A.M. Links: Jeff Sessions Confirmed, Trump Seeks 'Constructive Relationship' With China, Snowstorm Blasts Northeast

• 

  Gage Skidmore

  Jeff Sessions has been confirmed as attorney general by the U.S. Senate.

• Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says the U.S. may require travelers from the seven majority-Muslim countries cited in President Trump's executive order to hand over their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites before entering the U.S.
• "President Trump has sent a letter to his Chinese counterpart saying he looked forward to developing a 'constructive relationship' with Beijing, the latest in a series of conciliatory signals by the new administration after months of heated rhetoric aimed at America's largest trading partner."
• British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has renounced his U.S. citizenship.
• Today's massive snowstorm in the northeast has already snarled traffic, closed schools, and resulted in thousands of canceled flights.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jeff Sessions has been confirmed as attorney general by the U.S. Senate.

The cabal is complete.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

"British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has renounced his U.S. citizenship."

Aw.

/pokes Pillsbury Doughman in tummy.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Shouldn't he have done that when he accepted a position in the British government? Or was he just saving it for a time when he could score political points?

[Episteme]

There's a distinction of sorts between being a member of the House of Commons versus being appointed "Her Majesty's Foeign Secretary" and holding foreign dual citizenship.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I had no clue he was an American citizen.

Given FATCA and tax laws, why in the hell would an American ex-pat want to keep their citizenship, anyways?

[Free Society]

Given FATCA and tax laws, why in the hell would an American ex-pat want to keep their citizenship, anyways?

FATCA is a singularly awful law. It's one of the only awful laws of it's kind in the entire world. But there is one key advantage in certain tax farms. Some countries have laws that prevent it's citizens and/or residents from being taxed twice on income. So for example, a country with a 60% tax rate might have such a law prohibiting double-taxation on income, so you pay your tax to the US to the tune of 35% and get to avoid the 60% tax you would otherwise pay if it wasn't for you being cursed with American citizenship.

[Rufus The Monocled]

What's with all the maths?

[UnCivilServant]

What's with the needless pluralization of math?

[Zeb]

What's with the needless shortening of "mathematics"?

[UnCivilServant]

we banned 'matics, the e was collateral damage.

[XenoZooValentine]

Math is hard. Let's go shopping.

[Trolleric the Goth]

let's bake some cookies for the boys!

[Rufus The Monocled]

ER YOU NEVER SEEM TO CARE WHEN FISTS DOES IT!

I did it in his honor.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

287) Dear Country of Mine,

Could we please, please stop naming every snowstorm and thunderstorm system that comes through? Hurricanes are okay; that's tradition. But Winter Storm Niko is just ridiculous. Also, could we knock it off with the "superstorms" and "snowmaggedons" and so forth?

At one time, and not that long ago, we had another method that worked fine. The Blizzard of '78. The Blizzard of '93. This worked well, because it showed the weather that year was especially bad, but otherwise made no claims. In 1993, we knew there'd been big blizzards before, and we'd have them again. '93 was a big year for snow, that's all. See how much better that is than "snowmaggedon," as if we're experiencing something unprecedented in human history? If that system was good enough for our parents, it should be good enough for us.

Thank you for your cooperation, JATNAS

[Juvenile Bluster]

Naming winter storms is just weird. The Weather Channel decided to do it one year and everyone just decided to pick up on it for some reason. The National Weather Service doesn't use the names.

[UnCivilServant]

No storm should have a name.

[straffinrun]

How about Thruman?

[UnCivilServant]

that's just your lysdexia talking.

[Zeb]

I think it's fine for hurricanes. They are distinct enough from other weather systems and last a long time and often have significant danger.

Naming snow storms is just trying to freak people out.

[Libertarian]

Weathermen hyperbolic? Surely you jest.

[Private Chipperbot]

We in Michigan call it Snowmageddon as a joke because every year people freak out for no reason.

[commodious rebrands]

The Weather Channel is the Star Registry of weather events.

[Citizen X - #6]

The Blizzard of '78

Fearful mediagenic crises put asses in chairs and eyes on the news screens, homie.

[Shirley Knott]

That's a very good thought, but it's hopeless. The "news" relies on sensationalism. "Just another blizzard" won't draw viewers -- and trust me, viewers will prefix "blizzard" with "just another ".
Watch, the same thing will happen with "snowmaggedon".

The only narrative the can drive the business of news is exaggeration, hype, fear-mongering, over-the-top claims, assertions, headlines, sub-heads, etc.
Or that's the only narrative that will work until we get a better class of news consumers. How likely does that seem?
You get what you pay for, sensationalism pays, so sensationalism you shall have, in apocalyptic abundance.

[Rufus The Monocled]

No, no. It's not sensationalism now. It's speaking truth to power and objective journalism.

[Tyler.C]

Let's face it they only name this shit on the northeast cause everywhere else gets that this stuff just happens. Weather and seasons are just a hard concept for east coasters.

[Mr. Flanders]

Trust me, we get all four seasons every single year. Seasons are not hard for us. We just have sensational journalism that blows everything out of proportion.

[Tyler.C]

Fair enough.

[Zeb]

What the hell are you talking about? The northeast has significant seasonal variation and almost always gets significant snow in the winter.

[Princess Trigger]

Old guys at mcdonalds (who are the Weather Channels biggest fans) need the names to keep straight their discussions.

[Zeb]

I used to love TWC when it was just weather forecasts.

[Free Society]

Reality TV has a way of conquering any kind of single-purpose television channel. MTV, VH1, the Weather Channel, History Channel et cetera. I don't have cable anymore but I used to love the history channel because they played actual documentaries. Nowadays it's all Swamp Loggers and Ice Road Truckers. They were way better before they developed their own original programming.

[Zeb]

I stopped having cable around when that shift was just starting to happen. But I could see that's how things were going. The cool thing about cable used to be that you had these really specific channels with different kinds of content. Now it seems to be all bullshit all the time on basic cable.

