A.M. Links: Trump's Wall, Government Shutdown, Two Executions in Arkansas

• 

  Todd Kranin

  "President Donald Trump signaled Monday he would be comfortable delaying a fight over a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border until September, possibly averting a government shutdown looming around his 100th day in office."

• North Korea has threatened Australia with a nuclear strike over the Australian alliance with the United States.
• Arkansas executed two death row inmates last night.
• Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has been confirmed as secretary of agriculture by the Senate.
• At least 12 people have died so far as a result of the protests in Venezuela against the regime of Nicolas Maduro.
• Robert M. Pirsig, the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, has died at age 88.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Arkansas executed two death row inmates last night.

The dudes didn't even get their own day?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Venezuela...socia....aw fuck it.

[Conchfritters]

It said that both had potato logs with their last meal. What the fuck is a potato log? Is that a southern thing, or just an Ar Kansas thing?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Official State Food of Argh-Kansas

Sounds Delish!

[$park? leftist poser]

When fried cheese just won't cut it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It doesn't sound bad, although I generally avoid deep fried foods. But ear-regardless, it seems like more of an appetizer than a meal. I guess the main course was whatever concoction of poison came next.

[Meh.]

It sounds kinda like it would taste like potato chips, but then you see the picture and it looks like fish sticks... no thanks.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Tater Tots on steroids.

[Fist of Etiquette]

North Korea has threatened Australia with a nuclear strike over the Australian alliance with the United States.

The only reason anyone allies with Australia is if they think they'll need cannon fodder. Sorry, down under. Blame the Limeys.

[Citizen X - #6]

Given the inhospitable environment that they evolved in, Australians can survive situations that would kill normal humans. It is known.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Except DropBears ...

[SFC B]

Aussies are blessed with redundant organs and a resistance to most toxins. Combine with their penchant for drinking and violence they're basically Krogans.

Oh, and Firefox just recommended respelling "resistance" as "Resistance".

[Citizen X - #6]

Also, living less than three miles from the sun as they do, Aussies have developed a very high tolerance for radiation. They'll be fine.

[Entelechy]

Will Australia challenge Kim to a didgeridoo karioke duel before Papua responds to his existential threat by throwing sharp stones in a generally northerly direction ?

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda...

[Citizen X - #6]

At least 12 people have died so far as a result of the protests

Yes. It was because of the protests. The shitty intolerable government against which the protestors were protesting had nothing to do with it.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Maddow: TRUMP IMPOSES SOFTWOOD LUMBER TARIFFS ON CANADA; MANY MUCH CANADIANS AND VENEZUELANS PROTEST AND DIE.

/waves Rhodes Scholar degree.

[Citizen X - #6]

Rachel Maddow, huh? That little guy's still around? He seems so angry.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Did you know Trump plans to start the Bubonic Plague again?

True story bro.

RACHEL MADDOW BELIEVES IT.

[Citizen X - #6]

You know AIDS? Well, Donald Trump invented that by fucking a monkey in the 80s. RACHEL MADDOW WAS THERE.

[Rufus The Monocled]

'Member Acid Rain?

Trump invented it.

RACHEL MADDOW WAS A LAB TECHNICIAN AT HIS HOUSE.

[Citizen X - #6]

Trump's replacement for Obamacare is gonna outlaw antibiotics and make everybody smoke a pack a day, minimum. Starting at age 6.

RACHEL MADDOW HAS THE SCOOP.

[Fist of Etiquette]

At least 12 people have died so far as a result of the protests in Venezuela against the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

Add that to the number who have died because of the regime of Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has been confirmed as secretary of agriculture by the Senate.

Phew. Now those farm subsidies checks can start flowing again.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Donald Trump signaled Monday he would be comfortable delaying a fight over a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border until September...

That gives ICE agents a whole summer to rack up the OT pay.

[$park? leftist poser]

It seems odd to me that every year we have to hear about the government threatening to shut down. It seems even more odd that most people don't find it odd.

[DJF]

They don't shut it down because when they have shut it down in the past there are so many exceptions that most people don't notice its shut down. Including the laid off government workers who usually get paid for not working.

[DJF]

Some people do notice, the National Parks Service goes into overdrive putting up barriers around any tourist attraction that the control so that they can annoy tourists and get the media to do a story about it.

