'No Such Thing as a Republican Judge' Says Gorsuch, Older Folks More Politically Polarized, How the Web Has Been Good to Mail-Order Brides: P.M. Links

• 

  Consolidated News Photos/Newscom

  "I have no difficulty ruling against, or for, any party, other than based on what the law and facts in the particular case require," Trump Supreme-Court pick Neil Gorsuch told his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday afternoon. "There's no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge. We just have judges in this country."

• Political polarization has grown more among the oldest Americans than any other age group over the past few decades, according to a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. "These findings argue against the hypothesis that the internet in general or social media in particular are the main drivers of increasing polarization," write the authors.
• In "Operation March Sadness," deputies of Polk County, Florida, arrested 38 sex workers and 51 men attempting to pay for sex. "This is not a star basketball team. These are losers, and they all fouled out," said Sheriff Grady Judd by way of explanation.
• Traditional conservatives may be mad at The Blaze's Tomi Lahren over her abortion comments but the alt-right has been rallying behind her.
• The city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, has decided to end a long-controversial ban on the display and sale of sex toys.
• How the internet has been good for mail-order brides.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

I say we boycott Reason and go somewhere else until the make the commenting system here great again. WHO'S WITH ME?

[Bacon-Magic glib reasonoid]

Lol.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[DanO.]

You seem to have no problem getting through again and again and again...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Look closer. The terrible commenting system here stripped the y off the end of the word "they" in my comment.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

But where would we go, Fist? There is nowhere else.

[Fist of Etiquette]

How the internet has been good for mail-order brides.

When will Amazon deliver my bride by drone???

[Rich]

Maybe the CIA can de-liver her by drone?

[Jerryskids]

I'm waiting for the Netflix version of mail-order brides, just rent 'em for 24 hours at a time.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

That could be arranged, if your ideal bride is a midget or a dwarf.

[Rat's instance]

What is the return policy?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, has decided to end a long-controversial ban on the display and sale of sex toys.

No more cockblocking marital aids!

[UVaGrad]

I wish Sandy Springs had kept the statute so the Alabama case from a few years back could be overturned by the en banc 11th Circuit.

[WakaWaka]

"Traditional conservatives may be mad at The Blaze's Tomi Lahren over her abortion comments but the alt-right has been rallying behind her."

So you're part of the alt-right, ENB?

[Fist of Etiquette]

ALTLUMINATI CONFIRMED

[WakaWaka]

Christ, this is a link to Slate. You link to an LA Times opinion piece to defend public funding for Planned Parenthood (a dubious 'libertarian' position) and now you're linking to Slate?

[Not a True MJG]

You are dumb.

[WakaWaka]

And you are an ass.

Read the article

http://www.reason.com/blog/2017/03/20.....n-abortion

[Zeb]

Wrong article, I think.

In any case, I think that "defending funding for Planned Parenthood", while strictly true, mischaracterizes the argument which is saying that as long as all of this funding is going to someone, there is no good reason to forbid any of it going to PP.

[Not a True MJG]

IIRC, she's defended federal funding for PP in the past. She wasn't doing that today. Her argument is very straightforward, limited, well argued, and presented libertarian solutions to an audience reading the LA Times.

[Zeb]

No, linking to the LA Times is bad, even if it's to a piece that you wrote.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Check out this guy, reading the articles.

[Elizabeth Nolan Brown]

Whatever argument I made today is the same one I was trying to make the last time I "defended" PP funding, I just didn't get it across or ground it in libertarian alternatives as well, I think
http://reason.com/blog/2015/07.....e-defunded

[Not a True MJG]

Well... excuuuuse me!

[Zeb]

She said that only the alt-right has been rallying behind her?

[Fist of Etiquette]

"There's no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge. We just have judges in this country."

Our first delusional justice? Of just another lying one?

[Shirley Knott]

He's certainly not the first, so he must be lying. Not that that's a binary distinction.

[John]

Traditional conservatives may be mad at The Blaze's Tomi Lahren over her abortion comments but the alt-right has been rallying behind her.

You would be surprised the number of old school Christian Conservatives who associate the Alt Right with the libertarian menace. That is funny on about 20 levels.

[Raston Bot]

I'm still unsure what the "alt-right" holds as principles.

[John]

I honestly don't even know what it is. is it Britbart? is it the various trolls on 4chan and Reddit getting down with their white pride? I have honestly never met anyone who said they were part of the "alt right".

[Zeb]

Apparently some people self-identify as "alt-right", but I think it's mostly just a catchall term for people who seem kind of right wing but are difficult to categorize politically. Which is why it kind of makes sense that some people place libertarians in the category.