[Raven Nation]

What? Are you unfamiliar with their documentary series on the interactions between aliens and humans in ancient times?

[Free Society]

I'm very familiar with that ancient aliens "theory". A friend of mine is completely convinced of ancient aliens. It doesn't matter what reasoning I present to him, it doesn't matter that he bases this assertion on nothing more circumstantial evidence, if you can even call vague hieroglyphs depicting gods to be circumstantial evidence of something other than mythology. There's nothing I can do to convince him of the unlikelihood that an advanced civilization traveled perhaps hundreds of light years to reach the Earth so that they could move some big rocks around and then leave without giving humanity any of their technology or presence. They didn't even tell us about germ theory, they just came to move rocks and build some mounds out of dirt.

[UnCivilServant]

What annoys me most about the premise is that it outright states that humans were too stupid to figure out ways of moving big rocks about when all of our achievements since have indicated something quite to the contrary.

[lafe.long]

I still love watching this shit, though.

On hulu, I think they put these in the Science Fiction, not Documentary, category.

[cavalier973]

I used to love TWC when it was just weather forecasts.

And snappy jazz music

"Your weather on the eights!"

[Rufus The Monocled]

Storm Tits would have been soooo kewl.

[XenoZooValentine]

They were awesome when I saw them at Stormapalooza.

[Volren]

Something something extreme weather something something climate change...

[Zeb]

Word. It's fucking idiotic.

People seem to have become total pussies about driving in the snow too. About 4 people bothered to come to work today.

[Libertarian]

It's just as bad down here in the nation's droopy appendage. I love a good old fashioned Florida storm, but it's getting to be that whenever we have lightning we're told we're under a "severe thunderstorm alert."

[Mickey Rat]

Just about anywhere else it is a severe thunderstorm. In Florida it is summer afternoon.

[Pompey:? Class Mothersmucker]

Can't say that I share your passion for driving in inclement weather and burning extra productive time idling behind some flipped over Range Rover-induced traffic jams.

[Zeb]

If you need to be on site to work, which I usually do, you are burning even more productive time by not going to work.

And while I might occasionally get stuck behind a plow or asshole who thinks it's OK to drive at 20 mph, it's usually pretty smooth going for me.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm okay with stuck behind a plow, as I have better traction on freshly cleared and salted roads. It's the guy doing 20 who can't keep to a lane that concerns me. I'm just waiting for him to spin out.

[Pompey:? Class Mothersmucker]

It's the guy doing 20 who can't keep to a lane that concerns me. I'm just waiting for him to spin out.

Cue to hang back 100 more feet, and get your popcorn ready.

This one time I was on the northbound side of a highway during heavy rainstorm, and what do I see on the southbound side but some meatball lose control and spin out onto the dirt past the shoulder, like a rock skipping on the surface of a lake. It was like some kind of cutscene from Vice City and it was awesome. Also amazing that nobody else was involved and the driver was probably unharmed.

[Not a True MJG]

NYC right now looks fine from what I've seen. A bit of snow, but barely worthy of the title of blizzard. Yet I was the first one in to work this morning, and it looks like there's only going to be 3 of us in at all today. (granted, it's a company of 7)

[Episteme]

I wasn't sure of how NYC would turn out, given that the part aiming for Philly turned North last evening (even amid the weakening, those of us in the direct suburbs here expected more than our 1-2 inches, but we had more sleet than forecasted).

[Rhywun]

Winter Storm Niko

First I've heard of this, and I'm sitting in the middle of it and watching the morning news.

[jack sprat]

Weatherman in NY for a long time was named Storm Field.
coincidence? I think not.

[Tybus]

I'm for naming all storms that cross the 10 billion in damage threshold after U.S. Presidents.

[Bee Tagger]

Jeff Sessions has been confirmed as attorney general by the U.S. Senate.

Twitter is aflood with Sessions Impressions, I'm sure.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Today's massive snowstorm in the northeast has already snarled traffic, closed schools, and resulted in thousands of canceled flights.

God is angry with the northeast for voting Trump too much.

[Zeb]

Can we get more of this kind of God's anger?

[UnCivilServant]

Today's massive snowstorm in the northeast has already snarled traffic, closed schools, and resulted in thousands of canceled flights.

Or as we call it, a normal February.

[Tyler.C]

I remember this year we got like six inches in one night, other places got a foot, and you know what? We all went about our lives. No east cost news coverage of that. I mean sure we're a bit more used to it, but geez this seems to happen every year over there, you think they would be more used to it.

[Pompey:? Class Mothersmucker]

New York City and DC are binary centres of the universe.

[Animal]

...we got like six inches in one night...

Phrasing! BOOM

[Citizen X - #6]

Jeff Sessions has been confirmed as attorney general by the U.S. Senate.

Well, that was easy.

[Tyler.C]

Sessions: meh

De Vos: we can't let this devil in charge of our most sacred post, the department of education.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Sigh.

Creationism. Learn to love it.

[Tyler.C]

Wrong! You must love to learn it!

[BakedPenguin]

DeVos might move towards less government power, so she had to be stopped.

[american socialist]

This

[Bee Tagger]

Yeah, the hue and cry over DeVos vs Sessions is not a good look for where the Trump opposition's priorities lie and to what extent libertarians can bond with them over anything deeper than general opposition to those in power.

[Citizen X - #6]

It's principals v. principles all the way down. Progressives will only ever be opposed to the person who has the power, because the progressive philosophy requires a wise and benevolent master class to wield absolute power in the service improving mankind. Libertarians are opposed to the power itself, regardless of who wields it.

[Deven]

The funny thing is, the Progressives think they are winning the hearts and minds of Americans right now.

They're handing the baton to Elizabeth Warren right now, and I'm sure they'll be just as flabbergasted when they get their asses handed to them again next election.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Yeah, I've noticed they're already pushing her. Democrats aren't real big on learning, are they? Maybe let the primary process do what it's supposed to do, and bring the best candidates to the fore? You know, instead of making primary season into an extended coronation tour.

