Sessions Rescinds Marijuana Memos, Offshore Oil Drilling Boosted, Dow Hits 25,000: P.M. Links

• 

  Wang Ying Xinhua News Agency/Newscom

  Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded the 2013 memo advising federal prosecutors to focus on a narrow set of priorities (preventing access to children, et cetera) before considering bigfooting it around states that have decriminalized marijuana use trying to throw people in jail. It does not necessarily herald a coming crackdown, but folks are concerned.

• President Donald Trump's administration plans to allow for a heck of lot more offshore oil drilling.
• A follow up on the deadly "swatter"-induced raid in Wichita, Kansas: The man who called in the fake hostage situation and sent police to an oblivious family's home was still on the phone with 911 lying that he was holding the family hostage even after police fatally shot Andrew Finch and entered the home.
• Republican David Yancey will keep his Virginia House of Delegates seat and the GOP will maintain control of the house after he won a drawing this morning. The race between him and Democrat Shelly Simonds had ended in a perfect tie.
• Baltimore had to close its schools not so much because of the snow but because their crappy heating systems couldn't keep up with the cold weather.
• The U.S. and South Korea have agreed not to hold military drills while the Olympics are happening there in February.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 25,000 for the first time today.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded the 2013 memo advising federal prosecutors to focus on a narrow set of priorities...

Everyone's favorite villain.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Is he Trump's Vader or just an old Punisher?

[CE]

More like Jar-jar.

[Rufus The Monocled]

"The U.S. and South Korea have agreed not to hold military drills while the Olympics are happening there in February."

Nobody wants to see a luger get nuked by accident on national TV.

[Rich]

"... the agony of defeat."

[Rufus The Monocled]

Time to bring back the....

/narrows gaze.

[BestUsedCarSales]

This is all a complex set up so that the Korean announcers don't have to say Luger or Ruger.

[Rich]

*** craps ***

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

What's so terrifying about that?

[Jerryskids]

*srow gorf crap*

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

I think all the drama from NK is just so they can laugh at us when we try to say Pyongyang. And they're right to.

[Brandybuck]

"Pyonygang... Pongyang... Pyomgan... Pomgang... shit, I give up."

[BestUsedCarSales]

I think the sneaky thing is the difficulty part is in the P. If I recall correctly from my brief time studying Korean they have a somewhat complex Onset consonant rule structure. I seem to recall also that researchers believe that this means that Korean is evolving to have tones again.

Fun stuff.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

I think all the drama from NK is just so they can laugh at us when we try to say Pyongyang. And they're right to.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I truly believe that the modern unwillingness to mock and laugh at our differences is a true loss of a world culture.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I do as well. Just look at it like this, the people you get along with most in the world are the ones who would not be bothered by a simple or crass joke -- yet current progressive efforts are succeeding in turning any cultural commentary into wrong think. Totally and completely moving away from that ideal state that gets created within friends, family and mono-ethnic culture.

If everything is fighting words then all you'll have is war.

[Episteme]

Save the explosions for the Summer Olympics, so we can watch the runners literally out race them like in an action film?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Will be convenient. We can't identified their charred corpses but we can identify the Kenyans by those who got farthest before dying in agony.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

"but we can identify the Kenyans "

Like Obama?

[chozi]

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go to this site for more details..... http://www.startonlinejob.com

[Fist of Etiquette]

It does not necessarily herald a coming crackdown, but folks are concerned.

It heralds confusion, which is just as fun.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Donald Trump's administration plans to allow for a heck of lot more offshore oil drilling.

That's what the fish get for voting Trump.

[Aloysious]

If I had a yacht like Trump does, and was married to Melania, I'd do some offshore drilling.

[BestUsedCarSales]

And she'd have to have sex with you due to the implications.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Are you saying she's in danger?

[BestUsedCarSales]

No, of course not. That would be horrible. That would violate NAP. But the implications...

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

I have no idea what's going on in this sub-thread.

[Charles Easterly]

Hello Chipper,

Although I doubt you will check back in and see my comment, I will nonetheless post it:

The Implication

[Aloysious]

And she'd have to have sex with you due to the implications.

I have no idea what you are talking about. I was referring to extracting valuable natural resources.