[John Titor]

The 'old alt-right' is Radix, VDare and what not. 'Race realist' reactionary stuff mostly, while the recent election cycle broadened the term (mostly by people like Bannon) to just mean nationalist populism. And then it was broadened even further to mean 'people I don't like'. I understand the confusion.

[Zeb]

I know I'm confused. I don't recall even hearing the term before last year (though I may have). So I'm having to make up my own definitions as I go along.

[The Last American Hero]

I thought it was people that listened to Ryan Adams.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Close, it's people who listen to Bryan Adams.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Close, it's people who listen to Bryan Adams.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Close, it's people who listen to Bryan Adams.

[Nick W B]

I think everyone who is not a libertarian or a member of the alt right confuses the two.

[Citizen X - #6]

"This is not a star basketball team. These are losers, and they all fouled out," said Sheriff Grady Judd by way of explanation.

He seems like a nice, empathetic fellow, this Sheriff.

[John]

If these losers are not smart enough to join the police department and get their sex by extortion and force, they deserve what they get.

Signed
Sheriff Grady Judd

[Citizen X - #6]

I'd give better than even odds that Sheriff Grady Judd has a drawerful of leather thongs and at least one gimp mask in his house.

[Jerryskids]

A swish?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

And he likes to be called studmuffin, or beefcake.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Now they're filling handcuffs, which we sometimes call bracelets, which is just one letter or so away from brackets, which also a sports term popular this time of year."

[Rhywun]

I hope the NCAA slaps him with a lawsuit.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

So, which deputy won the bracket pool???

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

ENB wrote a story about him.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

"I have no difficulty ruling against, or for, any party, other than based on what the law and facts in the particular case require,"

This fails to answer Dianne Feinstein's question about how he'll protect "the little guy"

[Chipper Morning Wood]

With a condom.

[DaveSs]

The little guy is only important when its little guy vs corporation.

Little guy vs government she of course defaults to government.

[Mike Laursen]

Isn't there one too many negations in his sentence? He is literally saying he doesn't like judging on the basis of the law.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"These findings argue against the hypothesis that the internet in general or social media in particular are the main drivers of increasing polarization," write the authors.

Anyway, millennials just learned it from watching you, okay?

[mattcid]

The older they are the more they depend on their government checks. Most of the anti-Trump hysteria is just people worried about the future of their ill-gotten gains.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Political polarization has grown more among the oldest Americans than any other age group over the past few decades,

Uhh, duh, I've seen Facebook.

[Careless]

The study found that social media was negatively correlated to polarization

[Rich]

Using a satnav to get to your destination 'switches off' parts of the brain that would otherwise be used to simulate different routes, reveals new UCL research.

No shit?!

[Raston Bot]

that's the point. my brain needs that extra processing to cope with the screaming from the trunk.

[Jerryskids]

Alternative title: Satnav turns male brains into female brains - in my experience most women don't have the navigation part of the brain to start with. Try to give a woman directions like "take I-20 East and head North on 75" and they'll ask you which way North is. YMMV, but I think that's been tested in mazes, after a few turns women have no idea where they're at or which way they're facing whereas men know if they've taken three rights and a left they're pointed back the way they came. It's why men don't ask for directions, they've got a pretty good idea where they're at and women don't understand that.

[The Last American Hero]

Women navigate more by landmarks. If they know that the restaurant is 2 blocks past the DSW and if you got to the Michaels Crafts you went to far, they have no problems with directions.

[DanO.]

Anyone else feel safer after General Cheeto's Muslim laptop travel ban?

[Rich]

A rapist has been moved to a women-only prison after having gender reassignment surgery to become female

"Not just a good idea -- it's the law."

[Rich]

Transgender Athlete Wins Women's Weightlifting Competition

"it's been great that women can do the sport of weightlifting ? but I think we need to look at a decision where we can give people in this situation, have a category where everyone can compete on an even playing field."

Fuck you! He, I mean she, identifies as a woman!

[Citizen X - #6]

Today we learn that Rich has a Google alert set up for "transgender."

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

I'm just glad he finally removed the Google alert for "bestiality."

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

It's not a zero-sum game, CJ. If Rich adds an alert for bestiality, you don't lose bestiality in your feed.

[Citizen X - #6]

Yeah but he was starting to get habituated, which is not good for a guy who lives under a chinchilla cage.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

You should see the cute little leather vest Crusty made for his chinchilla roommate.

[Rich]

I *try* to be, um, inclusive.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I'm reading the article, and I'm trying to figure out who's being insensitive here.

From what I can tell, it's the other female competitors. The elite leadership of the International Olympic Committee seems to be fine with it.

There were even female competitors losing weight to get out of hx weight class so they wouldn't have to compete with hx.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Another weightlifter told 1News Now that Hubbard's eligibility could be unfair. "We all deserve to be on an even playing field," said Deborah Acason. "It's difficult when you believe that you're not. If it's not even, why are we doing the sport?"

