catalogue that it would tolerate only a limited number of "correct" viewpoints, and that it would assign rights unequally (or deny them entirely) to campus dissenters, then students who attended such schools would have given their informed, voluntary consent to such restrictions on their rights"

My only disagreement with FIRE isn't over the general principle but with the application of the principle at Catholic colleges - Fordham apparently publishes a road "academic freedom" statement which doesn't acknowledge its obligations under Ex Corde Ecclesiae - but a potential student should know that Ex Corde Ecclesiae, as a Papal decree, is binding on any college which wants to call itself Catholic.

But if you want to be more radically pro-"academic freedom" than FIRE, be my guest.

[The Fusionist]

apparently publishes a *broad* "academic freedom" statement

[AlmightyJB]

That's a hell of a border Gambia.

[TheZeitgeist]

Beware whitey bearing maps.

-Gambian proverb

[Stormy Dragon]

?Barbara Bush has been hospitalized along with her husband, George H.W. Bush.

The Bush clan apparently graduated from the Fred Sanford school of not-wanting-to-attend-the-inauguration.

[The Fusionist]

"William Peter Blatty, Academy Award-winning author of The Exorcist, has died. The renowned novelist passed away January 12 at the age of 89; announcement of his death was made Friday, January 13 on social media by Exorcist director William Friedkin....

"...perhaps the effort which had the greatest impact within Catholicism was not Blatty's published writing, but a Canon Law petition which Blatty authored, regarding his alma mater, Georgetown University....Blatty [and over 2,000 others] asked Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, to remove the label "Catholic" from the school because of its continuing embrace of secularism....

"In 2014...the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education seemed determined to investigate the situation at Georgetown, and to work with the university to enact reforms....

"Georgetown's administration, however, has seemed reluctant to turn the rudder toward greater orthodoxy. This year, for example, the university credentialed a radically pro-abortion student group on campus, Medical Students for Choice. The group's self-described mission was to train "tomorrow's abortion providers."...

"...[Thanks to student activism it seems] that Medical Students for Choice has been deleted from Georgetown's roster of more than 200 student groups. William Blatty would be proud."

[Austrian Anarchy]

Barbara Bush has been hospitalized along with her husband, George H.W. Bush.

They shouldn't have popped in that Rogue One screener.

[MythicalLibertarianWoman]

Back to late posting while family is visiting, but if anyone is still here: Author exactly makes case for charter schools, would of course deny.

[PapayaSF]

What an incredibly clueless pair of tweets.

[bacon-magic]

I thought that was a Boondock Saints reference. *hangs head in historical shame

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

-l

[PBR Streetgang]

Pass him on the left hand side

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Yep, I got the yearly letter from the President of my alma mater, and it was all about tuition being held steady, resistance against creating a "luxury" experience at college, and the increased value of their degrees in the job market. If I didn't owe 6 figures on my law degree, I'd toss in a few bucks to my undergrad in support of their mission.

[GILMORE?]

I once told a doctor the whole truth, and he kept looking back at his test results, mumbling, "but that's not possible"

[B.P.]

That's the way I felt. "I've been really busy. I'll get back to real drinking soon, promise!"

[Playa Manhattan.]

Why are you so ashamed of your alma mater that you won't name it?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

My grandpa was there.

[DEG]

I'm always cynical. I'm not always especially cynical.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Purdue University - Mitch Daniels is the President, and I've been pretty happy with how he has handled his job there.

Sometime's I'm a little overcautious with the info I put online, sometimes I'm a bit undercautious. I guess I've probably put enough on Reason that somebody could probably figure out who I am if they were so inclined.

[DEG]

I don't know enough to a be a car nerd either.

Same with music.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

I was at a car museum in or near Kochi City, Shikoku, Japan, which had a Sahara rally car with dirt intact, and what amazed me most was there were only three non-ad things on each door: national flag, name or something, and blood type. I took a picture but that doesn't make me a car nerd.

[DEG]

Yes, yes I did. This museum. It is a cool place. I even passed the written portion of the 1950s era Aussie driver license test on my first try.

I skipped BMW-Welt while I was in Munich for Oktoberfest. I don't like BMWs that much. Now, If I was in Stuttgart, I'd be all over this place.

Still not good enough to be a car nerd. Getting there, sure.

[JEP]

Ha when I started talking about what was mentioned in the annual letter, I was wondering if you went to Purdue. Fellow grad here!

[JEP]

Tundra, I'd be happy to answer any questions about Purdue if you or your son have any. I graduated undergrad in 2011, so fairly recent. Just let me know.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Drew Brees still idolized there?

[JEP]

Yeah I'd say so. At one point when I was at school there, Purdue had three quarterbacks starting in the NFL at the same time - Brees, Curtis Painter, and Kyle Orton. Brees obviously being the best of those three.

[JEP]

electrical engineering

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Hey JEP! Something you commented on a long while back made me think that we may know one another from our Purdue days (I'm a 2011 grad in computer engineering). In fact, I think we were on the same Sr. Design team.

[DEG]

Nice! Let me know what you think.

[JEP]

Alex?

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Yep.

[commodious is fated to pretend]

POFL

(prostrate on floor laughing)