[Conchfritters]

When the government shuts down, they always shut down the very few revenue positive divisions as soon as possible (which would be June, July, and August for the parks dept.).

[Zeb]

Which is odd. I wouldn't have thought that putting up barriers to annoy and inconvenience people was an essential government function, but I guess it is.

[Citizen X - #6]

Never been to a DMV or a post office, huh?

[Zeb]

I thought those shut down for the government shutdowns.

And honestly, I've generally been reasonably happy with the service I've gotten at those places. Maybe not always at the post office.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

In the memorable past, it has always been referred to as the "Republican" Government Shutdown.

I will not be taking odds that this one will be called "Schumer's" Shutdown.

[Fist of Etiquette]

When was the last shutdown or threatened shutdown where the GOP had both the White House and Congress?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Never?

But then again, a Donk Governmental Troika has never had an issue spending a buck ...

[Juice]

The last one happened when the democrats had the presidency and congress. So it's always the opposition party that is to blame right? That's the way the news will portray it, of course. Right?

[Not a True MJG]

Most recently - and only? - under Carter. It happened a few times while he was President, according to wikipedia.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

At least 12 people have died so far as a result of the protests in Venezuela against the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

Thanks, Trump!

[Conchfritters]

Maduro has given every indication that if he goes down, he's taking the whole boat with him. To hell with those capitalist pigs - burn them all.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Alex Jones says he slept with more than 150 women by the time he was 16: Conspiracy theorist makes bizarre claim on his show about his 'conquests' as he fights for custody of his children

'When I was 16, I didn't want to party any more. I didn't want to play games any more,' he says in the video. 'I grew up. I'd already been in the fights, all the big rituals. I'd already had probably ? I hate to brag, but I'm not bragging, it's actually shameful ? probably 150 women, or more, that's conservative. I'd already had over 150 women.'

Chobani sues conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones after he claimed the company are 'importing migrant rapists'

During the video, an Info Wars reporter, David Knight, republished statements that claimed the Chobani plant brought 'crime and tuberculosis' to Twin Falls, something originally published on Breitbart.com, since it opened the plant five years ago.

Thanks, Trump!

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

I failed in my double-link! The missing first link you all want to read.

[Chipper Mourning LackOfSerifs]

Wow, he sure raped a lot of frogs.

[Rhywun]

LOL everybody knows crime and tuberculosis were rampant in Twin Falls long before then.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Roadless Somalis?

[Chipper Mourning LackOfSerifs]

Roadless Somalis would be a good name for an ancap gospel band.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Things Fall Apart...when Mormons move in.

[Chipper Mourning LackOfSerifs]

But mostly liquor stores and coffee shops.

[Rhywun]

My mom's good, she got me out of Boise Twin Falls Idaho, before I got too old.

[Citizen X - #6]

You know how that goes.

[Not a True MJG]

Last I heard, she had TB when she turned 33.

[Cyto]

So, starting at 13 he's meeting and having sex with one new woman a week? Not to mention all the repeat business?

No. Didn't happen. But you knew that.

If he had claimed to have had sex 150 times, you might get away with that one. But 150 different women? The logistics for a 9th grader are just too difficult. This is even less credible than Wilt's 20k number - and that required roughly 3 new women a day.

[Meh.]

Depends on what your definition of the word "is" is

[Gene]

I enjoyed LIla more than Zen and the Art...

Thirty years ago though, don't ask me why.

[Gene]

*Lila*

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

We need more public transportation: BART takeover robbery: 40 to 60 teens swarm train, hold up riders

a BART spokeswoman, said Monday that seven people were robbed ? with the victims losing a purse, a duffel bag and five phones. Six people were robbed inside the train car, with a seventh confronted on the platform, she said. Police received no reports of guns or other weapons being brandished.

A police summary prepared after the incident said that at least two victims suffered injuries to the face or head that required medical attention.

The attack was so quick, police reported, that the teenagers were able to retreat from the station and vanish into the surrounding East Oakland neighborhood before BART officers could respond. The train was held for about 15 minutes as authorities interviewed victims and witnesses and tended to the injured.

[Rhywun]

Yeah, roving gangs of thugs totally didn't exist before BART.