[Tyler.C]

Well she's a Clinton and Sanders understudy

[Krabappel]

Americans didn't elect this unlikable old hag, lets find another unlikable old hag to run in 4 years!

BTW Warren will be 71 in 4 years/

[Pompey:? Class Mothersmucker]

Who is this Jim Webb guy and why is a Republikkkan trying to get the Democratic nomination?

[Not a True MJG]

I don't think "they" are pushing her. Progressives on social media are pushing her, but they were doing that before 2015 as well.

[John Titor]

That and the youth are the future, so we need to be the ones brainwashing them.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Trump has sent a letter to his Chinese counterpart saying he looked forward to developing a 'constructive relationship' with Beijing...

So he plans to have China-men construct his border wall because he wants it to be great.

[UnCivilServant]

They're going to stand along the border and form a human wall.

[Shirley Knott]

There are worse jobs.
Especially, but hardly exclusively, in Asia.

[Aloysious]

The Chinese have experience building walls to keep out dragons and monsters. Just ask Matt Damon.

[Fist of Etiquette]

SPOILER ALERT: Unlike Mexicans, dragons can fly over walls.

[UnCivilServant]

Well duh, why do you think the Emperor of China sat on the "Dragon Throne"?

[Anomalous]

Hey, I sit on the Dragon Throne after eating Szechuan food.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Chinese leader: What's this?
Advisor: It's Mechano, sir. I

[Episteme]

Did anyone proofread his letter to make certain that he didn't talk too much about Chinamen in the West like Chong Wang building the railroad?

[Tyler.C]

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says the U.S. may require travelers from the seven majority-Muslim countries cited in President Trump's executive order to hand over their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites before entering the U.S.

NSA doesn't already have it? Or is it to hard to file the paperwork to get it from them?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

This isn't such a big deal. Who could you trust more with your passwords than the US government?

[Bee Tagger]

They're probably upset because now people will have reason to think their accounts are accessible by the US government.

[Bee Tagger]

President Trump has sent a letter to his Chinese counterpart saying he looked forward to developing a 'constructive relationship' with Beijing,

Dear Xi Jinping, 1/n

I hope you are well 2/n

[Fist of Etiquette]

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says the U.S. may require travelers from the seven majority-Muslim countries cited in President Trump's executive order to hand over their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites before entering the U.S.

So that Trump can post as you on social media and get you into all kinds of flame wars.

[Private Chipperbot]

He's going to make them his twitter followers. His numbers will be Huuugeee!

[AddictionMyth]

OH MY GOD REASON STOP JUST STOP

[Just a thought not a sermon]

It's just in your head, AM. Better adherence to your prescribed medication schedule should help things.

[Citizen X - #6]

Don't respond to the shitty attention-seeking troll.

[AddictionMyth]

I am just the worst. I really am.

[AddictionMyth]

I look forward to watching your Mental Health Czar beg to slough his mortal coil.

[John Titor]

STOP. VALIDATING IT. YOU IDIOTS.

[Volren]

Minor derail here JT - I remember you saying in another thread you convinced other Liberals that the Trulander was an idiot using quotes he made. Do you have a handy repository I can save for reference?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Dude, Ottawa has a whole wing archive in their library.

[Volren]

They won't let me back in after last time.

[John Titor]

Borrow this from a library, do not buy it, and get cracking. I don't have quotes on hand, I just bookmarked a bunch of his book for various people and had them read parts, he comes off as really, really shallow (I also make sure to point out that for a supposed political manifesto there's a lot of photos and long winded stories about him).

Don't use "If you kill your enemies, they win." unless you want to be a sophist. I haven't found a decent source for it and it seems to be completely made up.

[John Titor]

I mean, he says it's a memoir, but there's a ton of stuff in there about his politics where he basically goes "these are my values, and because they're my values, they're the only real kinds of values a Canadian can ever have. Being anti-abortion? Not a Canadian value. No, I'm not going to actually have any philosophical argumentation, I'm just a narcissist who thinks the world revolves around me."

And then he talks about how much exercise he gets.

[BakedPenguin]

he comes off as really, really shallow (I also make sure to point out that for a supposed political manifesto there's a lot of photos and long winded stories about him).

Good thing our politicians are so deep and humble.

[Volren]

Thanks. Time to go find my library card.

[Volren]

I really hope I can get through even skimming the book without a stroke.

[John Titor]

I may or may not be doing that thing where abuse victims become abusers.

[Citizen X - #6]

Just do what i do and blame SugarFree.

[Volren]

I'm hoping the "yeah, this is your guy" moments you can inflict on the Trudeaupians will make it worthwhile.

[Episteme]

He sounds like the Mirror Universe James Mattis.

[Bee Tagger]

executive order to hand over their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites before entering the U.S.

Now, and only now, are those account at risk of being compromised!

[american socialist]

The media seems really bad now compared to history. I think it has to do with all the different competition (note dont want govt to regulate or choose what it valid). But they seem desperate for clicks and thus hyperbolize and sensationalize everything. Constant fear mongering seems to sell better. Consumers of it should be blamed as well

The snowstorm thing got me thinking

[John Titor]

Meh, yellow journalism was always a thing, who could forget the old New York Times stories about how Negroes became immune to pain and bullets because of the demon marihuana?

But you're right in the sense that now it's a more unprofessional and hyperbolic, and I think it has more to do with overexposure than anything else. In the old days you read the local paper, which may have had some foreign policy stuff in it. Today you're constantly bombarded by stories and discussions local, national, and international.

[UnCivilServant]

who could forget the old New York Times stories about how Negroes became immune to pain and bullets because of the demon marihuana?

And we didn't weaponize that?

[XenoZooValentine]

The only reason we keep thinking there was this golden age of objective journalism, always just far enough back in our history that nobody living remembers it, is that the same kind of people also wrote the history.

