Does Meryl Streep Speak for America, Will Trump Be Awful, and What's Obama's Legacy? (Reason Podcast)

Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Matt Welch discuss and debate.

1x 1.1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 3x

:15 :15

Download

Does Meryl Streep Speak for America, Will Trump Be Awful, and What's Obama's Legacy? (Reason Podcast)

At last night's Golden Globe awards, actress Meryl Streep gave an impassioned speech calling for creative types to stand up for the little guy now that Donald Trump is just week's away from becoming the 45th president of the United States. Was her speech just more Hollywood virtue-signaling or does it carry the harsh truth that the billionaire developer is going to rule with an iron fist and a harsh Twitter account? And while we're at it, isn't the presidency vastly more powerful than it was when Barack Obama took office eight years ago? Where were you when that was going on, coastal elites?

In the newest Reason podcast, Reason magazine Editor in Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward, Editor at Large Matt Welch, and I talk about all this and more.

Listen now by clicking below. Subscribe to the Reason Podcast at iTunes and never miss an episode (rate and review us while you're there)!

Follow us at Soundcloud.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Like us on Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter.

Subscribe to Reason magazine for just $15 a year!

Comments

[esteve7]

Fuck those Hollywood celebs; they speak for nobody but their entitled spoiled rotten selves.

[CatoTheChipper]

Meryl Streep, net worth $65 million, got some award at some award ceremony for being a great actress.

In her acceptance speech, she whined about being in the “the most vilified segments in American society” while being watched by millions of people.

She then repeated a fake news story about Trump, who she obviously detests as much as she does the deplorables who vilify her.

Meh.

[Zeb]

“the most vilified segments in American society”

Which segment is that? Out of touch actors who think people should give a fuck what they think about politics?

[commodious just wasting time]

Pompous overexposed ninnies.

[thrakkorzog]

I would say that kiddy rapists are the most vilified segment of society, with their apologists being a close second.

[BigT]

My vote goes to govt mass murderers. Think Janet Reno, B Obama, etc

[R C Dean]

To answer your questions:

No.

Probably.

A dead weight of regulation and debt around the neck of the United States.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

I would’ve gone with:

No, maybe, Donald Trump as President.

[The Late P Brooks]

The America in her head, maybe.

[Just Say'n]

Of course rich white liberals speak for America. And if you disagree you’re obviously a racist.

Don’t say anything in your podcast that might not get you invited to a forthcoming cocktail party.

[DenverJ]

Isn’t it supposed to be written (((Streep))) in an alt-right magazine like Reason?

[The Grinch]

Does Meryl Streep speak for America?
With one…
with one…
one…
one heart…
one (pause) heart…
and…
AND…
one mind.

[Not a True MJG]

The summary’s all well and good, but what are y’all drinking?

[Tornado35235gsg35423ttg3gt3g3g]

Trump won’t be awful because his expectations are that he is hitler.

[AlmightyJB]

But what if the trains don’t run on time? That’s a lot of pressure.

[Tyler.C]

That’s Mussolini!!!!!

[waffles]

I always wondered about that.

[commodious just wasting time]

I realize I’m soft Godwinning by bringing it up, but that rationale reminds me of half-hearted hand-waving defenses of Obamacare: “At least xx million people got insured!!!” (Set aside for a moment the actual composition of those xx million enrollees and the millions pushed off their plan and the legitimacy of enrolling people you’ve otherwise threatened to penalize…)

[colorblindkid]

I’ve seen arguments that he is actually worse than Hitler.

[Isaac Bartram]

Sorry, Meryl but that hypocritical anti-Trump rant was easily the worst performance of your career (apart from that time you gave a child rapist a standing ovation)

Wow, a few more columns like that and this and this and people are going to be accusing Piers Morgan of being a rightwing extremist of some kind.

[Isaac Bartram]

Sorry, first link s/b:

Sorry, Meryl but that hypocritical anti-Trump rant was easily the worst performance of your career (apart from that time you gave a child rapist a standing ovation)

[John]

Look Isaac, it isn’t rape rape. Its Hollywood, the tramp was asking for it. Funny how the same people who excuse Polanski for raping a 13 year old girl, just can’t handle it that Trump treated adult women as groupies.

[Libertymike]

Regarding Streep, in one way, her proggy pronouncements are all the worse because of the great chasm between them and her performance excellence.

[John]

The Devil Wears Prada was the last movie she was in that anyone cared about. And that was what, 10 years ago?

[Libertymike]

She was damn good in The Iron Lady – so good in fact that I was able to lose myself in her character – the grocer’s daughter. The Iron Lady was released in 2011.

[Libertymike]

John OT:

Do you think Alabama is going to win tonight?

If the Tide rolls, America will get to see that joyless Saban lamenting how far behind his staff is in recruiting.

[John]

I am off to dinner. I think Clemson is going to win. But I loath Alabama and the entire SEC and do not trust my judgement on that. I just think Clemson played a tough schedule while Alabama got USC before they found their QB and then a bunch of sorry ass SEC teams. I don’t think they have faced anything like DeShawn Watson and are not as good as the media thinks. But that may be wishful thinking on my part but it is what I think.

[SF Pete]

wtg, u were right

[x'); DROP USER Tony;]

More interesting question – has John ever been right about anything in sports?

[John]

I was right about this dickhead. So yes.

[Libertymike]

And I am so glad you were right.

This game ranks up there with Texas / USC (Pete Carroll’s other bone-headed championship call – going for it at midfield on 4th and 2) and Miami / Nebraska (sorry Irving Fryar).

[Isaac Bartram]

LM, that’s the problem, I think.

MS is a good actress (though Morgan exaggerates with the “She’s the greatest actress in history”) but in her young days she was also hot (though again not in a conventional way, she always had a “funny looking face”*) but she also seems to thinks anyone cares about issues that she has no knowledge or expertise in.

*See also Geena Davis, another actress for whom young Isac had the hots. Geena had huge lips that looked like a perpetual pout while MS looked like she was going to burst into tears any moment**.

**this probably helped when she did he bogus Alar testimony in front of Congress.

[Libertymike]

How about Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist (that smile upon recognizing it was William Hurt in the cab)? Of course, there is always Thelma & Louise.

I, too, had the hots for her. Plus, as John is partial to some meat and sarcasmic to the lack thereof, I am partial to tall chicks and as you know, Geena was about 6ft.

[Isaac Bartram]

Geena is magic, man. What can I say? The other thing is, she’s a crack pistol shot and she qualified for the US Olympic archery team. Almost willing to overlook her pro-gun-control views.

She’s hot, even today at “advanced years*”.

*the fact is that the whole thing about Viagra is that sometimes it is about not being able to “get it up”, it’s about the fact that you’re just not into the “old lady” like you once were.

[Lord_at_War]

Geena is magic, man.

The movie “Tootsie”… Geena in a bra and panties- Yum!

[Marshall Gill]

She’s hot, even today at “advanced years*”.

I will concede that she was decent looking when she was younger. You clearly have not seen her recently. She has joined the “looking like Frankenstein’s monster is better than looking old” club and is really more like something you would use to frighten small children.

She is “scary” looking, not hot. What are you 80? Next you gonna claim that Vanna White is still hot?

[Krabappel]

Chris, whatever happened to Geena Davis? She used to be in movies, but she’s not in movies anymore. She’s attractive enough but when she smiles you see too much gum. Not a good tooth-to-gum ratio… Chris? Ah, I’ll tell you in the morning.

[thrakkorzog]

You star in a couple big budget flops and help bankrupt a studio, then the starring roles dry up.

[Isaac Bartram]

How do you answer to the problem I addressed?

Meryl Streep and Geena Davis both are good at pretending to be “other people” but also have “funny looking faces”.

I can’t answer that.

[AlexInCT]

She is in that new series “The Exorcist” and plays the grown up Reagan McNeil.

[Isaac Bartram]

John, my point was that the apparently commie-est commie of limey commies is questioning the ascendancy of Her Royal Majesty Queen Hillary not so much about the rapiness of Roman Polanski.

I actually never saw Piers Morgan or anyone else* on CNN but I was aware that he was famous for pro gun control statements that made him a hated target of libertarians.

*I am almost proud of my ignorance of popular culture (never watched MTV, CNN or saw an episode of Friends etc). Especially proud of the fact that except for hearing about her at H&R I would never have known that Lena Dunham even existed.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Never watched a single award show in my life. AND DAMN FUCKEN PROUD OF IT. I don’t need some cunt or cock celebrity ‘lecture’ me. Just shut up and entertain me. After that, poof! Fuck off.

[Zeb]

A condescending lecture would actually be a nice brake from the usual completely vapid garbage that makes up awards shows. I don’t know how anyone can watch that shit.

[commodious just wasting time]

I’d boycott my own child’s awards ceremonies.

[Chafed]

Now that’s commitment.

[Zeb]

Piers Morgan talking sense. What next?

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Don’t worry, he had to throw in some bullshit about gun control into every article, so we haven’t completely entered the bizzaro universe yet.

[Isaac Bartram]

Whoa! he even pulled back on gun control

Former CNN host Piers Morgan admitted he was “too aggressive” on gun control and “didn’t listen to the other side as much as I should have done”

[commodious just wasting time]

He’s a muppet whose media ambitions outran his wits by a country mile. I never for a moment figured he’s sincere about his gun control position other than being a bog-standard limey.

[Isaac Bartram]

That’s the problem, the limey position on gun control is that the “lower orders” cannot be trusted. But then the Upper Class can’t either.

Morgan appears (like a few other non-USAins) to have seen that America is different. Seriously, Americans do not see the world the same way as Canadians, Englishmen and Australians do.

[commodious just wasting time]

How so? I’m a rabid devourer of pop culture from all over the commonwealth, but I can’t claim to know anything about what the Brits or Canucks or Aussies or kiwis actually think.

[Isaac Bartram]

I was born in the USA but grew up in Australia and then lived in Canada.

Believe me people who were born and raised there think differently than those where born and grew up in the USA

[John]

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/254107/#respond

Think Progress editor terrified of his plummer.

esnikoff said his fear was rooted in the chance that the plumber knew he was Jewish.

“While I had him in the apartment, I couldn’t stop thinking about whether he had voted for Trump, whether he knew my last name is Jewish, and how that knowledge might change the interaction we were having inside my own home,” he said.

The “uncertainty” of the situation left Resnikoff “rattled for some time.”

“I have no real reason to believe he was a Trump supporter or an anti-Semite, but in my uncertainty I couldn’t shake the sense of potential danger,” he wrote. “I was rattled for some time after he left.”

These people are just sad, broken people.

[Hyperion]

Maybe he should fix his own damn toilet next time.

[CatoTheChipper]

Or find an artisanal progressive plumber.

[Hyperion]

The toilet still won’t work, but it’ll look real purty.

[DOOMco]

Now only $5000!

[Hyperion]

an hour

[Isaac Bartram]

I’m still wondering what kind of “anti-Semite” not only allows his daughter to marry a Jew but welcomes that Jew into the inner circle of his household.

[John]

Me too. I don’t understand how someone rationalizes that.

[The Fusionist]

So, you’re saying that Trump is a crafty racist who will pounce when you least expect it?

[Not a True MJG]

The whole problem with the Jews is their competency and cleverness, so why wouldn’t you get one or two on your team?

[Isaac Bartram]

What the hell, I was given a choice, bacon cheese burgers or world domination.

[Sevo]

“The whole problem with the Jews is their competency and cleverness,”

Plus, you get to eat the bacon!

[Mickey Rat]

The existence of Resnikoff calls into question the applicability of the first part of that theory.

[JayU]

It’s a charade. He’s actually holding that Jew hostage to extract all their secrets. It’s a conspiracy that only the Je…

Hm… Interesting…

[commodious just wasting time]

He’s just after the Jew gold.

