Europe Looks to Solve Loneliness With New Government Ministries, Senate Considers Two-Year Budget Deal, and Trump Endorses a Possible Shutdown: P.M. Links

• 

  Sipa USA/Newscom

  Europe looks to solve rising loneliness with more government ministries.

• Senate considers two-year budget deal to prevent yet another shutdown.

• Meanwhile President Trump says he would "love" to see a shutdown if funding for enhanced border security is not included in budget.

• SpaceX has launched the world's most powerful rocket today.

• The stock market sees wild swings this week.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The stock market sees wild swings this week.

MAGA (since yesterday)

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

It's lonely around here when late.

[BigT]

Welcome back, ol' buddy! Where ya been? It's so good to see you!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Meanwhile President Trump says he would "love" to see a shutdown...

Brinkmanship over government shutdowns is literally the most dangerous game.

[Don't look at me.]

Didn't see any danger from the last one. Or the ones before.

[Citizen X - #6]

Last time the government shut down, i was in serious danger of getting sick of hearing about it.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

What shutdowns?

[Citizen X - #6]

Europe looks to solve rising loneliness with more government ministries.

It's hard to be lonely with the government up you.

[Anomalous]

Ministry of Love FTW!

[SQRLSY One]

I hear ya, Bro, that's what the Church of Scienfoology has been advocating for YEARS. It should be called SMARM; "The SMARM agency will be the Soul Mates And Religions Ministry." If you will hit the http://www.churchofsqrls.com site and put in for a search-string, that last little thing I put in quotes, you can find the BRILLIANT ideas of the Church of Scienfoology spelled out in detail?

Lonely hearts fixed!!! You're welcome!

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Especially with Minister Crouch in charge! Muggles should despair.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Senate considers two-year budget deal to prevent yet another shutdown.

What, are we going to be building the wall on layaway?

[Fist of Etiquette]

SpaceX has launched the world's most powerful rocket today.

They couldn't have. It's still in my pants. BOOM, YOU ALL JUST BEEN FOE'D.

[Mickey Rat]

Does that make you the FOE of the World?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe it does, Mickey. Maybe it does.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Holding in farts is not good for your health, Fist.

[Shirley Knott]

The missing alt text
The Trump Frump Grump

You're welcome.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Europe looks to solve rising loneliness with more government ministries.

You'll always have couple Polizei to keep you company.

[Mickey Rat]

It is always a good idea to create government ministers because it is something "owed" to a murdered politician since it was her pet issue.

[Juice]

I wonder if the markets will shrug off the government shutdown this time since they just had their little trip up so recently.

[Stormy Dragon]

Trump faith adviser: flu epidemic is Fake News, and if you get sick, it's because you haven't been Jesusing hard enough

Flu season is all in our heads, Texas televangelist says: 'Inoculate yourself with the word of God'

[Leo Kovalensky]

Why doesn't this guy just pray really hard that nobody gets the flu? Or better yet, cancer?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, keeping myself warm wrapped in the flag hasn't worked.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

This flag?

[Fist of Etiquette]

No. Not that flag.

[AlmightyJB]

I haven't got sick. I don't believe in God and he still loves me best.

[Conchfritters]

"Jesus himself gave us the flu shot."

I think his name was Carlos this time - he works at the minute clinic at Target.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Carlos ... Danger?

[Stormy Dragon]

Fedora Brigade's worst nightmare:

The Mutant, All-Female Crayfish That Reproduce by Cloning Themselves

Just 25 years ago, the marbled crayfish did not exist at all. Now, they can be found in the wild by the millions in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, the Ukraine, Japan, and Madagascar.

[Citizen X - #6]

"While a 10 gallon [aquarium] is fine for a couple of months," one site cautions, "that 10 gallon is going to get smaller and smaller as these animals reproduce. ? A good rule of thumb is?the bigger the colony, the bigger the tank. Start with at least a 40 gallon and go bigger if you can afford it."

Crayfish are usually cannibalistic, so another option is to let 'em sort it out among themselves.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

I am sure the crayfish will develop some sort of private property regime to minimize conflict.

[silver.]

You jest, but..

[Stormy Dragon]

Norway rats trade different commodities

Researchers of the University of Bern have shown for the first time in an experiment that also non-human animals exchange different kind of favours. Humans commonly trade different commodities, which is considered a core competence of our species. However, this capacity is not exclusively human as Norway rats exchange different commodities, too. They strictly follow the principle "tit for tat" ? even when paying with different currencies, such as grooming or food provisioning.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

More like "tit for rat" amirite?

[silver.]

As much as I hate how preachy the new Planet Earth is, the new camera/tech has allowed for some pretty awesome insights into animal behavior. Thanks, British taxpayers.

