Sweden Drops Assange Rape Charge, Basquiat Painting Sells for $110M, Ex-Secret Service Agent Gets 20 Years for Sexting: A.M. Links

• Sweden is dropping rape charges against Wikileaks mastermind Julian Assange, the country's director of public prosecutions announced today.
• A 1982 Basquiat painting sold for $110.5 million at Sothebys on Thursday, making it the sixth most expensive work of art sold at auction.

Sotheby's just sold this Basquiat 1982 masterpiece for $110 million, smashing a new auction record for the US artist to cheers and applause pic.twitter.com/dhv3TTRnPO

— Jennie Matthew (@jenniematthew) May 19, 2017

• Former Secret Service officer Lee Robert Moore, 38, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for sexting with teen girls while on duty at the White House.
• Big Dairy protectionism strikes again: "It's time for FDA to work with state agencies in defending standards of identity for dairy products," said Beth Briczinski, National Milk Producers Federation vice president of dairy foods and nutrition, in a push against "almond milk" and its cohort calling themselves milk.
• A federal judge said yesterday that a sex discrimination lawsuit brought by a transgender woman could move forward under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• The Libertarian Institute offers a good primer on the unintended consequences of mandatory paid family-leave policies.
• Will flammable ice save us?

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...A 1982 Basquiat painting sold for $110.5 million...

A painting of a broken window?

[Conchfritters]

Did that painting introduce grills as a fashion statement for your teeth?

[Rhywun]

I dunno but I think he was one of the first to con the art world into paying millions of dollars for that junk.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

It is actually a Keynes self-portriat.

[Inigo Montoya]

I LOL'd!

It could also be a portrait of Keynes painted by Bastiat in the style of realism. (Not Basquiat -- Bastiat.)

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Inigo Montoya]

Salut

[x'); DROP USER Tony;]

It's a rip-off, you end up mostly paying for the part of the painting you can't even see.

[CE]

I wouldn't pay over 70 million for that junk.

[Bee Tagger]

A 1982 Basquiat painting sold for $110.5 million

Yet, I can buy a Bastiat book for like half of that. #smh

[Bee Tagger]

Will flammable ice save us?

After John Oliver ice-cold burns us all, hopefully.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sweden is dropping rape charges against Wikileaks mastermind Julian Assange...

But the US is still charging him with raping our secrets.

[Citizen X - #6]

"Assange has long denied the allegations, and he still faces possible extradition to the U.S.
After Friday's news, WikiLeaks tweeted that the "focus now moves to the UK" which has "refused to confirm or deny whether it has already received a US extradition warrant for Julian Assange."

And British police said, should Assange leave the Ecuadorian Embassy, he would still face arrest for the lesser charge of failing to surrender to authorities."

Yep.

[CE]

You know who else failed to surrender?

[The Last American Hero]

Guess who found some dirt on some high-ranking Swedish officials....

*adjusts tin foil hat*

[Domestic Dissident]

Assange holds a big time trump card though in that he not only of course knows that Seth Rich and not Russia provided him with all of the DNC's internal e-mails, but he can prove it too. In fact, he's probably the only person left on earth who can do that.

[Citizen X - #6]

"It's time for FDA to work with state agencies in defending standards of identity for dairy products," said Beth Briczinski, National Milk Producers Federation vice president of dairy foods and nutrition, in a push against "almond milk" and its cohort calling themselves milk.

Because there are literally no other problems in the world for people to care about.

Also, Big Dairy was my nickname in college.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Also, Big Dairy was my nickname in college.

Moobs in college already?

[Citizen X - #6]

My milkshake brought all the boys to the yard.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

"I DRINK YOUR MILKSHA ...."

NO.

Scratch that, never mind.

[Juice]

What about coconut milk? Milk of magnesia? Any injestible white opaque liquid is called milk.

[Citizen X - #6]

..., ladies.

[Ska]

I used to offer senoritas my leche de huevos.

