Trump Blasts Sessions, Billy Graham Remembered at Capitol, Georgia Teacher Fires Gun in Classroom: P.M. Links

• 

  Sipa USA/Newscom

  President Trump blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions for having the Department of Justice's Inspector General investigate potential abuse of foreign intelligence surveillance warrants instead of department prosecutors.

• Billy Graham was honored at a private ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
• A teacher in Georgia reportedly fired a shot in his classroom and then barricaded himself inside.
• Students returned to Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida two weeks after 17 were killed in a mass shooting.
• Ta-Nehisi Coates will write Captain America for Marvel.
• Temperatures in the Arctic have surged to above freezing.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Trump blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions for...

...not doing enough about the weed?

[Anomalous]

No, for not baking the cookies fast enough.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ta-Nehisi Coates will write Captain America for Marvel.

This could be problematic.

[Stormy Dragon]

The last guy made Captain America a secret Nazi spy, so I'm this will be an improvement.

[BestUsedCarSales]

No, he made him Hydra. So he did an incredibly common comic book thing of having a big shocking moment that is later resolved as being mind control. It's classic comic book nonsense, because capes are basically soap operas for lonely dudes. Also, Secret Empire was actually pretty good.

Ta-Nehisi Coates will write Captain America for Marvel.

His Black Panther run was not bad at all. Here's hoping this goes well too.

[Pro Libertate]

Secret Soviet spy?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Temperatures in the Arctic have surged to above freezing.

That's what those polar bears get for voting Trump.

[John]

It is almost like it is getting close to spring or something.

[Jimbo]

Buy now, before the rush starts! The beaches are wonderful in the Arctic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Students returned to Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida two weeks after 17 were killed in a mass shooting.

Closing out this particular news cycle event?

[DiegoF]

It's dying. Only the Republicans can keep it alive at this point, if they go ahead with these gun control measures they have been talking about.

[greasonable]

Greasonable support team, reporting for duty.

I tried Firefox, and didn't have a problem. I updated Firefox, which updated Greasemonkey. Since everything had changed, I needed to reinstall greasonable. I still didn't have a problem.

If anyone is having a problem with Firefox and can work with me, I can try to find out what the problem is. Unexpected posting is usually due to a javascript error.

[Rhywun]

Does it work for Chrome? I miss reasonable something fierce.

[Rhywun]

Well look at that. It does seem to work. I already had TamperMonkey installed for... another site. Now, to see what it does.

[greasonable]

It is javascript only, requiring a user-script manager like Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey. I have confidence it works in Chrome, Firefox and Opera.

Others, I am not sure about.. I tried to get it working in a version of Safari, but I don't have a Mac and the version I was able to get was too old.

[Rhywun]

I found the filter feature. I love you.

I use a Mac at home so I can check it against Safari some time.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

You'll never be rid of me, Rhywun.

[Rhywun]

*report spam*

[BestUsedCarSales]

Thank you for this. I really appreciate it.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

You're doing God's work, son.

(you are probably older than me, also there is no god)

[silver.]

Running FF, and it's working okay. Probably the weirdest thing is that I need both Full Reason 0.9.6 (greasonable?) and Monocle 2.01 running to have either work at all. If it's like virus scanners having two can only help, right!? Also if I try to use any of the formatting links it posts; I prefer to write the HTML manually, so it doesn't affect me. I would also like support for reason.com/volokh, and I've tried a few random things like adding it to the list of subdomains recognized without success. Almost always the comments on VC are so sparse that it doesn't matter, hence why I haven't bothered to mess with anything.

Thanks for all the hard work. It's a game-changer for this spartan comments system.

[greasonable]

Not sure why that is the case. I am not running Monocle on this browser right now.

silver. said @17:38:56:

I prefer to write the HTML manually

One hidden feature to the formatting links is that if you highlight any text, it will copy that text and wrap it in the tag. So, it has value beyond just putting 3-4 characters on either side typed text. (ie just used it for the cite)

I'll look into the Volokh site.

Thanks.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Ta-Nehisi Coates will write Captain America for Marvel.

Hopefully the movie dialog won't be as awful as his prose.

[Jimbo]

Coates, huh? Commence barrel scraping!

