Trump Releases Order for Health Insurance Reforms, U.S. Out of UNESCO, Yellowstone May Destroy Us All: P.M. Links

• 

  Ingram Publishing/Newscom

  President Donald Trump's executive order today is intended open up the possibility of less expensive, less comprehensive health insurance than the Affordable Care Act demands and could potentially make it easier for small businesses to band together to buy insurance. Peter Suderman analyzes the order here and the reflexive tendency by some to describe the order as "undermining" Obamacare.

• The Trump administration announced today the United States would withdraw from UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, due to alleged anti-Israel bias. It had stopped contributing dues to UNESCO years ago after it admitted Palestinians.
• The expensive soda tax for Cook County, Illinois, has officially been repealed, despite a big ad blitz by wealthy nanny Michael Bloomberg trying to save it.
• Northern California wildfires continue to spread, resisting firefighters' best efforts. The latest tally has 23 dead, but there are hundreds of residents unaccounted for.
• Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants Congress to tighten the rules for people seeking asylum and claims the system is full of abuse and fraud.
• An American woman, her three kids, and her Canadian husband have been freed from the custody of the Taliban-supporting Haqqani network in Pakistan. But the United States hit a snag trying to fly them out because the husband has ties to a man who spent 10 years in Guantanamo Bay and did not want to board a plane to bring him home.
• Trump can't destroy the world in a fiery holocaust if Yellowstone National Park does it first!
• A British punk rock guitarist who was apparently radicalized by ISIS has reportedly been killed by a U.S. drone strike on the Syrian-Iraq border.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A British punk rock guitarist who was apparently radicalized by ISIS has reportedly been killed by a U.S. drone strike on the Syrian-Iraq border.

Is that good for punk rock cred?

[John]

Being a part of the Manson Family didn't seem to harm Bobby Beausoleil's career.

[Aloysious]

...punk rock guitarist who was apparently radicalized by ISIS has reportedly been killed...

Everyone's a critic.

[Citizen X - #6]

That's punk as fuck.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Only if you define punk as being a fucking moron.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Kind of, yeah.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Syd al-Nansee?

[Fist of Etiquette]

An American woman, her three kids, and her Canadian husband have been freed from the custody of the Taliban-supporting Haqqani network in Pakistan.

In exchange for Bowe Bergdahl.

[DJF]

""""were kidnapped by militants while hiking in Afghanistan in late 2012."""

I think keeping them out of the US would increase the US IQ

[Libertarian]

Did you see this?

"Coleman was pregnant when she was captured, and the couple had three children while being held."

[Mickey Rat]

I suppose they did not have much else to do.

[db]

Up the butt, no hostage babies.

[Dr Fallout]

db, that sentence would make a beautiful Hallmark card.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The expensive soda tax for Cook County, Illinois, has officially been repealed, despite a big ad blitz by wealthy nanny Michael Bloomberg trying to save it.

It's like he gets a kickback from these things.

[Crusty Juggler]

Sheriff wonders who will wash cars as Louisiana undergoes prison reform

In the midst of the Louisiana's incarceration reform, one local sheriff is unhappy that the "good prisoners" who wash officers' cars will get their freedom early due to a new state law.

"In addition to the bad ones, they are releasing some good ones that we use everyday to wash cars, change the oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen, to do all that, where we save money," Sheriff Steve Prator of Caddo Parish said in a press conference this week.

He makes a good point.

[Anomalous]

Yeah, slavery is cheaper than having to pay people for their labor.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's exactly the kind of lack of self awareness that I would expect from a Louisiana sheriff.

[CE]

So keep the good prisoners in for the max term, and let out the bad dudes who won't do as they're told? Is that his plan?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

I hope the supervolcano doesn't kill us all before my trip to Yellowstone.

[Citizen X - #6]

Trump can't destroy the world in a fiery holocaust if Yellowstone National Park does it first!

If you're gonna link to some loud-ass autoplay video then i hope it DOES destroy the world.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, I made the mistake of going to that story earlier on a browser that didn't have autoplay disabled.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...and the reflexive tendency by some to describe the order as "undermining" Obamacare.

Just like the Titanic lifeboats were undermining the iceberg.

[Mike Laursen]

The argument is that it undermines Obamacare because younger, healthier people will not pay on as much. However, that assumes there is currently an adequate baseline of compliance from young, healthy people.