[John Titor]

I found them in old microfilms when I was in university, from somewhere around the start of the 20th century. Fear of superpowered negros is one of the reasons New York police upgraded from .32 revolvers to .38 in the 20s.

[lafe.long]

Fear of superpowered negros

+1 Black Dynamite

[Citizen X - #6]

Fear of Superpowered Negros is probably Wu Tang's most underrated album.

[Episteme]

There's got to be a great Roaring Twenties Blaxpoitation film about Negro Supermen on marihuana vs. G-men that's yet to be made...

[Ken Shultz]

"Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says the U.S. may require travelers from the seven majority-Muslim countries cited in President Trump's executive order to hand over their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites before entering the U.S."

This is fundamentally unconstitutional.

I'm getting really sick of people ignoring the fact that the First Amendment is a prohibition on government.

The Trump administration's conception of our rights seems to be the same as Tony's--that our rights wouldn't exist unless the government gave them to us. It's buried within the false assumption that our rights are somehow a privilege attached to citizenship.

Actually, the First Amendment doesn't give us any rights we wouldn't already enjoy without it. The First Amendment just specifically prohibits the government from form violating them.

Citizenship entitles you to vote, hold office, be within our borders, and very little else.

[Tyler.C]

This. So much this.

[Volren]

So they initiate a limited travel ban in order to review processes. What are the odds they eventually reinstate travel with a few random bells and whistles like "social media screening" and so forth and pat themselves on the back for a job well done?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Seven Arrested in Phoenix During Protest Against Deportation of Illegal Immigrant Mother

Protests erupted in Phoenix Wednesday, when a Valley woman was ordered to be deported after showing up for a routine immigration check.

Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was arrested in 2009 for impersonation as part of a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office raid. She was charged with a felony, but her attorneys say that raid was later ruled unconstitutional.

Court documents obtained by ABC15 also show Garcia had previously been ordered to self-deport.

Garcia reported for a regular check-in with Immigration Customs Enforcement Wednesday morning, but never came out.

According to Garcia's attorney, she is now facing deportation as part of President Trump's executive order focused on removing undocumented immigrants with a history of arrests.

I feel safer.

[Juvenile Bluster]

DEY TOOK OUR JERBS

[UnCivilServant]

Given that even Barry "Go ahead and vote" Obama's administration told her to get out, I'm not sure how the protestors worked up the motivation to even show up, let alone get arrested.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

From what I've read the Obama administration only prioritized deporting illegals charged with violent offenses or other serious felonies.

They only technically asked her to self-deport. Beyond that she just had to routinely check in with ICE to ensure she was complying with the law and wasn't a threat to public safety. Her only crimes were using a fake SSN.

[UnCivilServant]

That does not mesh with the information I've seen wherein the previous administration was keen to hide its lack of deportations by reporting border interceptions and those prevented from enetering as "deportations" making a request to leave more significant.

[Free Society]

Her only crimes were using a fake SSN.

Which would sure as fuck land me in a prison, what with all the white privilege I have.

[straffinrun]

Saw her wanted poster. It was on a baked tortilla.

[commodious rebrands]

Jesus.

[straffinrun]

Nah, he was on a popsicle stick.

[Juvenile Bluster]

My prog friends love to quote from some Facebook page called "Gin & Tacos". Can somebody translate this from derp to English? I think it's supposed to be about Betsy DeVos.

Joke's on the Baby Boomers. Wait until you're in a nursing home staffed by Amway Jesus Charter School Inc. graduates and they can't tell the bootleg Chinese insulin from the bootleg Chinese anticoagulant because they're in a real hurry to take a vape break at their $8/hr no-benefits job and they inject your fat ass with the latter and your circulatory system seizes like an ancient V8 with Hershey's syrup instead of motor oil.

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Sure thing, it's roughly translated as derrrrrrrrrrp

[UnCivilServant]

So they think a bootleg anticoagulant would be a coagulant?

[Tyler.C]

Proof that our education system sure is a-ok as is, and doesn't need to change.

[Citizen X - #6]

That's an evocative scenario, but how would that end be any different than when some fine product of Merika's Publik Skool's does the same thing?

[UnCivilServant]

Hah! Those poor sods wouldn't even get that good of a job - too unqualified.

[Tyler.C]

Well with America's public school, the person would be busy demanding a 15 dollar wage, while not knowing what an anticoagulant actually does.

[american socialist]

So if only they had gone to public school they would be better?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I think they're claiming home-schooled or charter-schooled students don't read well. Actually, nearly every home-schooled student I've ever met has seemed quite motivated and informed compared to the typical public school students their age.

[Tyler.C]

They habit had curiosity and live of learning beaten or of them yet.

[Tyler.C]

Haven't

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Friggle on the poofleslop?

[robc]

I hope you were posting from a phone and/or were educated at a public school.

[Tyler.C]

Damn mobile!!!!!!

And my shoddy American education!!!

[commodious rebrands]

Doesn't edit on the fly... say, have you considered applying for Reason's internship program?

[Tyler.C]

They said I was too qualified

[straffinrun]

They haven't had the curiosity and love of learning beaten out of them yet.
Or something about a bi-curious nun learning how to give handjobs.

[Tyler.C]

The first is accurate, the latter is what it should have been.

[Cyto]

This whole argument is beyond frustrating.

First, charter schools are public schools. They are publicly funded schools, full stop. Depending on where they are, they may or may not be privately operated.

Second, they almost always get less funding per student than other schools. So the "profiteering" accusations sound really weird.

Third, they outperform regular schools. Maybe by a little, maybe by a lot. If they don't, they get closed down.

One of the big criticisms of DeVos' work in Detroit was that the charter schools were only slightly better than the regular public schools. So therefore they were a failure. Putting a bow on it: they took the poorest students from the worst performing schools and received less money per student and on aggregate they only slightly outperformed the regular schools. And this is what they think failure looks like.

I was hoping that full school choice would be upon us by now. But it looks like it will be too late to help my kids. But maybe my grandkids?