A lot of mammals do a lot of things that only a decade ago we thought were limited to humans or at least primates.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Property is not just a social construct.

I love this guy's writing. His articles are the best thing I read in the last couple of years when it comes to expanding my understanding of libertarian principles. I recommend reading all if them.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Hmm, I suspect that's a guy I used to talk with back at the mises forums.

I'd quibble about what is meant by property. I think it should be distinguished from mere possession or territorial dominance. Certainly, people who use "it's a social construct" to deny the natural inclination to claim and defend resources and space is wrong. But I think it's right to say that property is the social construct borne from that inclination.

[Mickey Rat]

Or use the ones that have just molted to catch some smallmouth bass.

[GILMORE?]

Europe looks to solve rising loneliness with more government ministries.

Hans Brix!

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Sweden has more than any other country embraced the idea of independent and autonomous individuals and has created institutions that guarantee that we are not dependent on one another," Erik Gandini...

That's one way of describing what Sweden has done, I suppose.

[Citizen X - #6]

Sweden was supposed to have left its bloodthirsty Viking heritage behind, but i've never seen a phrase as tortured and mutilated as that usage of "independent and autonomous individuals."

[Zeb]

Because it's much better that people depend on large bureaucratic institutions that are slow to adapt and correct mistakes rather than on the dynamic set of individuals that they actually interact with like human beings.

[Rich]

two-year budget deal

Nice band name.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

First album name: Deficit Zeal

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

John Paul, Paul Paul, George Paul and Ringo Paul.

And Billy Paul.

[Rebel Scum]

Europe looks to solve rising loneliness with more government ministries.

Enter: Ministry of Sexbots

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

And thus the Patient Desecration of Crusty begins.

[Stormy Dragon]

Is the Desecration of Crusty anything like the Defenestration of Prague?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

DoC is a lot messier than DoP.

[SQRLSY One]

Are you related to Stormy Daniels?

Inquiring minds want to KNOW!!!

[Stormy Dragon]

I AM Stormy Daniels (not really, I'm actually Tulpa)

[Rich]

In the run up to launch, it wasn't at all clear whether the rocket would work.

But enough about the budget deal.

[Rhywun]

I love being alone. Never been happier. These people need to not get out more.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

[stamps Rhywun's buttcheek with the VERIFIED LIBERTARIAN stamp]

[Stormy Dragon]

If they're supposed to love being alone, don't they need to get out less?

[Zeb]

Read it again.

[Rebel Scum]

Meanwhile President Trump says he would "love" to see a shutdown if funding for enhanced border security is not included in budget.

Cue Continue MSM hysteria.

[silver.]

But with Sweden's self-perception as a society that values autonomy and independence now being deeply ingrained in the country's housing market and social security system, there is no easy fix.

Social security. There it is. No reason for the government to give a shit about the plebs unless it affects them. For the same reason the Catholic church denounced birth control to increase followers, the government needs taxpayers to support its entitlement programs.

[Rich]

loneliness, "the hidden epidemic,"

Seems like we've got an epidemic epidemic at this point. At least an epidemic *crisis*.

[Rich]

Billionaire Carl Icahn told CNBC on Tuesday there are too many exotic, leveraged products for investors to trade, and one day these securities are going to blow up the market.

Why does anyone *need* exotic, leveraged products?

[LynchPin1477]

Maybe the government putting the market back together every other time it has blown up has something to do with it....

[Conchfritters]

Legitimate inter day hedging techniques, but people end up holding on to them for months, and they ultimate go to shit. I'm all for idiot investors losing their money.

[Domestic Dissident]

Senate considers two-year budget deal to prevent yet another shutdown.

An idea of constitutionally dubious legality, to say the least.

[Rich]

Why not just cut to the chase? Abolish the debt ceiling *and* the budget.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

"the hidden epidemic," according to the Red Cross.

If the epidemic is hidden, then I don't give a shit about it.

[Rich]

How about that tapeworm epidemic?

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Tapeworm Epidemic, meet Obesity Epidemic.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Isn't that just limited to NORK Border Guards?

[Rebel Scum]

The stock market sees wild swings this week.

So what you are saying is that it is a market for swingers.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

That WaPo loneliness article reads like something from the Onion.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Europe looks to solve rising loneliness with more government ministries.

Paging Kurt Vonnegut!

[Jerryskids]

Europe looks to solve rising loneliness with more government ministries.

And yet when I tried administering a cure for loneliness it cost me 30 days in jail.

[Pro Libertate]

Everyone should watch the launch. And the landings of two of the three boosters. And the launch of Tesla I.

[Rebel Scum]

SpaceX has launched the world's most powerful rocket today.

Falcon Heavy Rocket was my nickname in college.

[Domestic Dissident]

Amtrak train breaks apart at 125 MPH.