Is there? I haven't seen any data on how many people in that demographic have been getting coverage under Obamacare, or of how many have paid penalties in lieu of obtaining coverage.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It seems Obamacare is dying in large part because the healthy youth pool has been wholly insufficient already. Human nature has already undermined it.

[Bronson, Missouri]

Remember the days when "radicalized" meant "got cooler by getting a new bike from my parents"? Good times...

[Crusty Juggler]

Did you just watch Gleaming The Cube or something?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

"A British punk rock guitarist who was apparently radicalized by ISIS has reportedly been killed by a U.S. drone strike on the Syrian-Iraq border."

That's so fucking metal.

[Crusty Juggler]

They quickly turned on him: Clinton Aides Gang Up on Boyfriend of Harvey Weinstein Accuser

Current and former aides to Hillary Clinton ganged up on Anthony Bourdain on Twitter after Bourdain criticized Clinton for her delayed response to the sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

Me-owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Dear Clinton aides,

She's not gonna fuck you, bros.

[BestUsedCarSales]

That's why they do this. It's the only way to guarantee she won't.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

On Hillary Clinton's wedding anniversary, @Bourdain had nothing better to do than attack her. Sad.

Christ, why are these people still clinging to this perennial loser? The Clinton Foundation doesn't have a future. Are they deluded into thinking Chelsea will save them?

[John]

Because they don't have anything else. That is how it works for these sorts of creatures. All they have in life is access to someone powerful. And they are unlikely to get access to someone else once that person is no longer powerful.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, I thought the same thing. She's not really cult-of-personality material.

[John]

They invested their entire careers in being toadies for Hillary Clinton. They thought they were going to rule the world and in one election night the whole thing went up in smoke.

[Fist of Etiquette]

With all that's going on, it's easy to forget the pure joy found in the immediate aftermath of that vote.

[John]

The montages that showed the people at her campaign rally all cheering and happy at 7 pm eastern that night and then sobbing hysterically around 11 are some of the most enjoyable pieces of video ever made.

[creech]

Yeah, Santorum's kid at least was a little girl. Those Clinton toadies were pathetic.

[BestUsedCarSales]

We focus on the bad, makes us forget how blessed we truly are.

[MP]

As if anyone but a fucking Clinton stooge knows it's their wedding anniversary.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It really should be a federal holiday.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

I bet there was a big to-do that the Obama anniversary was the talk of Twitter, while no one's celebrating the marriage of a philanderer and the woman who gave us Donald Trump.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Obligatory.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Hilarious response to Brian Fallon:

"hey remember when you were going to be white house press secretary but then your boss lost to a reality show host with a 50-word vocabulary"

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Hillary's aides are all, "Harvey's no worse than Bill. What's the biggie?"

[Fist of Etiquette]

It had stopped contributing dues to UNESCO years ago after it admitted Palestinians.

Good team-up by Obama and Trump!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Hey, anyone know if there is a Reasonable extension for Firefox or palemoon browsers?

[Rhywun]

I think it's called "fascr"?

[Crusty Juggler]

Here you go, home slice.

[Crusty Juggler]

How BuzzFeed helped turn a secret list of potential abusers in media into a burn book

To female journalists, it was just "the list." More specifically, the spreadsheet circulating from woman to woman on Wednesday was titled "SH?TY MEDIA MEN."

The crowdsourced collection of allegations of misconduct from inappropriate flirting to rape made the rounds first among the people it was created to protect. Then it made its way to some of the men they named. And finally, it became the basis for an eminently clickable BuzzFeed article exposing its existence to the public. By the night's end, the link to the list was dead.

like my faith in journalistic integrity?

[Crusty Juggler]

The irresponsibility critique betrays a misunderstanding of what the list was about. It was meant to be private, not public. It wasn't supposed to be distributed to employers so they could summarily fire anyone who appeared on it. No such thing would ever happen anyway. Sure, a news organization could have chosen to use the information in the spreadsheet as a springboard for a real story, rather than to churn out a quick think piece that deprived other journalists of that chance. But the point was community: You have my back, and I have yours.

The list was the hallway, bathroom and barroom warnings passed between women for generations in written form. Those have long been the best hope of women seeking to shield themselves and their peers from sexual assault, because many feel that making a public accusation and allowing a man to respond rarely works, that using official channels rarely works, that even filing suit often doesn't work.

Is it that difficult not to sexually harass a woman? I never understood this. What the fuck is wrong with you people?