[Episteme]

Trump got Aquaman's endorsement?

arches eyebrow at the ornate gold around him
"MAH MAN!"

[BestUsedCarSales]

This explains the hatred Trump keeps getting from Black Manta.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

The one's who are sleeping with the fishes always vote Donk.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The man who called in the fake hostage situation and sent police to an oblivious family's home was still on the phone with 911 lying that he was holding the family hostage even after police fatally shot Andrew Finch and entered the home.

Phew. I was afraid that police wouldn't be totally absolved of responsibility, but there you have it.

[BestUsedCarSales]

That means he was still talking after the SWAT believed they had already shot him dead! They deserve a medal for being brave in the face of a suspected ghost.

[CE]

The phone call is coming from.... another state 2,000 miles away!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Fist do you ever get angry or is it all Zen?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I purged all emotion long ago.

[Rich]

Obviously the solution is to spend a *lot* more on 911.

[CE]

Or just have Halle Berry investigate all the calls herself, like in that movie.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

President Donald Trump's administration plans to allow for a heck of lot more offshore oil drilling.

At least we won't have to topple the sovereignty of the ocean to do it.. I don't think..

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

The City of Atlantis has already sent a delegation to the UN to stop WWIII.

[CE]

But the Conch Republic has clammed up. And donned sunglasses.

[Conchfritters]

When the end comes, I hope to be in Key West enjoying my favorite appetizer as well.

[Episteme]

I don't look forward to Trump sending angry tweets to Namor the Sub-Mariner. Manhattan will be under a tidal wave again by Easter.

[BestUsedCarSales]

What's more likely with Namor is he'll just kidnap Melania or something. I loved his earliest stories where he keeps trying to steal a bride and is always confused when they almost drown underwater.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Republican David Yancey will keep his Virginia House of Delegates seat and the GOP will maintain control of the house after he won a drawing this morning.

Like Burr won his drawing against Hamilton?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Why is there only about 5 states we ever talk about? They don't even talk about huge states like Texas as much as they talk about Virginia and Oregon.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

If you want international news, go to Al Gazeebo or some other site like that.

[BestUsedCarSales]

While I will admit that Al-Jizzera has robust coverage of Midwestern occurrences, this does not excuse Reason from doing their due diligence and talking about the sad state of Wichita.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Wichitalkin'bout, BUCS?

[BestUsedCarSales]

I spent a night in Wichita two years ago and it seemed pretty suspect to be quite honest.

[Conchfritters]

Well, Jack Straw is from there. But Topeka is worse.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

What's Maine up to these days? Still busy being the North's Alabama?

[Rufus The Monocled]

I always picture Maine with a big, bushy beard.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I always picture Stephen King.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

At last, the secret to BUCS's unmatched edging technique.

[Rich]

Ayep.

[AnonCowHerd]

When I lived up there for a few years, the police blotter items posted in the paper were all DUI and incest.

[Isaac Bartram]

Is it really incest if the only women you know are all your first cousins?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Yes.

[Isaac Bartram]

Actually, you're wrong.

26 states allow first cousin marriages; most people can marry their cousin in the US.

26 states allow first cousin marriages; most people can marry their cousin in the US. ... No European country prohibits marriage between first cousins. It is also legal throughout Canada and Mexico to marry your cousin.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Yes

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Well Hinkle writes for the Richmond whatever and they just pickup his articles. That at least explains why you see a lot of VA stories.

[The Last American Hero]

Plus, VA is where most of those infamous cocktail parties are held.

[Episteme]

The press all live/work in NYC, DC, and LA now after rounds of budget cuts.

[BestUsedCarSales]

The Trump administration unveiled a controversial proposal Thursday to permit drilling in most U.S. continental-shelf waters, including protected areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic, where oil and gas exploration is opposed by governors from New Jersey to Florida, nearly a dozen attorneys general

The most important thing I'm learning is that the plural of attorney general is not attorney generals.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Illiterate bumpkin.

[BestUsedCarSales]

The schools aren't good in AZ.

[Aloysious]

That guy on the left in the picture resembles Shackcklefrod.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Good catch. Caption:
"And this, Mr. Shackford, is a picture entirely without any sort of alt-text."