[Not a True MJG]

You're responding to teachers' union talking points. It's futile.

[Tyler.C]

I love how in their eyes the profit motive is purely corrupting. They hate it so much. It means that they will have limited success in life.

[We are all Sloopy's mom (RBS)]

I believe it's called projection.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Bigotry against poor people of color is okay when they're making decisions with their lives we enlightened white progressives don't approve of.

That's the implication, right? Since the majority of people who benefit from a voucher program are poor and nonwhite.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I've asked these people to look into the reasons why black and Hispanic parents support school choice in overwhelming numbers (~70-75% for both groups) as compared to white parents. For some reason they haven't addressed it.

[Citizen X - #6]

I bet the answer involves false consciousness.

[Get To Da Chippah]

They're just too dumb from their public school education lack of white privilege to understand how school choice is against their own best interests.

[Sour Kraut]

Do these idiots have any strategy other than to condescend?

[Rufus The Monocled]

China is gonna take over. Like Japan in the 90s.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Nursing homes are currently staffed by the non-Jesus Charter school cream of the crop.

[Idle Hands]

Anybody listen to Intelligence Squared Debates? as you can tell from the title it's a debate style show and the last episode was titled "Should We Give Trump a Chance?". Anyway it was full retard with David Frum arguing against the motion, the level of pant-shitting was unprecedented I couldn't even get through it. Firstly I still don't understand what "Giving him a chance" actually means he won the election he's going to get 4 years. Secondly after 40 min I still don't understand how you can argue against the motion unless you're openly advocating for a coup. Lastly by even participating in a debate with the topic "Should we give any duly elected president a chance" I have no respect for anyone involved.

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Frum and intelligence, these don't go together.

[Sour Kraut]

So glad his 15 minutes of fame, for being a total warmonger asshole, is long over.

[UnCivilServant]

If you have to tell people you're "Intelligent" that's a good sign that you really aren't.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Frum and Brooks are the same person.

What is it with all these former Canadians on the American conservative side? Crowder, Kuhner, Krauthammer, Frum....

The former three being Montealers.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Shit, you can even add Cruz.

[UnCivilServant]

We do accept refugees in absurd numbers. I assume they fled Soviet Canukistan for good reason.

[John Titor]

Canada will never be party to torture, says Canadian Defense Minister.

Sajjan, a former military officer who served in Afghanistan, said they did discuss "ethics in soldiering" when they spoke at the Pentagon outside Washington on Monday.

"When it comes to our military and Canadian values, we follow international law and Canadian law. Canada will never use torture or be party to that," Sajjan said in an interview on Tuesday.

Sajjan seems to forget the whole habit we apparently picked up of sticking prisoners in tiny cages for days on end at Kandahar. Must not count as torture.

[Citizen X - #6]

So y'all are gonna take back Justin Bieber?

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

BOOM

[John Titor]

We didn't say anything about ending our PSYOPS program.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Liberals sure love to throw the word 'values' around a lot.

Mostly because they don't have any.

Also. I wonder how much of their policies will be driven by 'opposite of Trump' and other thinly-veiled anti-Americanism.

[Tyler.C]

Woah now, let's not equate Trump with American.

[Volren]

I'm actually somewhat impressed by them. They haven't been nearly as bad as they could have been on going after Trump.

[The Elite Elite]

Wait, Canadian values? I thought Zoolander said Canada has no culture. So, you have no culture, but you do have values? How does that work? I thought the two tend to go together.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Huh. Good catch.

[Rufus The Monocled]

http://vancouversun.com/news/s.....nal-canada

[Rhywun]

LOL, ask Europe what they think of going "postnational".

[Free Society]

Oh Christ that photo... That Zoolander leftist smug is so fucking intense he makes Obama look like Pat Buchanan.

[Idle Hands]

Netflix is finally producing the show that's going to define a generation:

he first trailer for Netflix's Dear White People, an expanded retelling of the celebrated 2014 film of the same name, has arrived. The trailer shows a diverse group of students at the fictional, largely white Winchester University fill and often rail against the roles they're put in, paving the way to both comedy and conflict in their "post-racial" world.

During a panel held in New York City, series creator Justin Simien explained that, while making the original film was important to him, each of the characters he introduced needed more space and time to tell their stories. "These characters belonged on TV," he said. That said, it was an arduous yet worthwhile process. "It almost killed me, in the best way."

Dear White People stars a mix of new faces and actors reprising their roles from the original film. It premieres on April 28th, 2017.

[John]

I don't think it is going to define a generation.

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Well not in the way they intend at least.

[UnCivilServant]

If I had a netflix account I'd cancel it. I can't condone racism.

[Certified Public Asshat]

I can't, I just started watching The Office after 10 years. It is a good show.

(Slight tangent) I am surprised by all of the race jokes The Office makes. Again, only about 10 years old, it would be hard to imagine the show airing today.

[UnCivilServant]

I think the important difference is intent. I doubt there was any malice behind the jokes in The Office.

[Citizen X - #6]

Michael: "...and a big pot of colored greens."

Stanley: "Collard greens."

Michael: "I don't think so. They don't call them 'collard people.'"

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Is this the sequel to Stranger Things I heard was coming? It doesn't look like it's going to be nearly as good.

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

It's the companion to Sens8

[John Titor]

It would be really nice to live in a 'post-racial' world.

Is this some kind of alternate history?

[John DeWitt]

Netflix's answer to Amazon, apparently.

[Tyler.C]

That said, it was an arduous yet worthwhile process. "It almost killed me, in the best way."

I can assure you, it did not almost kill you in the best way.

[Glide]

Look, my uncle once ruptured his own spleen with pure concentrated self-righteousness. IT CAN HAPPEN!

[Not a True MJG]

That movie was released over 2.5 years ago? How time flies...

Supposedly the movie was decent. All the best to this show, but my time is precious. Well, it's finite, anyway.

[Free Society]

The movie was far from decent.

[Free Society]

"post-racial" world.