[John]

It is pretty easy not to sexually harass a woman. You know what is even easier? Anonymously slandering someone. That list is pretty fucking sinister. Basically, they wanted to make a list whereby any woman in the industry could anonymously ruin the career of any man by her word alone.

[Citizen X - #6]

Some creepos feel that women should be flattered that a creepo is creeping on them? I don't know, because i am not a shitty dude.

[Rhywun]

I can't get past the pretentious prose.

[mad.casual]

Is it that difficult not to sexually harass a woman?

Is it that difficult not to make a list of men who flirted with you inappropriately, share it with your friends, mingle in some rape allegations, and share the whole thing with Buzzfeed?

Seriously, I'm not a good judge but I'd put myself at about a 6 on a good day and I've been subjected to workplace flirting and sexual harassment. I can only imagine that the men I've worked with who are better looking than I am have been subjected to the same or worse. We somehow managed not to make a(nother) list to ward men off of working with women.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I imagine the type of person who gets really far in journalism tends to be a personality type that doesn't accept "no" easily.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Though, to be fair, it sounds like it was mostly just a casual list of who to watch out for. Nothing particularly sinister about that, only it becoming public and Buzzfeed attempting to elevate it to action is when it becomes a witch hunt.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Or is that "Journ-O-Listic" integrity.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants Congress to tighten the rules for people seeking asylum and claims the system is full of abuse and fraud.

I'm not sure Congress is willing to start down the slippery slope of looking at abuse- and fraud-ridden government systems.

[CE]

...claims the system is full of abuse and fraud.

What is waste, chopped liver?

[Crusty Juggler]

Why Bureaucrats Don't Seem to Care
It concludes:

If bureaucrats appear distant and unconcerned, if they seem cold and expressionless, it is important to remember that they are like that in part because of the policy choices that were made by their fellow citizens through the democratic process, and the meager resources that were placed at their disposal. To express sympathy for bureaucrats is not to condone the system of public assistance they represent, but to acknowledge that it does not leave them unscathed either.

I can also think of other reasons.

[Citizen X - #6]

but to acknowledge that it does not leave them unscathed either.

Well then, they should quit.

[Bronson, Missouri]

1) Go to a cafeteria in a government building
2) Count the number of people taking naps
3) Consider taking a 2nd pass at the "meager resources" line

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

That's a silly conclusion, and his perspective is skewed by working at one of the more soul-sucking bureaucracies, but his argument about constrained discretion looks right to me.

[Rhywun]

the meager resources that were placed at their disposal

LOLOLOL - one of the most overused cliches in fiction. The cop, the teacher, overworked and underpaid, outdated technology... all of it complete nonsense.

[Citizen X - #6]

Judging by my kid's middle school's website, the "outdated technology" cliche is certainly true.

[MP]

Agreed. All the money goes into salaries, benefits, and Administration. My word, have you ever seen what they pay a "Technology" resource at a public school? Hardly enough to get a HS graduate who knows how to make web pages on Squarespace.

[Citizen X - #6]

I tried to log in to check her grades and i'm pretty sure i saw a dancing baby.

[Crusty Juggler]

Did you add sequence oyster?

[Dr Fallout]

yep, and some flashing "under construction" banners too.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

My word, have you ever seen what they pay a "Technology" resource at a public school?

But the Multiculturalist, Diversity Czar is makin' BANK!

[Homple]

Albert Jay Nock on the attitude of bureaucracy:

Once, I remember, I ran across the case of a boy who had been sentenced to prison, a poor, scared little brat, who had intended something no worse than mischief, and it turned out to be a crime. The judge said he disliked to sentence the lad; it seemed the wrong thing to do; but the law left him no option. I was struck by this. The judge, then, was doing something as an official that he would not dream of doing as a man; and he could do it without any sense of responsibility, or discomfort, simply because he was acting as an official and not as a man. On this principle of action, it seemed to me that one could commit almost any kind of crime without getting into trouble with one's conscience. Clearly, a great crime had been committed against this boy; yet nobody who had had a hand in it? the judge, the jury, the prosecutor, the complaining witness, the policemen and jailers? felt any responsibility about it, because they were not acting as men, but as officials.

[emphasis mine]

[I'm Not Sure]

"I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them." - Judge Smails

[CE]

Because it's a soul-crushing job to crush peoples spirit?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

"Trump can't destroy the world in a fiery holocaust if Yellowstone National Park does it first!"

The apocalypse scenario that actually gives me spine tingles because it is inevitable. Kinda feel like all the ridiculous first world problems everyone cries about today, i.e., Trumpocalypse, deserve the real fiery stuff to put us in our place...

