Obamacare Replacement Bill Pleases No One, Women Go on Strike: P.M. Links

• 

  ERIK S. LESSER/EPA/Newscom

  Conservatives aren't thrilled with the Obamacare replacement bill.

• Sen. Rand Paul is displeased.
• So is Rep. Justin Amash.
• Princeton University bans Storm Trooper costumes at alumni reunion party.
• So many garbage columns about the madness at Middlebury.
• Tomorrow will be "A Day Without Women."

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Conservatives aren't thrilled with the Obamacare replacement bill.

"As long as we get to keep our death panelists."

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Tomorrow will be "A Day Without Women."

AKA Libertarian Day

[Domestic Dissident]

Aristophanes wrote this comedy a couple thousand years ago.

[Rich]

Damn your quick fingers!

[Domestic Dissident]

Great minds think alike.

[Rich]

Indeed.

[BigT]

Great Sick minds think alike.

[Rich]

"Sickness will surely take the mind where minds can't usually go."

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

LOL!

[Libertarian]

I, for one, am looking forward to the peace and quiet.

[Jerry on the sea]

Safest day in the year to drive to and from work.

[#NotMyReason (Krabappel)]

Nobody putting on makeup or calling their mom's during the commute.

[Agammamon]

Calling their mom's what?

[BigT]

Celebrate! Independence! Drinking! Gun-play! Dangerous activities! Hold my beer stuff - all day long!

...oh, wait....

....be right there, honey!

[timbo]

I plan to fire anyone who does not show up for work tomorrow.

[Griffin3]

Because that worked so well for the immigrants.

[bevis the lumberjack]

"Tomorrow will be "A Day Without Women.""

Or, as I called it, high school.

[DanO.]

WikiLeaks says it has obtained trove of CIA hacking tools

Amerca's far-right shocked to learn that there is spying going on in here, ponder how they can blame Obama for Russian espionage now occuring under Trump's watch.

The leak is also likely to create political ripples for the Trump administration. Trump declared "I love WikiLeaks" last October during a campaign rally when he read from a trove of stolen emails about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Trump also initially sided with WikiLeaks, which disputed that its Clinton email archive had been stolen by hackers associated with Russian intelligence services. Trump dismissed the CIA's conclusion that Russia was behind the hack, but has since said he now thinks Moscow may have been responsible.

https://tinyurl.com/h2te4nm

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I am shocked that Robbo didn't link to this story.

[DanO.]

He had to read the leaks to learn what is in the leaks.

[Domestic Dissident]

My guess is Julian Assange is considered one of the bad guys by Reason "libertarians" now, given the damage he clearly did to Hildog, who they really wanted to win.

[DanO.]

My guess is that you have absolutely no credibility here and elsewhere.

[WakaWaka]

That's ironic coming from you

[DanO.]

Hi Weigel!

[DOOMco]

what?

[OneOut]

It's new here and thought that would make it one of the cool kids ?

[#NotMyReason (Krabappel)]

I could understand if he had some hot juicy news about Lena Dunham saying or doing something, but we didn't even get that!

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Will She or Won't She? Lena Dunham's Abortion Cliff Hanger on HBO's 'Girls'

On Sunday night's episode, "Painful Evacuation," Hannah goes to the ER for a UTI (because OF COURSE there has to be some gross, TMI dialogue for shock value.) We find out she's uninsured because of the ObamaCare website rollout disaster ? thanks, Obama! Shocking Girls put Obamacare in a negative light, especially considering Dunham did a video plug for ObamaCare in January.

[Lost_In_Translation]

How can conservatives still be anti-abortion when Lena Dunham is around? Is life that precious?

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

How 'Girls' fashion went from train wrecks to grown-ups

There's a reason why Lena Dunham's character looks like such a mess in the beginning of the series.

"We used to tailor clothes to actually make them look worse," says costume designer Jenn Rogien of Hannah's Urban Outfitters threads. "Now it's kind of a natural off-the-rack thing ? it's not made to measure by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a more natural fit."

Still, stylists maintain that Shosh is still Shosh. Heart has replaced the character's fancy fascinators with more understated, but still playful, barrettes, while Rogien has kept her wardrobe pretty and pink, while adding some more fashion-forward pieces from Tokyo street brands and Century 21 to her usual mix of Bloomingdale's and Zara.

