John Kelly Declared Trump's 'Last Best Hope,' Beer Cheaper Than Soda in Chicago, Migrants Drown off Yemen: P.M. Links

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  Gstockstudio1 / Dreamstime

  Time is putting White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on the cover as President Donald Trump's "last best hope," which is kind of funny for anybody who was following Kelly's overt Trumpian fearmongering when he was leading the Department of Homeland Security.

• Trump tells North Korea to "get their act together." I'm not sure we actually want them to be more competent?
• A judge is ordering the State Department to look for more emails from Hillary Clinton from her days as secretary of state regarding the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
• Trump is moving toward declaring a "national emergency" over opioid addiction, even though administration officials said just yesterday they would not.
• Yeah, here's a recipe for better public health: Thanks to Chicago's soda tax, it's actually cheaper to buy beer instead.
• For the second time in two days, hundreds of migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were forced off a boat near Yemen by smugglers, leading to several drowning deaths.
• Everybody still hates Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida). Her latest scandal with an IT aide arrested under accusations of mortgage fraud isn't helping.
• Today's manufactured outrage: Walmart is apologizing over a "back to school" marketing sign being placed over a gun display at one of their stores.
• Today's culture war: A gym owner in Atlanta banned police and active military from his facility, and people have so many feelings about it. (My culture war math puzzle for the day: What if a bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but it was because they were both police officers?)

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Time is putting White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on the cover as President Donald Trump's "last best hope,"...

No, there is another.

[Eek Barba Durkle]

That chick he was making out with before?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Wasserman looks like a lizard.

/makes lizard motion.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

You can see the zipper hidden in the folds of her neck if you look closely.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

10/10

[Tom Bombadil]

Fist, you really don't get enough plaudits.

I'd say you're a national treasure, but as a libertarian, I don't believe in national treasures.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A judge is ordering the State Department to look for more emails from Hillary Clinton from her days as secretary of state regarding the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Lock. Her. Up.

[Citizen X - #6]

Trump tells North Korea to "get their act together." I'm not sure we actually want them to be more competent?

He then told Kim Jong Un to "check yo'self before you wreck yo'self."

[Anomalous]

All Trump needs to do is invite Kim to Mar-a-Lago and give him all the chocolate cake he can eat. He'll agree to anything.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

Gosh! That's all Kim ever wanted.

[Rhywun]

One thin waffer.

[Tom Bombadil]

Oh, to hear Kim Jong Fat say "and don't skimp on the pate' " in that Team America voice his Dad used.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Thanks to Chicago's soda tax, it's actually cheaper to buy beer instead.

The Windy City is now officially the Unintended Consequences City.

[Anomalous]

Slainte! Prosit! Salud! L'Chaim!

[Philadelphia Collins]

Bottoms up!

[mad.casual]

The Windy City is now officially the Unintended Consequences City.

Dear NYC,

Hold my beer.

Thanks,

Chi-town

[widget]

My news feeds told me that Philadelphia, my nearest growing-up home town, beat Chicago on the soda tax contest. Just because Barack Obama lived in Chicago for a few years during his post-adolescent hay days doesn't mean shit.

And a thin crust pizza pie in your ear if don't hear me.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Philadelphia is the third worst place in the universe. Why do you think it needs more titles than that?

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

I would ask what #1 and #2 are, but I'm actually more interested in what #4 and #5 are.

[Tom Bombadil]

#1 would be Tony's mother's basement, cause that's where Tony is.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Trump is moving toward declaring a "national emergency" over opioid addiction...

As far as distractions go, is this better or worse than lobbing cruise missiles?

[Charles Easterly]

Yes.

[Stormy Dragon]

What makes you think a national opioid addiction emergency doesn't involve lobbing cruise missiles?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Either way, they'll do their damndest to up the death toll.

[Citizen X - #6]

A gym owner in Atlanta banned police and active military from his facility, and people have so many feelings about it.

Way to cut yourself off from prime meathead demographics, guy.

[Eek Barba Durkle]

Dunphies hardest hit.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

It depends on what kind of gym that is. Is there a kombucha bar?

[Fist of Etiquette]

This may answer some of your questions.

[Citizen X - #6]

Jim Chambers (owner/Weightlifting coach): miscreant and weightlifting nerd. Jim discovered weightlifting while living in Russia

Oh shit!