[Citizen X - #6]

That's how you got that lifetime ban from Taco Bell.

[Ska]

Worth it.

[$park? leftist poser]

YOU CAN'T CALL IT MAYONNAISE IF THERE'S NO EGGS!

Oops, wrong topic.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

[triggered]

[Fist of Etiquette]

Former Secret Service officer Lee Robert Moore, 38, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for sexting with teen girls while on duty at the White House.

DO THAT ON YOUR OWN TIME.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

IN BRAZIL.

[dan'o en barrel]

Weiner is going to plead guilty for the same crime, but the prosecutor is reportedly seeking 2 years. I guess a member of the political class receiving a sentence an order of magnitude lighter is at least a step in the right direction!

[Last of the Shitlords]

A few years back, a friend of mine was a juror on a molestation case in Utah. The defendant was found guilty, of among other things, sodomizing the six year old victim. He got FOUR years.

This asshole just sends naughty messages to TEEN girls and gets TWENTY years? WTF? How damaged could they be from, ya know, reading?

[LoneWaco]

Former Secret Service officer Lee Robert Moore, 38, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for sexting with teen girls while on duty at the White House.

meanwhile:

The plea covers conduct by Mr. Weiner from January through March of last year, the person said. A likely result of the plea is that Mr. Weiner would end up as a registered sex offender, although a final determination has yet to be made, the person added.

The charge carries a potential sentence of between zero and 10 years in prison, meaning Mr. Weiner could avoid prison. The ultimate sentence would be determined by a judge.

[Domestic Dissident]

Huma Weiner will most definitely never again be humming Little Weiner's little weiner!

I'm just kidding of course. Huma never once hummed that little weiner, as she was always a beard who prefers Hildog's nasty old muff.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

If Huma was a beard, that would mean Carlos Danger is gay. And Carlos Danger likey the ladies. As long as the ladies haven't finished going through puberty.

[Domestic Dissident]

It's true that beards are often cover for fruitcakes, but they can also provide cover for excessive horndogs like Bill Clinton, or for real sickos like Little Weiner.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Dwayne Johnson's 2020 presidential campaign may have just begun on The Tonight Show

He even trotted out his first campaign slogan, telling Fallon the country needs, "More poise, less noise." So, Johnson 2020? We could genuinely, demonstrably, do worse.

You jabronis best watch out.

[Citizen X - #6]

+1 People's Eyebrow

[Fist of Etiquette]

Does ISIS smell what the president is cooking?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Vince McMahon for Secretary of State.

[creech]

Did Fallon ask Johnson "What about Aleppo?"

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

What about Aleppo

Isn't that where the Iron Sheik is from?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Don't ruin him, zeitgeist.

[CE]

Never assume you can't do worse.

[Bee Tagger]

"It's time for FDA to work with state agencies in defending standards of identity for dairy products,"

Will this beef ever end?

[Fist of Etiquette]

They're definitely milking it.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

It's ripe for pork.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

I think they are too chicken to do anything about it.

[gaoxiaen]

The FDA is so cheesy.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Sounds fishy.

[$park? leftist poser]

Sounds like someone is really cheesed off.

[Citizen X - #6]

These puns are bullshit.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Well, ya know they say "Politics is like watching sausage be made: stuffing offal into a pigs rectum. And then eating it."

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Hate to break it to you, but that is not how sausage is made. Someone played a mean joke on you. You have to kill the pig first.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Dammit.

[DanO.]

What could possibly go wrong?

For his part, Mr. Trump, a confirmed homebody, has expressed dread about the trip, asking aides whether it can be shortened to five days from nine. His advisers concede that the intense schedule ? dozens of interactions with leaders from the Middle East and Europe, over a range of delicate issues ? could produce unscripted, diplomatically perilous moments.

Count on it. Need more beer for the weekend. And Cheetos!
https://tinyurl.com/kgqcvmx

[Vernon Depner]

Will they be going after Milk of Magnesia?