[waffles]

This story is pretty fucking huge. Was it not posted anywhere on this site?

[Rich]

Another profound revelation is that the CIA can engage in "false flag" cyberattacks which portray Russia as the assailant.

Maybe the Russians got to this site?

[DanO.]

If Reason doesn't post it, did it really make a sound in the wood-chippers?

[John]

WikiLeaks said the documents show the CIA's ability to bypass the encryption of popular messenger applications, including WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and Confide by hacking the smartphones they run on and collecting audio and message traffic before the applications encrypt the user's texts.

Does that surprise anyone?

[Zeb]

Probably someone. But not anyone who's been paying attention.

[Jerry on the sea]

I'm not terribly impressed: mostly a bunch of linux geeks at the CIA working on some hobby projects probably without any tangible benefit.

[DanO.]

I fully expect this to be at least as bombshellish as Brad Manning's leaks, if not Eddie Snowden's which, as we know, brought down the Obama's presidency and forced the mean spy agencies to stop spying on me.

[Bacon-Magic glib reasonoid]

I saw it this morning...not here. Ed has a post up on it now.

[Bob K]

Just like how Obama loved transparency, right up until he was coronated. Hear comes a new round of prosecuting whistle blowers.

[Bubba Jones]

Earlier you were deriding the story.

[Zeb]

You were expecting consistency from dan-o?

[But Enough About Me]

If only one-tenth of this stuff is true, then there is simply no point in attempting to argue about whether or not Russia had any influence on the U.S. election.

It's rabbit-holes all the way down, people.

[waffles]

There's that dreaded false-flag thing coming in layers. It's either like one of the logic puzzlers or just a shitty rorshach test. Still these leaks appeal to my Jesse Walker / Alex Jones spirit animal.

[Don Escaped Texas]

I'm in real time with the cool kids

[Fist of Etiquette]

Princeton University bans Storm Trooper costumes at alumni reunion party.

As long as they support Jedi religious rights.

[Libertarian]

NERDS!!!!!!

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Where is the other half of the ass for these links?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Rand Paul is displeased.

Does Congress have to give up its health insurance?

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Tomorrow will be "A Day Without Women."

I refuse to support the striking of women. It's wrong!

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Otherwise known as National Masturbation Day.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

I have plenty of fleshlights I can loan out to you married guys. If you are interested let me know.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Why do you own more than one?

[But Enough About Me]

Crusty has, um, unique anatomical features.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

I literally can't with you right now.

[timbo]

Would that conflict with your normal schedule?

[Rich]

"Out of an abundance of caution and sensitivity, and in an effort to guarantee all classmates feel comfortable and welcome on campus, we decided to change our design to another character in the Star Wars universe."

Oh, FFS! That character had jolly well better be Jar-Jar Binks!

[Free Society]

Tomorrow will be "A Day Without Women."

Single most productive day in human history imminent.

[Rich]

"A Day Without Women"

Aristophanes did it before and better.

[Not a True MJG]

Upstaged by Dave Weigel. How embarrassing.

[Rich]

Indeed.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Surprise! President Trump delights the first White House tour group since he took office as he pops out (handily upstaging a portrait of Hillary Clinton)

Meta-alpha, bros.

[Not a True MJG]

President Trump surprised the first White House tour group since he took office, popping out from behind a partition

AHH!!! GENE!!!!

[Not a True MJG]

So many garbage columns about the madness at Middlebury.

Would you say that this garbage has been set on fire?

[But Enough About Me]

The wimminz are on strike?

Hadn't noticed. I am the Chief Cook and Bottlewasher around these parts, after all . . .

[John]

Holy shit that inside higher ed article is stupid.

How can we hold simultaneously to a view of free speech as the circulation of disagreement while denouncing communication whose tone is disagreeable? Why are freedom of speech and academic freedom so absolute for Charles Murray yet so conditional for Middlebury students -- who surely have the academic freedom not to be told they are genetically deficient at their own college? Finally, why are higher education institutions so regularly churned through this dull meat grinder of journalistic free-speech sanctimony?

