McCain Disses Graham-Cassidy, Kim Jung-un Disses Trump, and HHS Sec. Tom Price Investigated for Private Jet Use: P.M. Links

• 

  Ron Sachs/SIPA/Newscom

  Sen. John McCain (R–Ariz.) announces his opposition to the Graham-Cassidy healthcare reform bill. Read Reason's coverage of the bill's chances here.

• Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is being investigated for his frequent use of private jets for HHS business.

• Portland loses its ranking as America's top airport. Portlanders are a little salty about it.

• Sick Kim Jung-un burn of Trump grows Americans' vocabulary.

• San Antonio cop is fired for dating a prostitute.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. John McCain (R ? Ariz.) announces his opposition to the Graham-Cassidy healthcare reform bill.

Maverick and Paul better hope Obamacare covers 3rd degree twitter burns.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Mr. President. Go with 'jerk store' as a rebuttal to fatso!

[Fist of Etiquette]

San Antonio cop is fired for dating a prostitute.

If he'd simply beaten or shot her: commendation.

[Paloma]

What do they mean "dated" her? Did he just take her out to dinner and a movie but not have sex? Or did he not tip the waiter?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is being investigated for his frequent use of private jets for HHS business.

"If DeVos can get away with it, why can't I???"

[TW]

My understanding is that Secretary DeVos didn't seek reimbursement for flying on private jets but Secretary Price did.

[BestUsedCarSales]

If that's true that's all the world of difference.

[TW]

"Secretary DeVos travels on personally-owned aircraft, accompanied by her security detail and whenever possible, additional support staff, at zero cost to U.S. taxpayers," said spokeswoman Liz Hill in an email.

"The secretary neither seeks, nor accepts, any reimbursement for her flights, nor for any additional official travel-related expenses, such as lodging and per diem, even though she is entitled to such reimbursement under government travel regulations," Hill said.

DeVos is also planning to donate her government salary to charity.

http://www.politico.com/story/.....vel-242977

[Memory Hole]

And it's the same dude who used insider info to profit on a stock trade in case you have forgotten.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Insider trading is one of those bullshit victimless crimes which the government loves so much because it shows how compassionate they are in looking out for the common man.

[Conchfritters]

Blue horse shoe loves Anicott Steel

[MarkLastname]

He used information to make a good investment?!! That son of a bitch! Investing is just plain gambling, and that's how it better stay, dammit!

[damikesc]

That somebody has access to information due to their job far above what anybody else has is the issue.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Portland loses its ranking as America's top airport.

It wasn't top because it allowed people to escape Portland?

[Rat on a train]

The approaches and departures at SNA are a thrill ride.

[Conchfritters]

Obviously Larry Craig's vote for the Minneapolis airport didn't count.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sick Kim Jung Un burn of Trump grows Americans' vocabulary.

The dotards at Reason won't let Britschgi tell you the word in Links.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Sick Kim Jung Un burn of Trump grows Americans' vocabulary.

Yet when I used the word "dotage" some time ago nobody gave a shit.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Well, you should have been Fist, then people would have cared.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Instead of a commentard. NAILED.

[Conchfritters]

Loofa faced shot giboon was already taken.

[Conchfritters]

Or shit, take your pick

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'll take a shot please.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Does the new Obamacare cover 'injured by racism'?

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

What I want to know is if fentanyl will still be effective while receiving a 600 RAD radiation exposure because Dear Leader can't keep his fucking mouth shut and got us into a nuclear war.

Dear Kim, please direct your nuclear missiles to the following address

Mar-a-Lago Club
1100 S Ocean Blvd
Palm Beach, FL
33480

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

You scared?

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

Yes, very much so. I didn't know that one could actually goad another Leader into a calamatous nuclear war, but I guess we'll see if that's possible. Dear Leader's feelings are worth putting tens of millions of lives at stake, I guess.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Leave the negotiating to the professional.

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

For a person who gets on here and rants about the government you sure do have a lot of respect for saber-rattling and the boot-clickers that will once again, gleefully kill a couple of million people in the 3rd world. I've never been into your kind of government worship myself.

[Square = Circle]

Yup. When I think of spittle-flecked rants, I think of Fist.

You've sure got his card. You are one perceptive commenter, you are.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You have to read between the lines.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Nothing but strange comments about Walt Disney and The Lion King in between the lines.

[Paloma]

Don't start nothin' won't be nothin'

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Until the strategy fails I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic, millions are already dying under the 70 year status quo.

As I see it there are 4 visible options that all suck and one obvious but unknown option:

1) 70 year status quo -- North Korea kills its own and threatens death on the world; so the world appeases North Korea.