[Rhywun]

Our business is in the process of becoming collectively owned by its workers.

So... they'll be out of business by next month.

[Bubba Jones]

Reminds me of the strip club in SF that managed to go out of business.

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

Let the busing of beleaguered conservatives to Silicon Valley begin.

James Damore Retweeted
Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Rohrabacher @DanaRohrabacher
?
48m
The mistreatment of conservatives and libertarians by tech monopolies is a civil rights issue. #googlememo

[Rufus The Monocled]

That's because they are. You lefties are psycho both mentally and physically. Violent as heck.

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

Which America lefty has threatened to kill millions of people in a nuclear war?

[Dillinger]

Zombie Truman laments being forgotten so soon.

[Mmmmmm]

Jesus, that retard walked right into that.

[ChipToBeSquare]

10/10

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

I consider Truman's bombing a first-rate atrocity and Kennedy, LBJ, and Nixon war criminals. So do most Leftists.

[notJoe]

Yet many Leftists consider Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Maduro, Castro, Chavez, Noriega, Gueverra et freaking al. to be heroes.

Go figure.

[Dillinger]

So do most Leftists.

your universe sounds cooler than mine.

[Red Rocks Baiting n Inciting]

Nixon's considered a lefty now?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Love how the left tries to pretend the natural end to their retarded thinking is VIOLENCE.

Intellectual gulags is what the left excel at.

Now I have to go shower.

[Rufus The Monocled]

s

[notJoe]

Nice that you limit it to American lefties. Guess that'd limit things. (Kennedy? Kennedys?)

Let's open the competition up a little -- go worldwide -- and at the same time narrow it down. So: Which lefty has *actually* killed millions?

Here's a hint for the sicko bootlickers in the audience (looking at you commie-kid!): there's more than one answer.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Yeah. You're right. It's all in my head.

/makes coo-coo gesture.

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

I hate to break it to you guys, but I'm not arguing for gulags or that we go back to worshipping the collective's tractor. That's why all your Venezuelan analogies seem so desperate.

[notJoe]

No leftist starts out arguing for gulags, nighttime door kickings, bread lines and reeducation centers. They're just natural consequences of the philosophy.

[widget]

Millions?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Everybody still hates Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida).

And yet, she still holds office.

[Anomalous]

Found out recently that an acquaintance went to high school with her and won't tolerate any trash talk about her. I'm wondering if he hit that.

[Eek Barba Durkle]

Has he ever spoken about an attraction to greasy-headed walleye which have been scraped with a bag of nickels?

[Anomalous]

I will inquire.

[Dillinger]

DWS was maybe fun in high school...college ruins chicks.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

I have so many feelings.

[Fist of Etiquette]

What if a bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but it was because they were both police officers?

What if a gay wedding planner refused to do a straight wedding, but only because the couple is interracial?

[Anomalous]

Why would you eat something prepared by someone who's hostile toward you? Didn't y'all see The Help?

[Dillinger]

or Waiting...ick.

[mad.casual]

*from the back of the classroom*

Of course Fist would have the correct answer. Brown nose!

[EscherEnigma]

Discrimination against interracial couples has been ruled as racial discrimination, so that part is pretty clear.

I'm unsure if "wedding planner" would be ruled a public accommodation though. It's unlike other "wedding services" in that it isn't created and delivering/setting-up a product, it's doing the coordination and such. with the way things have been going, they'd probably be ruled a "public accommodation".

So I'm going to go with "loses in court, is fined about $200,000 or so".

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Trump tells North Korea to "get their act together." I'm not sure we actually want them to be more competent?

Man I miss Mooch. He'd be killin' it right now.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Walmart is apologizing over a "back to school" marketing sign being placed over a gun display at one of their stores.

This never would have happened at a union shop.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

A judge is ordering the State Department to look for more emails from Hillary Clinton from her days as secretary of state regarding the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

What is dead may never die!

[Fist of Etiquette]

They're checking Lois Lerner's hard drive.

[Charles Easterly]

That is not dead that can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.

Nicely done, Halves.

[Citizen X - #6]

I suspect HV? is identifying as Ironborn, because that looks like a prayer to the Drowned God.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Damn it Citizen, for a moment there Charles thought I was of higher brow. Though can't we all agree that the Drowned God is Cthulhu?