[Fist of Etiquette]

It will be the comics, not the movie. Thankfully.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Ah... I now assume Marvel only puts out movies and the old, dusty world of comics was left to bedraggled overweight white guys in their 60s.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Both are true.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A teacher in Georgia reportedly fired a shot in his classroom and then barricaded himself inside.

His training was to go into lockdown after gunshots.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Local source says he "became barricaded" in the room. Leaves the possibility that quick thinking civilians blocked the door.

[Ron]

he just proving the point that we can't trust teachers with guns

[loveconstitution1789]

Except all the other teachers who have guns and don't have a mistake shot.

All the cops who mistake shoot but you are not blabbing to end their carrying guns.

Of course, all the agents of the state that have guns who have a mistake shot and you are not saying anything about them.

This was a local issue of an accidental gunshot that hurt nobody. It became national news because the gun grabbers can taste blood. Unfortunately for them, its the blood of kids.

[Conchfritters]

Did the cops run away in fear?

[Maddow's Fleshlight]

"Ta-Nehisi Coates will write Captain America for Marvel."

He deserves it after his success on the Black Panther book...

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the Department of Justice's Inspector General investigate potential abuse of foreign intelligence surveillance warrants instead of department prosecutors.

Is one better at whitewashing FISA court abuses than the other?

[Stormy Dragon]

A teacher in Georgia reportedly fired a shot in his classroom and then barricaded himself inside.

All together now!

o/~ We armed the police to shoot the teachers,
We armed the teachers to shoot the kids,
We armed the kids to shoot the dogs,
We armed the dogs to shoot the cats,
We armed the cats to shoot the spiders,
That wiggled and jiggled and spree shot inside there...
We armed the spiders to shoot the flies,
I don't why we armed the flies... o/~

[Pro Libertate]

You know, what about nonlethal weapons? At schools, I mean.

Crazy people are not a basis for not guaranteeing civil liberties, of course.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Like, NERF bats? Though I suspect those could still be lethal if you shove them down a little twerp's throat.

[Pro Libertate]

I solved this problem long ago. Each citizen (government employees excluded) gets one hand grenade that can be used once without civil or criminal liability.

[Rebel Scum]

For motivational purposes, of course.

[Pro Libertate]

If that's how you want to use your grenade, sure.

[loveconstitution1789]

Except all the other teachers who have guns and don't have a mistake shot.

All the cops who mistake shoot but you are not blabbing to end their carrying guns.

Of course, all the agents of the state that have guns who have a mistake shot and you are not saying anything about them.

This was a local issue of an accidental gunshot that hurt nobody. It became national news because the gun grabbers can taste blood. Unfortunately for them, its the blood of kids.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Due process, important for: Roy Moore, accused wife beaters

Not important for: gun owners

After listening to Vice President Mike Pence talk about due process and the conversation that Trump had with governors earlier this week, the President suggested that in some cases, it is best to take the gun first and then go to court after.

"Or Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court," Trump said.

He added, "A lot of times by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court to get the due process procedures, I like taking the guns early."

Trump pointed to the shooter in the Parkland case, citing all the red flags and calls from neighbors -- all warning signs that went unnoticed by law enforcement.

"Take the gun first, go through due process second," Trump said.

[John]

How about due process for all three?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Post-script: a reminder that in only one of the examples above was due process actually threatened. Though maybe I missed some crazy progressive saying Roy Moore should be thrown in jail on charges alone.

[John]

Yes, Progs just ruin people's careers and lives based on accusations. That makes it all better.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Oh man, I am COMPLETELY down with John bringing back the Roy Moore argumentation.

[John]

Hey, something isn't a lie if enough people repeat it. And Moore is under indictment right? I mean he is a child molester and there isn't a statute of limitations for that. So I assume he has been arrested right?

And it is good to know that Libertarians are big supporters of very strict age of consent laws such that even talking to someone under 18 puts that pervert in jail.

[BestUsedCarSales]

You, John, you yourself said right above that "Yes, Progs just ruin people's careers and lives based on accusations. That makes it all better." and so we're not talking about jail time without due process. What we are talking about is that a guy came off creepy enough that people didn't vote for him.

Not being elected to the Senate is not equivalent to being thrown in jail, John.

Overall though, I'm just remember the glory days of you and Tony fucking openly.