2) Appease Harder!

3) (the new strategy) Call the bluff, North Korea knows it cannot win a war against the world -- that is why so many generals have spoken up and subsequently been executed with AA Guns. The two egomaniacs brandish words and bluster, nothing happens -- this hasn't failed... yet.

4) Preemptively strike North Korea.

5) The yet undiscovered option that will establish peace without war (no idea what path this might be)

I will not side with North Korean tyranny no matter who the US president is. The 70 year status quo is death purgatory, a different albeit scary approach might be more effective. Lastly if NK nukes Japan it will force the world's hand, I don't think they will though. To use pop culture, Kim Jung Un is the Geoffry type of medieval tyrants, crazier than his father who I cannot recall ever executing people with artillery fire, which makes him more unpredictable.

[BestUsedCarSales]

It's definitely interesting. The worst I think would be us getting goaded into a first strike. I believe they want that more than they wish to strike themselves.

The best is that they just go back into their hole again.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I don't think the Norks want to strike or be struck -- they are sticking to the status quo with all of their vigor.

Threat. Threat. Threat. Eventually the world will cave, as it has done for 70 years.

[Bubba Jones]

North Korea launches a mjssjle that accidentally blows up Tokyo

We nuke NK.

Win win?

Except for Godzilla.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Not really. I feel like if we want to make up a nice hypothetical we can do better than kill ~35 million people in Japan.

[DenverJ]

I'm pretty sure that the actual Japanese are all extinct; those are all robots.

[Lily Bulero]

Send word to some of Kim John Un's colleagues that if they overthrow the dictator and establish, say, a standard authoritarianism instead of the existing insane murderous totalitarianism, then they'll get some extra deposits in their Swiss bank accounts plus the option of moving to a tropical island to escape justice if the penninsula should ever be united.

Just brainstorming.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

This is a good start.

[creech]

This plan may already be underway. Uneasy is the head that wears the crown.

[Zeb]

Now this would be an appropriate place to invoke the sword of Damocles.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

I think there's already a less imaginative variant in place. Kim blusters because he's seen what happened when Libya gave up nuclear weapons, and when Iran didn't. Lesson learned. At the same time, he and his generals all like power and luxury. War is the least they want because they would lose their luxury. Fake glory is easy to manipulate in that paradise; real glory is impossible.

Thus they all want to remain in power. The generals know that any who attempt to overthrow Kim will spread so much confusion that Kim will execute a whole lot of innocent generals, so they watch each other like a hawk. I imagine life under Kim is not very much fun, that they all wish he'd calm down and be a normal dictator, and they may even wish someone else was gutsy enough to overthrow Kim, but none of them want to risk being uncovered by another general sucking up to Kim.

[Bubba Jones]

Offer $10B bounty on his head.

Wait.

[damikesc]

Yeah, Obama turning on Khaddafy killed any hopes of non-proliferation. For ALL of his faults, he did dis-arm as we asked...and we then turned on him and got him killed.

So, no, NOBODY will ever dis-arm because we ask them to. Because Obama had the most fucking useless and destructive foreign policy in our history. Vietnam PALES in comparison in the patheon of mistakes to turning on Libya after disarmament.

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

will not side with North Korean tyranny no matter who the US president is. The 70 year status quo is death purgatory, a different albeit scary approach might be more effective.

How about we send you and your tax money in to straighten out these weirdos who just didn't have the decency to roll over and submit to a country that systematically carpet bombed them? Geesch, the nerve!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Who said roll over? All I'm looking for is a stop to the endless threats of war. I don't even care that he kills his own people in droves, I'm sure you agree with that. All-in-all Intervention is a shitty business.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

What do you want North Korea to do?

[Paloma]

Ronery...I'm so ronery....(sob)

[MarkLastname]

Why is it that every time a socialist dictator murders and emiserates his own people, you somehow conclude that it's the US's fault? "Look what you made us do! We were going to be nice but since you attacked us, we have to rape and kill a quarter of our population." Is that how you commies think?

[Agammamon]

So you're scared that, 20 years from now when the Norks finally have a missile that can hit within a mile of its intended target, Kim Il somebody might still be looking for revenge for this little spat?

Cause right now - they don't have a missile that can loft their nukes very far and the missiles they do have, have something like a thousand mile CEP. Fire one off towards Hawaii and there's a 90% likelyhood it'll end up splashing down in the Pacific over the horizon and out of sight of land.

[damikesc]

The concern is that they can sell this tech to people who can deliver the payload.

