Virginia Gubernatorial Race Wraps Up, GOP Tax Plan Might Raise Your Taxes, and Rand Paul Will Be Back at Work Next Week: P.M. Links

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  United States Senate/Wikimedia Commons

  Virginia's gubernatorial race wraps up today. You can read Reason's coverage of the race here and here.

• New analysis showing that the GOP's tax plan would raise taxes on some households has Republicans on the defensive.

• Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of 'direct aggression' after a missile fired from Yemen was intercepted over the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that Rand Paul will be back in business next week. Paul had been injured after being attacked by a neighbor last Friday.

• The Seattle Times has an in-depth look at how the Lynnwood light rail project has managed to come in $500 million over budget.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

New analysis showing that the GOP's tax plan would raise taxes on some households has Republicans on the defensive.

That's how they're going to pay for those tax cuts.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Roy Halladay killed in plane crash.

[Pro Libertate]

RIP.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Paul had been injured after being attacked by a neighbor last Friday.

A DEMOCRAT neighbor. Don't hide the facts, Reason!

[Rich]

That's why it's a "trivial matter"!

[BYODB]

I don't think party affiliation matters, but from the description of Rand's injuries he's a fucking lunatic going 'back to work' in a week. Dude is driven.

[Citizen X - #6]

Virginia's gubernatorial race wraps up today. You can read Reason's coverage of the race here and here.

I'm voting on the way home, so it ain't over yet!

[BestUsedCarSales]

I love voting as a libertarian because I can sometimes see my individual vote in regional breakdowns. That happened once in a city election in Tucson where my neighborhood had exactly 1 libertarian vote.

[Citizen X - #6]

It's like getting photographed by the Google Streetview car - sort of like being famous, but only if people know where to look.

[Rich]

It *is* a cheap thrill, isn't it?

[BestUsedCarSales]

No, it's the richest thrill of all. Looking at a map and being able to say "Only I am right!"

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Slaver.

[Citizen X - #6]

Have you read nothing about the major party candidates here? It's self defense.

[some guy]

More like a desperate rear-guard delaying tactic.

[Citizen X - #6]

Well... yeah.

[some guy]

I'm kind of surprised the L party couldn't even field a candidate for AG or Lieutenant.

Of course, my Democrat Delegate is running unopposed.... again.

[Red Tony]

Why not run against him/her as a libertarian? Your message could be "hey, at least I'm not screwing things up as bad as THIS guy! (yet)"

[Citizen X - #6]

My district has a Libertarian running against the Democrat (the incumbent, also a Democrat, quit in order to run for city treasurer). The Republicans didn't bother to field a candidate.

[Dead inside]

I live in Pittsburgh where everyone must be a Democrat (look it up it's THE LAW) So most polls run unopposed or on both tickets with the occasional "tin-hat" party. I usually vote 3rd party or tin hat and when there is only 1 option, about 85% of the time, I do a write-in vote for myself. I once got 8 votes for governor by simply saying I'm voting for myself when discussing the typical Giant Douche v. Turd Sandwich choice with friends. (I only have 7).

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Sounds like your town in VA and my town in NJ are exactly the same.

[some guy]

Listening to radio or watching TV in the area you wouldn't even know there was a Libertarian on the ballot. You would, however, know that Gillespie is a racist GOP goon and Northam is as destined to win as Hillary was.

[Citizen X - #6]

My local paper has been pretty good about including Hyra. They even had a couple of articles about his attempts to get into the debates.

[some guy]

Hampton Roads is probably the last part of VA that will go completely insane.

[Citizen X - #6]

Unfortunately, it will also be the first part to sink into the sea, which is what happens when you pile seven whole cities onto the fractured bedrock rim of a meteor crater.

[some guy]

Every time the Midtown tunnel floods its AGW's fault, dude. The science is settled.

[Citizen X - #6]

Yeah, it's totally climate that makes VDOT keep forgetting to close the floodgates when a storm comes.