[chemjeff]

Actually, I can. My grandmother was like that, but with blacks. She would often say casually racist things about blacks as a group, but when she met one that didn’t fit the stereotype in her head, then those individuals were the “exceptions”. She could simultaneously believe that the individual black people that she met were decent folks, but the vast majority (that she didn’t meet) were inferior in some way. Not saying that this sort of thing is true about Trump. But it is absolutely possible to be an “anti-Semite” and yet to have Jewish friends, if you believe that those Jews are the “exceptions”.

[thrakkorzog]

Is there any evidence that Trump is an anti-Semite beyond the issue that some of his supporters are anti-Semites? If he really hated Jews, then NY and FL real estate development would probably be one of the worst possible fields to work in. It would be like accusing an NBA coach a secret Klan member.

Or is it just that as long as he is guilty of every other -ism, might as well just add anti-Semitism to the list?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Is there any evidence that Trump is an anti-Semite beyond the issue that some of his supporters are anti-Semites?

Of course. His rabid support for Israel, for one.
Stating that he’s proud his grandchildren are being raised Jewish, for another.

[Chafed]

Exactly. He can be tagged with some demonstrably crappy behavior and ideas so the left tacks on anti-semitism just for fun.

[DenverJ]

All that the spoiled, effeminate, unskilled elitist has to do is fix his own shitter. Plumbing isn’t complicated. Like all trades, it’s mostly common sense and skills that anybody can learn. The difference is that a skilled plumber can do the job in an hour, where it’d take an amuetur several hours. Oh, and be careful not to burn your house down with the torch.
These elites look down on blue collar America with scorn, but are reduced to helplessness without those who keep the infrastructure working.

[DOOMco]

Ditto locks. Safes are trickier, but some of the people I’ve dealt with could not figure out the easiest of lock issues. Then they flip when I charge 60 bucks to show up and fix the problem in a minute or two. “I asked if you had tried lubrication.”

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Then they flip when I charge 60 bucks to show up and fix the problem in a minute or two. “I asked if you had tried lubrication.”

These euphemisms are hardly even…

[DOOMco]

“You keep banging dudes, dennis”

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, I never have to worry about antisemitic locksmiths, as my locksmith is Israeli.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

This person cannot be called a man.

[Jerryskids]

Can I call him an Eloi? I’m one of those Morlocks who, for $65 an hour, will come out to your house and stick my arm down a sewer pipe.

[commodious just wasting time]

THESE EUPHEMISMS

[one true athena]

spewing classist hatred might have consequences, like living in fear of the class you hate. gosh, who knew?

[John C. Randolph]

Once again, I need new vocabulary. “Quivering, delusional goddamned sissy” doesn’t even begin to describe that asshole.

-jcr

[Mongo]

Kudos to the Reason online ad staff: I’ve been seeing no skin disease/toenail rot ads and some stunning cheezecake images.

The 15 Most Beautiful Aussie and NZ Women model blew my mindwad….

[wingnutx]

Needs more lobster girl.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

For real, had to scroll past some sickening images for a while to get to the real smut in the comments.

[Isaac Bartram]

Check them out in twenty years after that southern hemisphere sun without any ozone layer protection has acted on their skin.

OZ and NZ girls might be creamy smooth in their twenties but they don’t look that great when they get to the forties.

[commodious just wasting time]

Twitter has been pushing ethnic-based dating apps at me. First Chinese women, then Arabs. I have no idea where it got the impression I’m after the off-white ladies. I mean I am, but there’s no reason Twitter would know that.

[thrakkorzog]

Cookies from porn sites maybe?

[commodious just wasting time]

These euphemisms aren’t even euphemisms.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Porn Cookies; don’t eat the frosted ones.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, these Hollywood elites really care about the ‘little guy’. All of them have refugees and homeless folks living on their property, for free!

[Libertymike]

Did he fear that the plumber would make the shit flow again?

[thrakkorzog]

Remind me to never read your Dune fanfic.

[Hyperion]

Wait a minute… are Reason writers giving Trump a free pass again? The evidence mounts…

[DenverJ]

Those are the “yokeltarians”, right? It’s confusing to us blue collar types. Also, please initial here that you are not Jewish, or we can’t fix your toilet.

[commodious just wasting time]

(((Hyperion)))

[Heroic Mulatto]

Those are the “yokeltarians”, right?

No.

[AlmightyJB]

No, yes, it’s about to be repealed.

[John Titor]

Hey Reason, you want to rejuvenate your Millennial writers’ pool? I got just the guy for you. And he probably knows how to change a tire.

[John]

Do you think he knows anyone who isn’t a journalist or work for a think tank?

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Pfft, look at that hair. Pass.

[John Titor]

Hey now, he’s wearing the younger, more energetic brother of The Jacket!

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

The Jacket is for Gen-Xers.

Millennials use hair. Hence Robby and KMW. Also, Gillespie thinks his coif works, too, and who’s gonna tell him otherwise?

[John Titor]

I thought Reason was all about promoting the alternative lifestyles and counter-culture and what-not. But they keep hiring these lily-white WASPs and yuppies. The closest thing they have is a bloody Star Wars nerd. They need a guy who’s the METAL AS FUCK.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

They want diversity, they could always give Heroic Mulatto a weekly column.
Or, for METAL, have Bear Odinsson write about ancient Norse pro-liberty customs, their incorporation into Anglo-Norman law and precedent, and libertarian aspects of Wotanic neo-Paganism.

[The Fusionist]

You know, some magazines include poetry.

Who would you suggest should do poems for Reason? Isn’t it obvious?

[BakedPenguin]

They need a guy who’s the METAL AS FUCK.

Warty writing for Reason would be amusing.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Warty writing for Reason would be amusing.

Can you imagine the holocaust the comment section to a Warty article would be? Dalmia-rage would be like a love-tap on the ass compared to the unfiltered, white-hot Yokelfury that would be released against Warty.

[GILMORE?]

Can you imagine the holocaust the comment section to a Warty article would be?

What, aside from the obligatory sneering at the Yokeltarians, would there be to get so upset about?

[Heroic Mulatto]

What, aside from the obligatory sneering at the Yokeltarians, would there be to get so upset about?

You realize he’s just playing within type at this point, right?

[GILMORE?]

You realize he’s just playing within type at this point, right?

(shrug). But he’s supposed to have some other shtick?

[Heroic Mulatto]

If you want the full story you can ask him, but long story short, he just threw up his hands after a particular individual misread a comment Warty made about a DIY project he (Warty) was working on and this particular individual went absolutely bog-fucking apeshit. This was about 8 months ago, if I recall correctly. This particular individual continues to go completely insane whenever Warty posts even the most milquetoast of comments.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It’s particularly funny as this individual seems to have this image of Warty as an effete cocoa-sipping urbanite, when anyone who actually knows Warty knows that 2016 was the first year he lived in something that wasn’t a trailer with more chickens that a Puerto Rican household.

So Warty lays it on thick, and this idiot falls for it, hook, line, and sinker every, goddamn time. I mean Warty must be hitting on such insecurity for this individual to turn into a gibbering lunatic at his mere presence.

So if Warty is to be criticized, it is merely his inability to resist in indulging his inner 10-year-old pulling off an insect’s legs for his own amusement.

But we’ve all been guilty of yanking a troll’s chain from time to time, haven’t we?

[GILMORE?]

That’s probably more than i needed to know. I just was remarking that i haven’t heard him say anything other than moan about Yokels for over a year now.

[Lord_at_War]

You realize he’s just playing within type at this point, right?

Shrunken tesrticle boy?

[Rufus The Monocled]

I’m very disappointed (angry?) in the both of you for twice spurning my link earlier today.

Hey, JT you mentioned in a previous thread you can vote for the leadership. How did you come to that?

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

When did you post the link? Was it in some weird EST witching hour when decent men sleep?

[John Titor]

I commented on your PM link post. Pan’s got his ‘I live on the Left Coast surrounded by pot fumes’ excuse but I was just late.

Since 2009 any registered member of the Liberal Party can vote in the leadership race in a weird ‘weighted’ system to factor in ridings. This was largely due to the delegates system royally fucking up with Dion and Iggy. Trudeau wiped the field with the other candidates (I voted Martha Hall Findlay), he had like 80% of the vote or something.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I would have voted for her or Garneau.

Pan: https://works.bepress.com/cas_mudde/116/

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

*shrug*

Seems reasonable to me, if you define “far right” as “opposes multicult”. Can’t be arsed to read the whole thing right now, but blurb pretty much says “state decided to use every lever at its disposal to shove multicult down and it worked” which is hard to argue.

[commodious just wasting time]

Do you remember their standard-issue millennial hipster cover guy, with the immaculately parted hair and the absurd mustache? The one with the entirely unearned air of intensity? Do you want that guy back? Because this is how you get that guy back.

[Quincy.]

Just think: Razorfist’s ridiculous eye make-up will become as much a meme as Robbie’s lustrous hair.

[GILMORE?]

Razorfist has more wit in a single heavily-mascara’d eyelash than Soave has in his entire golden mane.

[Quincy.]

I know right? But why bother with lavish eye makeup if you wear sunglasses all the time?

[GILMORE?]

beats me. its his character, he makes the rules.

[ChipToBeSquare]

Unsurprisingly, Vince Vaughn is being called out as a conservative and likely Trump supporter on Twitter and elsewhere because he wasn’t weeping with joy at the speech. He supported both Ron and Rand Paul previously, and from what I understand pops up at LP-type stuff all the time too. But of course not supporting Hillary means he literally voted for Hitler

Mel Gibson is seen as a conservative wackjob despite the fact that he was there last night because of a movie he made about a conscientious objector to the most important war in human history. Of course he has some crazy views that are all but confirmed, but given his frankly amazing filmography that seems rather focused on the human impact of violence, and the fact that he very clearly was battling some demons during his famous tirade, I think his politics might be a bit more complicated than “crazy, bigoted probable Trump supporter”

[flye]

“Who?! Who doesn’t want to wear the ribbon?!?”

[JayU]

Yeah. Mel Gibson hates war and the Jews that start them all.

I agree though. Talented guy.

[The Fusionist]

Hey, that Gibson movie actually sounds interesting…did Reason mention it? (not saying they didn’t, maybe they did and I missed it)

[ChipToBeSquare]

I don’t think they did, which is a shame because it probably would be of interest to a lot of the community here

[The Fusionist]

I’m thinking of the stuff they *do* review, stuff which (at least according to the reviews themselves) is crap. I mean, reading what the reviewers say, you not only want to avoid the shows in question, you pity the reviewer himself for watching it.

[ChipToBeSquare]

I’m still unsure what side to take on the disabled reporter thing, but holy shit was the football and MMA comment one of the most tone-deaf things I’ve ever heard. Pretty sure both sports are incredibly popular with people of all different races, but most of the movies up for nominations were probably seen almost exclusively by affluent white people, even the ones that tried to be about minorities

[Bill Dalasio]

Actually, the whole speech was imbecilic. Sorry, but Hollywood stars casting themselves as oppressed, marginalized, minorities living in fear of being shipped off to the camps at any moment is beyond laughable. It’s the sort of thing that Streep and anyone who cheered her should be mocked and derided for until their dying day. Not because of the politics of it. Because the entire notion is just so ridiculous. These are people who live a standard of living that goes beyond anything of human imagining throughout human history. Their biggest concern is that they might have to turn down invitations to perform at the White House for a few years. And they’re shitting their pants pretending that Big Scary Donald is going to take them away in the middle of the night. They’ve beclowned themselves.

[Bill Dalasio]

I mean, even Nick seems to have clued in with the “rule with an iron fist and a harsh Twitter account” reference. Oh my God!! Donald Trump may say a mean thing about me!!

[ChipToBeSquare]

Surely some minorities (I think she used the word foreigners in the speech) were hearing themselves being lumped in with Hollywood and the press as being the disadvantaged, persecuted groups in this “new” America and had to think “Are you fucking kidding me?”

The whole thing about needing the press to call out Trump was pretty ridiculous too given the last 8 years of enabling Obama nonstop, but that’s standard prog delusion at this point

[Rufus The Monocled]

Too much nuance for a prog.