[MarkLastname]

Why are you afraid of a socialist dictator murdering millions of people for frivolous reasons? Surely that's never happened for.

[DenverJ]

It's alright, your mom's basement is basically a fallout shelter.

[Sevo]

Robespierre Josef Stalin|9.22.17 @ 4:40PM|#
"What I want to know is if fentanyl will still be effective while receiving a 600 RAD radiation exposure because Dear Leader can't keep his fucking mouth shut and got us into a nuclear war."

What I want to know is how a stupid shit like you is still alive.
Please commit suicide; the world will thank you.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

San Antonio cop is fired for dating a prostitute.

If he would have raped her and passed her around the precinct this would have all been swept under the rug.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Anybody know what gives with Tony recently? He's been on a roll, posting all over, flaming, hating, biting, like he just got fired and has lots of free time and the anger to fill it.

It's fun baiting him, for a while, but it's too easy.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Nah. He's just arguing like an illiterate progressive does.

You know. The standard 'what, you don't think we need roads and judges?' sophist stupidity.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

It's the surge in comments that surprises me. No different, just a lot more of them.

[Zeb]

I'm going to guess that he either lost a job or ended a relationship.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

One would think he would post LESS often after losing a hand.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Zing!

[MarkLastname]

So, you're saying we need to get Tony laid?

Road trip!

[Robespierre Josef Stalin]

Idea: Let's declare California independence and adopt the motto: "We're not with stupid -->"

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Like most of the country wouldn't be happy to see California (and the entire left coast, for that matter) secede.

Best of all, Trump would likely declare the new country to be a hostile foreign power and drop a few tactical nukes along the I-5 corridor.

[TW]

Trump doesn't seem like the "with malice towards none" sort. If California tried to secede, it would likely end with every Californian politician who was complicit being hung from the nearest lamppost and California being governed as a non-voting territory for the next generation.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Which is unfortunate. I believe they should have that right. Though it's mixed because I believe inland California has no such urge to secede, and so there would rightfully have to be a splitting of the same.

I keep hearing about fucking Cascadia again as well, and I think that's the same issue. Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland want to secede. The rest of the state is okay with where they are.

[Bubba Jones]

I think we had a war to settle that question.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I know, I'm saying I disagree with the answer.

[Rebel Scum]

Idea: Let's declare California independence and adopt the motto: "We're not with stupid -->"

I agree. It will be fun to watch CA and idiots like you drown in the irony.

[Sevo]

Robespierre Josef Stalin|9.22.17 @ 4:53PM|#
"Idea: Let's declare California independence and adopt the motto: "We're not with stupid -->""

Great.
CA would quickly learn that supporting free-loading imbeciles like you is too expensive, and offer you a row boat with a hole in it and a pier from which to leave.

[Lord_at_War]

I agree. Coronate Queen Cankles 1st of California. Jerry Moonbeam might disagree, though...

What are you going to do without the Colorado river water?

[MarkLastname]

"Because we *are* stupid."

[damikesc]

Please do. And when they have the problem of a lack of water since their inland won't want to leave and, well, we won't be OBLIGATED to give them water any longer...

[Inigo Montoya]

"San Antonio cop is fired for dating a prostitute."

Sorry to have to defend a cop, but this would be true for anyone: who you want to date is no one's business but your own. If she's an adult and okay with it, he should be allowed to date her, marry her...whatever.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Yeah, in a libertarian world, sure, but if you become a cop, there are codes of conduct which extend to your personal life. One of those is fraternizing or keeping company with criminals. Prostitution is illegal, if he's dating a prost, he's going to be in violation of that code of conduct. But I agree, it's disappointing that this is an area where they're held to higher standard, whereas if they kill an innocent person, they're actually held to lower standards.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

Fraternizing with criminals would be grounds for dismissal of all police officers.

At least now I understand why police never get found guilty of crimes, it would open a Pandora's Box.

[Paloma]

If she paid for dinner, would it technically be a date?

[MarkLastname]

No, that would just make him the prostitute.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Portland loses its ranking as America's top airport. Portlanders are a little salty about it.

Do people fly to Portland?

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Gliders, hot air balloons and solar powered aircraft only.

[gaoxiaen]

I thought it's only a stopover on the way to Medford.

[Inigo Montoya]

From the linked article: "Officer Mark H. Walaski received an indefinite suspension, which is tantamount to firing, in July for "consorting with persons of ill repute," according to the documents."

Damn! So I guess no more police union for San Antonio cops, right? I mean, I can't think of any group of people of worse repute -- including outright criminals, who at least don't take any pledge "serve and protect."