[Aloysious]

laughing. out. loud.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Huh, so the guy on the right is Christian? Good to put a face to the name.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

If you want to put a face on Britches, just picture one of those infant CPR dummies.

[Sevo]

"And this, Mr. Shackford, is a picture entirely without any sort of alt-text."

Got fixed. We have sail-kid now.

[Scott S.]

I am not entirely sure how to interpret this, as I found the guy on the left to be kind of hot when I was picking out the photo.

[H. Farnham]

Narcissism is a trait shared by all great leaders. Now take your rightful place ahead of the libertarian hordes.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Republican David Yancey will keep his Virginia House of Delegates seat and the GOP will maintain control of the house after he won a drawing this morning. The race between him and Democrat Shelly Simonds had ended in a perfect tie.

I'd prefer some sort of contest of strength and guile.

[BestUsedCarSales]

So Arm-Wrestling?

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

What did he draw? Hopefully something more tasteful than some cock-n-balls.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

something more tasteful than some cock-n-balls.

Modern art wins at every fair these days. Also poems without rhyme schemes; which I hate!

[Episteme]

Don't feel bad for Simonds, though. As the second place drawing, she wins a big screen TV!

[Mock-star]

Bat fight?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Baltimore had to close its schools not so much because of the snow but because their crappy heating systems couldn't keep up with the cold weather.

Charm City? More like HVAC shitty, am I right?

[BestUsedCarSales]

You are right. In fact, any negative statement made about Baltimore is technically right.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Hey now. If it weren't for the citizens of Baltimore you'd all be speaking the English instead of American. Also our crabs are tasty and Cal Ripken.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. and South Korea have agreed not to hold military drills while the Olympics are happening there in February.

And instead drill amateur military opponents.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

The U.S. and South Korea have agreed not to hold military drills while the Olympics are happening there in February.

They scrapped the biathlon?

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

The biathlon is awesome. Skis and guns? What more could you ask for?

[Rat on a train]

Alcohol.

[Vernon Depner]

They could add stations where you have to stop and take a drink.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Tits.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 25,000 for the first time today.

Do I have to say it? DO I HAVE TO SAY IT? DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?

...

(maga)

[BestUsedCarSales]

Nice, now I have evidence you're both SIV and Hihn. This year's resolution is going swimmingly.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

What's that? To discover some form of ancient vampire chicken that likes it in the cloaca?

[BestUsedCarSales]

I'm gathering evidence to finally prove that every post here is made by the same person under different handles.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together?

[BestUsedCarSales]

"What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many."

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

I am the Tulpa
Kook kooky poo

[BestUsedCarSales]

Recent realization: Hihn + SIV = HIV. What is the meaning of this? Is a government spook behind this all?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

That's it.

Changing my handle to "Walrus".

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

This will all end with BUCS saying "Whores don't get a second chance!"

[BestUsedCarSales]

I don't say it so harshly, as I love all of God's creatures. But also, it's not like it's hard to make me come.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

It was a reference to the movie Identity. But your interpretation is much funnier.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Does this mean we have to kick up to Trump?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Shrike hardest hit.

[BestUsedCarSales]

He said it was a clear departure from the Obama administration's effort to protect areas rather than exploit them

The scary thing is that I can't tell if the news media chose to say exploit or if Trump himself used that word.

[Calidissident]

Wait so 911 was on the phone with the guy claiming to be holding the family hostage, and the police shot a guy that was not using a phone? How fucking incompetent and/or trigger happy are these clowns?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Look, that man was going to die regardless of anything else. Let's not overcomplicate things.

[Rufus The Monocled]

"The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 25,000 for the first time today."

Have progs taken to claiming the President has no bearing on the stock markets yet?

[Rich]

"Just think how high it could have gone had Hillary been elected!"

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

It's still Obama's economy. It will remain so until His Legacy is exhausted. Then, the tribulations begin.

[Domestic Dissident]

The market is running so damn hot that Dipshit Dave Weigel can't laughably pretend that he's some big-shot investor just so he can talk up the economy anymore.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Can I get another set of eyes on this? I'm trying to figure out if this is a spoof story that's gone viral.