Acason added that certain adjustments should be made to reflect the disadvantaged female weightlifters.

Wait, what?

[Rhywun]

it's the other female competitors

I would be insensitive too if I found out I never, ever have a shot at winning again.

[The Last American Hero]

+1 International Basketball Association

(6'4" height limit)

[Fist of Etiquette]

One of Ponting's victims described the fact he was allowed a sex change as "diabolical".

Castration for rapists I imagine some would feel apt.

[Free Society]

John Pilley became the first inmate in England and Wale to be granted permission for a sex change
It was later reported he decided to become a man again and was waiting to have his second operation on the NHS.

[Griffin3]

Being a woman takes away his opportunity to get h8s jollies raping people? I can't even.

[AlmightyJB]

"There's no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge"

Spoken like a true Reptilian.

[John]

Speaking of Reptilians, did you watch the TBS show "People of Earth"? It was actually really funny. If you haven't watched it, they renewed it for a second season. I recommend giving it a shot.

[AlmightyJB]

I had not even heard of it. I'll look for it.

[Citizen X - #6]

Political polarization has grown more among the oldest Americans than any other age group over the past few decades, according to a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Sounds like somebody at the NBER is Facebook friends with my grandmother.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Mika Brzezinski: 'Everyone should ban' Kellyanne Conway

"I feel even more so that everyone should ban her," Brzezinski told Variety magazine in reference to her February announcement that Conway would no longer be booked on "Morning Joe."

"I'm surprised that these little acrobatic games are played with her on live national television. I think it denigrates what we do. It's clear she doesn't bring anything to the table. It's clear she doesn't know exactly what she's talking about. It's clear she's making it up as she goes along."

[Citizen X - #6]

I think it denigrates what we do.

Which is what, exactly?

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Provide me with semi-erections?

[John]

I don't care that she is annoying and a half wit. I have always kind of had a thing for Mika.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

I hope that was until Scarbourough started to bang her.

[John]

Yeah. When I heard that, it kind of ruined her. What a creepy douche bag. Why?

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

I heard he's hung like a black rhino.

[John]

If that is true, good for Mika.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

I obviously don't know for sure, but I used to belong to a Geocities group called "Congressional Penis Size," and according to that seemingly well-researched site Joe is a healthy man.

Fun fact: Steny Hoyer's schlong is so big it has an elbow.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Yeah, but you know Mika is thinking about Russell Brand when Joe is giving it to her, his little glasses bobbing up and down on his little nose.

[John]

Mika needs to put her claws back in. Conway came from nowhere ended up the head of a major alternative news organization and then the first woman to manage a successful Presidential campaign. What has Mika ever done besides be born with decent legs, a nice set of tits and the daughter of a public official? Who is she to say someone has nothing to add?

[Jerry on the sea]

But where would SNL get its jokes [sic]?

[Citizen X - #6]

I worked backstage at a Darrell Hammond show once, and according to him, cocaine.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Moynihan had a take on this nonsense a few Fifth Column episodes back. You don't ban the decision makers from your news show, you seek them out. You can't talk truth to power by keeping them away. Bring them on as often as they'll come, and do your best to shoot holes in any bullshit.

They're not being noble or above it all. Morning Joe is being cowardly and very stupid.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Exactly this, Moynihan was 100% right. You invite them back again and again and attack them from every angle.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

They should rename Fifth Column to The Moynihan Show, With Matt and Kmele.

[Juice]

He's hardly ever there.

[Juice]

But he's hardly ever there.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Moynihan was 100% right.

AND ME BY EXTENSION.

[Mickey Rat]

Is there anything that can possibly denigrate what Mika does?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Problematic!

[John Titor]

Mika's overwhelming professionalism.

[Zeb]

Now that's funny.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

How to write a headline 101: Body-in-a-suitcase killer Heather Mack sang and DANCED after handing two-year-old daughter Stella to foster mother... then spent the day in bed with her lesbian lover Raphael

Mack, who stands to inherit US$1.63 million from her late mother, was jailed for 10 years and Schaefer for 18 years. The two Americans are both serving their sentences in Kerobokan.

The morning after she was pictured saying a tearful farewell to Stella on Friday afternoon, however, Mack was singing and dancing in the prison, where illicit drink and drugs are widely available despite a recent security crackdown.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I skimmed it. The whole thing is baffling.

[Fatty Bolger]

I knew that would be the Daily Mail just from the headline.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

The NBA's Secret Addiction

The Trail Blazers offer 20 crustless, halved PB&J's pregame -- 10 of them toasted, a mandate ever since an opposing arena prepared them as such and Blazers guard Damian Lillard approved. They're composed of organic fixings, save for white bread, which Portland's assistant performance coach Ben Kenyon notes is a high-glycemic carb that easily digests to provide a quick energy jolt. Typically, all 20 vanish well before tip-off; sometimes the Blazers double their order.