[Red Tony]

(The climate of "not gonna get fired 'cause I work for the government," that is!)

[BestUsedCarSales]

Look, they're really stressed out from worrying about it all day.

[Red Tony]

If by "worrying about" you mean "spanking."

[BestUsedCarSales]

God, look at that disgusting head of hair. Wish that that attacker had had the decency to shave it off. God damned Lefty tricksters can't do shit right.

[Chipper Morning Truthjammer]

Alt-text: This is as far as I can smile without wincing.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Seattle Times has an in-depth look at how the Lynnwood light rail project has managed to come in $500 million over budget.

Plus it's actually going to be quite heavy!

[BestUsedCarSales]

How deep does this go?

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's what she said.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I feel like she should already know that one.

[Red Tony]

She was hoping the answer was "more than two inches."

[BestUsedCarSales]

She was probably hoping as well that one didn't describe their penis size with "deep"

[Citizen X - #6]

"Baby, i'm hung like the Marianas Trench... cold, pressurized, and utterly lightless."

[Mickey Rat]

"We went a bit too far on the graft, didn't we?

[Citizen X - #6]

The Seattle Times has an in-depth look at how the Lynnwood light rail project has managed to come in $500 million over budget.

Psh. Rounding error. Get back to me when they get into REAL money.

[H. Farnham]

"$500 million over budget."

I would think this would be touted as a wild success... ya know, relatively speaking.

[John]

http://twitter.com/JeffFlake/s.....3853426690

Jeff Flake apparently doesn't know there is such a thing as the Lautenberg Amendment. Can Reason please lose its mancrush on this ass clown?

[BestUsedCarSales]

If only there was a law that made it so current laws were actually applied...

[John]

Flake is also pledging to do something about the Loophole that allowed the loser in Texas to get a gun. The guy is just an embarrassment. It is only gun rights. It is not like Reason ever cared about those anyway. Right?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Actually after the Paddock shooting quite a few writers here came out in defense of gun rights.

Tucille

Ed Kray Kray

Apparently you can't include more than two links in a post.

Some of the people were certainly less enthused, KMW and Gillespie in particular. But I would disagree with your blanket sarcasm.

[John]

My point is that gun rights are always negotiable. Sure, some people support them. But no politician who is otherwise liked by Reason ever is thought less of if they turn out to be a gun grabber. Reason's love affair with Flake will continue unabated despite his appalling positions on guns. Gun rights, unlike immigration or drugs, are always negotiable with Reason.

[BestUsedCarSales]

That is fair. Though I wonder how much of that is dominated by the highest editorial levels.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

C'mon, BUCS. It's not fair at all.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I just got no fight in me today.

[John]

So Reason won't stop lauding Flake? How is not fair Green?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

If Flake's position on guns is "appalling," so is his immigration policy relative to Reason's position on immigration (especially your perception of their position). And Rand's immigration policy would be considered downright tyrannical. Rand certainly isn't Pure on Mexicans, ass sex and pot, but writers are chummy with and complimentary to both senators nonetheless.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

I recall both of them criticizing the proposed bump stock ban. Pretty sure Matt's the only one to say he's fine with it, over on that we the fifth p-cast.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I believe, KMW expressed in one of the Heaton led discussions that she doesn't care if they are banned or not. I may be mixing it up with Matt, as I remember that podcast as well.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

It stuck out to me because I didn't expect so many writers here to come out criticizing the bump stock ban. Tuccille and Sullum, sure, but it seemed like all hands were on deck about this one proposed regulation (notable to me, as my initial reaction was more like Matt's). Still, she may have given a softer opinion on that podcast.

I'm certainly not gonna go back and listen to confirm!

[BestUsedCarSales]

Me neither. But if I recall it was kind of the classic, "I certainly don't care if they ban them, let them have it." Rather than actively supporting their ban. That does not make it any more or less correct, but that's how I recall it going.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of 'direct aggression' after a missile fired from Yemen was intercepted over the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

Direct aggression would have been a missile fired from Iran.