[John]

Yeah but that doesn't make a smear campaign okay. I really don't care whether people voted for Moore or not. It is Alabama's business who their Senator is. But, I think anyone of good conscience should be bothered by the way he was slandered as a child molester and made into a national pariah on the basis of complete bullshit evidence.

It doesn't matter what you think of Moore. If they can do it to him, they can do it to anyone. And even if you think Moore didn't deserve to be in the Senate, that doesn't mean he deserved to be slandered that way and have his reputation destroyed. Moore is not a particularly attractive person and not easy to defend. That fact just makes defending him against slander that much more important. Popular people usually don't need defending.

[BestUsedCarSales]

I'm going to ask you a real question John, I am engaging you as a person so I'm hoping you don't just call me a retard in response.

What, in your opinion, can be done about people openly voicing their complaints? Because you have people coming forward and saying that something happened to them. Do you suppress their statements? Do you say things can't be talked about after a certain amount of time? Because as far as I can tell you didn't just say "we don't know" you full throatedly defended him. Which if you truly believe that hearsay is worth nothing, then is as improper of a stance to take his word at it as well.

[John]

There is nothing to be "done" other than people looking at the evidence objectively and standing up for whatever the right conclusion is. There is nothing to stop Gloria Aldred from going out and paying a woman to lie. And there is even less to be done about the media being willing to repeat and expand on that lie. It is one of those lousy things that happen in life. That said, that doesn't relieve you of the duty to call it what it is and stand up and defend Moore or at least not join the mob.

That is really all there is to be said about it. Do your best to stand up for the truth and hope others will follow you in doing so. If they don't, and sadly they usually don't, at least you tried and were unwilling to be a part of a lie.

[BestUsedCarSales]

But you did take him at his word, against a lot of other people speaking against it. What, in cases like this could have been evidence for you? Because you did effectively take him at his word, but those who spoke against them you say were paid off by people you dislike.

[John]

I don't find any of the people to be credible, except the two women who said they dated him when they were of legal age and he was a nice guy. The only accusation of misconduct was the woman who said he assaulted her when she was 14. And her story had a million holes in it. Moreover, the idea that Roy Moore could spend years as one of the most well known and divisive figures in Alabama politics and this woman never tell anyone about all that was absurd.

What are we left with? Roy Moore was a single guy in his 30s in a small town in Alabama who dated legal age younger women and eventually married one. Who gives a shit? As long as it is legal and consensual, and all of it was, it is no one's business. Instead of just admitting that truth, everyone joined the mob and pretended he was some kind of a child molester. And that was wrong. And Roy Moore being a kook or unfit for the Senate doesn't make it right.

[BestUsedCarSales]

So, you find credible only the people who align with what you wanted to believe? Because I don't see any particular reason they are more credible than everyone else.

[John]

No. I find people credible when they have no reason to lie and their stories are consistent and believable. The women who said they dated him have no reason to lie. And since they thought nothing of it at the time, had no reason to ever come forward with the information about it until the Post asked them.

The woman who claimed she was assaulted in contrast had every reason to lie. She was paid by Aldred and others. She had her mortgage paid off. They wouldn't have done that if she had said nothing happened. Moreover, she was claiming something bad. So, why did she never come forward with the information when Moore was sitting on the Alabama Supreme Court or during the primary. I am supposed to believe she somehow didn't think it was important until after he won't he primary and someone was willing to pay her for her story? Really?

It has nothing to do with who I want to believe. It is about the objective facts that reflect on each person's credibility.

[loveconstitution1789]

That is pretty funny that Roy Moore has not been indicted and your don't hear anything more about that story.

Its almost as if certain groups are using accusations to get their agendas accomplished.

At this point, if you believe anything the media says without checking 100 times, you deserve to get played for a fool.

[John]

It is so funny how people are all about due process and reasonable doubt and defending the innocent right up until someone who is really unpopular and worse uncool is accused on the other end of the mob. Then everyone get your torch and pitchfork and join the angry villagers.

[loveconstitution1789]

Anything to get rid of Trump. Trump is a poopy-head who wants to boot illegals.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Aaaand there we have it. Not my intention, but I'll take credit all the same.