These people aren't pushing for post-racial anything. That should be abundantly clear. They're more interested in lecturing white people about how morally and culturally inferior they really are.

I wonder if this SJW programming has anything to do with a certain communist billionaire buying up a huge amount of the Netflix stock.

[John]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/.....m-migrants

Remember, there is no downside to admitting refugees. None. The places they come from suck because of bad luck not because the culture of the people in these places sucks.

[straffinrun]

Meanwhile, next door in Sweden...

"Countries which represent all of the week's crimes: Iraq, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Somalia, Syria again, Somalia, unknown country, unknown country, Sweden," he added. Springare then promised to make new posts on the subject every week.

[John]

And in Canada, they didn't realize refugees didn't know they couldn't attack women.

http://globalnews.ca/news/3235.....55062280=1

Jail is not going to stop this. These people don't care. It won't stop until they start cutting the perps' nuts off.

[Sour Kraut]

Yeah I don't think a Canadian jail is going to intimidate Somali refugees very much.

[John Titor]

Depends, Disneyland residents will fuck your shit up.

[Citizen X - #6]

"Now. Stop all the raping, please."

[Rufus The Monocled]

ALL IS WELL!

[Idle Hands]

Whatever you think of the refugee's it doesn't seem like it's going to end well. Especially for the politicians advocating to keep bringing them in. At this point right or wrong the narrative is totally against them.

[Free Society]

Western civilization isn't a suicide pact, so I'm planted firmly in the "it's wrong" camp. I don't think those socialist politicians had the right to irrevocably alter these thousand year old societies the way they have.

[The Last American Hero]

Remember, Progtard topia is 5 million white people living in a country paid for by oil drilling.

[OneOut]

And oil drilling and the maintenance needed to keep it pumping provided by capitalistic contractors.

[Ken Shultz]

:"Melania Trump refiles $150M libel lawsuit against Daily Mail publisher"

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-.....daily-mail

I suspect it behooves Melania Trump to go forward with this lawsuit despite being the First Lady.

She is practically sent from central casting to play the role of a Marie Antoinette, and letting stories that she used to be a hooker go unchallenged is apt to snowball into something like Birtherism.

If she wins, she should donate the proceeds to charity.

[John]

Thanks to NYT v. Sullivan, the Daily Mail doesn't have any obligation to fact check a story like that. All they have to do is show they didn't know it was false and they win the suit. NYT v. Sullivan protects the media from the consequences of lying.

[Ken Shultz]

She needs to establish malice in the minds of 7 out of 12 jurors, and a jury is like a box of chocolates.

I don't know the details of their reporting. I'm sure they'll subpoena correspondence between the writer and his editor. For all I know, they may have previously printed a story that this rumor was false--suggesting malice because they already knew it wasn't true.

Still, if I were Melania, I'd make an example out of them--and give the money to charity. Few women to the right of the Feminist Studies department chair at Berkeley* will blame her for standing up for herself against charges that she was a hooker . . . especially if she gives the proceeds to the battered mothers of beautiful handicapped children.

*Well, ENB prefers the term "sex worker".

[The Last American Hero]

Sounds like a job for Bull.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I was reading quotes from a Patriots player (and Sharpe) about why they won't go to the WH. It was basically libel if you ask me. If I'm the owner I sit and have a chat with them.

[John]

What did they say?

[Rufus The Monocled]

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/g.....ump-020817

[cavalier973]

They said, "I can't even..."

[Idle Hands]

I was subjected to this stupid shit at the GW vs VCU collegebasketball game last night. They performed at halftime wearing their hats. It was painful and I had to painfully hold back openly mocking a 240 lb woman who was 5 rows back and clapping along.

[straffinrun]

Icantkeepquiet

No fucking shit.

[John]

Wow. And people say Trump won't get re-elected.

[Idle Hands]

My buddy sitting next to me despises Donald Trump and even he was like what the fuck.

[John]

Wow. And people say Trump won't get re-elected.

[We are all Sloopy's mom (RBS)]

Jesus Christ, HuffPo has infected Canada?

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Fuckin LOL:

The beautiful song was originally written by Los Angeles singer MILCK as a way to cope after experiencing sexual abuse, anorexia and depression. But because of the song's theme of empowerment, the singer thought it would resonate with people at the Women's March.

So basically, a song written by an emotionally broken woman is now an anthem for similar emotionally broken women. Truly a serendipitous joining of shattered equals.

[Citizen X - #6]

Worse: it's an anthem for women who aspire to emotional brokenness.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Yes, a douchebag being elected is the same as experiencing sexual abuse, anorexia, and depression.

[Azathoth!!]

...and he blight knights in on his ridiculous steed spraying salty tears of righteous indignation upon all who gaze upon his sagging flaccidity withrevulsion and awe.

You go there, buddy, keep on whining--only 7 years and 49 and a half weeks to go!

Maybe you can have Shia lend you a hand.

[Chipwooder]

Of all the things progs do that I can't stand, their constant attempts to politicize non-political events that I enjoy is one of the very worst.

[Drake]

Bernie Sanders is like all the commie fucks that came before him - and gives zero shits if he ruins lives and businesses while implementing his failed retarded totalitarian ideas.

http://www.pjmedia.com/trending/2017/.....insurance/

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

That's why he won New Hampshire. His base loves it when he tells a greedy capitalist fatcat to STFU and pay their fair share.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Man is he evil.

But I'm afraid this is a feature in the progressive ranks.

[Mollie the mare]

Watched some clips of the debate. Is it just me or did Ted get a new stylist? He seemed to come off significantly less smarmy than I recall.

[american socialist]

Yea i agree with this. Normally i can't stand Cruz

[straffinrun]

I like Bernie generally but not on Obamacare

Guess who?

[BakedPenguin]

Hitler? No wait, I'm doing this wrong.

[Tyler.C]

Shikha?

[commodious rebrands]

"The situation you described is honestly absurd,"

He's not wrong.