[John]

Not if it was the Iranians who fired it.

[Citizen X - #6]

The Yemeni government is a Saudi puppet and it's at war with rebels who are Iranian puppets. It's like a Jeff Dunham show, except slightly less excruciating to watch.

[Red Tony]

Fun fact: Dunham is apparently popular in the Middle East.

[ChipToBeSquare]

Clearly the solution to a Saudi/Iran proxy conflict is to impose a blockade upon the poorest country in the region, which gets by through selling coffee and importing food, and hold the Saudis hands as they drop bombs upon the hundreds of thousands of people dying of starvation and preventable diseases

That Obama. Best president of my lifetime

[John]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/07/.....index.html

Views of the Democratic Party hit the lowest mark in 25 years. And they are out of power. The best way to get the public to like you is generally to not be in charge. The Democrats are not and people still hate them. Wow.

[Rich]

This "may be considered an act of war", state media quoted the prince as telling UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in a telephone conversation.

So, you're saying there's a chance it "may not be considered an act of war?", state media quoted UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as asking the prince in a telephone conversation.

[Stormy Dragon]

That has some Republicans in the Senate pushing for significant changes, such as an even larger ? and pricier ? expansion of the child tax credit, a popular middle-income break, than the one House Republicans are contemplating.

Because taxes are theft, but it's only wrong to steal from people with children.

[John]

Pretty much.

[Citizen X - #6]

Are you accusing the Republican Party of being bad at libertarianism? Gasp!

[Pro Libertate]

I am, the statist fucks.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Ilya Somin shoots fish in a barrel.

In an interesting recent essay for the Niskanen Center, Will Wilkinson argues that libertarian skepticism about democracy is a major cause of the current pathologies of the political right in the United States. More specifically, he contends that, as a result of embracing an absolutist conception of property rights, libertarians have become hostile to democracy to the point of seeking a total "escape from politics." While earlier "classical liberals" sought only to put constitutional "trigger locks" on democracy, today's libertarians seek to eliminate it entirely.

These ideas, Wilkinson argues, have infected the mainstream Republican right, and become a major factor in the latter's undermining of various key norms of liberal democracy. If true, Wilkinson's thesis would be an important contribution to our understanding of the history of both libertarianism and American politics more generally. But, unfortunately, every step in his story is either greatly exaggerated or simply wrong. Libertarian skepticism about democracy is not primarily the result of the factors Wilkinson cites, and it is not a significant contributor to the pathologies of the conservative right. Far from being a key cause of our current problems, it can be a useful part of the solution.

[John]

The problem is not skepticism towards Democracy. The problem is that claiming that certain things are sacrosanct and above argument quickly becomes a slippery slope. What starts as "these are my principles" quickly degenerates into an easy way of morally delegitimizing your opponents and avoiding making the substantive case for your positions.

If there is a pathology on the right, it is that they have started to argue and act like Progressives and just name call and try and claim anyone who objects to their position doesn't hold a morally legitimate view instead of making the substantive case for their positions. And for the record, Somin is as guilty as anyone of that.

[jcw]

Wow.

[SIV]

Somin destroys Wilkinson?

Cuck on cuck violence!

[John]

it is not a fair fight. Wilkinson is a Dave Weigel level moron.

[BestUsedCarSales]

You're a joke account, aren't you?

[Citizen X - #6]

Yes, but he's not in on the joke.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I like that he's making the classic argument that, "Ugh, these modern X Party members are so crazy. If only they were reasonable like older members."

[John]

Yesterday Somin was saying that the home mortgage deduction needs to be eliminated because "it benefits the rich". Apparently, only the rich are supposed to pay taxes.

[mad.casual]

While earlier "classical liberals" sought only to put constitutional "trigger locks" on democracy, today's libertarians seek to eliminate it entirely.

Given his lack of understanding about ratchets and locking mechanisms, I question his ability to shoot fish in a barrel safely and effectively.