The man who wrote that is an English professor. He can't even get the grammar correct. It is "why is freedom of speech..." not "why are". That is a mistake I would hope an English professor would not make.

[Calidissident]

Does that hold true since he included an additional noun (academic freedom) after freedom of speech in that sentence?

I agree with you regarding the substance of the article, regardless. I'm just legitimately curious about the proper grammar here.

[John]

I was wrong. It is a compound noun using "and". Are is the proper use. I confused it with a compound noun using or or nor. There, you use is.

My fault for being pedantic.

[Agammamon]

Muphry's Law.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Finally, why are higher education institutions so regularly churned through this dull meat grinder of journalistic free-speech sanctimony

Someone apparently isn't aware of how the McCarthy era impacted the nation's universities. The irony, of course, is that Marxists are far more ubiquitous there now than they were in the 50s.

One day, a study will be done of the post-WW2 left and how they came to view their political opinions as sacredly ordained while simultaneously denouncing the concept of religion. It could be called "The Divine Right of Shitlibs."

[Zeb]

who surely have the academic freedom not to be told they are genetically deficient at their own college

So, academic freedom means you get to silence people who say things you don't like. Good lord. He is able to match noun and verb number, but meaning and coherent thoughts elude him.

[Calidissident]

I've always found the leftist arguments about how forcibly disrupting events and speeches (in some cases going beyond simply yelling or trespassing where not welcomed to actually committing violence against other people, such as in this case) held by other people isn't actually violating anyone's rights or freedom to be extremely disingenuous. If conservative student groups did this every time the college Democrats had a speaker, or the black student union or the LGBT club met, none of them would be making that argument. Of course the kneejerk response would be that the BSU or LGBT club aren't as bad as the people the left is protesting - but even if we assume that's true, how nice the speaker or group is doesn't change the underlying legality of the action or address whether there's any violation of freedom. I would respect them more if they at least admitted it was limiting freedom and then tried to justify it. At least that would be an honest argument.

[BigT]

Don't forget the ACLU standing up for the Nazis marching in Skokie.

That's the exception that proves the rule, unfortunately.

[Calidissident]

I wasn't referring to everyone on the left, just the ones who make that argument. I have seen some liberals and leftists oppose this nonsense, but it seems like they're becoming more of a minority as time goes on.

[Zeb]

the exception that proves the rule

I'm not trying to pick on you. Everyone uses it the way you are (though it's never made sense to me used that way).

The actual original meaning is kind of interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.....s_the_rule

[Zeb]

Their entire argument is based on the assumption that they are the good people and the people they are protesting are the bad people. There is no generally applicable principle anywhere near it. They know they are right, so anything they do to stop wrongness is OK.

[CatoTheChipper]

The grammar is not incorrect, but the wording is poorly styled. "Higher education institutions" should have been written "institutions of higher learning". Using a noun to modify a noun is not unusual, but "education institution" is not a commonly used noun adjunct. One could refer to an "educational institution" without stylistic error, but not a "higher educational institution" since "higher", an adjective, cannot properly modify another adjective.

In any case, even though the number of the subject accords with the number of the verb as originally written, the English professor is an idiot with very poor reading comprehension skills and extraordinarily low reasoning skills. Otherwise, he wouldn't be writing about how Middlebury students are "genetically deficient" or how their violence equates to academic freedom.

[DanO.]

Complimentary alt text: Does this tie make me look orange?

[Fist of Etiquette]

So is Rep. Justin Amash.

More like Justin A-bash-on-everything.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

When he gets drunk, he turns into Justin Let's-smash.

[But Enough About Me]

Oh, it's tomorrow.

Still fairly certain I won't notice. Or care.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

The best way to quickly waste one million dollars: Chance the Rapper Donates $1 Million to Chicago Public Schools as a 'Call to Action'

During a press conference at Westcott Elementary School on Chicago's South Side that was streamed live on Instagram, Chance said the monetary contribution is to "support art and enrichment programming." Chance called the endowment a "call to action."

Do you know who else had an endowment that was a call to action?

[John]

John Holmes?

[But Enough About Me]

{slow golf clap}

"Exxxxxxxxxxcellent, Smithers."

[Rich]

Weiner!