[John]

Yes MJ, I will defend anyone who I feel is innocent of a slander, no matter how unpopular they are or how much hyenas like you get to cackle over it. Repeating and basking in slanders against unpopular people you don't like is kind of who you are. The contrarian willingness to defend such people is who I am. I leave it to you consider the relative merits of the two positions.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Why do you believe him?

[John]

I explained it above. There is no credible evidence he did anything except date younger women. BFD.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

John is shocked, SHOCKED! by political mud flinging. One would think the good people of Etowah County would not engage in such frightful behavior, especially against such a publicly pious politician. I need to lie down...

[John]

No, I do not believe slandering someone as a child molester is okay even if that person is in politics. You got me there.

[Stormy Dragon]

*cough*Pizzagate*cough*

[John]

I never believed that either. Podesta is a dirtball crony but there is no reason to believe he is a child molester.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Funny, I don't believe that you had hundreds of posts defending Podesta during Pizzagate.

[John]

I don't think I was posting her much during Pizzagate. That said, Podesta was innocent. I have never claimed he was not.

[John]

Moreover, what need was there to defend Podesta? I am unaware of anyone who took that seriously. The whole thing was a joke. Podesta's reputation wasn't ruined by that. Virtually no one believed it. I don't spend a lot of time debunking alien conspiracies either. Am I guilty of supporting those too?

[John]

An awkward silence ensues as BestUsedCars and Stormy Dragon frantically search for a link to a post where I said Podesta was guilty of child molestation. Damn, there has to be one.

For the record, I never to my memory ever took that seriously or ever said that Podesta was guilty of anything. I speculated on the plausibility of the claims about the meaning of the emails. But saying "it might be true though not likely true" is not the same thing as saying it is or even that it is probably true.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Circling back to Moore, you do not believe the many people who remember a creepy Roy trolling the local mall for young ladies? The women who fell into that net? Why not? Why are Moore's denials more believable? Or are you calling it a push?

[John]

No one remembered him trolling the mall. That turned out to be a complete hoax. A TV station in Alabama talked to the manager at the time and the guy said he never banned Moore from the mall. The people who said he was banned were lying about it or mistaken.

Again, there is no credible evidence Roy Moore ever did anything except date willing younger women of legal age. It is pretty fucking rich to see a bunch of self-proclaimed Libertarians acting like there is something wrong with that.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

http://www.al.com/news/index.s.....laims.html

He had a 14yo stroke his cock and tried to force a 16yo to suck it and kicked her out of his car when she refused. Roy was over 30. You cool with that?

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

He was also the district attorney for your goddamn libertarian angle.

[loveconstitution1789]

What year was that?

I wonder if 14 year olds can get married in Alabama? Yup they can.

In Alabama in 1880 the age of consent was 10. By 1920 it was raised to 16.

It was a different time and people did not freak out about sex like they do now, unless it was rape.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

http://alisondb.legislature.st.....A-6-67.htm

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

"It was a different time and people did not freak out about sex like they do now..."

I question your knowledge of the people of Alabama.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

https://youtu.be/IP5e7jrYBtY

[John]

Still waiting BUCS. Why did you automatically assume that I believed that about Podesta? I say I didn't. If I did, then show me where. If you can't find where, admit you were wrong.

[Pro Libertate]

Why go through it at all? The government can already skip such rights as it is in many areas.

[John]

http://www.nytimes.com/2018/02.....ector.html

Hope Hicks resigning as communications director. Hopefully, she can move on to a lucrative career of getting her kit off on camera.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Bring back Scaramucci!

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Time to do the fandango?

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

I like to think of Tony along the lines of "Let Me Entertain You".

[John]

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....may-point/

New Obamacare suit with an interesting idea.

A coalition of 20 states has filed a lawsuit alleging ObamaCare is unconstitutional.

They're claiming that since the GOP eliminated the tax penalty associated with the individual mandate, that ObamaCare itself is no longer constitutional. ?

The GOP tax law "eliminated the tax penalty of the ACA, without eliminating the mandate itself. What remains, then, is the individual mandate, without any accompanying exercise of Congress's taxing power, which the Supreme Court already held that Congress has no authority to enact," the complaint states.

"Not only is the individual mandate now unlawful, but this core provision is not severable from the rest of the ACA?as four Justices of the Supreme Court already concluded."

[Bubba Jones]

I am unpersuaded.