[colorblindkid]

Kim Jong Un called Nikki Haley "a prostitute swinging her skirt".

He called Obama, among other things, "a monkey in a tropical forest" and said he should "live with a group of monkeys in the world's largest African natural zoo and lick the breadcrumbs thrown by spectators"

I don't remember everybody calling these "sick burns".

I hate Trump as the next guy, but even I'm disturbed at the parroting and praise of Kim Jong Un going on, and the narrative that any of this is somehow new.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The memory hole is where truth goes to die.

[Memory Hole]

Oh no you didn't.

[Lily Bulero]

This Kim Jong Un guy sounds like some kind of racist sexist.

Why do the voters keep re-electing him?

/sarc

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

And as far as we know, unlike Kim and his presidential campaign opponent, Trump hasn't yet had anyone killed who was a threat to his power.

[Zeb]

Yeah, what the hell is wrong with people? Trump sucks, but Kim is a thousand times more evil and nasty.

[lap83]

The worst part is the idiots praising him are all talk and none of them will move there. If just one did (and was immediately thrown in prison), it would all be worth it.

[Fuck You - Cut Spending]

Kim is a socialist. Why would a leftist hate someone on their side?

[ChipToBeSquare]

The initial tweet is great, but this is one of the best replies I've ever seen

[ChipToBeSquare]

https://twitter.com/daltonhbrown/status/ 911331681449205760

The link doesn't seem to be working so just delete the space

[Bubba Jones]

Remove the s in https and the site with auto shorten it.

[Agammamon]

Well, to be fair - they aren't sick burns. They're just cheap, low-effort insults.

'Dotard' might have been an accident, but it at least has an aura of intelligence and wit about it.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I'm assuming since Un is Korean that he meant DOTArd, which is a derisive name for DOTA players.

[BestUsedCarSales]

It seems that airports around the country are really jumping the shark trying to please customers. The San Francisco airport even has an extremely cute therapy pig dressed as a pilot, for god's sake, as reported by USA Today. Meanwhile, the San Diego airport hired a street circus to perform in the terminals.

It's unclear what makes the John Wayne airport 13 entire points better than Portland. They have pet relief areas, which we have. They have a statue of racist John Wayne, which we don't have. Maybe the new carpet has finally caught up with us.

Jeez, maybe those other airports have less repugnant spoiled assholes. Calm down.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Also, try to use Jump the Shark correctly.

[Agammamon]

Sounds like the second strike against them

1. Repugnant spoiled assholes.

2. Trying very hard to appear smarter than they are - but can't be arsed to do a 5 minute Wiki check before speaking.

3. They're in Portland.

[Bubba Jones]

Those other airports aren't in Portland.

[Tom Bombadil]

"The San Francisco airport even has an extremely cute therapy pig dressed as a pilot"

That's no pig, that's Kitchner Leslie's girlfriend.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Great. Great Norm reference.

[Conchfritters]

What happened to the public service announcement in the AM notes comments from Reason Staff this morning? Are they not going to bang Crusty's face anymore? Or did he already stop by the office to pickup his prize?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Whaa?

[Lily Bulero]

What happened?

[Conchfritters]

The post from Reason Staff in the AM disappeared from the comment section sometime late morning. They were giving a prize to Crusty and Tony. Personally, I was a little jealous of Crusty's prize.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Well, he's not posting here now, so I can only assume it was a trick to murder him.

[Lily Bulero]

Well, the moral equivalence may have annoyed him.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I'll always remember Crusty for his hatred of all sorts of equivalences. Cost him his career in math it did. But he held strong.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

To his credit, we all know now that math isn't as exact a science as we were led to believe. Crusty found a new job in the feminist glacier studies department.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

God damn my ability to not wake up before 11 am.

[lap83]

Did they say what the prize was? Fruit sushi? Maybe it was eaten by someone before he picked it up so they had to pretend it was never offered

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The only time I recall praise for the commentors was at the bottom of this little gem during donation time

I'm still jelly.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I.e., "We may not like what you say, but we will defend to the death Fist of Etiquette's "firsts," Heroic Mulatto's staunch pining for former Reason staffer Lucy Steigerwald, and everyone's frankly unhealthy interest in Robby Soave's grooming habits."

The last bit about Soave links off to some egregiously gay comment by Citizen X.

Where is praise for HV's violent ranting on tying nooses for murders or swinging the sword himself?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wait, have I been happening on an inordinate number of uncommented upon posts and making the first comment a lot? Huh. I never noticed.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I don't think that's what they are referencing O__O

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, there's only one other kind of first I am known for, and unless Reason is my girlfriend...