[Bee Tagger]

Sweden is dropping rape charges against Wikileaks mastermind Julian Assange, the country's director of public prosecutions announced today.

This should free them up to make more infectious dance pop records.

[gaoxiaen]

Especially in Porpoise Spit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Big Dairy protectionism strikes again: "It's time for FDA to work with state agencies in defending standards of identity for dairy products," said Beth Briczinski...

She should be more concerned with planning her wedding to Joe Scarborough than what constitutes sherbet.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Rise of young women going 'au naturel' as nearly a quarter now don't shave their underarms

Research by analysts Mintel shows that there has been a steady decline in millennial women removing hair from their legs and underarms.

In 2013 95 per cent of women aged 16 to 24 said they removed hair from their underarms. In 2016, this had dropped to just 77 per cent.

Leg-shaving is also falling out of fashion - in 2013 92 per cent said they shaved their legs, a proportion which had fallen to 85 per cent in 2016

Women across the world have been heeding my, "let your gardens grow," advice - you're welcome, earth.

[Conchfritters]

Well, when all the boys are tagging the head volleyball coach, as in the article above, there is pretty much no use in trying.. May as well let your self go feral.

[Rhywun]

Meanwhile, 50% of millennial men now shave everywhere.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Except their head.

[Rhywun]

No - that's where the buckets of hair gel go.

[$park? leftist poser]

Meh, it's just hair.

[Citizen X - #6]

A 1982 Basquiat painting sold for $110.5 million

That's it? The guy fucked Madonna when she was still young and hot! C'mon!

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Sean Penn?

[Citizen X - #6]

Basquiat came way before Sean Penn. Many times.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Hey, come on, Madonna is still hot.

[Looks around, starts slowly backing away, disappears backwards into a hedge]

[Citizen X - #6]

Only because of friction, though. All those imprecisely machined, Sahara-dry parts rubbing around in too-tight clothing generate a lot of heat.

[Bee Tagger]

sexting with teen girls while on duty at the White House.

I prefer my qualifiers to escalate in seriousness, so maybe something like this "sexting... while on duty... at the white house... with teen girls"

[Fist of Etiquette]

How about on duty with teen girls sexting the White House?

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Silver City teacher accused of having sex with student

According to NMSP, a mother of a Silver High School student contacted police with information about a possible sexual relationship with Sanchez. Police say the student admitted he engaged in sexual intercourse with Sanchez four times in the last month.

I really need to invest in a bottle of self-warming lubricant.

[Bender B. Rodriguez]

Of course she's a Cowboys fan.

[gaoxiaen]

Tell us more...

[gaoxiaen]

Um... never mind.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Well. I'll be on my lawn.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A federal judge said yesterday that a sex discrimination lawsuit brought by a transgender woman could move forward under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Is this libertarian-neutral? It's being handled in the courts, but under a broad definition of the ADA.

[Mickey Rat]

Sp what is the over/under on the SJWs being pleased by the lawsuit going forward or neing offended that being transgendered would legally be considered a disability?

[Citizen X - #6]

There is roughly a 100% likelihood of both.

[Get To Da Chippah]

They're fine with it. Being differently abled is still a net plus on the progressive stack.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

Until the magical moment that it isn't and then referring to legal precedence will be verboten.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

People on the social medias are being to Lil Bow Wow

He ain't thinkin' 'bout you!

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Marla Maples rushes to site of fatal Times Square crash and takes a series of SELFIES just feet from where teen died

Shortly before or after the reading was over, 26-year-old Richard Rojas of the Bronx crashed his car in Times Square, killing an 18-year-old girl and seriously injuring 22 others before trying to flee the scene.

Marla found out about this, and quickly got on Snapchat to record a video of herself walking to the scene, saying: 'I am going to Times Square to see if there is anything I can do.'

Once there, she got as close as the police tape would allow before uploading a number of videos and photos to both her Snapchat and Instagram accounts

[Citizen X - #6]

Who does she think she is, a Kardashian?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Such Monkey Business ...