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

The Ironborn always seemed more Shadow Over Innsmouth than Call of Chtulhu.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I hate that I only know parts of this reference. I have an H.P. Lovecraft complete works edition, only problem is that it's in chronological order and all of Lovecraft's best stuff is at the end (when he was getting more crazy) but I'm too anal to skip ahead so I stalled and haven't read most of the classics.

[Charles Easterly]

Regardless of which edition you possess, Halves, I could recommend that you not skip ahead for several reasons. The first is that you may benefit from reading the author's "work in progress" as it were, and see the growth from his original concepts to those he developed over the course of his writing. The second is that it seems to be in keeping with your nature.

Every few years I enjoy re-reading some of Lovecraft's writings (in point of fact there are many books that I reread at intervals, and the majority do not have to do with politics, sociology, psychology, et cetera). Here is a quote attributed to Lovecraft about one of his contemporaries which coincidentally is one of the authors that I most appreciated:
None strikes the note of cosmic horror as well as Clark Ashton Smith. In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer, living or dead.

A bold statement indeed.

I will not vouch for the Grognardia website - it is the first one that I found which had the quote I sought in addition to a brief opinion piece regarding Clark Ashton Smith.

If you ever have an opportunity to spend the night in house built circa 1750 which is said to be haunted, and that opportunity is during a thunderstorm, and you concurrently have the idea to read H.P. Lovecraft by candle light, I can recommend it, Halves.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I tip my hat to you, sir. If I ever find myself in that old house during a thunderstorm I shall take your advice; then probably curse your name when the fear sets in.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Nah man. Rats in the Walls was early and that was great.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I actually read that one. Best one I got to was Herbert West -- Reanimator, pretty classic, lots of that story sticks with me.

[Citizen X - #6]

The Drowned God probably IS Cthulhu. There's a lot of Lovecraft references in A Song of Ice and Fire, including amphibious "squishers" (obvious Deep Ones) visiting the coasts of the Vale, Old Gods being worshiped in tunnels beneath the island of Leng, a lost city called Carcosa whose ruler is the immortal Yellow King, etc.

[Dillinger]

Thanks to Chicago's soda tax, it's actually cheaper to buy beer instead.

City should give that Old Style garbage away free anyway...good public policy.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Trump is moving toward declaring a "national emergency" over opioid addiction, even though administraiton officials just said yesterday they would not.

You think Trump just picks out buzz words in memos and misses the "will do" or "won't do" parts at the bottom?

[Rebel Scum]

Trump tells North Korea to "get their act together." I'm not sure we actually want them to be more competent?

It's probably more "stop actin' a fool before something bad happens to you."

[Stormy Dragon]

The president's announcement comes just as new federal data shows drug overdose deaths are on the rise

Isn't this a self-correcting problem?

[Anomalous]

Walmart is apologizing over a "back to school" marketing sign being placed over a gun display at one of their stores.

Too soon?

[Fist of Etiquette]

A police officer has challenged an Atlanta gym owner, who banned cops from his facility, to a boxing match.

"He seems like he might enjoy getting the opportunity to punch a cop in the face and I'd be happy to oblige him and give him that opportunity," Officer Tommy Lefever told 11 Alive.

Chambers is unsure about a boxing challenge but told 11 Alive he is open to the idea about a dialogue with the officer.

Lefever is hoping the ring match comes to fruition.

Deescalation training hasn't reached the Atlanta blue troops yet.

[Juice]

Jeez, some people just exist in this world to prove your point for you.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The officer is obviously willing to talk.. he's just going to let his fists do the talking.

[lap83]

What if a bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but it was because they were both police officers?

+1 skittles cake

[Anomalous]

Bake the rainbow.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Yeah, here's a recipe for better public health: Thanks to Chicago's soda tax, it's actually cheaper to buy beer instead.

And here I like a pop chaser with my whiskey and some beer for the cool down period before bed. And weed is hella expensive in MN.

Feels bad man.

[Rhywun]

Speaking of... at the rate NYC is going, tobacco will soon be more expensive than weed.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Every time on the road for work I think that the gas station fucked up when I buy cigars only to realize, nope it's just that fucking cheap. Like $10 for a 5 pack in MN, $2.99 or something in SD.

[Dillinger]

A judge is ordering the State Department to look for more emails from Hillary Clinton

Feds forgot to look for servers in the half-bath by the washer/dryer.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They're going to repurpose any they find as kiddie porn servers.

NO I WILL NOT LET THAT GO.