[Crusty Juggler]

Hell hath no fury like Rose McGowan: 'I told you her raped me over and over': Rose McGowan says Amazon and Jeff Bezos killed series she was developing for the studio when she objected to her rapist 'HW' working on TV projects

Rose McGowan is claiming that Amazon option a television series from her only to kill it soon after when she voiced concern about having to working with her rapist.

'I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn't been proven. I said I was the proof,' said McGowan on Thursday in a tweet directed at company founder Jeff Bezos.

'I had already sold a script I wrote to your studio, it was in development. When I heard a Weinstein bailout was in the works.'

She then added: 'I forcefully begged studio head to do the right thing. I was ignored. Deal was done. Amazon won a dirty Oscar.'

That 'dirty Oscar' seems to be a reference to Casey Affleck's Best Actor win for 'Manchester by the Sea' earlier this year, an award that Ben's younger brother took home despite two women accusing him of sexual harassment.

Oh snap.

[John]

Is there anyone who wasn't enabling Harvey Weinstein?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

I don't like that he's being referred to as HW. I keep thinking people are talking about HW Bush, and wondering what he's done lately that's so terrible.

(((Weinstein))) is not difficult to write.

[Crusty Juggler]

Keep up that talk and you will be next on her list, pal.

[John]

The thought of HW Bush trying to force himself on actresses is oddly funny. It is one of those things you just can't take seriously.

[Conchfritters]

No, HW Bush's White House was more into male escorts. His son had one in the White House press pool.

[Citizen X - #6]

Dirty Oscar was my nickname in college.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Oscar was my penis' name in Middle School.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

This is so unbelievably awesome. I'm looking forward to the next several months of McGowan going all Boudicca on Hollywood.

[Crusty Juggler]

AT&T shares slump after it warns of video losses

Traditional TV continues to lose customers to the web.

AT&T (T) said Wednesday that it lost 90,000 video subscribers in the U.S. in the third quarter, a steeper drop than the same period last year. That includes a gain of 300,000 customers in DirecTV Now, an online cable-like service that is cheaper than traditional TV.

The telecom company blames tough competition, the impact from hurricanes and stricter credit standards for customers.

The main reason consumers are "cutting the cord"? Price. More than 85 percent of cord-cutters say that pay TV services are too expensive, according to eMarketer. The internet also gives users a variety of ways for watching video

CHANGE IS SCARY!

[Rhywun]

The internet also gives users a variety of ways for watching video

All of which suck. If cable wants to win back customers they need to be fighting ESPN and the like who are the cause of this problem.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Offer a la carte pricing and they'll survive regardless of whether ESPN will play ball or not. There's no point paying hundreds of dollars a month for 300 channels when you only watch about 10 of them on a regular basis and about 20-25 total, max. But I bet people would be willing to pay $50 a month for those 20 channels since they'd be getting value for their money.

ESPN could counter by offering streaming for a nominal fee, but if people are already paying an aggregate for other streaming content, what's the motivation to add ESPN for $10-20 a month? The only thing worth watching on that station anymore is college football.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

The main reason consumers are "cutting the cord"? Price. More than 85 percent of cord-cutters say that pay TV services are too expensive, according to eMarketer. The internet also gives users a variety of ways for watching video

Count me as one.

Adios, Ah Te' Te'.

[Crusty Juggler]

Couple caught having sex in bar bathroom, then in portable potty

A man and a woman were caught having sex in a bathroom at a Tennessee nightclub last week, police said.

At first, police ordered the couple to leave and get a taxi home, but the two had other ideas.

While one officer escorted the 26-year-old Clarksville man out of the bathroom, a female officer told the "completely naked" 28-year-old woman to get dressed.

"It was clear that the two subjects had been fornicating in the restroom," according to the warrant.

While the female officer waited, the woman called her back in. The woman said she "did not understand what the big deal was."

Officers kept an eye on them to make sure neither tried to drive.

"Instead, they both entered the nearby Porta-Potty," according to the warrants. "Officers banged on the door several times before they opened it up. Both subjects' clothing was once again disheveled. It was clear they were attempting to fornicate again."

Respect.

[Citizen X - #6]

"We was fixin' to fornicate, too!"

[Libertarian]

It is not true that woman had PMS, or as they call it in the south, FTS (fixin to start)

[Conchfritters]

Whores of Babylon.