[JayU]

Meryl Streep offended everyone who watches football, which is a very large segment of the population.

So, no.

[DOOMco]

Apparently mma is the new Nascar.

They seem to not want to unite the country.

[Episteme]

If we bring back violent chariot racing, we could probably get both the NASCAR audience and the MMA audience to tune in!

[DOOMco]

Fuck, id watch.

[commodious just wasting time]

Mad Max-style reality TV.

[DOOMco]

Rallycross/battlebots.

[Tyler.C]

Heck I don’t watch football and found that offensive.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

CGI-only actors can’t happen fast enough.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Meesa concurrrrr.

[DOOMco]

The fact george wanted jar jar is proof we can over encourage a mind.

[John Titor]

Voice actors tend to be significantly less cunty than regular actors, probably due to the whole lack of fame and getting paid less. I’m ok with this.

[DOOMco]

Counter point: Seth MacFarlane

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

He said “actors”.

[Zeb]

You can say a lot of things about Seth McFarlane, but he’s definitely got some talent with his voice.

[DOOMco]

100%

[Not a True MJG]

Definitely. You can’t argue with his work on American Dad!.

[John Titor]

You mean the guy who only ever really got work by being his own boss? Yeah, no ego-trip there.

[DOOMco]

But yea, they tend to be much better.

[commodious just wasting time]

Fun fact, Gillian Anderson voice-acted a video game on the nineties. One of the first video games I played. Can’t remember the title, it was a Descent ripoff.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Billy West purposefully made the voice of Fry in Futurama identical to his own so they wouldn’t be able to replace him.

[kbolino]

That might be true, but he replaced Phil Hartman to voice Zapp and ended up voicing like half of the characters on the show, so I don’t think job security was really a risk for him.

[kbolino]

Then again, maybe that just underscores your point.

[DOOMco]

Some people are really good at a bunch of voices. Others have a few. Some just read lines normally all the time.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

More than just the voice itself is the ability to project character facets into the performance. For example, every H. Jon Benjamin character sounds the same because it’s just H. Jon Benjamin’s natural voice.

But Sterling Archer is much more manic than Bob Belcher, who always sounds exhausted so they come off as entirely different characters. It’s a real talent to do that.

[commodious just wasting time]

The crossover episode was a thing of beauty.

[JayU]

Mel Blanc

[John Titor]

Behold the new best paid actor in the CGI future.

[Not a True MJG]

If it’s all gonna be CGI, I’m pretty sure Troy Baker has every action movie hero wrapped up.

Blum will play the villains.

[Quincy.]

It amuses me that the #3 top grossing actor in Hollywood is Frank Welker. Who the fuck is that, you ask? He voiced Nibbler on Futurama, among other things.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

And when you voice iconic characters you also make a ton of money. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are the A-list for animated productions as Batman and the Joker.

[Quincy.]

#4 is Bob Bergen. No idea who the hell he is. Heard his work, couldn’t place him in a police line up.

[Quincy.]

And Meryl Streep isn’t even on the list. Fine, it’s inflation unadjusted. Whatever.

[thrakkorzog]

I would have picked Scooby Doo and Megatron as the more well known characters he has voiced over the years.

[Quincy.]

Snob.

[Not a True MJG]

Unfortunately, when a studio is sinking a hundred million into a CGI film (or more, if we’re talking photoreal CG), they still go with Name actors. I can’t think of any animated features for wide release that had ‘purebred’ voice talent.

[Rockabilly]

Obama’s legacy includes unjust wars, a secret kill list soon to be inherited by Donald Trump, and a continuation of the un Constitutional war on drugs.

And Streep’s candidate, Hillary Clinton, is a war monger who also supports the un Constitutional war on drugs.

Streep doesn’t speak for me.

Go fuck yourself Streep and all your ass clown Hollywood friends.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Heard Springsteen – to add to his view on The Great Unhinged – go on about the issue is about finding a ‘qualified’ politician to lead ‘Merica.

Yet, to me, Hilary was EXACTLY what America DIDN’T need.

[Rufus The Monocled]

As to Streep. Whatev.

Meh.

Imagine if an actor went up there and railed against Obama to pimp a pathetic partisan agenda while accepting an award.

[Hyperion]

All true. And the Donald just appointed the most pro-drug war dinosaur on the planet as AG. There’s no way to win the war on drugs, and no way to get rid of it. It’s a war on people, not drugs.

[Jerryskids]

Do you realize that Donald Trump has single-handedly won just as many Superbowl rings as Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Dale Earnhardt combined, and Meryl Streep has never won even a single Superbowl ring? (I believe that’s correct, at any rate. Can somebody get Factcheck on this and see if they would rate this a “True” statement?)

[Suthenboy]

“Does Meryl Streep Speak for America, Will Trump Be Awful, And What’s Obama’s Legacy?”

No.

No.

A dunce.

[american socialist]

Hey Nick, Obama reduced the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by 93%. How’s that for reigning in government? I guess some libertarians will never take yes for an answer. As to Donald Trump and his little twitter tirade against Streep, who the fuck cares what that blowhard politician thinks. He and the rest of this stinking government can go straight to hell. Fuck him and fuck Congress.

[DOOMco]

“Troop surge”

[kbolino]

Obama reduced the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by 93%

I guess the National Guard is deploying to Afghanistan out of boredom, then.

[DOOMco]

Vermont’s Green mountain boys were deployed maybe a month ago.
Dropping nobel peace prizes, im sure.

[american socialist]

What percentage of Readon commenters here are sucking off the taxpayer tit by being in the armed forces. It’s gotta be at least 30%.

How many National Guard troops are being deployed in Afghanistan? Is it like 170,000?

Sorry, I haven’t cherry picked. i’ve taken the number of US troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan in January, 2009 and compared that number to those that are there protecting my freedom now at the end of Obsma’s term. What other metric should I use?

[DOOMco]

You took two data points? Was there or was there not a surge? Did obama advocate for it? Was it done whilehe was potus?

[american socialist]

What metric would you like me to use? I’m sure integrating the number and comparing that to what happened in 2003-2008 will probably lead to the same result.

[kbolino]

You should try “integrating” the number of dead in Afghanistan and let us know what the result is when you compare Obama to Bush.

(it’s not “integrating” if the numbers are discrete, you moron)

[kbolino]

Giving up some of your liberty, doing a job under duress and penalty of law, and risking your life = Sucking off the government tit

Doing little of value to society while collecting welfare = Noble and deserving victim

[chemjeff]

Okay I will say that amsoc does have 1/4 of a point here. There are a lot of people who do go into the military only for the perks and benefits – free college, health care, etc. One aspiring doctor I talked to told me, point blank, that he was joining the military so that they will pay for his medical school. Otherwise he couldn’t give a shit about military service. It was rather striking. There are too many on the right who venerate military service as a noble honorable undertaking, and *for the most part* it is, but there is a certain segment of leeches out there who want their free shit, even from the military. Of course there are plenty of the right who either spit on the military, or feel sorry for them as poor refuse who had no other choices in life but “to get stuck in Iraq”, and that is just wrong and humiliating.

[chemjeff]

er, that should be “plenty on the *left*” in my last sentence

[kbolino]

Indeed, neither of my caricatures are meant to be representative. I am only pointing to the hypocrisy of deriding military service and praising welfare (elsewhere), especially from someone who has repeatedly said “I am not a pacifist”.

[american socialist]

“Of course there are plenty of the right who either spit on the military, or feel sorry for them as poor refuse who had no other choices in life but “to get stuck in Iraq”, and that is just wrong and humiliating.”

My rule is that I just apply the same standard in the way I talk about the military as the Right does when talking about public school teachers.

[kbolino]

My rule is that I just apply the same standard in the way I talk about the military as the Right does when talking about public school teachers.

It’s a pity then that you’re surrounded by libertarians, who don’t much care for ensuring either group stays on the government payroll but don’t buy your selective bullshit and outright lies.

[Tyler.C]

Meh, I think it’s important that we let people be honest about why they served. All soldiers may be patriotic, but without the paycheck, very few would show up. I don’t know why it’s expected that they should provide the service and we should dictate their attitude about doing so.

[american socialist]

“Giving up some of your liberty, doing a job under duress and penalty of law, and risking your life = ”

For what? My freedom, right? Thanks!

[kbolino]

No, no, no. For the government, that great and glorious beast which makes the world fair and punishes wrongthinkers. What higher calling can there be?

[american socialist]

Kbolino,

Don’t know what you’re talking about. I hate this fucking government and have been calling– literally, mind you– for a [socialist] revolution for some time now.

[kbolino]

I’m so impressed by your dyed-in-the-wool convictions dating back to approximately seven weeks ago.

[american socialist]

Nope. It was 2004 that did it for me. Obama is about the best you could hope for in this kracked-up kountry.

[kbolino]

KOOL LETTERS MAN, so hip

[american socialist]

I got it from you guys. KKKlinton, you know.

[kbolino]

More lies. What else you got?

[kbolino]

a [socialist] revolution

* = No actual members of the proletariat need apply, since they have nothing but the wrong opinions

[OneOut]

“Obsma’s term”

That’s worth studying.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

K. Thanks for that, racist.

[kbolino]

He and the rest of this stinking government can go straight to hell. Fuck him and fuck Congress.

Aww, whine some more, petulant little child. You’ll be back to singing the glory of government as soon as a Democrat gets back into office. But you will never be anything more than a lying hack.

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 7:01PM|#
“Hey Nick, Obama reduced the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by 93%.”

And here’s asswipe to cherry-pick numbers, once again proving he’s an imbecile.
Fuck off.

[kbolino]

1. Use an outlier as the baseline
2. Reduce to “just” a lot
3. ???
4. Profit

The same strategy worked wonders for the debt and deficit!

[Sevo]

Turd’s been using that to prove that Obo’s the most wunnerful evah as regards the economy. And I really think he believes his own bullshit.

[kbolino]

The version of Obama that lives in the heads of amsoc, Buttplug, et al. does seem quite swell. Pity the real deal is a different person entirely.

[thrakkorzog]

They seem to be working in shifts. It’s hard to tell if they’re some bored NSA plants who are too retarded to learn a second language, or if they’re true believers.

Stop feeding the trolls and maybe they will go away.

[Acosmist]

Obama lied about wanting a surge in Afghanistan, then? Wasn’t that his entire foreign policy platform in 08? As harsh as you’re being on Obama here, is Mike M your alt?

[american socialist]

No, he didn’t. I wasn’t for it nor was I for having the US participate in the bombing campaign against Libya. That being said, are these things collectively in the same ballpark as *starting* a ground war in a country that never threatened us or attacked us? Nope. Obama will rightfully be regarded by historians as a peacemaker and GWB will be regarded as a dipshit. There’s good reason for that.

[commodious just wasting time]

Obama will rightly be regarded as ceding the gains we’d made in Iraq, however wise the original intervention. He’ll be seen as incompetent and half-hearted, more interested in self-serving personal vendettas and pet projects than governing world affairs. Obama’s legacy is to vindicate Carter as maybe not the worst Democrat to hold office this side of World War II.

[american socialist]

“gains we’d made in Iraq”

You mean the million or so killed by GWB in the ME? sometimes the libertarians here at Reason are capable of the most monstrous kinds of justifications.

[DOOMco]

*headdesk*

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Take heart, proglydyte, Obama did his best to match that with his drone war in Yemen and Afghanistan troop surge.

[westernsloper]

Don’t forget we are now shooting at this Obama favored nation. Obama really kept them in check. Nothing bad can come of this.

[kbolino]

I count dozens of dead fascists and two socialist governments created. You know, the sort of things you advocate for. What does the fact that it happened under GWB got to do with it?

[chemjeff]

“Obama will rightfully be regarded by historians as a peacemaker”

You can’t seriously believe this…

He gave away the ME and Central Asia to Iran and Russia, and turned Libya into a shithole.