[BestUsedCarSales]

You're being unreasonable. If they didn't make those servers, who would?

[Rebel Scum]

Thanks to Chicago's soda tax, it's actually cheaper to buy beer instead.

Beer Gods rejoice at the folly of government!

[Jerryskids]

Today's manufactured outrage: Walmart is apologizing over a "back to school" marketing sign being placed over a gun display at one of their stores.

I believe you mixed up your manufactured outrage with your culture war. Funny how those people who pretend to be outraged by cultural insensitivity have no problem attacking redneck culture.

[PurityDiluting]

indeed

[BestUsedCarSales]

It's because everyone actually hates the poor. That's the natural state of being. Certain groups can make up the difference, but rural poor not so much.

[Mmmmmm]

"Trump tells North Korea to "get their act together." I'm not sure we actually want them to be more competent?"

Is that what he said? Get more competent?

Because it looks like an intentional misread so you can snark.

[Citizen X - #6]

Snark? On Hit'n'Run? Heaven forfend!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I've never once seen any snark on Reason but poking my eyes out during the 2016 election may have something to do with that.

[Mmmmmm]

It was more the intentional misreading, to allow him to bitchily, tiredly snark.

Finding an alternate meaning in a statement is fun, and requires a bit of intelligence and wit.

That...was not what Shackford did. He did that thing that is so common lately among anti-Trumpers where they try way too hard to twist Trumps statements so they can line up for a cheap shot.

Trump is dumb. All you need is a little patience and ypu won't need to misstate things to take shots at him.

And honestly, it doesn't even make sense. NK is a hermit kingdom utterly devoted to their dumb ideology. Yes, actually, we do want them to be more competent at it.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Finding an alternate meaning in a statement is fun, and requires a bit of intelligence and wit.

Sure, we are all sassy bitches here.

He did that thing that is so common lately among anti-Trumpers where they try way too hard to twist Trumps statements so they can line up for a cheap shot.

Yeah, he found an alternate meaning to a statement.

[Mmmmmm]

And tried way too hard in the process.

[Dillinger]

A gym owner in Atlanta banned police and active military from his facility, and people have so many feelings about it.

couple-twenty of which likely begin with "shoot dog first"

[Mmmmmm]

"Yeah, here's a recipe for better public health: Thanks to Chicago's soda tax, it's actually cheaper to buy beer instead."

Well, the way I understand it, an alcoholic drink per day is connected to improved health, so ot very well may be a recipe for better health.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Everybody still hates Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida). Her latest scandal with an IT aide arrested under accusations of mortgage fraud isn't helping.

If she were Samurai I'd be handing her a wakizashi right about now.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

What if a bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but it was because they were both police officers?

Depictions of men in uniform is usually a gay thing already.

[ChipToBeSquare]

This is not a hard puzzle. The progs would say that the gay community has it worse than policy officers, and therefore discrimination against them is despicable. In fact police officers enforce the social structures that perpetuate discrimination. The fact that this couple is both? Not a problem. The progs will redefine them to literally not be gay anymore, because to them it is impossible to both be gay and not be a prog. The same way the left has for years joked that Ann Coulter is a man, the way Kmele Foster is called an Uncle Tom, when you're a minority that wanders off the prog reservation, your minority status is instantly revoked or rendered suspect

[Rebel Scum]

Walmart is apologizing over a "back to school" marketing sign being placed over a gun display at one of their stores.

Heroes don't carry guns? Also, excellent trolling (assuming that's what it is...).

[Juice]

Beer is better for you than cola. At least it has some nutritional value.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

My culture war math puzzle for the day: What if a bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but it was because they were both police officers?

The answer will always be: MOAR RAGE!!!

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

shocking losses and the divisive Democratic primary in which Wasserman Schultz appeared to favor Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

"appeared to favor"... I suppose that's one way of describing it.

[Citizen X - #6]

It's true that appearances are not always deceiving.

[mad.casual]

You can't judge a book by it's cover. Unless you don't have X-ray vision, they you *have* to judge books by their covers.

[colorblindkid]

My culture war math puzzle for the day: What if a bakery refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but it was because they were both police officers?

You can never prove somebody's reason for why they refuse service. It's a legal swamp. Either you should be able to refuse anybody for any reason, or you shouldn't be able to refuse anybody for any reason. I, as a gay libertarian, obviously favor the former.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I second that.