Kinda makes you want to kick him in the gonads to engage his classical kick-to-the-groin trigger locks and then ask whether he'd prefer to remain a classical liberal on the matter and simply enforce the locks or escape from the groin kicking altogether.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not much more dubious about democracy than the Founders were, and, frankly, anyone who uses their head for things other than driving nails into the wall. Democratic components to a political system make sense, but the last century shows how even democratic power runs astray. Apologies to the anarchists in the room

[John]

Sure it can. And I am skeptical of Democracy as well. But any power, no matter how benign or enlightened, that doesn't come with the consent of the governed, is illegitimate and doomed to fail. Basically, you are only as free as the society you have. No amount of trigger locks and other such checks, no matter how tyrannical and undemocratic changes that.

[Pro Libertate]

Humans don't have a good record when it comes to having power over others. That's why limiting government is so critical.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Agreed. Democracy works much better when there's very little to vote on.

[Pro Libertate]

You can read government officials saying, even into the 20th century, that they don't have the power to do something. Does anyone do that anymore while in power?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Apology... accepted.

How are you doing, ProL?

[Pro Libertate]

Good. No recurrence, 27 months in. Still on oral chemo, but no real side effects.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Good to hear.

[Pro Libertate]

Thanks. I really don't want a special sad post about my greatest comments. . .at least, not for many decades.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

The "trigger locks" analogy is Wilkinson's. Looking over the original article, he appears to be very proud of it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Virginia's gubernatorial race wraps up today.

I would just DIE if my state was named after a WOMAN.

[Citizen X - #6]

Fuck you, Philadelphia-adjacent person! Our flag has a titty AND murder on it!

[BestUsedCarSales]

Still not as good as the Flag of the Benin Empire

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Titty Murder was the name of my band in college.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Grindcore is an underappreciated genre.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Grindcore was my nickname in Salsa Dancing class.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Filthacrapia is on the far end of the Commonwealth. It's practically New Jerksey.

[CE]

My state flag has a grizzly bear. Top that.

[SIV]

Dy-no-mite!

[Pro Libertate]

It's not named for woman, per se, but of a sexual state.

[Red Tony]

No, I'm pretty sure the sexual state is Georgia. They love making pigs squeal!

[Pro Libertate]

Georgia was named after a dude.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The other Georgia.

[Pro Libertate]

Who was that Georgia named after?

[loveconstitution1789]

King George II of England.

[Red Tony]

Wait, is that why the Devil went down on Georgia?

[loveconstitution1789]

Its what the ladies like!

[Rat on a train]

Virginia is for lovers

[SIV]

Virginia's gubernatorial race wraps up today. You can read Reason's coverage of the race here and here.

For those who don't have time to read: tReason is pulling for "Libertarian-Democrat" Ralph Northam

[Rhywun]

I heard the race for NYC mayor is on track to be the lowest voter turnout since they started letting dames vote. Another Deblasio mandate!

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Why vote when you know the results before the election?

[BYODB]

Yeah, honestly I ask myself that a lot. It's baffling that anyone bothers when only one person is running; they can't lose.

[Atlas Slugged]

Roy Halladay dies in plane crash. As both a MLB & Phillie fan, this is shitty news. Guy was a stud pitcher and reports were he was a stand up guy. This is not news I wanted to hear today...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sport.....ocid=ientp

[John]

Didn't he pitch a perfect game one year in the playoffs for Philadelphia? He always seemed like a very good guy. Real shame.

[Atlas Slugged]

No hitter versus the Reds in the 2008 Divisional Series. Only walked one guy.

[John]

yeah. It was the first no hitter in the playoffs or world series since Don Larson. I remember that. I had forgotten he walked a guy. One hell of a game though.

[Atlas Slugged]

I got to see his first career start as a Phillie on Opening Day 2009 in DC. He won of course. His eventual Cooperstown induction ceremony is going to be sad.

[Mazakon]

Jerry Brown combines religion, climate change and 1984

California has opened a new front in its war on Donald Trump ? the Vatican, where Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday sought to enlist the Catholic Church in his effort to undermine the president's climate policies abroad.