[chemjeff]

Not to mention ISIS…

[DOOMco]

They are the jv team of multinational terrorist outfits!

[american socialist]

“He gave away the ME and Central Asia to Iran and Russia.”

So what? Let them deal with it.

[kbolino]

“Let them” = “Bomb them, establish a no-fly zone, and send in troops, but not as many as some other guy might”

[american socialist]

I’m a big Obama fan so I think he’s got it about right. A couple thousand troops and advisors to fight against Islamic fascists in Iraq. Other than that I say we let Iran spend whatever money it wants to prop up Hezbollah in Lebanon and that we let Russia spend whatever money it wants to prop up Assad in Syria. I’m not a pacifist, but I don’t think ousting Assad is worth the blood of even one Chickenhawk draft-dodger President-elect.

[kbolino]

Do you ever take a breath between lies, or does it just flow as naturally from your mouth as shit from a bull’s ass?

OMG I LOVE OBAMA SO MUCH I JUST MAKE SHIT UP ABOUT HIM oh and by the way I’m smarter than everybody else and should be put in charge of everything, because socialism and unicorns

[commodious just wasting time]

let Iran spend whatever money it wants

And whatever money we care to fly in by the pallet load, whilst greenlighting Iran’s nuclear ambitions in a moronic gambit to “counter” our actual regional ally, because Obama is a stupid fucking idiot moron whose antisemitism exceeds even his hatred of American hegemony.

[chemjeff]

You can see the result, and it is not “peace”.

[american socialist]

We all told you here in the peace movement back in 2003 that Bush’s invasion of Iraq was going to fuck things up. Assad (the father) and Hussein seemed to be handling things just fine to me. I didn’t really care one way or the other whether Iraq had nuclear weapons. Look at North Korea. They’ve got nukes and, voila, no occupying American army. TRUMP will have to think about that one lest the despicable Kim Jong-un decides to drop a nuke on him and his fascist brood in response. An ounce of nukes keeps the American occupying army away, I say.

[chemjeff]

Look, you claimed that Obama would be remembered as a peacemaker. Regardless if Bush fucked things up in the ME (and I think he did), what Obama did in response to Bush’s mistakes can’t reasonably be considered “peace”.

[John Titor]

Is it really surprising to anyone that War is Peace to Amsoc? Nothing says ‘peacemaker’ like intervening in multiple civil wars, right?

Oh, I’m sorry, he’s busy masturbating to the thought of a major American city being nuked now.

[kbolino]

Go find the Bush supporters and let them know. I didn’t support Bush or the Iraq War you fucking idiot.

[kbolino]

We all told you here in the peace movement

“I’m not a pacifist”

Is there anybody you don’t lie to?

[american socialist]

“kbolino|1.9.17 @ 10:30PM|#

We all told you here in the peace movement

“I’m not a pacifist”

Is there anybody you don’t lie to?”

You can’t advocate for some [limited] military intervention specifically (like against ISIS) and a truncated role for the military in general?

[John Titor]

You moron, you can’t claim to be part of a peace movement and then go “but really I just want a little war from a Democrat, an undeclared one that I can pretend is good and clean and wonderful. I’ll call it a limited military intervention so I don’t come off like the scumbag hypocrite I am.”

You throw hissy fits about Vietnam despite it being the long term result of the exact same logic, you idiot.

[kbolino]

Just the tip!

[Sevo]

“…actress Meryl Streep gave an impassioned speech calling for creative types to stand up for the little guy..”

Yeah, toss a saw-buck into the cup when you pass a bum.
Let’s face it, Trump’s done more ‘for the little guy’ in running businesses than this witch could ever do.

[DOOMco]

Im sure you can burn vhs for heat.

[Sevo]

Hey, Warren! Is Tirico on the announcing team tonight?

[Ted S.]

Do you have the score? My internet is down.

[Sevo]

Check with Streep. She’ll know.

[JayU]

0 players kneeling. 1 angry Kaepernick.

[Sevo]

Hey, but Bama got a couple of delay-of-games last week. I thought maybe it was contagious.

[Sevo]

Hey, Streep! You like ‘Bama or Clemson? Asking for someone who watches college ‘ball.

[Wizard with a Woodchipper]

I honestly thought Streep was dead.

[widget]

I had a friend who attended Yale with Meryl Streep. They were both thespians. Whenever the conversation stalled one in our group would ask him to retell the story of when he met Meryl Streep. I don’t recall the details of the story but he described her as being strikingly lovely in both appearance and personality. Steve Martin recently got earful of Twitter rage for a similar comment about Carrie Fisher.

[Ken Shultz]

Meryl Streep gave an impassioned speech for elitism.

Maybe the message here is that concern for your fellow man is the root of all elitism.

Is there anything you can say to a progressive that’s more dismissive of what it means to be a progressive than “Mind your own business”?

[Quincy.]

Is there anything you can say to a progressive that’s more dismissive of what it means to be a progressive than “Mind your own business”?

Your plumber won’t club you to death with his pipewrench in a fit of anti-semitic rage?

[westernsloper]

Is there anything you can say to a progressive that’s more dismissive of what it means to be a progressive than “Mind your own business”?

Maybe scratch your nuts, thoughtfully look around hesitating at the sky with a furrowed brow, and say, “you own a Che Guevara T-shirt and shop at Whole Foods don’t you?”

[Ken Shultz]

I guess the most controversial thing you can say to a progressives is, “I care more about myself than I do about you”.

[Raven Nation]

Or, “a poor person/minority/oppressed other cares about themselves more than you do.”

[kbolino]

The controversy arising only because you are admitting to something they live and breathe every day.

[Ken Shultz]

Forced sacrifice for others really is the center of their universe.

They just don’t want to think about it in general terms.

They want to force the middle class to sacrifice their standard of living for the environment.

They want to force whites to sacrifice their privilege (whatever that means) for others.

They wants to force us to sacrifice our healthcare so that poor people can get it for free.

They want us to sacrifice our freedom of speech so that no one gets their feelings hurt.

Progressivism is a list of forced sacrifices, a demonization of the people who refuse to sacrifice for other people, and a willingness to use the coercive power of government to force their least favorite groups to make their favorite sacrifices.

But progressives don’t want to talk about how being a progressive is all about using the coercive power of government to force people to make sacrifices for others.

Because that makes it sound bad.

At some point, I start getting what Ayn Rand was talking about in the virtue of selfishness.

On the other hand, is there anybody more selfish than a progressive who wants to use the coercive power of government to force other people to make sacrifices?

“I want to confiscate the money you earned and spend it on something I care about more than you” certainly isn’t an excellent example of altruism.

[commodious just wasting time]

Watching the game ‘cuz I’m out and why not. Who am I rooting for? WTF is a Clemson? And who’s the dude with vitiligo?

[westernsloper]

And while we’re at it, isn’t the presidency vastly more powerful than it was when Barack Obama took office eight years ago? Where were you when that was going on, coastal elites?

This can not be repeated enough.

As I was channel surfing radio (Sirius/XM) awhile back prior to the election, I stopped on “Progress”, I think it was. A caller to the station was saying, how he could not wait for Hillary to get into office and use her pen. He hoped she used it to write all kinds of Executive orders about gun control and all other injustices.

Personally, I hope Trump does not write any Executive orders other than to repeal President fuck chops numerous overreaches, but I hope this will be a learning moment for the big government morons in both parties. Enumerated powers and all that.

[DOOMco]

A man can dream.

[chemjeff]

Sadly we know what will happen: President Scalp Weasel will use his pen and phone to Make America Great Again, and if you object, then you aren’t a Real Murican like those good downhome white working class folks in rural Pennsylvania.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

President Scalp Weasel

See, that’s how political insults should be done. Take notes, DomesticDissident and all those progtards using “Drumpf”.

[american socialist]

I’m a libertarian so when some idiot politician criticizes a private person because politician mad I say politician go fuck himself.

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 8:30PM|#
“I’m a libertarian”
You’re a liar, asswipe. Fuck off.

[widget]

I’m a libertarian…

You’re Bill Maher?

[Ken Shultz]

LOL

[kbolino]

Unless you personally don’t like the “private person” (Meryl Streep is awfully visible for being so private) and/or do like the politician, in which case you will repeat it like gospel and praise the speaker for his “courage” and “integrity”.

[DOOMco]

She said it on what i assume was broadcast internationally.

[kbolino]

I sure hope they catch the bastard who illegally filmed that private affair.

[DOOMco]

…Fucking Russians.

[Sevo]

It’s always the Russkis!
Oh, wait…

[The Fusionist]

So, either you have an unusual definition of the term “libertarian” or an unusual definition of the word “socialist,” because as conventionally defined, these words describe contradictory things.

[Tony]

Oh my god you people have gotten measurably dumber since the election.

[The Fusionist]

OK, where is the overlap between libertarianism and socialism?

[kbolino]

OK, where is the overlap between libertarianism and socialism?

After you’ve paid 50% of your income to the state, then a 20% VAT on all your purchases, then a 2% property tax on all your assets, you just won’t know what to do with all the liberty you have.

[Ken Shultz]

It is possible for socialism to be libertarian, but Tony has no conception of how that could be.

And if he could describe how such a system could be, his own ideas are in no way compatible with that position.

He can’t even conceive of the idea that our rights might exist apart from the state. His chances of applying socialism to that idea, when he can’t even conceptualize the idea that would be based on, are absolute zero.

[kbolino]

If they wanted voluntary socialism then they wouldn’t be agitating for the involuntary kind. But that would also require them to work hard days in the field for decades before anybody let them make a decision about anything, and it would also require a lot of sacrifice in their standard of living. They want to have their cake and eat it, too. Everything can be like Denmark, except in all the ways it can’t or won’t be anything like Denmark, but let’s not talk about that.

[Ken Shultz]

All libertarianism starts with the idea that people have rights apart from the state.

Miniarchists such as myself go from there to the idea that if the government has any legitimate purpose at all, it is to protect our rights.

Libertarian socialists are generally anarchists and reject that idea. They believe that much of what we think of as property and the government protection of our rights is actually authoritarianism.

Invariably, they’ll argue, the government actually starts protecting the rights of the wealthy and ignoring the rights of the poor. Notice, they’re not just talking about civil rights–they mean property rights, too. I’m sympathetic to that suggestion–any libertarian that objects to eminent domain abuse, appreciates the danger of that.

Anyway, libertarian socialists generally believe that socialism is the natural state we’d have without the artificial imposition of government–that much of what we think of as “property” is actually the result of elites using authoritarianism to interfere with the natural functioning of markets.

It isn’t that much different from where other libertarians are in many ways. You might even argue that its biggest difference is what they’d want to do in Libertopia. I can read Animal Farm or Nineteen Eighty-Four and agree with almost everything I read there.

Suffice it to say, libertarian socialists would be just as disgusted with Tony as we are–and for all the same reasons.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Nope. The left are completely unhinged. I don’t see anyone hear shitting their pants screaming stuff like ‘get rid of the EC’ and ‘popular vote!’ and whatever else retarded progressives spew.

[DOOMco]

mind your business

[straffinrun]

Was expecting this.

[westernsloper]

I had a thought the other day of doing one of those with the people you see in your local convenience store as one goes to work in the morning. Fortunately, I am lazy, and never follow through with an idea, so I don’t have talk to the people I see in a convenience store.

[DOOMco]

Would be funny

[straffinrun]

Libertarians can mock lefties without prefacing it by saying “Republicans are awful, too!”. We really can do that. Trust me. The average working stiff, myself included, once in a while simply wants elitist assholes to have their shit thrown back in their faces. Who looks like a bigger jerk, the guy making fun of a self righteous jerk, or the the guy who makes fun of a self-righteous jerk but first points out you’re kind of a jerk yourself.

[chemjeff]

“Libertarians can mock lefties without prefacing it by saying “Republicans are awful, too!””

Yeah, but if you don’t, you wind up sounding like a Republican who likes pot.

[westernsloper]

whoa….point taken. I see that in that in my comment. Thanks.