[EscherEnigma]

I, as a gay non-libertarian, find both acceptable, favoring the former. But neither is realistic.

[Ken Shultz]

"Time is putting White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on the cover as President Donald Trump's "last best hope"

A collection of political obituaries for Donald Trump might make for the unintentionally funniest book ever written.

If he's reelected, someone will someday update Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds with a chapter on Trump Derangement Syndrome. It'll fit in nicely between "Subprime Mortgages" and "The Great Clown Panic of 2016".

[Rebel Scum]

Everybody still hates Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D Swamp Creature-Florida).

That can happen when you defraud your voters and are a generally unlikeable witch.

[Dillinger]

hundreds of migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were forced off a boat near Yemen by smugglers

dicks. honor among thieves.

[Stormy Dragon]

Poll: Half of Republicans would back postponing 2020 election if Trump proposed it

Slightly more than half of Republicans say they would support postponing the 2020 presidential election if President Trump proposed it to make sure only eligible American citizens can vote, according to a new survey.

According to a poll conducted by two academic authors and published by The Washington Post, 52 percent of Republicans said they would back a postponement of the next election if Trump called for it.

If Trump and congressional Republicans proposed postponing the election to ensure only eligible citizens could vote, support from Republicans rises to 56 percent.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Trump can't even propose and follow through on immigration limitations during wartime. This is click/rage/fake news.

[EscherEnigma]

It is. And the pollsters primed folks with talk about illegal voters and election fraud and such. So it's not only "fake news", it's fluffed fake news.

That said, while I don't take this poll seriously, it is a simple truth that Republicans have spent the last few years undermining people's faith in our electoral system.

[Stormy Dragon]

And the pollsters primed folks with talk about illegal voters

Mentioning illegal immigrants to a Republican is like waving a red cape in front of a bull! How could the possibly resist backing dictatorship after such a horrifying provocation? Huh? Huh?

[EscherEnigma]

... I can't tell if you're mocking me for suggesting folks can be primed, or mocking the primed folks for falling for it.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

a little column A, a little column B.

[ChipToBeSquare]

It's almost as if our fetish for democracy is just about imposing your will on the people who disagree with you

[mad.casual]

It's not all bad or mean, sometimes it's just about harmless echo chambers and groupthink.

[PurityDiluting]

Elections are over rated. Look what happened last time

[Dillinger]

Slightly more than half of Republicans

what's a Republican today?

[Tom Bombadil]

Would the best policy be to kill all pollsters?

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

Thanks to Chicago's soda tax, it's actually cheaper to buy beer instead.

Pot is cheaper in many areas than tobacco and e-cigs.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

The NRA's excuse for ignoring Philando Castile: he was carrying marijuana.

A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association said Thursday that the gun rights group did not defend Philando Castile, who was pulled over by police and then fatally shot in 2016, because he was breaking the law at the time of his death.

Castile was shot and killed in a Saint Paul, Minn., suburb last summer by a Falcon Heights police officer, after telling the police officer he had a license to carry a firearm. But Dana Loesch, a spokeswoman for the NRA, said that doesn't mean the group supported Castile.

"He was also in possession of a controlled substance and a firearm simultaneously, which is illegal. Stop lying," Loesch said on Twitter early Thursday.

She was responding to a tweet noting that Castile was a Minnesota carry permit holder who "followed the safety rules" but was still shot. The Twitter user questioned why the NRA was so slow to defend Castile, thinking it had to do with his race.

[Dillinger]

Dana Loesch, a spokeswoman for the NRA, said that doesn't mean the group supported Castile.

Dana fails to see irony of being spokeswoman who believes not in 1A.

[Bubba Jones]

This is why I don't donate to them.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

t('_'t)

Someone put the NRA back into their special interest gimp box.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association said Thursday that the gun rights group did not defend Philando Castile, who was pulled over by police and then fatally shot in 2016, because he was breaking the law at the time of his death.

That's fucking retarded...

So the NRA wouldn't defend someone who was shot by cops because he was jaywalking or going 3mph over?

[Tom Bombadil]

I wonder what the NRA's position would be if the police murdered a dude just because he possessed a gun without a permit (illegal).

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I'll take 'slob cop knob for $5', Alex.

Team Sports. Incentive. Consumerism. Cops are apart of the NRA base. It makes fiscal sense, it's only morally bankrupt.

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