[Rhywun]

Isn't she a little old to be playing "social media sensation"?

[gaoxiaen]

Tits or GTFO.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Appointment of Mueller could complicate other probes into alleged Russian meddling

Congressional probes related to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election are likely to be complicated or stalled by the appointment of former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III as a special counsel investigating the same topic, despite pledges by some lawmakers Thursday to forge ahead.

Mueller has resources and a mandate lawmakers know they cannot match, and is the only one who can bring criminal charges ? except against the president himself. Not responding to his subpoenas also comes with the real threat of criminal prosecution.

Prediction: this will last literally forever (yes, literally), and will result in nothing consequential.

[Rhywun]

Hopefully it will keep the MSM distracted long enough to drain the swamp.

[gaoxiaen]

Just get rid of Sessions. It's all his fault. Plus perjury.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Libertarian Institute offers a good primer on the unintended consequences of mandatory paid family-leave policies.

Uh, happy homes and businesses? And well-adjusted children?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone wake me when they find inflammable ice.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone wake me up when they come up with thirst-quenching coal.

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Former Secret Service officer Lee Robert Moore, 38, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for sexting with teen girls while on duty at the White House.

Fun facts: no one wants to see your dick, and pictures of your dick will rarely produce a positive result.

[Citizen X - #6]

Sure, that's YOUR experience.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone come and wake me up when they discover frozen fire.

[Citizen X - #6]

For God's sake, somebody wake Eugene up. It's almost 10 o'clock already.

[Mickey Rat]

Is that your one desire?

[Crusty Juggler aka "Chad"]

Will flammable ice save us?

Methane hydrates are thought to have the potential to be a revolutionary energy source that could be key to future energy needs - likely the world's last great source of carbon-based fuel.

Vast deposits exist basically underneath all oceans around the the globe, especially on the edge of continental shelves. Countries are scrambling for a way to make the extraction safe and profitable

It's thought that there is as much as 10 times the amount of gas in methane hydrates than in shale for instance. "And that's by conservative estimates," says Prof Linga.

I need Bill Nye to explain this to me.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

What a cunning Professor ...

[$park? leftist poser]

Fracking oceans!

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Chaffetz to Faux Snooze.

WHAAA?

Mebbe he can be more effective there ...

Out with the old, in with the new

[Conchfritters]

Quitter.

[Bender B. Rodriguez]

Assange has a difficult decision ahead: move out of the embassy and taste freedom, and potentially lose out on those covert Pamela Anderson nookie sessions.

[Domestic Dissident]

Sweden is dropping rape charges against Wikileaks mastermind Julian Assange, the country's director of public prosecutions announced today.

Probably in exchange for him agreeing to never publicly admit that Seth Rich was the source of his DNC internal e-mails (a deal I'd bet thousands of dollars our government brokered with Sweden's).

[paranoid android]

Please seek professional help. For your own sake.

[Citizen X - #6]

Simple Mikey's been blacklisted by every psychiatrist, therapist, psychologist, social worker, and church counselor within a 100-mile radius of the bus stop he lives at.

[Domestic Dissident]

A guy who calls himself "paranoid android" is giving out psychiatric advice. I love it!

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

If it helps, I was going to make the exact same comments 10 minutes prior, then figured it was a waste of effort.

[Square = Circle]

I don't tend to agree with Mikey about much of anything, but I don't think finding yet another random, one-chance-in-a-million, who-saw-that-coming death of someone who just so happened to be about to testify against HRC something to just dismiss out of hand.

I'm not yet convinced of a vast international conspiracy, but I'm not ready to dismiss the idea that there was more to it than "oh, random mugger just happened to pick a key witness in a high profile investigation of corrupt presidential candidate to shoot for no reason."

[paranoid android]

But that's only true if you accept the (completely unfounded) corollary claims that Rich was testifying about some bombshell that would incriminate Clinton. And then you have to throw in the assumption that the DNC/Clinton team blackmailed/bribed/coerced the DC police somehow to quiet any investigation, all without anyone blabbing to the press.