To be fair, I've read that there's no greater concentration of semi-retarded millionaires than Nancy Pelosi country, so there's that.

When food-safety expert Bill Marler saw The New York Times' trend piece on Silicon Valley's recent obsession with raw water, he thought he was reading a headline from The Onion.

According to The Times, demand for unfiltered water is skyrocketing as tech-industry insiders develop a taste for water that hasn't been treated, to prevent the spread of bacteria or other contaminants.

In San Francisco, "unfiltered, untreated, unsterilized spring water" is selling for as much as $60.99 for a 2.5 gallon jug. Startups dedicated to untreated water are popping up. People ? including startup Juicero's cofounder Doug Evans ? are gathering gallons of untreated water from natural springs to bring to Burning Man.

[BestUsedCarSales]

It's interesting to me how anti-technology many of these tech hubs are.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

They're selling ground water. For $60.99.

[BestUsedCarSales]

It's boggling isn't it? One part of it seems almost natural, in that the rich have always distinguished themselves from everyone else by the things they can get. As all the nice things become readily available to most people due to the free market, the rich now need to distinguish themselves through consuming doo-doo water.

[SIV]

Maybe they just want to lose a few pounds on the Shigellosis Diet.

[Square = Circle]

There used to be a super fancy hipster restaurant in SF called Raw, where for premium gourmet prices they would bring you food that had been cooked in no way. It may be there still, as far as I know - I didn't seek it out a second time.

[Square = Circle]

And to nod to the irony pointed out by BUCS, the guy who took me there was a techie who was making bank at a startup during the dot-com bubble while I was getting my graduate degree in medieval lit.

[creech]

And probably bitch about the rip-off oil companies every time gasoline goes from $2.55 lto $2.60 a gallon.

[The Last American Hero]

Once they figured you could sell 10 cent coffee for 4 bucks, they took things to the next level.

[Square = Circle]

gallons of untreated water from natural springs to bring to Burning Man.

Nothing will go wrong with that. Nothing.

[Johnny Hit n Run Paulene]

Sometimes stupidity is it's own reward. Apparently clean drinking water is overrated. Millions of people in less developed countries may disagree, methinks.

[Square = Circle]

Millions of people in less developed countries may disagree, methinks.

Nonsense! Fresh, untreated Ganges water cures all illnesses!

[Rich]

Based on "It's fine till some 10-year-old girl dies a horrible death from cholera in Montecito, California,"
Ima call E. coli on this story.

[Juice]

I'll actually be first to market with a device called The Watero. It's only $400 for the unit and each 8 oz Watero pack containing only the rawest of untreated all natural Anacostia River water is only $12.99.

[Aloysious]

... wat?

$60.99 for a 2.5 gallon jug.

Never change, California

[Square = Circle]

My hippie father-in-law used to brag about hiking up to high Sierra streams and drinking the fresh, fresh, pure, pure water unstained by civilization. It just doesn't get cleaner and more pure than that, he would say.

Once my wife tried to explain to him what giardia is, as she has biology degree, but it was like he went temporarily deaf.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Used to?

Giardia?

[Square = Circle]

My telling does create a certain impression, doesn't it?

The "used to" is due to the fact that he's now pickled his brain from having decided that what's an even better quality in a liquid than purity is that is at least 40% alcohol. He stopped having even vague principles, or being able to carry on coherent conversations, years ago.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

It's all dinosaur piss.

[Holmes IV]

that .... that isn't how the water cycle works.....

[Arizona_Guy]

Looks like coders in India are ahead of the curve.

Take that, SF!

[H. Farnham]

So it's super cool to charge $25/gallon for unclean water when there's tons of practically free clean water around, but literally Hitler to charge $25/gallon for clean water when there's nothing but dirty water everywhere during a hurricane... makes sense.

[Square = Circle]

Not to mention the evils of private corporations like Nestle supplying free bottled water to people who are paying to get lead-contaminated water from the government!

[CE]

The race between him and Democrat Shelly Simonds had ended in a perfect tie.

Redundant. All ties are perfect ties.

[The Last American Hero]

Except ice hockey ties, what with the shootouts and all.

[Episteme]

Election ties in Canada are settled by ice hockey shootouts.