[straffinrun]

I didn’t see you doing that. I’m more speaking to myself on that. It is something I see people doing all the time and catch myself doing it, too.

[westernsloper]

That was a total introspective moment. It made me think. For the record, I have actually talked to people in a convenience store.

[Sevo]

It’s almost like the lefties want people to defend that blowhard.

[kbolino]

It’s hilarious to me that the lefty talking point is that everybody who disagrees with their assessment of Obama’s foreign policy is a Bush apologist. As though the entire gamut of thought is encompassed by those two not very different politicians.

[straffinrun]

That’s the point, isn’t it? One guy says, “2+2=5”, and if you laugh at him, he comes back with, “Oh, so you agree with the guy who says 2+2=3?”.

[DOOMco]

I learned today and wanted to share!

[commodious just wasting time]

I would let SE Cupp sit on my face for hours.

[straffinrun]

Caligula tried to have the Statue of Zeus at Olympia removed and brought to Rome so that he could put his own head on it. I could see Obama doing this to the Lincoln memorial.

[Crusty Juggler]

I can see him painting the Washington Monument black.

[The Fusionist]

Of course *you* could see that.

[straffinrun]

Trump couldn’t undo that exec order. Once you go black…

[Crusty Juggler]

The police response…

[The Fusionist]

So is there a local ordinance about this or not? The article didn’t seem clear, or maybe I read it wrong.

[The Fusionist]

The cop referred to “the law there is,” but the article said only “There is no state law against leaving your car turned on and unattended, but dozens of cities across Michigan have local ordinances.”

[straffinrun]

“It’s common sense. We can’t warn everybody of the law there is. Common sense says you don’t leave your car running unattended,” Berlin said.

I get nervous when I hear Berlin talking like this.

[The Fusionist]

You’re supposed to say, “you know who else had Berlin ordering people around?”

[straffinrun]

You know who else was a German shepherd?

[Libertarian]

Dieter Jesus?

[Sevo]

Blondi

[The Fusionist]

“Crikey, what a day, I think I’ll just go and get a…feminist beer?”

“When men were served alcohol in cans bearing slogans such as “consent can’t come after you do” and “nipples are nipples” at a recent event in Adelaide, their reaction was as good as the brewers could have hoped for….

“”We are disrupting and infiltrating the Aussie beer culture, which is a white, male-dominated space where there are a lot of decision makers,” says one of the co-owners of Sparkke, Sarah Barrable-Tishauer. The Canadian former actor provides marketing expertise to the Australian social enterprise….

“Not everyone has appreciated the slogans. “There has been some criticism from people who feel that they don’t want to be preached at, when they are just trying to drink a beer, but enough is enough and it is not about sugar-coating issues to make people feel comfortable. It is actually about disrupting that space and using it as a tool to generate that conversation,” says Barrable-Tishauer.

“”As we now live in a post-Trump, post-Brexit, post-Pauline Hanson world, it is really important that these issues are at the forefront and in bottle shops and in bars and in places where people are having important conversations.””

[Libertarian]

“There has been some criticism from people who feel that they don’t want to be preached at, when they are just trying to drink a beer, but enough is enough and it is not about sugar-coating issues to make people feel comfortable.”

Drinking beer isn’t about making people “feel comfortable? I don’t think they grasp the concept.

[The Fusionist]

Remember that this is the type of person who uses “nonthreatening” as an insult.

[Libertarian]

“. . . it is really important that these issues are at the forefront and in bottle shops and in bars and in places where people are having important conversations. . . ”

I’ve been drinking since I was 17 and I can count on one hand the number of “important conversations” I’ve had in a bottle shop or a bar. Have these folks ever, you know, gone out and had a beer? Ever?

[Cyto]

Hey, we had an important discussion at the bar just last night! The topic was “greatest B movies of all time”.

Strange Brew was mentioned…. which hadn’t been brought to mind in a very long time. Then the discussion became a debate about how much it cost to make. The consensus was around $10-15k. I chimed in that everything was on film in those days, so it was probably more like $250k.

Google jumped in with the answer…. $3 million. Holy crap, that’s a lot for that thing. It ended up making about $8.5 million at the box office, so a successful venture, I suppose.

So yeah. Important discussions..

[Hyperion]

When did the Aussies become Brit level pussies? It’s bad enough if you’re going to try to sell me you shit quality over priced IPA piss water that you call a lager, but now you’re going to put pussy men slogans on it? Nah, it ain’t happening, skippy.

[Sevo]

“…As we now live in a post-Trump, post-Brexit, post-Pauline Hanson world,…”

“We”, white man?

[westernsloper]

When men were served alcohol in cans bearing slogans such as “consent can’t come after you do” and “nipples are nipples”

The majority of Aussie guys I have worked with would read, “nipples are nipples”, and poor their beer on the closest girls chest and say, “lets see them nipples!!”

[widget]

“”As we now live in a post-Trump, post-Brexit,…”

When did that happen?

I don’t know how Aussies market beer but the purpose of the number “33” on a Rolling Rock beer bottle is to make you order another, and another until you figure out what the “33” means.

[The Fusionist]

Here are a few questions Sessions needs to answer before being confirmed as attorney general

Civil asset forfeiture not mentioned.

[Hyperion]

Congress Critter #1: Mr Sessions, now that dope is legal in Colorado and children are being raped and eaten in the streets by reefer maddened zombies, what do you plan to do to save the children?

Garden Gnome: Well, you know I’m from Bammy, and I don’t take kindly to this dopin, we don’t take kindly to that dopin in Bammy. What with darkies rapin the white wiminz and all while hopped up on that dope. We’re going to bring back that Orange Crush to weed out those dopers. Hey, it worked in Nam.

[GILMORE?]

Like i said = its all about racism, nothing about actual civil liberties.

[The Fusionist]

One would think, from an SJW standpoint, that civil asset forfeiture would be a particular problem for nonwhites, given the racisty racism of the cops and how they’re so racist.

I mean, I think it’s more accurate to say the cops are interested in the color green, but for an SJW, to whom it’s all racism, wouldn’t they be worried that these allegedly racist cops would use their enormous civil-forfeiture powers to rob minorities?

[Heroic Mulatto]

That would require them to be educated on the topics of which they speak.

[westernsloper]

Each Attorney General must establish enforcement policies and priorities.

Why do they need to set priorities? Should not the enforcement of all law be a priority? Or could it be we have too many fucking laws?

[The Fusionist]

“We don’t have enough money or enough courts to prosecute violators of *all* our innumerable, essential laws, so we just have to sort of go through the potential defendants and see which ones we want to prosecute.”

[GILMORE?]

File Under = This Guy Gets It

“I think that what Republicans have figured out is that there are not a lot of philosophical things that this new president cares about,” Axelrod said as some in the audience laughed…

“He’s not sitting there mulling over his multiplicity of ideas about how to improve the country. So, they see in the absence of that to pass stuff they want to pass, a very deep tax cut, deregulation, the Obamacare repeal

Never mind that the person Trump picked for

Sec State? = hates sanctions, thinks govt should stop getting in the way of trade, and reduce its conflict-footprint
Department of labor? = hates the minimum wage
Department of Education? = school choice reformer
HUD? = thinks public housing & welfare is a barrier to social mobility
EPA? = thinks govt approaches to climate change are bullshit and is a strong proponents of energy-resource development, etc.

and so on.

I think Axelrod’s confusion is that he thinks politicians should wave policy ideas around when campaigning, then govern ‘pragmatically’.

Maybe Trump doesn’t bother telling people everything HE thinks (or expect them to care much). Maybe he just picks people who has ideas he likes.

[chemjeff]

I think Trump just picks people that he likes. I really don’t get the sense that it’s about ideas at all. I think the people Trump ended up picking are confident people who impressed Trump and wound up selling Trump on their ideas, not that Trump sought people out with a specific idea in mind.

[widget]

I think wizz kid Steven Miller picked Trump, not the other way around. And Trump would not be President without Miller.

[GILMORE?]

I really don’t get the sense that it’s about ideas at all.

Total coincidence that everyone he picked has a raging boner to reverse the course of the agency they head.

the distinction you make is partly my own point = it doesn’t actually matter.

The idea that the president is the Godhead from which all ideas flow downward to his subdeities is a foolish myth which is kept alive mostly by power-fellating media types. (read: progs).

That isn’t the case, shouldn’t be the case, and as Trump showed, it doesn’t need to even *pretend* to be the case in order to win elections.

say, “Shit will be awesome” (but How!? says the press) “Because I’m very smart” says the candidate. (press points fingers and laughs, not noticing how empty braggadocio continues to win supporters)

my point is that Axelrod seems convinced that this is a government with no intent on “doing anything” because he’s not impressed with Trump’s “philosophy of governance”.

The flaw is in his own thinking, presuming there needs to be one at all. Its not what he thinks that matters; its whether he gives power to people who DO want to change things.

the above-mentioned Razorfist video is worth watching, because it debunks a lot of what people think about Obama’s own “legislative accomplishments”. His tenure was mostly marked by “not answering the phone” when his party needed him.

[Hyperion]

It’s sort of sad to say, but I’m starting to think that the only 2 balls in the Republican party, belong to Donald Trump, for better or worse. The rest of them are spineless eunuchs.

[american socialist]

yeah, he’s an ideologue who’s going to take away people’s health insurance, make sure they can’t complain to the government about shitty working conditions, and live in communities that are progressively more polluted and blighted– all the while proclaiming himself (an elitist billionaire, mind you) as the champion of the common man. The question you have to ask is how big of a sucker are the White working class voters that put him in charge. Huge suckers or HUUUGE?

[chemjeff]

Oh come now, he’s not an ideologue.

[american socialist]

Hah. You got me. He is, of course, a narcissist first and foremost.

[kbolino]

Tell us more of your own virtue, oh not-narcissistic one.

[chemjeff]

Oh I’ll agree with that. Trump is all about Trump. If he happens to do something right, it will be largely by accident. But if that moment comes, I won’t criticize him for it. After all, it would be cruel. If the blind squirrel does happen to find a nut, that’s not the time to pick on the squirrel.

[kbolino]

And when he doesn’t really do any of that, you’re going to eat some humble pie and admit that your nonsensical hyperbole was just overblown bullshit.

In some alternate universe, maybe.

[american socialist]

Hey, how many US soldiers are in Iraq now and how many were there in 1/2009? I just want to know. You can give the numbers in Afghanistan too where Obama proved his true colors as a warmongering asshole.

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 10:12PM|#
“Hey, how many US soldiers are in Iraq…”

Pick those cherrys, asswipe. It’s the only way you’ll make a living.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You’re clueless.

In CONSERVATIVE ALTERNATE REALITY LAND, Libya and Iraq are EXACTLY THE SAME.

Yes, Dumbya’s $3 trillion fiasco (with 4500 US dead) in Iraq is EXACTLY THE SAME as Obama’s couple of Tomahawk’s he chucked at Qaddaffi.

GET A CLUE MORAN!

[Hyperion]

Well, it’s nice to see that you don’t count the tens of thousands or hundred of thousands of Libyans and Syrians killed or displaced by Obama and Hillary’s dumb fuck recklessness as anything noteworthy. Just the sort of thing to be expected from immoral scum like shreek.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Oh, you mean the fucking idiot Sunni vs Shia’ fight that has been going on for 1200 years?

Sorry, you nose-bleeding pussy, I don’t give a fuck about that 1200 year old war.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Got the jazz in ‘ya

[Hyperion]

Aww, shreeky is all wee weed up cause he’s a retard and can’t even muster up a decent response to anything. Shreey’s freaking out man, he’s freaking out. It’s ok, shreeky, you can still fap to the posters of your new heroes, John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

[straffinrun]

It’s a 1200 year old war when you’re talking about Libya and Syria and Bush’s war when talking about Iraq.

[kbolino]

How many Sunni in the WTC? How many Shia in the Charlie Hebdo offices? Was Pim Fortuyn a Sunni or a Shia? Was the Bataclan Theater an Islamic holy site?