It's classic nonsense conspiracy theorizing, reinforced by circular logic and nonsense premises.

[Citizen X - #6]

I posit that the Seth Rich-Wikileaks conspiracy theory is actually being promoted by the Clinton camp in order to distract their dumber and/or crazier critics from the myriad ways in which Clintons (and Democrats in general) are legitimately terrible. Wheels within wheels, y'all.

[Square = Circle]

I never said "I think this is true." A million different scenarios could've produced the facts we've seen.

I said there's an impressive enough trail of bodies of people who had the opportunity to incriminate the Clintons that I see a touch of naivety in the assumption that there's obviously nothing at all eyebrow-raising about the timing and randomness of the murder.

But shit happens. It's certainly completely possible that Rich was just the victim of a freak occurrence. These things happen, and we tend to squeeze them into the narrative boxes we have available.

To reiterate - I'm not saying "it's clearly true that HRC/the DNC ordered Rich's murder." I'm saying it's not utter crazy-talk to point out that it's a little suspicious.

[CE]

There's no vast international conspiracy. it's based in Arkansas.

[Sevo]

San Francisco, like a lot of urban areas, has expensive housing because the supply is limited. In SF, there is geographic limits, so you'd presume the city government would get out of the way and let developers build the shit out of housing, right?

"S.F. parks commission squashes condos that would shadow SoMa park"
[...]
"While the building would increase shadow by only 0.07 percent a year, commissioners said the location of the shadow ? the basketball court and a grassy knoll ? would blot out sunlight for 42 minutes on summer evenings when the park is at its busiest."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....021079.php

Yes, that's right. We need housing, but not if it casts a shadow on a park 7% of one tenth of 1% of the time! Nope, can't have unreasonable development like that!

[Rhywun]

The developer, Golden Properties, had offered to build an affordable two-unit project, which was not required. The group also offered a $25,000 donation to the park.

Love the offers to up the vig.

[Sevo]

Here's what seems to be happening:
Gov't programs, including 'affordable housing' requirements keep limiting the supply, forcing 'market rate housing' costs higher and higher, allowing the developers, who bought the land some time back, to charge enough to pay off the political bribery and still make money.
Which rising 'market rate' costs allow the politicos to scream about housing costs, rinse and repeat.

[$park? leftist poser]

San Francisco shadow regulations are utterly retarded.

[Domestic Dissident]

San Francisco is completely controlled by racist liberal "elite" whites. The purpose of all San Francisco housing regulations is to ensure that the negroes stay on the other side of the bridge in Oakland!

[Agammamon]

Re: The secret service dude - I was going to say that what he did was bad, but *twenty years bad*? Then I saw this part.

It is particularly galling that he was himself an armed guard at the single most important residence in our constitutional republic, yet he repeatedly used that guard booth to take photos of his penis and send them to underage girls."

And I realized he wasn't getting twenty years for indecent exposure, he was getting twenty years for sinning against the God-King.

Same as Ulbricht - he didn't take the government seriously enough.

[Warren]

If it wasn't sucked out of a cow's tit it isn't "milk".

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

There are some goat-herders here that would like to have a word with you ...

[Citizen X - #6]

Also, any number of babies.

[Warren]

That's "mother's milk"

[Warren]

That's "goats milk"

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Mammals hardest hit.

[DESTINY MIKEL]

I have been with my wife for 3 years. she caught me cheating this ended the relationship. After further analysis I realized I truly missed her and I didn't want to be with anyone but her. i pleaded with her to come back but she was already with another guy, all means to get her back was a waste, i had to look for a stronger and reliable means to get her back, so a friend of mine introduced me to DR MACK whom i contact via Email;dr.mac@yahoo. com and after some days, my wife called me and said she wants us to come back just like before (we ended up getting back together) I have come to understand that DR MACK IS THE RELATIONSHIP HELPER