[Rich]

According to organizers, women can participate in any or all of the following ways: by refraining from paid and unpaid work, by not shopping in stores or online (with the exception of local small businesses and women-owned businesses), and/or by wearing red, which signifies "revolutionary love and sacrifice."

Red pussy hats?

[american socialist]

What is with the desire for "revolution"

[DOOMco]

They're all Ron Paulbots?

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Wisconsin Assembly votes to legalize marijuana extract 'CBD oil' used to treat seizures

The Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill Tuesday long sought by parents of children who suffer from seizures.

The state Assembly passed the measure that would legalize possession of CBD oil, a marijuana extract used to treat seizures, by a vote of 98 to 0.

The Legislature passed a similar bill in 2014, but it didn't go far enough to make the oil accessible. That led to renewed lobbying by parents still unable to legally obtain the treatment for their children, many of whom suffer from epilepsy.

[Zeb]

Well, isn't that generous of them.

[#NotMyReason (Krabappel)]

Sprinkle some on your hot dish.

[Rich]

Tomorrow will be "A Day Without Women."

And ma?ana will be "A Day Without Latina Women."

[John]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/w.....ia-9982483

CIA had plans to hack cars to carry out undetectable assassinations. Yeah, self-driving cars are a great idea.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

John, if the CIA wants to kill you, they are gonna find a way. In your case, they would probably only need some lipstick and a fat suit.

[John]

Yeah, I am sure the CIA is going to be the only network security problem with autonomous cars.

[DanO.]

I vote for polonium.

[Domestic Dissident]

What a bunch of sick, twisted motherfuckers. I'm not kidding.

How did we get to the point of letting people like this run everything?

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

You'd think the revelation that even cars requiring a driver can be now hacked because of all the electronics and wireless technology that are installed in there would give technology pimps pause regarding the dogmas of their techno-managerial beliefs.

[DOOMco]

I feel like people here have warned others about just that.

[Zeb]

People have been saying it's possible to hack cars for years now.

I think that one of the early vulnerable points was the wireless connection for the stupid tire pressure sensors that are now mandated.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

And why do you think shit like that gets mandated O.o

[Zeb]

Because they're stupid. That's why everybody does everything.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Fuck you CIA. JUST FUCK YOU. God damn it, we could actually end vehicular fatalities and yet we never will because of man's impossible immorality.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Just put a manual override on each car. If the driver hits the brake, control is automatically transferred to the driver.

[John]

That is only as good as the code that requires it. And the code as we have seen, can be hacked.

[Zeb]

You need something like an actual e-stop that entirely disconnects or turns off the computer control. And brakes that are mechanically coupled to the wheels.

[Fascist loofa-faced shitgibbon]

We could call it the HAL-9000.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

What code? I am talking about a physical override.

[DOOMco]

That would involve going back to the 90's at least. Modern cars have no mechanical aspects.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

The only real physical override would be to turn off the car, which could be problematic with these stupid push-button start and electronic transmission features. If you have a car that at least uses a key for the ignition or, better yet, a manual transmission, this would be less of an issue.

[Agammamon]

John, the CIA doesn't hack cars to kill people.

They'll wait till you're at your daughter's wedding and drone the whole bunch in one go.

[Marty Comanche]

It doesn't need to be a self driving car. Pretty much any car made in the past decade or so is vulnerable.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

The new underground railroad runs to Canada via Plattsburgh.

He is carrying them on the last leg of their journey out of the United States. Just on the other side of that sign is Canada. Border officials and aid workers there say there has been a surge in people illegally crossing from the United States in the months since President Trump was elected, many of them natives of Muslim countries making bids for asylum. Roxham Road, just a brief detour from a major border crossing on Interstate 87, has become one of the busier illegal points of entry.

Mr. Crowningshiele picks up passengers in Plattsburgh, mostly at the airport or the bus station, and over the 25-mile drive north, they have told him that they had traveled from across the country. Some were migrants from Yemen and Turkey. They confided that they were fearful, of what was happening in the countries they wanted to leave behind ? not just their homeland but now also the United States ? and of what they faced once they stepped out of Mr. Crowningshiele's cab.

[BigT]

Construire un mur!!

[The Last American Hero]

They keep using that word illegal. Does that mean that Canadians are racists too?