[Chipper Morning Baculum]

Amtrak is just trolling us at this point.

[The Last American Hero]

If Congress could just have the courage to pass some common sense train control, these atrocities would stop tomorrow. This isn't the frontier days anymore, people really don't need to travel by rail.

[Woodys mom]

Were any of the 52 members of Congess? Just hoping, i guess

[Pro Libertate]

SLS needs to go. It's time to let the private sector loose in space. We should have a manned flight this year but likely won't, because government.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Good luck getting into space without Roadz, Hitler.

[Pro Libertate]

There's a Tesla going towards Mars right now. What do we need roads for?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

If electric cars were viable, it'd be getting there under its own power, not getting towed by 50,000 lbs of rocket fuel. Oh right, no charging stations in the Van Allen belt.

[Pro Libertate]

It's run by rocket fuel.

There's a live feed of the car, heading into deep space.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

There's a Tesla going towards Mars right now. What do we need roads for?

I'm picturing the awesome opening to Heavy Metal.

[Pro Libertate]

Precisely. Must watch TV. Watching the car like that is surreal and awesome.

[Sammi]

No, it really wasn't.

[cgr2727]

There's a Tesla going towards Mars right now. What do we need roads for?

This x 1,000.

I had such a nerd-gasm watching that launch, partly because it's a nerdy thing to see, partly because I'm old enough to remember Walter Cronkite live from Cape Canaveral, and partly because HOLY SHIT, a private company just launched a dummy in a space suit, in a car, on a big-ass rocket on its way to Mars! And there's video feed of the whole damn thing I can watch anywhere, including from cameras pointed at the dummy in the space suit in the car floating in space.

If that doesn't make you proud of how far we've come, and just give you a warm fuzzy feeling about what people can do, then I don't know what does.*

*Yes, I know I'm willfully ignoring whatever tax breaks, corporate welfare, and other shenanigans SpaceX has benefited from; and that the rocket was launched from a gubmint-owned launchpad, and that the FAA had to "approve" the whole damn thing, blah blah blah. But still. A freakin' car is on its way to Mars.

*And then I get a cold, scratchy feeling to replace the warm fuzzy one when I think about how we should have colonies on the moons of Jupiter by now if we hadn't gotten distracted by a million other things, including having gubmint in charge of spaceflight.

[Pro Libertate]

That live feed of the car rotating as it speeds away from Earth is incredible. One heck of a commercial.

[Sammi]

Pro? Seriously? Get a life.

[XM]

Maybe Europeans should just be more friendly.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

We're fucked. People complain about loneliness, but our culture thinks people who are more than superficially friendly with strangers are strange or pathetic.

[loveconstitution1789]

Just weeks after unveiling guidance that will allow states to impose Medicaid work requirements, Trump's Health and Human Services agency is reportedly attempting to limit the number of months adults have access to the safety net program. The cap, if approved, would be the first of its kind in Medicaid's history.

Trump! Trump!

[Sevo]

"Secret lives of Bay Area part-time profs: Here's why they work at Safeway, live out of cars"
http://www.sfgate.com/expensiv.....529299.php
The article (hint, hint, nudge, nudge) would like you to believe they are FORCED TO because of high housing costs, and $6 lattes.
Spoiler: Because the chose to.

[Juice]

To be fair, adjunct teaching pays shit. It's truly amazing, but I guess there are just so many people with advanced degrees being pumped out of universities that they're able to hire these same people for peanuts to teach the next generation of tuition payers.

[Stormy Dragon]

Trump wishes he were Stalin Watch: orangeboy sad he doesn't get Red Square style military parades:

Trump's 'marching orders' to the Pentagon: Plan a grand military parade

[SQRLSY One]

"military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it."

Trump is going to pay for it out of His fat pockets?

Or, the troops will pay for it, by getting their pay cut?

"Honoring" the troops by making them march? WTF??! As a former "trooper" myself, I can tell you, I bet they would ***MUCH*** rather get a day off of work! THAT honor is much more appreciated (and less expensive).

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

43 words and still no goddamned Alt-Text.

What is wrong with you sheeple?

/shakes clenched Fist at Britches

(yes, THAT Fist)

[chemjeff]

The stock market sees wild swings this week.

Wasn't "Wild Swings" Crusty's nickname in college?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Still his nickname at the playground ...

[What's that smell?]

"British Prime Minister Theresa May chose politician Tracey Crouch for the role. Crouch also maintained her previous position as sports minister."----Really!?

Also I love that the article talks of loneliness increasing with age yet the video is a collection of young, health, sexy, and beautiful actors. Yes, I understand that this demographic can be afflicted too, and I understand the concept of click-bait. After all the hot 20 something chick in yoga pants got me to click. But come-on!