If there is no penalty, there is effectively no mandate and therefore no harm, and therefore no one has standing to sue.

If Obamacare survives the lack of mandate, then it will stay gone and no one has standing to sue.

If Obamacare suffers, then that just proves it can't be severed.

[loveconstitution1789]

Great. Another failed law sitting on the books instead of being repealed. Just waiting for some politicians to come along and revive it because its already law.

[Rat on a train]

"If there is no penalty, there is effectively no mandate and therefore no harm, and therefore no one has standing to sue."
I say repeal the Flag Code anyway.

[Agammamon]

Sure - but you're not going to be able to get it before a court to have it struck down *precisely* because, with no penalty for disobedience, no one has standing to challenge it in court.

[Agammamon]

I don't know - the major point of that USSC case was that being forced to buy insurance was unconstitutional, not the government setting up as an insurance broker.

The mandate was allowed to stay because it was a 'tax'. Now that its gone, that doesn't have any, IMO inexpert opinion, any direct effect on the legitimacy of the rest.

[Rebel Scum]

Temperatures in the Arctic have surged to above freezing.

Coinciding with the coming spring season.

[Pro Libertate]

Spring is a mythological construct.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

+1 sacrificial lamb

[Trigger Warning]

You misspelled "patriarchal," PL.

[Pro Libertate]

Farciarchal?

[Rat on a train]

hemispherist

[Juice]

Ta-Nehisi Coates will write Captain America for Marvel.

OMFG I can't wait for this. It's going to be epic.

[John]

In all seriousness, why will it be good? Coates is a notorious SJW. Won't it just be one tiresome cliche about the evils of white men? I am not trying to argue. I am seriously asking what about Coates makes you think it will be good, because I have no idea why someone would think that.

[BestUsedCarSales]

His Black Panther was okay, so that's my only information.

[Juice]

Oh, he's already done it?

It's a superhero movie, so were there lines like:

"One cannot, at once, claim to be superhuman and then plead mortal error. I propose to take our countrymen's claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard."
? Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

I guess it would be Wakanda instead of America, but still.

[BestUsedCarSales]

No, he was (I think actually still is, but I don't read a lot of cape comics) the author of the 2016 Black Panther comic. And this article is also about the Captain America comic, not the movie.

But, there were statements like that in the comic, yes. He's still Coates and he was definitely hired for his politics.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

IOW, "I will accept propaganda as fact and act accordingly."

A) Brilliant

B) Useful idiot

[Juice]

If he writes for Captain America the way he normally does, it would be an amazing spectacle.

[John]

Yeah, it would be that. It would be high comedy.

[Rebel Scum]

Ta-Nehisi Coates will write Captain America for Marvel.

Idk who this is. Is this good or bad?

[Juice]

Captain America's shield will now be a black body.

[Agammamon]

Its always been Juice, its always been.

[Trigger Warning]

Firing Sessions for the wrong reasons would still be a great fucking thing.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Sessions on a steady diet of shit sandwiches is pretty entertaining.

[Rat on a train]

The continuing Confederate flag saga:

Stafford's ordinance states that signs do not include "flags of any nation, state, or other geopolitical entity not related to a commercial business, product, or service." County officials determined that the battle flag represents a "geopolitical entity," but Leming argued that it is not even the official flag of the Confederate States of America. He noted that Nazi Germany would also constitute a geopolitical entity under the county's reasoning.

"Where do you want to go with the definition?" he asked.

[DiegoF]

Hahaha! These assholes will get crushed. They're not even doing themselves any favors with the arguments they're raising.

[Agammamon]

Re: Capt America

How does this work? We are told by people like Coates that a writer can't portray the 'legitimate' and 'authentic' experience of any ethnicity other than their own. So how is a guy who's career has centered around portraying a black African superhero and the area that that dude operates in - no matter how good of a job he did - get a pass for portraying the whitest of white dudes?

Sidenote: He at least is making the right noises. "What is exciting here is not some didactic act of putting my words in Captain America's head, but attempting to put Captain America's words in my head." Where he seems to understand the character and is willing to accept him for what he is.

[loveconstitution1789]

Supreme decided that ICE can indefinitely detain illegals without giving them bail.

Should make for more illegals in custody to not fight extradition and GTFO.