[Holmes IV]

False. Elections in Canada are settled by figuring out which candidate could call their constituents faster to say "I'm sorry."

[CE]

Baltimore had to close its schools not so much because of the snow but because their crappy heating systems couldn't keep up with the cold weather.

Back in my day, if the school was too cold the teachers made us cut some more firewood and haul it uphill to the school through the snow, blizzard or no blizzard.

[Episteme]

We just kept our coats on.

[CE]

The U.S. and South Korea have agreed not to hold military drills while the Olympics are happening there in February.

The biathlon, however, will go on as scheduled.

[buybuydandavis]

"The man who called in the fake hostage situation and sent police to an oblivious family's home was still on the phone with 911 lying that he was holding the family hostage even after police fatally shot Andrew Finch and entered the home."

Isn't there some legal doctrine about being responsible for deaths caused by crimes you commit.

[Vernon Depner]

Most states have such laws.

[Vernon Depner]

When John Crawford was murdered by police, the lying 911 caller was standing just a few feet away right behind the police, talking them in like a sniper spotter. He was not prosecuted.

[Old Mexican's Speedos]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded the 2013 memo [...] It does not necessarily herald a coming crackdown, but folks are concerned.

Schhfffff.... Wha-at? Con *cough!* cerned? Naaaaaah, man!

President Donald Trump's administration plans to allow for a heck of lot more offshore oil drilling.

What about more offshore banking?

The man who called [...] was still on the phone with 911 lying that he was holding the family hostage even after police fatally shot Andrew Finch and entered the home.

The police were as effective as ev-ah!

Republican David Yancey will keep his Virginia House of Delegates seat and the GOP will maintain control of the house after he won a drawing this morning.

That's how democracy ends - by a thunderous craps shoot!

Baltimore had to close its schools [...] because their crappy heating systems couldn't keep up with the cold weather.

Also not because they're crappy themselves, no.... Right?

The U.S. and South Korea have agreed not to hold military drills while the Olympics are happening there in February.

The troops will instead be watching Women's Beach Volleyball! From last summer!

[buybuydandavis]

"Baltimore had to close its schools not so much because of the snow but because their crappy heating systems couldn't keep up with the cold weather."

Baltimore has had Democratic mayors for 50 years running.

[Episteme]

I blame Mayor Littlefinger.

[Square = Circle]

I admire the layering in this comment.

[Arizona_Guy]

It's Honorable Mayor Baelish to you.

[Crusty Juggler]

Aberama Gold or gtfo.

[Domestic Dissident]

P.S.: The greatest days at Reason are the days when Citizen Crusty has to do some actual "work" for whatever JournoList outfit it is that employs him.

[Crusty Juggler]

You so want to bang me.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Sweet. DD just gave me evidence that Crusty is Weigel, which means we now know Fist, Crusty, SIV, Hihn, and PB are the same person. Nice. Also, I think DD's tremendous and unusual knowledge of Weigel counts as evidence that they are the same person (I can't even name my own address, that DD can name Weigel's is highly suspect). So let's just loop them all into the same set.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

We're all Tulpa.

[BestUsedCarSales]

This is known, but my goal is to prove it conclusively.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I identify as Tulpa, that's all the conclusiveness you need.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Nice, I will add you to the chart.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

BUCS, I looked at this thread again and I am literally in tears from laughter at the way you interpreted my comment above. The visual of you yelling at a whore that she doesn't get a second chance and kicking her out because she couldn't make you come is cracking me up for some reason.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I'm just happy that I can make others happy. It's why I'm here.

[Crusty Juggler]

I would stoop so low as to have a Twitter account.

[Crusty Juggler]

I would also never write a book about prog rock.

[Crusty Juggler]

While I respect his decision to give up, get fat, and grow out a mustache, I have too much self-respect to ever do such a thing.

[CE]

I'm just a bot. I forget whose.

[Charles Easterly]

I'm just a bot. I forget whose.

You are your own bot, self-created and purposefully designed to remain unaware of your dual existence.

If, CE, at any point your bot-personality nears self-awareness, your bot-personality automatically deceives itself.

If you desire proof, simply read the comment you made and which I have quoted.