[Sevo]

“I don’t give a fuck about that 1200 year old war.”
Shame you don’t give a fuck about facts or logic, you pathetic excuse for vermin.

[John Titor]

Sorry, you nose-bleeding pussy, I don’t give a fuck about that 1200 year old war.

Fantastic, you’ve admitted that you’re ignorant to a major part of Middle Eastern diplomacy. And yet you still won’t shut your idiotic mouth and let the grown-ups talk, despite reveling in your own stupidity.

[kbolino]

$3 trillion fiasco

Is the rule now just to add a trillion every time you mention it? It was $1 trillion, then it was $2 trillion, now it’s $3 trillion, all in the span of a month.

[chemjeff]

Next week it will be $11ty gazillion!

[commodious just wasting time]

Oh, yeah, the guy in the four thousand dollar suit is holding the elevator for the guy who doesn’t make that in three months. Come on!

[DOOMco]

*hides in cubicle with post-its and candy*

[Palin's Buttplug]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..02200.html

I hate to quote Stiglitz but he does have a Nobel prize.

[kbolino]

So what’s Obama’s excuse for the high deficits if it’s all the war’s fault?

[Sevo]

Did you read your own link, you stupid shit?
Included “items”
“Oil”
“The financial crisis”

[Sevo]

“Under Obama: 75% of Casualties in 13-Year Afghan War; 55 More in 2014”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/ar…..-more-2014
That was up until 2014, turd. Get a new act and fuck off.

[Sevo]

And why no pile on?
“The Death Toll Does Not Lie ? Afghanistan Is Obama’s War”
From that noted member of the VRWC:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..83441.html

[american socialist]

Hey, can you just answer my question instead of pointing out that Obama put more troops in Afghanistan early in his presidency to kill members of Al Queda and OBL. Since you’re into casualty lists, can you tell me how many US troops died in, oh, 2004 in Afghanistan while GWB was chasing down Al Queda in Iraq?

[commodious just wasting time]

Who cares about BHO? He’s Team Bush. All Wars All the Time.

[american socialist]

I’m just looking for two numbers actually.

[commodious just wasting time]

13 and 37?

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 10:52PM|#
“I’m just looking for two numbers actually.”

No, asswipe, you’re hoping to find *the* two numbers among all of them damning to your argument that might convince imbeciles such as yourself that you have an argument.
Find them yourself, so we can all get a laugh.
Oh, and fuck off.

[kbolino]

It’s not exactly the same. But the consequences are not magically different just because one of them has the Obama stamp of approval.

[Palin's Buttplug]

What the fuck is wrong with Meryl Streep? She is worth $65 million and pulls in millions in residuals.

She should LOVE the Con Man’s big tax cut for her bracket. Fuck these people who care about freedom and justice.

GIVE MERYL HER GODDAMN TAX CUT NOW!

[Hyperion]

You’ve reached a new level of pathetic.

[american socialist]

LET’S STICK IT TO THESE GODDAMN ELITIST HOLLYWOOD ASSHOLES BY GIVING THEM A HUUUGE TAX BREAK. FUCKING BRILLIANT. THAT’LL SHOW THEM!!

[kbolino]

This is stupid even by your very low standards.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Cut him a break. His reading material has improved.

http://amzn.to/2jxhg1K

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Skibbidy doo bop!

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Skibbidy doo bop!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Charlie “Bird” Parker used play jazz all hyped up on coke too.

[commodious just wasting time]

CO FUCKING CAINE

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

I figure a little smooth jazz could mellow that yellow. Skizoo-daazzzz

[Heroic Mulatto]

If PB was music, this is what he’d be.

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Hehe I was half expecting that link to be avant-garde noise music consisting ofrandomly convulsed percussion instrumentation and refuse items, along with spastic moaning and and muffled whimpers.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Parker was also out of his mind. Fun fact: He was mesmerized by Benny Goodman’s (I think it was Goodman – anyway some Big Band player) playing.

[Sevo]

Goodman was a hell of a clarinetist.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Yeh I’m starting to question it was him. I read it somewhere back in the 90s and can’t remember if it was a fellow sax player or something. I do remember the musician was white (and famous)though. Anyway, it was explained he would literally go into a trance listening to the sound of how the person played.

Damn. I can’t remember who it was. DAMN YOU DONALD TRUMP FOR EATING MY MEMORY!

[Sevo]

Rufus, you can mention it in the future and I’ll get the reference.
Goodman had a rep as an exacting player and band leader; miss a half beat on your cue, and you got the evil eye; twice, well…
He even managed to ‘direct’ Gene Krupa who got into fisticuffs with several performers (Sinatra among them when Krupa started a drum riff in the middle of one of Frank’s refrains):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEmK9qFB1Y0

[commodious just wasting time]

*yawn*

[Not a True MJG]

We really need a better class of troll.

[american socialist]

Tell me about it. All these right-wing Trump apologists are so tiresome.

[kbolino]

Don’t worry, you and Buttplug have thoroughly countered any and all Trump apologetics several times over with your Obama apologetics.

[american socialist]

You mean when I said that I thought joining NATO on its mission in Iraq or advocating for Assad’s removal or for not withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2009 were all things I opposed? Or where I said that he was about as good as it gets in Amerikkka? Those are ringing endorsements to you? But yeah, I think Bush was the worst US President in history and that Trump will likely be worse so that should convict me in the eyes of all correct-thinking libertarians.

[kbolino]

It’s not the made-up narrative that makes you the messiah of your own morality play that convicts you, it’s all the little details where you prove yourself willfully ignorant and/or maliciously mendacious that does that.

[american socialist]

One can’t disagree with individual aspects of what Obama did as President, look at the totality of his administration (gay marriage, an end to the war in Iraq, his record of pro-choice activism, his *relative* reluctance to get involved in foreign wars, DADT, etc.), and give him a passing grade without you guys screaming about hypocrisy. I’ve been here a long time so I know, I know.

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 11:05PM|#
“…an end to the war in Iraq…”

That’s GREAT, asswipe! I’m sure you have a million of ’em
“Number of US Troops in Iraq More Than 4,000, Exceeds Previous Claims”
http://www.military.com/daily-…..laims.html
As an ignoramus, I’m sure you believe that if Obo says he just started a herd of unicorns on the north lawn, you’ll be out there wondering why YOU can’t see them.
Oh, and fuck off.

[american socialist]

“More Than 4,000”

Yeah, deployed against ISIS. That’s like 170,000 deployed against Saddam Hussein? Don’t worry Trump is going to put more boots on the ground but as long as he tweets how much he didn’t enjoy the Academy Awards and hates Britain because Judy Dench called him an ignoramus he’ll have your back.

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 11:29PM|#
“Yeah, deployed against ISIS.”

PHWEEET!
Flagged! Goal posts in motion!
Fuck off penalty!

[kbolino]

Look, everybody killed in Obama’s wars is a bad guy. They’re the first wars in the history of mankind to have no collateral damage whatsoever. You know this is true because he has a Peace Prize.

[kbolino]

I’ve been here a long time

3 years ain’t that fucking long, cupcake. I’ve been here more than twice that long and half the names here were well established by the time I started commenting.

The totality of Obama’s time as President is summed up as petulant childishness. Some good, a lot of bad. As is to be expected by someone with no consistent ethos except self-aggrandizement. Then again, it’s little wonder you find him so dreamy.

When you start criticizing him–and not of the “well he wasn’t as left-wing as I would have liked”–then I might start to believe you have some honesty.

[Tony]

I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but are reason commenters going to be about 80% pro-Trump without question or hesitation for the foreseeable future? Because this is getting all kinds of stupid.

[The Fusionist]

Even if were 80%, which I don’t concede, even that high a percentage isn’t “without question or hesitation.”

[Tony]

One wonders what he has to do to earn libertarian scorn that he hasn’t done already.

Maybe you’ll find your way out of Sean Hannity’s giant ass when Jeff Sessions starts shutting down state-legalized weed all over the country.

[kbolino]

Taking office would be a good start.

[Tony]

Ah, waiting and seeing, just as you did with Obama and Hillary no doubt.

[kbolino]

Yes, actually. Go back and find evidence to the contrary, I’ve been commenting here for awhile.

[Tony]

Allow me to preview my grad-level poli-sci course: Republicans ruin everything, and Trump is an obvious mentally ill disaster moron.

Maybe saved you some deep thought.

[kbolino]

Get called out on your bullshit, spew more bullshit. So clever.

[Tony]

I said only 80%. Congratulations for being among the non-total retards. Now go bug them for genuflecting before the fascist grapefruit.

[kbolino]

Unlike you and your suddenly lobotomized ilk, I’m not going to apeshit over something that hasn’t even happened yet.

Enact your own damn labor.

[The Fusionist]

You do yourself an injustice…your ideas would save us *any* thought.

[The Fusionist]

Oh, right, Jeff Sessions, so good to have you remind everyone because Sessions hasn’t been covered here.

/sarc

[Tony]

If libertarians don’t demonstrate at the very least that they put principle over Republican ass kissing when it comes to weed, I’m going to start thinking “libertarian” is a euphemism for stupid Republican fuckface.

[commodious just wasting time]

In the face of the mighty strides forward under Holder and Lynch, right?

[Tony]

Uh, yes? You’re about to find out the difference if you can’t tell it already.

But that’s pretty good. Let Sessions off the hook because OBAMA BAD TOO. Stupid me for forgetting how there’s always a fucking escape hatch for Republican blame for you people.

[kbolino]

How many days has Sessions been AG?

[Tony]

Is there a rule that we can’t make predictions based on a person’s entire career of actions, statements, and ideology?

[kbolino]

You can predict what Sessions will do all you want. It doesn’t change the fact that the sitting AG is Lynch not Sessions and that you supported the sitting President who appointed her.

[Tony]

And the sitting president chose on an unprecedentedly large scale not to enforce federal cannabis laws.

[kbolino]

And the sitting president chose on an unprecedentedly large scale not to enforce federal cannabis laws.

And? That would be a good start if it were 2009. It’s 2016 and we’re at the end of his shitty Presidency, not the beginning.

[Tony]

The most libertarian president on drugs since the drug war started isn’t good enough. Fair enough.

[kbolino]

Yes, there is more than one issue. Being terrible on all, or at least most, of the rest, doesn’t get erased just because you were somewhat better on one of them.*

* = But not as good as promised at campaign time

[Sevo]

Tony|1.9.17 @ 11:19PM|#
“The most libertarian president on drugs”

OK, I’ll accept he’s on drugs, but as for the rest of your bullshit: going from zero to 1% from a lying POS who could have resched’d dope with the stroke of a pen has to embarrass even a pathetic lefty like you.
Or maybe not; maybe you really are immune to shame…

[Sevo]

Tony|1.9.17 @ 11:03PM|#
“And the sitting president chose on an unprecedentedly large scale not to enforce federal cannabis laws”

Yeah, he stood back and let Holder do it for him. Ain’t it great he had a Beria to be executioner?

[commodious just wasting time]

Hopefully zero. If the Dems manage to drum out one of Trump’s noms, it’s Sessions.

Which is foolish, since Sessions isn’t far off his predecessors in terms of temperament. They’d be much better served going after Betsy DeVos, since they hate black children so goddamn much.

[Rufus The Monocled]

You’re the king of full of shitness.

I’ve been an outside observer for years here and they do nothing of the sort. You just *interpret* it that way because, well, you’re progressive.

And progressives have little pea brains marking a phenomena leaving us puzzled.

[Ken Shultz]

Trump has to start doing things that are anti-libertarian before I start getting too upset with him.

And he has to start doing things that are 1) worse than what Obama did and 2) worse than what Hillary promised to do.

For instance, I think both Trump and Rand Paul are making a big mistake by insisting that the Republicans have a new healthcare plan before they repeal the important parts of ObamaCare–if we wait until the various interests come up with a new plan they all agree on before we repeal ObamaCare, we will probably never repeal ObamaCare.