Brown, addressing a somber gathering of scientists, politicians and religious leaders here, rebuked Trump's rejection of mainstream climate science as a "lie within a lie," urging religious establishments to help "awaken the world" to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead, Brown called for a fundamental transformation of people's way of life.

"It's not just a light rinse," Brown said. "We need a total, I might say brainwashing. We need to wash our brains out and see a very different kind of world."

[Red Tony]

Goddamn Jerry, you just went full Chinese Communist Party!

[BestUsedCarSales]

Someone should just follow him around and play California Uber Alles. He might not recognize it is critical of him, but it's probably better than the music he normally listens to.

[John]

Can't they just pray for an end to warming and leave the rest of us alone?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

These are the people John says are trying to "perfect" us.

[BYODB]

Well, I mean honestly John is right. Guys like Brown tell us as much all the damn time.

[Juice]

Instead, Brown called for a fundamental transformation of people's way of life.

Really living up to that Dead Kennedys song.

[John]

http://pagesix.com/2017/11/07/.....next-week/

Looks like Weinstein is going to be indicted for rape. I think he is likely screwed. I can't imagine a jury acquitting him in this environment. And then there is this little thing I like to call Federal Rule of Evidence 413, which I am sure has a counterpart in the New York State Rules of evidence. Rule 413 says that

In a criminal case in which a defendant is accused of a sexual assault, the court may admit evidence that the defendant committed any other sexual assault. The evidence may be considered on any matter to which it is relevant.

That means the prosecution can put in any evidence it has of other sexual assaults Weinstein is said to have committed and the jury can use that evidence as evidence that he is guilty in this case. He is fucked.

[Tony]

Apparently that has been found to be constitutional somehow.

[Red Tony]

Past Me has a point. This does seem to skate awfully close to double jeopardy. Not that I'm unhappy that Weinstein'll probably be put away, but that's kinda worrying.

[Tony]

The reasoning is that while excluding such character evidence is ancient legal tradition, it's not technically in violation of due process in the US constitution.

[John]

They should not have. I agree with you about that. I find that provision horrific and unfair. But, it is how things are. It is the result of the sex abuse hysteria back in the 1980s.

[Mickey Rat]

It is all part of taking rape Seriously.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

When "No" means "No".

Pakistani bride kills 17 people with poison milk in effort to escape arranged marriage, police say

[John]

That is the feel good story of the day.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Look, anything that shuts down a marriage can't be all bad, amirite?

[Tony]

My next-door neighbor has a Rand Paul sticker on his car, and his yard is also a piece of shit.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Tackle him when he next comes out of the house. But Tony, there are rules here. It needs to be a no-hands tackle.

[BestUsedCarSales]

How's he supposed to tickle him with no hands?

[Red Tony]

Feather duster.

[loveconstitution1789]

My neighbor has a Hillary 2016 and she is so dumb, she thinks socialism has never been tried before.

She is so dumb, she thinks that gun control does not violate the 2nd Amendment.

She is so dumb...

[Robespierre Josef Stalin Pot]

Today let's acknowledge what must be acknowledged. The triumph of the November Revolution led to the annihilation of the autocratic Czarist regime, a government that freed the Jews from the nightmare of Auschwitz. That defeated European fascism, put the first man in space, served as the lodestar for people looking to defeat European colonialism, promoted the position of women in professional society, administered educational programs that decreased illiteracy in a largely peasant population, and modernized a backwards autocracy into a superpower. It did so in a way that was admittedly a couple steps removed from the brutality that the United States used in any number of Central American countries and in Vietnam. Fair?

[Tony]

And now it's as bad as or worse than any third-world shithole with respect to life expectancy and social mobility.

[Red Tony]

Goddamn past me, you're on fire today!