[BestUsedCarSales]

Sad to see Heroic Mulatto soon left the site.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Almost immediately after this was the Great Exodus -- some just can't handle the Trump Derangement Syndrome. I endure for the free bagels.

[BestUsedCarSales]

My time at Glibertarians was exceedingly depressing so I just stopped going.

[Lily Bulero]

Really?

[BestUsedCarSales]

For me at least. I was visiting both for awhile. I don't know, I found the commenting there kind of off. It's hard to explain but the mentality there felt kind of oppressive. Though I wish them all well, of course. And I'm a new guy and I'm sure they don't miss me in the least.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Chin up Bucs, I enjoy your commentary -- not as layered and poignant as my own -- but, you know, it fills space, so there's that.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I've always filled approximately 7x7x7 feet of space, and so I can only hope I fill slightly more here.

[Zeb]

I'm pleased that the Trump presidency is starting to deliver more on the comedy that I anticipated.

[Rebel Scum]

Agreed. Humor is the way to my heart. And I can't be the only one tempted to buy and wear a MAGA hat after that UN speech. Say what you will, at least it was unabashedly pro-American and, therefor, better than anything we ever got from Barry.

[Rebel Scum]

Sen. John McCain (R ? Ariz.) announces his opposition to the Graham-Cassidy healthcare reform bill.

I thought McCain had a malignant tumor? How is he still out and about?

[Zeb]

And how will we know when it starts to affect his cognition?

[RT]

Well, he's Jimmy Kimmel's new hero (and again...and again). I wonder if one of those agains were during the 2008 campaign, or was he literally Hitler back then (I'm assuming he was).

I wonder if those McCain-Feingold fans might see his (and Stephen Colbert, etc) using his show as a platform for endorsing policies and politicians as an "in-kind' contribution? Not that I do, mind you, but like to see campaign finance reform types twist in knots over trying to keep "money" out of politics.

[Pro Libertate]

GBM doesn't necessarily mean instant death, loss of cognitive function, or inability to get around. I'm still working full time in the same job, two years after diagnosis. The big problem with the disease is that it's very hard to get rid of, and the tumor can come back with vengeance. How you are affected depends on where tumor was/is.

McCain seems about same as before, just older and grumpier. That's not from the GBM. He was that way before.

I've got all the sympathy in the world for his condition, but he didn't become a libertarian or even much of a Republican since, so I still don't much care for his politics.

[Rebel Scum]

Sick Kim Jung Un burn of Trump grows Americans' vocabulary.

Idk. I think "rocket-man" is more demeaning because it refers to DPRK's long and largely failed rocket program. And, let's face it, Asian (especially Korean) rockets are so small.

[Rebel Scum]

San Antonio cop is fired for dating a prostitute.

Is it really "dating" if she's a prostitute?

[Rebel Scum]

Also, they can assault and kill people with relative impunity but they can't 'poke' a lady of the night without repercussions...

[Memory Hole]

Aren't they all prostitutes?

[Lily Bulero]

The article says the charge was "consorting with persons of ill repute," which seems like a fairly broad charge - and though it may have involved carnal relations in this particular situation, I can see how simply having dinner with persons of ill repute might be a violation. You know, tax collectors and sinners.

[Lily Bulero]

And according to the article:

"This is the second suspension Walaski has received this year. In April, he received a three-day suspension for discarding what appeared to be synthetic marijuana after a drug arrest. He also did not turn on his bodycam during a previous arrest and failed to complete proper reports for both incidents."

[Bubba Jones]

He discarded evidence and dated a prostiture instead of arresting her.

I am beginning to see why they didn't like him.

[Tom Bombadil]

He's going back to basic training where he will learn, once again, the proper way to plant evidence and sexually abuse prostitutes.

[Sevo]

"China limits oil trade to North Korea and bans textile trade"
[...]
"China is North Korea's most important trading partner, and one of its only sources of hard currency.
The ban on textiles trade will hurt Pyongyang's income, while China's oil exports are the country's main source of petroleum products."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41370722

BTW, if you read anything about the nork 'textile trade', it has to do with a locally-invented synthetic which does not take dying well, and is very uncomfortable on the skin. The nork population pretty much has to wear it; it's the nork national cloth!
I guess it's something, but you and I both know who is going to suffer from that, especially as Autumn hits the norks.
If ever there was a use for a drone/missile strike, it would be here, but there's no doubt that Jung Un is properly paranoid. I'm sure his location is a state secret at the highest level.
There are probably, oh, 30 or 40 people who hope he keeps on living and then the rest of the world population. Hey, commie-kid! There's someone more hated than you!