But I’ll stop complaining about that 1) When I start thinking that Obama would have signed any ObamaCare repeal and 2) Once I start thinking that Hillary wouldn’t have insisted on replacing ObamaCare with single payer (or the road thereto).

[Tony]

That’s way more pathetic than you realize. Reread it, see for yourself.

I thought you people were about principles. Now it’s all about “How can I keep liking Trump no matter how bad he is? I know, invoke Obama!”

[Ken Shultz]

I’ve always been more pragmatic than ideologically rigid–and if you were only one person, you’d probably know that.

On a pragmatic basis, Barack Obama was a shithead.

He was a shithead on a ideological basis, too. As I’ve repeatedly written, what Barack Obama thinks about what makes the economy grow is dumber than creationism.

. . . on a pragmatic basis, his policy reflected that.

He was wrong about everything–and he was an ideologically rigid ignoramus.

You know why Obama didn’t use the bully pulpit like Trump to name and shame companies into keeping their factories and jobs in the U.S.?

It isn’t because Obama is ideologically opposed to government interference that way.

it’s because Barack Obama is a fucking idiot. He just didn’t think of it.

[Tony]

Wow you really aren’t a libertarian. A president bullying companies into doing his bidding for his own political fortunes? That’s something beyond crony capitalism.

And it’s a horrible practice and horrible precedent as you should well know.

[Ken Shultz]

“Wow you really aren’t a libertarian. A president bullying companies into doing his bidding for his own political fortunes? That’s something beyond crony capitalism.”

I didn’t say it was libertarian.

I said Obama was an idiot for not doing it himself.

Hillary was an idiot for not doing it herself.

Point was, it’s hard to specifically say Trump was worse than Hillary or Obama on an ideological matter like that–when neither Obama nor Hillary were ideologically opposed to doing that.

Meanwhile, Trump is on board with repealing ObamaCare rather than initiating single payer, repealing Dodd-Frank, etc.

I didn’t vote for Trump, but if he’s a significant improvement over Obama and significantly better than Hillary–both on a libertarian basis–then it’s hard to get upset about an improvement.

Trump isn’t even a neocon like Hillary.

[Ken Shultz]

Here’s two ways in which Trump is more libertarian than either Obama or Hillary.

1) Trump will sign a repeal of ObamaCare.

2) Trump will sign a repeal of Dodd-Frank.

Name one way in which Obama or Hillary is more libertarian than Trump.

[Tony]

Drugs, all the right-wing theocrat stuff, everything that has anything to do with meaningful freedom. Except tax cuts on billionaires, of course, the most important thing of all.

[Ken Shultz]

Rolling Stone says you’re full of shit on drugs, but we already knew you’re a low information voter.

http://www.rollingstone.com/po…..t-20120216

Obama raided medical marijuana clinics hundreds of times during his term in office–especially when Holder was Attorney General.

Trump says he’ll respect the drug laws in the states where it’s legal. I see no reason not to take him at his word on that.

I can’t think of a single issue on which Donald Trump is a theocrat. I think you’re just making shit up.

Taxation is theft, and corporate taxation is double theft. If you support double taxation, whatever. You support all kinds of stupid shit. The question was why Obama or Hillary is more libertarian than Trump, and double-taxing billionaires because they’re billionaires isn’t a libertarian position at all. ‘

Can’t you name even one thing on which Hillary or Obama are more libertarian than Trump?

Not even one thing?

I think you’re a stupid person.

I think you think the things you think for reasons that you don’t even understand.

Even when challenged to name–one simple thing–that makes two different politicians more libertarian than Trump in any way, you fail.

That’s pathetic.

[Ken Shultz]

“Over the past year, the Obama administration has quietly unleashed a multi?agency crackdown on medical cannabis that goes far beyond anything undertaken by George W. Bush. The feds are busting growers who operate in full compliance with state laws, vowing to seize the property of anyone who dares to even rent to legal pot dispensaries, and threatening to imprison state employees responsible for regulating medical marijuana. With more than 100 raids on pot dispensaries during his first three years, Obama is now on pace to exceed Bush’s record for medical-marijuana busts. “There’s no question that Obama’s the worst president on medical marijuana,” says Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “He’s gone from first to worst.”

—-Rolling Stone

http://www.rollingstone.com/po…..t-20120216

Don’t you know anything?

[Cyto]

Hey! Trump quoted from “Two Corinthians”. So obviously a theocrat.

[straffinrun]

I’m 80% sure I’m going to have a pizza for lunch without question or hesitation.

[chemjeff]

I think there’s a fair number of people here who will not give Trump a free pass on everything.

[Tony]

Out of curiosity, what hypothetical thing would be a bridge too far?

[chemjeff]

His election?

[Hyperion]

Tony, does your mum know you’re up this late and on the intertoobz?

[Hyperion]

Seriously, I’m gonna have to call Crusty to find out.

[Tony]

Hyp, did you get your wit from a machine at Dave and Busters?

[commodious just wasting time]

You’re both like watching geriatrics paw at one another.

[Hyperion]

Did your mum give you permission to say that, Tony? Tell us again about how the president is going to kill all of us libertarians and how you hate poor people and how you have a great job because of your advanced degree in gender studies. yet you still live in your mum’s basement with shreek.

[Rufus The Monocled]

No. They’ll be pushed into bring reason and logic whenever dumbass progressives without principles shit on him.

Which kinda pisses them off really.

And you know very well they take EVERYONE to task. Man are you one disingenuous boob.

[Tony]

The magazine’s actual employees, I’ll grudgingly admit, are pretty good at being nonpartisan, at least as much as anyone who prioritizes tax cuts for billionaires over actual freedom can.

But if you guys keep loving Trump then you don’t get to say anyone else lives in a bubble. No normal human sees that man and thinks gee what a great president he’d make.

[kbolino]

No normal human sees that man and thinks gee what a great president he’d make.

Well, that’s democracy for you.

[Tony]

Or whatever it was that happened in November.

[kbolino]

Or whatever it was that happened in November.

Whine some more. I’m sure the perfect democracy that always delivers what soi-disant elites want is right around the corner.

[Tony]

I’d settle for majority rule in simple elections between two people.

[kbolino]

I’d settle for majority rule in simple elections between two people.

Mission accomplished.

State: Trump-Clinton
OH: 51.7-43.6
MI: 47.5-47.3
FL: 49.0-47.8
PA: 48.6-47.9

Maybe you should let Hillary Clinton know how simple elections work so she can win them next time.

[Tony]

Are you defending the electoral college because you actually think it’s a good idea?

[kbolino]

It’s the democracy we have, not the utopian fantasy democracy you wish we had. The rules were made up in 1789 and last changed in 1804. They got Obama elected, twice. And Bill Clinton before him. It is no more or less representative than it ever has been.

[Tony]

Which is not a defense of it. It remains not good. It increasingly selects the person the people rejected to be president. And so far they have been really shit presidents.

[kbolino]

And so far they have been really shit presidents

Like Obama?

[kbolino]

It increasingly selects the person the people rejected to be president.

… except in enough states to constitute at least 270 electoral votes. The elections that actually happened decided the President, not the fantasy elections that didn’t happen.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Tony thinks libertarians are gonna give Trump the sycophant, deranged Obama treatment. That is, pre-set his legacy to ‘AWESOME’.

[Sevo]

Tony’s not going to advance far beyond editor of “Dog Walkers’ Weekly” for the River Oaks Gated Community, so while he deserves no sympathy, he does deserve
A ROUSING BORNX CHEER! YA LOST, YA PILE OF SHIT!

[Rufus The Monocled]

What do you mean ‘you guys’? When did I ever do that?

You lack nuance. Again progressive so I can’t fault you for your insistence on claiming they love Trump. You mistake their CALLING OUT left-wing bull shit as ‘loving’ him.

[Tony]

Obama will no longer be president shortly. Republicans will control all levels of government. If you can’t spend a little time criticizing their actions without your little lizard brains reflexing into OBAMA BAD TOO , well then you’re idiots with no principles, and I resent being told my problem all this time was not having principles.

[Sevo]

Tony|1.9.17 @ 11:07PM|#
“Obama will no longer be president shortly”

Sorry the lying POS didn’t die in office and leave us with a couple of years of amusement from Biden.
Oh, and fuck off.

[kbolino]

But he is still President and you are still apologizing for him, along with every other lefty. Trump will soon take office and you can then try to ride the hypocrisy horse. But it’s a little fucking rich how quickly you’re trying to deflect away from your own pathetic apologetics when your lame duck isn’t quite gone yet.

[Tony]

I support Obama’s presidency. Not every single thing he did, but nobody’s perfect.

What should worry sad little crypto-partisans like you is how utterly sainted Obama is going to look to history by comparison of the president who came before and especially the one who is coming after.

[kbolino]

I support Obama’s presidency.

And here’s your fucking medal. You can pin on the yet-again doubled debt, the continued military presence in the Middle East, the unrest fomented across the region, the weaponization of the Federal bureaucracy, the lack of any real, especially legislative, action on drug prohibition, a piece of shit bill that nobody read beforehand and was passed through shady means that continues to drive up the cost of health care, a rising tide of discontent and populism, and the ushering in of a new era of big government failures. Maybe if you pat yourself on the back, it will feel better.

[Rufus The Monocled]

How about you let things unfold before you project?

They’ve already raised red flags. But I don’t expect you to know this.

The sooner we forget Obama the better. I guarantee you the mess he left behind won’t be used as an excuse like this ‘I didn’t do it’ President did.

[Tony]

Democratic president levels of job growth, saved the world from depression, put more people into the healthcare system than ever? What a fucking wasteland.

[Sevo]

Tony|1.9.17 @ 11:25PM|#
“Democratic president levels of job growth, saved the world from depression, put more people into the healthcare system than ever? What a fucking wasteland.”

Tony, gullible or lying sycophant? What a fucking ignoramus.

[kbolino]

Democratic president levels of job growth

Shame the under-55 LFPR is at 40 year lows. But people are better off without jobs, right? Nothing builds a strong economy like young people not working.

[kbolino]

saved the world from depression

With what? The TARP bill that was mostly passed before he took office? Or the monetary policy that has been in place since before he took office? Or the expansion of Federal welfare that already began once he took office?

Or is this like that game where Herbert Hoover was a secret robber baron even though he pioneered most of FDR’s policies?

[kbolino]

put more people into the healthcare system than ever

And yet as the Buttplug loves to link, according to PwC, the utilization of health care services flatlined around the time the ACA began to take effect. Everybody’s in the “system” but nobody’s getting more care. But maybe Obama can stand on an aircraft carrier in front of a banner saying “Mission Accomplished”, right?

[Sevo]

“Everybody’s in the “system” but nobody’s getting more care.”
Plus, the costs and the wait times are escalating like crazy:
“Healthcare costs rise again, and the burden continues to shift to workers ”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/…..story.html

From that stalwart of the VRWC, the LAT!
Darn people! Why won’t they act like the New Soviet Man? Obo SAID they would and ran a lying propaganda campaign to make them do it!
Darn people! Acting in their own interests! There should be a law!

[Cyto]

Obamacare has been great for my family. I had a $650/month high deductible policy before Obamacare. That “high deductible” was $3,500.

This year my premiums are $22,500, and my out of pocket maximum is $15k.

And I went from having a plan that was accepted at every healthcare provider without question to having to hunt for providers and change plans every year because everyone keeps dropping it.

Health insurance in the self-employed market is a mess now. It sucked before, but now it is a complete wreck.

[Sevo]

Tony|1.9.17 @ 10:35PM|#
“I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but are reason commenters going to be about 80% pro-Trump without question”

Your non-question was answered above.
YOU are the moron claiming that 2+2=5, and when you are laughed at, you presume the laugher believes 2+2=3.
No, very few people are defending Trump; they’re laughing at you and the rest of the low-watt bulbs who think that 2+2=5.
Oh, and fuck off.