[SIV]

D-/F+

[Red Tony]

Today let's acknowledge what must be acknowledged. The triumph of the November Revolution led to the transference of Russia from the control of the autocratic Czarist regime to a regime of tyrannical despots pursuing a failed philosophy, a government that would ally with the Nazis and then proceed to be shocked when Hitler betrayed them. A government that, alongside of its allies, killed 5 million Nazis at the cost of 20 million of their own citizens, and despite claiming to have defeated fascism left Franco standing tall in Spain and Peron leading the way in Argentina. That put the first man in space while its people starved. That served as the lodestar for both racist despots such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Hugo Chavez, and murderous despots such as Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot. That left East Germany twenty years behind West Germany?a gap that the Germans are still attempting to close today. A government that promoted the position of women in professional society, administered educational programs that decreased illiteracy in a largely peasant population, and that spent itself into bankruptcy try to pay for the upkeep of a military befitting a superpower?not realizing that it was nothing more than an autocracy built on the graves and bones of Marxist dreamers. It did so in a way that was admittedly a couple steps beyond the brutality that the United States used in any number of Central American countries and in Vietnam. Fair?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Fairer.

[Robespierre Josef Stalin Pot]

I forgot to mention that the November Revolution also ended Russia's involvement in WWI-- quite possibly the most brutal war in history.

[loveconstitution1789]

Even though millions more died in WWII than World War I?

[Red Tony]

AND a lot of them died because of incompetent Russian generalship brought on by Stalin purging his military of every single competent leader around 1938. Without that, the number of Soviet losses probably gets cut in half, Hitler doesn't get as far into Russia, and there's a decent chance the war ends earlier.

[loveconstitution1789]

Half, huh?

You know there were still good Russian generals in charge of troops and they were pushed back by better German generals and better mobile tactics?

[JWatts]

"and modernized a backwards autocracy into a superpower. It did so in a way that was admittedly a couple steps removed from the brutality that the United States "

Yes, the Soviets killing millions of people in order to modernize Russian and China is definitely a couple of steps removed from any brutality the United States ever did. It's nice that a modern Communist is willing to admit the atrocities of his ideological ancestors.

[Atlas Slugged]

But hey it only cost a few tens of millions of bodies, right? How do those omelets taste?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Gross, I prefer my mass death with organic, free-range eggs.

[Libertymike]

But are they grass fed?

[Red Tony]

There isn't much grass in Russia.

But what little there is, they ate to survive.

[loveconstitution1789]

They must call "the steppes of Russia" because of some other reason.

[Red Tony]

Yeah, because YOU STEPPES ALL OVER MY JOKE!

[loveconstitution1789]

I had to separate the chaff.

[Juice]

The triumph of the November Revolution led to the annihilation of the autocratic Czarist regime

Yes, and Russia was never cursed with that sort of thing ever again.

[Mickey Rat]

Well, except there was no czar in Russia on this date 100 years ago. He had abdicated months before and his successor refused the crown.

[Episteme]

Indeed, it was the February Revolution removed the Czarist regime. The October/November Revolution removed a fledgling republican regime through backstabbery.

[BYODB]

Jesus Christ, Rand, take a fucking vacation. I know, I know, the Republic is going down the tubes but you could have died twice in two years. Smell some roses, already.

[Pro Libertate]

He's heading for a Netflix show at this rate.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Better Call Paul?

[lap83]

would watch
(or maybe I'd chicken out at the last minute and watch something that would actually get good ratings)

[loveconstitution1789]

Orange is the New Black and Blue?

[Robespierre Josef Stalin Pot]

Historical experience has clearly demonstrated that two economic systems in particular lead to brutal outcomes: communism and libertarian miniarchism. Question: In the current environment, which economic system do its adherents nevertheless profess the most messianic faith in-- evidence aside, of course.

[CE]

Communism has been tried on a massive scale, resulting in murder, starvation, war and environmental catastrophe.

Libertarian minarchism has never been tried. The early USA came close, and economic growth was spectacular.

[Tamfang]

Paul had been injured after being attacked by a neighbor last Friday.

Wait, he was injured after the attack? What a rotten weekend!