The Rockets make sure the PB&J is available in their kitchen at all times, in all varieties -- white and wheat bread, toasted, untoasted, Smucker's strawberry and grape, Jif creamy and chunky -- and offer 12 to 15 sandwiches pregame, with PB&J reinforcements provided at halftime and on postgame flights.

The secretive Spurs, it has been confirmed, indulge in their own pregame PB&J's. The Clippers, at home and on the road, go through two loaves of bread, almond and peanut butters, and assorted jellies from Whole Foods. The Pelicans offer PB&J everywhere: hotel rooms, flights, locker rooms. The Wizards had some "minor uprisings" from players, one source says, when management tried to upgrade team PB&J's with organic peanut butter on whole grain bread -- but peace was restored when each side compromised to include all options.

[John]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....rilyn.html

Marylyn looked pretty damn good for 36 and two weeks away from ODing.

[notJoe]

Zowie.
Alice Cooper had a song about making a $2 tee shirt look obscene. Forgettabout that, check out the picture of Marilyn in a potato sack...

Ummm...me in bunk.

[Bongstar420]

If this is accurate, why are we in this situation? Why wasn't the original, lawful pick installed properly to begin with?

....because there only two kinds of judges, the liberal activist kind, and the regular kind!

[DRM]

We're in this situation because the Senate declined confirmation to a nominee, and instead of responding by offering up someone the Senate would confirm, Obama decided to play chicken with the election. And lost.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Girls, Interrupted
How Lena Dunham defied expectations and remade TV.

From the beginning, it was the TV show as auteur vision, in the tradition of Deadwood's David Milch and The Wire's David Simon and The Sopranos' David Chase?all the Davids who made it OK to love TV. By now, it's clear that Girls wasn't about injecting female-driven sitcom with millennial relevance, but about redefining prestige television and the kinds of lives it can make us care about.

[John]

About a hundred thousand people ever watched girls. It was a niche show on a pay cable network. I bet most of the people who could pick Dunham out of a lineup couldn't tell you why they know who she is or why she is famous.

But, because lefty journalists liked the show, it's really important and changed everything. Shows like Big Bang Theory or Duck Dynasty or Deadliest Catch that draw millions of viewers every week are totally unimportant compared to Girls. Do these douche bags understand what a bubble they live in?

[Juice]

It was a niche show on a pay cable network.

Like Game of Thrones?

[Fatty Bolger]

Yeah, almost any other show would have been canceled with the pathetic numbers girls pulled. I remember seeing an article saying that it was pulling a .2 or less 18-49 demo rating. So even young people weren't watching, it was mostly just a small niche of baby boomers watching the show.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I miss the old days when you watched shows about New York city life, the people in the show were New Yorkers.

[Not a True MJG]

From the beginning, it was the TV show as auteur vision, in the tradition of Deadwood's David Milch

OK, now your Dunham trolling has made me mad.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

@~)~~~~

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

2017 is the worst: Thailand coin-eating sea turtle 'Piggy Bank' dies

A turtle in Thailand that had an operation to remove nearly 1,000 coins from her stomach two weeks ago has died from blood poisoning.

The 25-year-old sea turtle fell into a coma after a second operation on Sunday, following intestinal problems.

Named Omsin, meaning "Piggy Bank", she was found to be eating coins thrown into a public pond where she lived, in Chonburi province.

By the time they were removed, she was carrying 5kg (11lb) of coins.

The unusual mass of metal had cracked her shell, making the initial seven-hour operation necessary.

Seven-hour operation.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

That is fucked up. What is wrong with people.

[OneOut]

as long as US taxpayer money wasn't spent I don't care.

[simplybe]

I am a 70 year old male and really don't care about which side people take but I will say this is an issue that men need to butt out of. In this society where women do 80% of the child care and as often as not end up being the sole support of the children. Abortion should strictly be a woman's issue.

As for all you conservatives and libertarians, about the only thing that everyone actually believes in is property rights. The only thing people own from the day they are born to the day they die is their body. So if someone wants to sell it, rent it, abuse it with drugs, alcohol or cigarettes then that is their right under the Constitution of this country. That includes abortion. Please stop being hypocritical.

[x'); DROP USER Tony;]

In this society, 95% of the arrests are made by men, so I guess women should no longer have any say on the criminal-judicial system. 99% of combat soldiers are men, so I guess women should shut up about foreign policy, too.

I'm pro-choice, but "men have no right to an opinion on abortion!" is idiotic and nonsensical.