[Meh.]

This confirms my long-held belief that teenagers are the most terrifying demographic.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

At Yale, Psychiatrists Cite Their 'Duty to Warn' About an Unfit President

The Hippocratic oath to First Do No Harm ? sworn to Apollo the physician ? has been turned into a self-serving hypocritical oath, charges Dr. John Gartner, a psychologist and former faculty member at Johns Hopkins Medical School. "The American Psychiatric Association looks out for the welfare of its members, to protect them from lawsuits. They're not worrying about whether 300 million Americans are vulnerable to the life-and-death actions taken by this abnormal president." And he and an increasing number of his colleagues are ready to declare that President Trump, whose actions are often described with neutral terms like "unprecedented," is in fact dangerously ill. "Does Trump need to lie to my face for me to know he lies all the time?" asks Gartner. Now in private practice in New York City, he answers his own rhetorical question. "He does lie to my face ? every night. I watch TV!"

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

This moment (which itself is "unprecedented") led to an open town-hall meeting on Thursday, at Yale Medical School, to discuss the elephant in the room. Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a diminutive Yale psychiatry professor who organized the meeting, puts it this way: "The Goldwater Rule is not absolute. We have a 'Duty to Warn,' about a leader who is dangerous to the health and security of our patients." She has formed a coalition by that name, and it now comprises almost 800 mental-health professionals who are "sufficiently alarmed that they feel the need to speak up about the mental-health status of the president." Gartner has posted a similar petition on the web, and it has attracted 41,000 signatures, a high proportion of them from mental-health practitioners. Anyone can look it up and sign it.

For those of you who hate reading: Trump trumps your privacy.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

These are the people who advocate for sixteen thousand types of gender and for gender re-assignment surgery on six year olds.

[Not a True MJG]

"We have a 'Duty to Warn,' about a leader who is dangerous to the health and security of our patients."

You'll make yourself hoarse.

[$park? leftist poser]

Dr Bandy Lee is a violence studies specialist.

So, yeah.

[Zeb]

How does that have anything to do with the Hippocratic Oath? "Do no harm" doesn't mean "diagnose everyone publicly whether they like it or not."

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

At This Museum, Failures Are Welcome

The museum will open in Helsingborg, Sweden, on June 7 with a curated collection of over 60 products that, the museum website says, can provide insight into the "risky business of innovation." A collection of nine objects from the museum is on tour, stopping in Miami, Berlin and Amsterdam.

Some of the products that Dr. West, its chief curator, calls studies in failure include Harley-Davidson fragrance; Bic pens made especially for women ("Yes, that's right: lady-pens," said a Forbes review); and Coca-Cola Blak, a coffee-inspired drink.

I've suggested they include Mike M.'s parents.

[Chipper Mourning LackOfSerifs]

That was a good one, Crusty.

[Citizen X - #6]

They would, but his dad died from huffing too much spraypaint and his mom hasn't been seen since the piles of newspapers filling her house collapsed; she is presumed to have been eaten by over 70 cats.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

All I Know Is What I Read in the Fake News

A fun back and forth between Gail Collins and Matt Labash (who I have a crush on). You humorless dweebs won't like it, because you're humorless dweebs, but I shared it anyway, because maybe, just maybe, one of you humorless dweebs isn't in fact a humorless dweeb.

I was down in Louisiana when he was running for governor against David Duke of KKK fame, who had the Republican nomination. People had bumper stickers saying: "Vote for the Crook. It's Important." Can't hate that story.

I caught up with your old pal David Duke at his house years after that election, when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress, where he let me take a peek at his record collection. Some highlights, none of which I'm making up: "The Sound of Music" soundtrack, Dan Fogelberg and Hitler speeches (which sound so much warmer on vinyl).

[mad.casual]

I know it's all the rage to rage these days, and that enraged me as a fly fisherman.

Sorry CJ, he lost me at "I like to pay lots of money to stand in a stream and not catch fish."

The willfull acknowledgement that they're spending other people's money that they don't have followed by the dutiful resignation that they need to get back to it wasn't exceedingly humorous either.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

At least 12 people have died so far as a result of the protests in Venezuela against the regime of Nicolas Maduro.

Fake news. They're protesting Donald Trump.