Unfortunately he wants to take absurd and make it Kafkaesque, with this poor sap beggaring herself to help pay for her hairdressers' insurance. Which is neither here nor there since her hairdressers couldn't afford the premiums, much less the deductible.

[Citizen X - #6]

The more exposure Bernie gets, the more he comes across as inflexible, incurious, and utterly unintelligent. It's hard to say if he's actively evil or just ignorant of the evil that his beliefs would inevitably lead to.

[Episteme]

During the campaign, there was a lot of energy and excitement around him wherever he went (mostly from young people who, while wrong on just about everything, seemed interested and hopeful); that rubs off onto a candidate. Now, watching him is again like seeing that one angry old man in the corner of the home's common room argue with people who aren't there about the contrails.

[straffinrun]

Anarchism explained.

Probably been linked to before, but I just found it and I'm the center of the world so...
It's an anarcho syndicalist explaining how ancaps are simply of the far right. Oh. and the belief that capitalism can't exist for people to truly be free. The contradictions are, well, you decide.

[Juvenile Bluster]

It's the old "we have absolutely no knowledge of human nature, so surely in a pure socialist utopia there would be no government and no leaders" canard.

[Citizen X - #6]

I've never understood how anyone could get that close to repudiating statism and then fail to recognize that if you're not free to benefit from the fruits of your labor by personally owning stuff then you're not free, period.

[straffinrun]

I'm guessing it's something like, "Of course you own your own body. The stuff you make with your free body, well that, um, well, [buzzword, buzzword and self-contradictory statement defined as self-evident]. Seriously though, I just don't get what they're really saying. Sounds like leap of faith bs to me.

[commodious rebrands]

They seriously differentiate between personal and private property, the former being things they want to keep to themselves and the latter being things they want expropriated from capitalists. I can only assume it comes of not producing anything of value other than whipping up lattes at Starbucks.

[Lee wishes he made the list...]

Ask Chomsky how he does it.

[Citizen X - #6]

By making up odd definitions of "anarchy," which i guess is his prerogative as a famous linguist?

[Free Society]

Well you see, anarchy is when you have no government, no property rights and when everyone has equal access to wealth. And there's an institution with a monopoly of force and final decision making to make sure the allotments of wealth are all equal and no one is cheating but it's like totally not a state, like for reals.

[Not a True MJG]

It usually falls back on old idea that all natural resources are held in common. What I never understand is why they insist that it's owned collectively, rather than simply unowned.

They also see property as a moral matter used to justify authority, with one party getting to tell another what to do, rather than as a series of rules to limit conflict. It's why I tend to take a utilitarian angle when talking property with socialists. I try to always refer to it as "rules regarding property," to make clear that even a socialistic anarchist believes in rules and some kind of authority to enforce rules about who gets to use what.

[Volren]

It's like a Marxist recognized that all the totalitarianism, theft and murder were problematic, so they just skipped ahead to the "withering of the state" part without considering any of the problems the beginner versions were having.

[John Titor]

Oh god, I'm having flashbacks to nineteen year old John Titor.

[Col. Chestbridge]

Part One

Part Three

Part Four

Somewhere in America?

Our ride pulled up in front of the building and we all tumbled out of the vehicle.

"Right!" I said. "Our target is the top floor. International super-spy regulations require that tall buildings be scaled, on the outside, with grappling hooks, so get to it!" The team began to scale the wall while I entered the lobby then walked to the elevator. I stopped part way up the building to have a few drinks and some h'orderves at some company's party, making it to the top floor just in time to see the Danger 5 enter via the window.

"Excellent work!" I lauded.

"Fuck you," they panted.

"Shut up," I informed them. "Ah good! Danger 5, here's the man, er, article, that we are here to see about that article, er, story. Sir, these are the Danger 5!" I shook hands, er, sleeves with The Jacket as it floated up to us. "The back-up team, at least. The real Danger 5 are on a top secret mission deep underground, fighting Nazi molemen. Highly classified, you understand."

[Col. Chestbridge]

"That's a floating, disembodied black leather jacket," panted the stand-in.

"I thought there were only supposed to be five of them," The Jacket intoned.

"Of course there are five of them!" I said indignantly. "What kind of deadly international super-spy Mickey Mouse operation do you think I'm running? And you," I snapped at that wily cleverdick, "there is no call for such rudeness! I know clothing and humans have had our differences, but the Sartorial Jihad was decades ago and there are many well-respected clothes that have fully integrated into our great culture. Now let's stop mucking about and get back to business."

"Before we get back to business," thrummed The Jacket, "how about a tour? We don't get visitors very often."

"Yes! Yes!" (narrator's note: spoken in Russian, subtitled in English) enthused one of my spies, a man wearing sunglasses and a tracksuit. "We must have tour!"

I sighed. "Oh very well."

The Jacket hovered in excitement. "This way then, my fellow travelers! This way!" It led us around the offices for half an hour, subjecting us to tidbits and trivia and some forced pop culture references.

[Col. Chestbridge]

"Here we have framed the famed Libertarian Moment," it said, indicating an hourglass with a single grain of sand sitting within a frame on a stand.

"And here we have our wonderful wall of world clocks, so that we always know what time it is anywhere in this increasingly global world." There was a clock for London, and a clock for D.C., and a clock for Beijing, and even a clock for the lost city of Flint, Michigan. One clock's purpose seemed only to count down; it was labeled "Lynx", and the minute hand wavered back and forth erratically as it circumnavigated the clock face.

"And here is where our web development team is hard at work." We stopped outside some cubicles. Dusty skeletons sat diligently at their keyboards, eye sockets staring off into the distance. No doubt they were trying to solve some tricky programming task, such as how to enable comment editing or report spam.

"We're hiring," The Jacket confided.

"That was certainly an experience," I told it. "Now here's the manuscript, er, document that we came all this way to bring you, risking life and limb." I handed The Jacket the manilla folder, which promptly fell to the ground since The Jacket had no hands with which to hand. A tiny rodent darted out from a cube, and in two shakes of a tail-feather the tree-rat had snatched up the folder and vanished.