[Aloysious]

They need to watch Dr. Creflo Dollar so they can learn How to Avoid Fornication (Part 1)

[Crusty Juggler]

Rush Limbaugh says Trump's NFL stance is 'starting to make me nervous'

"Trump is in the right, don't misunderstand," Limbaugh said on his show. "But no president should have dictatorial power over individual behavior. A president should not be able to tell the owners of a business how their employees are gonna act and what they're gonna swear allegiance to and all that. That's up to the owners to do, and it's up to the owners to come up with a system of punishment if their employees violate company policy, like it is in any other business."

Limbaugh stressed that he thinks Trump's "motives are pure" but he said he doesn't "think that it is useful or helpful for any employee anywhere to be forced to do something because the government says they must. That scares hell out of me."

No shit.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

How about this - until the Trump organization plays the national anthem at all their locations at the start of the workday, I'll watch whatever the hell I want.

[Citizen X - #6]

That would certainly confuse all the Honduran groundskeepers and Slovakian waitresses.

[John]

You should watch whatever you want regardless.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Missing the point entirely, but yes.

When people tell you what you can/can't watch/listen to/read, be aware that they're really trying to tell you what to think.

[John]

That is true. I am not sure I have heard many people say you shouldn't watch the NFL, only that they refuse to.

[mad.casual]

Rush Limbaugh says Trump's NFL stance is 'starting to make me nervous'
...
No shit.

Still better than CNN.

[Crusty Juggler]

The expensive soda tax for Cook County, Illinois, has officially been repealed, despite a big ad blitz by wealthy nanny Michael Bloomberg trying to save it.

Go away!

[Rich]

Jones, who has been more recently identified as Umma Hussain al Britani, Sakinah Hussain or "the White Widow," has reportedly died following a drone attack.

So, now she's been identified as Umma Gumma?

[Juice]

Careful with that axe, Eugene.

[Rich]

The Trump administration announced today the United States would withdraw from UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency,

ending all criticism that the US is engaging in cultural appropriation.

[John]

It is clear why the left intelligentsia's response to Lilla has been so vicious. For an identitarian ? for whom the personal is so deeply constituted by the political ? embracing Lilla's vision requires a radical transformation of self. Despite his fondness for ridiculing the religious intensity of the "social justice warrior," Lilla fails to recognize that a rejection of one's political expressivism could be experienced as a religious deconversion. For some, the remedy may well be worse than the disease. Of this reality Lilla is oddly oblivious. And this is tragic. As much as one may enjoy Lilla's scorching wit, a stronger seasoning of empathy might have occasioned some advice for those navigating such a discomfiting transition.

http://lareviewofbooks.org/art.....rk-lilla/#!

Wow.

[Aloysious]

This really stuck out:

Even more significant is how the discourse handicaps persuasion in the public square.

Speaking as an X [?] This is not an anodyne phrase. It tells the listener that I am speaking from a privileged position on this matter [?] It sets up a wall against questions, which by definition come from a non-X perspective. And it turns the encounter into a power relation: the winner of the argument will be whoever has invoked the morally superior identity and expressed the most outrage at being questioned.

Identitarian epistemology thus forecloses the possibility of normative communication. Argument is replaced by taboo. "At times our more privileged campuses can seem stuck in the world of archaic religion. Only those with an approved identity status are, like shamans, allowed to speak on certain matters."

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Identitarian epistemology thus forecloses the possibility of normative communication.

Stealing that.

[Bra Ket]

Automatically translated from the original Japanese?

[Longtobefree]

"the reflexive tendency by some to describe the order as "undermining" Obamacare."

Well, allowing the temporary policies to run for 364 days is just returning it to what Obamacare had 'as written'. The limit was administratively reduced to 90 days by Mr. Pen and Phone when too many people actually started buying the policies because they were affordable and sufficient for their needs. Hardly qualifies as undermining.
And those affinity groups are just the same dodge being used by congress to avoid following the law they passed for the rest of us.

Sour grapes. Obamacare did not get repealed, so live with it.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Christian B., please take note:

Eight, count 'em, EIGHT links, all with a more than a three word explanation, out at 4:30, AND with Tolkien-esq Alt-Text.

This, Son, is How It Is Done.

Kudos, Shackford, KUDOS.

[Fist of Etiquette]

No. It's too busy.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

You are too busy.

[Dr Fallout]

No. It's too busy.

grab "its" leg?

[CE]

Yeah, 4 links is not links. You can't just phone these things in.

[imo]

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