[american socialist]

Comparing that to the Underground Railroad dear god

It is like the left wants a return of slavery and jim crow so they can be opposition fighters

[Chipper Morning Wood]

They are starting to become nostalgic about the past, when people had real social causes to fight for. Maybe both sides would be happy to live in the antebellum South.

[american socialist]

Yea which suggests it is really about their own self esteem and self worth

[Agammamon]

I'm not sure why they would think they would be the *opposition* - the Left has supported slavery for as long as they've existed and the Democrats were the driving force for Jim Crow.

[#NotMyReason (Krabappel)]

So women are staying home instead of going to work? I guess Trump's America really is the 1950's.

They'd better at least cook dinner.

[John]

People told me if I voted for Trump millions of women would be staying home for work and their careers...

[Domestic Dissident]

Preferably naked. If frying is involved, I guess wearing an apron is permitted.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Weigel, you are so strange.

[Bacon-Magic glib reasonoid]

^Says the guy with multiple flesh lights. Weigel, how do you respond?

[John]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....olume-push

That will do.

[Rufus The Monocled]

It's going to be a challenge balancing mystique and production sales objectives.

Porsche made the move a long time ago.

[Bacon-Magic glib reasonoid]

Do you even work?

[Rufus The Monocled]

THIS IS WORK.

[Bacon-Magic glib reasonoid]

THIS IS REASON. BULLY!

[John]

Porsche was always the little guy, though. The Shah of Iran and people like that never owned Porsches. They owned Ferraris.

[Agammamon]

New money never does tasteful or understated.

[OneOut]

Mercedes just announced a 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds 4 door sedan hybrid

[Lost_In_Translation]

Once Tesla came out with the Model X (the SUV that could reach 0-60 in under 4 seconds) all speed battles became pointless. Now I just want a car that can drive/fly me anywhere without much input.

[american socialist]

Is it really a strike when it is 1 day and the end is predetermined?

[The Last American Hero]

Is it really a strike when it's 300 people nationwide and nobody notices?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Depends. Are they spartan?

[TheZeitgeist]

Depends works for women every day.

[CatoTheChipper]

ObamaCare Lite ... jeeesh, Republicans screw it up again. In 2003, Karl Rove and Tom DeLay came up with Medicare Part D in a plan to create a permanent Republican majority. By 2006, they lost the Congress and in 2008 they lost it and the presidency as well.

They will never learn that people who highly value free shit from government will never vote Republican. The GOP cannot compete with Democrats on giving away free shit. When they try to complete with Santa Claus, they just alienate their base.

[creech]

Didn't the voters over 65 (those who use Part D) go for Trump by 53% to 45%? Looks like free shit from government is always popular and doesn't much matter which party provides it.

[american socialist]

This

[Isaac Bartram]

Trump promised to leave Medicare and SS alone.

[John]

http://www.espn.com/espn/featu.....ind-family

Great dog story.

[american socialist]

For lefties...how do they recognize this cognitive dissonance.

If America is so intolerant and oppressive towards POC.....why do they want to come here legally and illegally?

If there is all this gender discrimination (like pay) and treatment in the workplace and also racism, the folks who run companies all aren't GOP and are dem voters at giant companies (note the left likes to play the blue state success card thanks to giant companies). Are dems engaging in this?

[Ayn Random Variation]

It's been a long time.

So I checked a couple of threads and what I see are Tony and some new prog troll dominating the threads, with American socialist being the voice of reason. The number of posts seem to down 2/3, and I learned nothing from any of them.

Congrats on your new editorial policy Reason. I'll check in to hit & run in another few months to see if you're still around, as I have fond memories of learning something new in almost every thread in the Before Times.

[UVaGrad]

No one's asking the important question: why is Princeton's 5-year reunion a costume party?

Holy douchebags, Batman.

[CooterBrown]

By "conservatives" he meant Rs in Congress. I thought he meant the Republican voter bloc. Which was funny, cause they'll just lap up anything Donald shits out with a smile.

[Domestic Dissident]

So far, everywhere I go I'm seeing all the same women working and doing the same thing they do pretty much every other day.

Unlike the pink pussy hat thingy a few weeks ago which did draw a large number of people, this stupid thing is looking like a complete and total flop.