[Col. Chestbridge]

"I recognize that creature!" said the stand-in. "It was a server squirrel! Mr., uh, Jacket, where is your server room?"

"Yes! Yes!" raved Sunglasses. "We must see server room!"

"Shut up."

"It's just off the bathroom of course," The Jacket replied, gesturing with a sleeve. Floating away, it led us to the server room.

I pushed open the door and gasped at what I saw: a cliffhanger, the kind that immediately precedes a thrilling conclusion!

*Cut to commercial*

[Col. Chestbridge]

*sigh*

Part One

Part Three

And what's up with 8 AM links every day this week?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Robby made a funny on twitter!

[BakedPenguin]

Okay, that was pretty good.

[Zeb]

Unmitigated Audacity.

[John Titor]

Alright, he gets a point for that one.

[Citizen X - #6]

Hah!

[$park? don't care bout yo mom]

So today I got to thinking about the absolute certainty of the apocalypse that will be happening any day now. People of a certain political bent are just so certain that we are rushing down Shit's Creek and about to tumble over Shit Falls. They've staked so much on the certainty of this happening. They've decided that outright violence is the only way to stop it. What are they going to do when the world doesn't explode?

And then it came to me as blindingly obvious. They're going to pay themselves on the back and take credit. It won't matter one bit that it's all despite their efforts. They'll believe that it was their protests and activism that saved the country. And there will be absolutely no way to convince them otherwise.

To be honest, that makes me kinda sad.

[$park? don't care bout yo mom]

*pat themselves

[Cyto]

Oh, great. Now not only is Pat genderneutral, or genderfluid or whatever and impossible to pronoun... now Pat is plural?

[$park? don't care bout yo mom]

Don't think that you can put Pat in a box, shitlord.

[straffinrun]

It won't be the people that hauled themselves off to work everyday, creating goods and services that were exchanged voluntarily with other individuals that saved the world. It's gotta be the hashtags that did it.

[See Double You]

They're going to pay themselves on the back and take credit. It won't matter one bit that it's all despite their efforts. They'll believe that it was their protests and activism that saved the country. And there will be absolutely no way to convince them otherwise.

They will do the same when catastrophic AGW fails to materialize. They can't prove their efforts made a difference, but you can't disprove it, either, so nah nah nah nah nah.

[Glide]

I have a hard time envisioning a scenario when AGW pushers stop pushing it, even for the sake of gloating over their success. I think the climate could be the same every day this year as it was the same day last year, and then repeat that for 50 years, and all we'd hear is how the government needs to act now to stop "climate stagnation".

[Rhywun]

At that point it will become obvious to everyone that it was never really about the "climate" for them at all.

It was about the usual grab-bag of leftist BS.

[Rich]

Kelly says the U.S. may require travelers from the seven majority-Muslim countries cited in President Trump's executive order to hand over their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites before entering the U.S.

"My password is 'Fuck Kelly'."

[UnCivilServant]

I forgot my password, and I forgot what e-mail the account is linked to. I think someone hacked it and has been posting under my name for a while, but I can't be arsed to contact Zuckerberg about it.

[The Last American Hero]

Because the page for Mohammed Mohamed's account shows pictures of beautiful sunsets and his cousin's new camel. That's the one DHS gets to see. Meanwhile, his alter ego "Great Satan Slayer", is the page that has all the jihadi stuff.

[Krabappel]

What happened to this story? I saw it in the RSS feed but the article was deleted by the time I got to it, and I don't see that it was reposted.

"Orwell's 1984 a Better Reflection of the Leftists Picking it Up Than They Realize: New at Reason"

That doesn't sound like an article that would result in many cocktail party invites.

[UnCivilServant]

There were some number of comments then it went down the memory hole.

[Tyler.C]

I never saw such an article. Any claims that it ever existed are ravings of madmen, err, mad-persons. I love Big Brother Reason.

[Cdr Lytton]

Can't remember which commentator has a link to the cash me outside girl meme in their name link. Saw this today

http://m.tmz.com/#article/2017.....passenger/

She and her mom are now banned for life from Spirit.

[Trolleric the Goth]

such a terrible thing to happen, whatever will they do without flying on possibly the worst airline in the US?!?!

[Trolleric the Goth]

such a terrible thing to happen, whatever will they do without flying on possibly the worst airline in the US?!?!

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says the U.S. may require travelers from the seven majority-Muslim countries cited in President Trump's executive order to hand over their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites before entering the U.S.

Don't wanna be a thug, then don't be on social media.

[commodious rebrands]

Don't wanna be a thug, then don't be on social media.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

It looks windy and cold and there is a lot of snow, so I am not going outside.

[Episteme]

"I'm cold, and there are wolves after me."

https://youtu.be/KqrDuyougHI

[lafe.long]

Martin Luther King's niece accuses Warren of playing 'the race card'

"It's almost like a bait and switch. Stir up their emotions, use the name of King ? and my name is Alveda King ? stir up people's emotions, play the race card, which she was attempting to do," Alveda King, an anti-abortion activist and Fox News contributor who voted for President Donald Trump, told Fox Business Network.

[Volren]

Race traitor!

[Free Society]

Well that's nice to see. She didn't just escape the leftist hivemind, she escaped the grievance cartel brand of thinking too, despite being royalty in those circles.

[lafe.long]

Intel, in Show of Support for Trump, Announces Factory in Arizona

Standing beside Mr. Trump in the Oval Office, Brian Krzanich, Intel's chief executive, said the company had decided to proceed now because of "the tax and regulatory policies we see the administration pushing forward."

[commodious rebrands]

Meanwhile they're shuttering, or at least drastically reducing, their presence in New Mexico. DEY TUK ER JERBS!

[lafe.long]

Trump accuses senator of misrepresenting Supreme Court nominee's remarks, despite spokesman's confirmation

"Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie), now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?" Trump tweeted on Thursday morning.