[The Fusionist]

In 2017, I’ll continue to be a feminist killjoy

“The killjoy, after all, had always been the person who readily accepted that there were more than two genders. This was the same person who might have taken a moment to acknowledge at Thanksgiving dinner that the holiday was one that ostensibly celebrated colonialism and the genocide of Native Americans.

“This person is usually me ? the feminist killjoy….

“I remember the moment I became the problem: Ahead of a vacation to visit our extended family in Virginia, I overheard my mother on the phone with her sister. I don’t know what my aunt had said, but it prompted my mom to warn, “You can’t say things like that in front of Mimi. She’ll get mad.”

“My feminism is often viewed as a perpetual state of anger. But I’m OK with that. I’m not sorry to tell my mother, the rest of my family, my friends and my colleagues that I intend to stay angry about the inequalities and injustices in the world. I’ll stay angry about offhand comments at the dinner table and about the dozen sexual assault allegations against our president-elect, plus everything in between.

“I will not leave my anger behind in 2016, with all of the terrible things that produced it. I will stay mad in 2017, and for good reason. “

[Password: pode$ta]

person who might have taken a moment to acknowledge at Thanksgiving dinner that the holiday was one that ostensibly celebrated colonialism and the genocide of Native Americans.

Isn’t a ‘killjoy’ someone who speaks the hard truth? Not just an historically illiterate moron?

I’ll stay angry … about the dozen sexual assault allegations against our president-elect, plus everything in between.

That actually makes me a little angry, too.

[The Fusionist]

If you mean that you prefer a President who hasn’t gone around groping women, yes, so would I.

In fact, don’t get me started on what I’d *prefer* a President do or not do.

But in most cases, I probably won’t get my wish.

[Password: pode$ta]

Most of those allegations were obvious bullshit that were dutifully reported as “probably true.” That’s what pisses me off mostly.

[The Fusionist]

Oh, I see.

Now, he *claims* to have consensually groped lots of women, but Hillary kind of cancelled that out what with her enabling her husband’s misconduct and, most pertinently, cheerleading for the killing of babies in the womb, at least some nonzero portion these killings being done on girls because they’re girls.

[american socialist]

“consensually groped lots of women”

Assumes facts not in evidence.

[The Fusionist]

I said he claimed to have done so, you illiterate socialist.

[chemjeff]

I guess that is one of the few good things about Obama. He hasn’t used his time in office to grope women.

[Palin's Buttplug]

All these hazy concepts like “feminism” have no real meaning.

For instance, I HATE affirmative action (or selective discrimination as I call it). And conservatives are supposed to oppose it too.

But when I point out that Clarence (Dumb Burrhead) Thomas got his seat due to Affirmative Action the Con Men go nuts! OH, you CAN’T SAY THAT!! WE CALL PC!!! PC!! WE SNOWFLAKES ARE HURT!

[The Fusionist]

OK, I’m fairly sure that the term “Burrhead” is racist.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Not any more! Trump is POTUS!

Take your PC ways outta here!

[The Fusionist]

Seriously, you think it’s the fault of Trump and Thomas that you called Thomas a dumb burrhead?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Trump has inspired me to just say and tweet whatever I want to.

FREE-STYLIN!

[The Fusionist]

You disliked Justice Thomas independently of Trump, IIRC.

[Palin's Buttplug]

True. Thomas was unqualified and got his gig due to his skin color.

But Trump has inspired me to call a Jew a Jew, a wetback a wetback, and a bloody cunt like Megyn Kelly a bloody cunt. He is our POTUS now!!

[The Fusionist]

If “qualified” means fulfilling his judicial oath and upholding the Constitution, he’s one of the more qualified judges out there – certainly more qualified on most issues than his Supreme Court colleagues.

[x'); DROP USER Tony;]

“Trump has inspired me to just say and tweet whatever I want to.”
………………………………..

So you always WANTED to use racial slurs, you were just waiting for the right opportunity?

That actually fits everything I know about you.

[Password: pode$ta]

Palin’s Buttplug: “Clarence Thomas is an Uncle Tom.”

Way to go, racist.

[John Titor]

Oh look, PB’s throwing another temper tantrum about the imaginary conservatives that live in his head while justifying his own racist bullshit. That doesn’t make him look mentally unbalanced at all.

[PapayaSF]

She would have preferred a president who enabled her sexual assaulter husband, and who attacked his victims. Got it.

People who are perpetually angry about politics are to be pitied.

[widget]

You’re going to reap just what you sow.

12 years of Roman Catholic education and I had not heard that. I heard it first from the excellent Lou Reed song “Perfect Day”.

I thought it was a biblical reference that Reed, with a Jewish upbringing, might be bouncing off of. But I just did quick Google search on the sentence. Close but not on the mark. Any help here?

[The Fusionist]

Let’s just whip out the ol’ Concordance:

“Make no mistake: God is not mocked, for a person will reap only what he sows, because the one who sows for his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up” – Galatians 6:7-9

[The Fusionist]

“As I see it, those who plow mischief and sow trouble will reap them.” – Job 4:8 (to be fair, this is one of Job’s really supportive friends speaking)

“Those who sow iniquity reap calamity, and the rod used in anger will fail.” – Proverbs 22:8 (footnote in Catholic bible: (Agricultural metaphors express the failure of malicious actions. In the first line, bad actions are seeds yielding trouble. In the second line, “the rod” is a flail used to beat grains as in Is 28:27.)

[The Fusionist]

“When they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind” – Hosea 8:7

“Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” – 2 Corinthians 9:6

[The Fusionist]

(I didn’t know this metaphor was used so often…it must be important)

[widget]

“When they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind” – Hosea 8:7

That one doesn’t make any sense. Taking the metaphor a too far.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Taking the metaphor a too far.

The whirlwind they are talking about is the wrath of the All-Mighty against the Samaritans for building and worshiping a golden calf idol.

So, perhaps not.

[thrakkorzog]

Jesus, some of my best friends are Samaritans.

[widget]

Asked and answered. Thanks Fusionist!

[The Fusionist]

There’s more!

[The Fusionist]

OK, I think I got most of them.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Can’t stop giggling at Gavin’s imitation of a retard/Streep:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBpkMCa_D50

[PapayaSF]

Funny.

[widget]

Not a Gavin McGinnis fan. I don’t hate him or love him, just no connection. Here is his greatest work:

http://takimag.com/article/an_…..z4VKaNXHDe

Worth a read if you’re a man who wants to dress to impress. He makes a sound point about picking out dress shirts that are too tight around the collar, a common mistake. Back in the day it was John T. Malloy’s “Dress for Success”.

But showing up dressed as a dandy for a position as a millwright doesn’t ring as sound advice.

[Rich]

Man gets $128 ticket for heating up car in own driveway

“It’s dangerous, and of course it drives everyone’s insurance rates up. It drives our crime rates up. Common sense says you don’t leave your car running unattended,” [Police Chief James] Berlin said.

“And, of course, it provides us with revenue and keeps us from going after, you know, criminals.”

[Rufus The Monocled]

I ran my car for a good 15-18 minutes this morning since it was -25 and the gas was molasses and I didn’t want to crack my engine while driving on cold seats.

The funny part? I have a garage and too lazy to put it in! DAMN YOU TRUMP YOU MAKE ME DO CRAZY THINGS!

[Rufus The Monocled]

So Berlin, in closing, can go lick a frozen fence post.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Ya Dumb CANUCK! YOU LEFT THE GARAGE DOOR OPEN!

[Isaac Bartram]

Why don’t you just plug in the block heater the night before.

My daughter found out when she moved from Toronto to North Bay a few years ago that her Corolla and her husbands Chevy [something] came from the factory with block heaters and all you need to do is have the dealer intall a wire and plug so you can use it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma you may to be entitled to financial compensation.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I see that commercial so often I feel I should call.

[Butts Wagner]

Morgan and Morgan. For the people.

[Sevo]

The people in that ambulance right in front of us!

[american socialist]

Hey guys,

Pop quiz: How many US troops were in Iraq and Afghanistan in January, 2009 and how many US troops are there now? Great President or Greatest President?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer linked to asbestos exposure.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Down in Iraq, up in Afghanistan.

Point? He did campaign on drawing down Iraq – though whether it was time to do so is debatable – so there’s no surprise there.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40682.pdf

[american socialist]

No they’re [way] down in Iraq and [significantly] down in Afghanistan.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Misread. Those stats go to 2012.

[american socialist]

Yep, try the 2016 numbers. I’ll give you the pleasure of discovery.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Please don’t wait, call 1-800-99 LAW USA today for a free legal consultation and financial information packet.

[Sevo]

“Yep, try the 2016 numbers. I’ll give you the pleasure of discovery.”

Yeah, you slimy piece of shit, PICK THOSE CHERRYS:
“The Death Toll Does Not Lie ? Afghanistan Is Obama’s War”
[…]
“575. That’s how many U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in the Afghanistan war since Barack Obama became President at noon on January 20, 2009, according to the icasualties.org website, which tracks U.S. soldiers’ deaths using reports received from the Department of Defense ? and which is widely cited in the media as a source of information on U.S. deaths.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..83441.html

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 11:20PM|#
“No they’re [way] down in Iraq and [significantly] down in Afghanistan.”

Yeah, get enough of ’em killed and that’ll happen.

[american socialist]

16 died last year. The lowest total since his predecessor started the war.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Mesothelioma patients call now! 1-800-99 LAW USA

[Sevo]

“16 died last year. The lowest total since his predecessor started the war.”

Yeah, you slimy piece of shit, PICK THOSE CHERRYS:
“The Death Toll Does Not Lie ? Afghanistan Is Obama’s War”
[…]
“575. That’s how many U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in the Afghanistan war since Barack Obama became President at noon on January 20, 2009, according to the icasualties.org website, which tracks U.S. soldiers’ deaths using reports received from the Department of Defense ? and which is widely cited in the media as a source of information on U.S. deaths.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..83441.html

That’s from 2010, asswipe.
Fuck off.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Exposure to asbestos in the Navy, shipyards, mills, heating, construction or the automotive industries may put you at risk.

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 11:08PM|#
“Hey guys,”

Hey, asswipe, fuck off.

[kbolino]

Everybody knows that when you drop below a certain number of troops, they cease to have any weapons or do any fighting.

Unfortunately for you, that number is 0 not several thousand.

[John Titor]

It’s really telling that you’re stupid enough to think that less troops now is an indicator of less war over an fifteen year period. But you’re a military illiterate moron, so that shouldn’t surprise me.

Since you love to flip out about Vietnam so much, go look up the number of troops there from 1971-1973 in comparison to the late 60s. What’s this? Despite engaging in multiple campaigns and massive bombing runs, somehow they did it with less troops! That Nixon, a magical peacemaker on par with Obama!

[Quincy.]

About time!

[The Fusionist]

Look, I can understand coming up with this idea during a marijuana-infused brainstorming session, but it takes perseverance to keep at it once you’ve lost your buzz and it stops being funny.

[Sevo]

And Clemson is gonna have to learn that a tackle is more than a manly hug.

[Derpetologist]

file under: to absurdity, and beyond!

Girls Fight to Join Local Boy Scouts Troop

Six California girls want to be Cub Scouts instead of Girl Scouts.

A group of girls called the Unicorns are fighting back after being told by the Boy Scouts of America that they are not allowed to join their local boy scout council in Santa Rosa, Calif., because it is “inappropriate,” according to Danelle Jacobs, mother of one of the girls and leader of the Unicorns.

[The Fusionist]

They’ve got themselves a name already – the Unicorns – why not just do some activities…nah, more fun to disrupt an existing organization, right?

At least they’re not identifying as boys.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Now they’re just looking for trouble.

They should not be allowed to and this has nothing to do with ‘fairness’ idiots. BOYS WANT TO BE WITH BOYS.

Jesus Christ.

[thrakkorzog]

I say let them join. I’m sure they’ll enjoy games like “Who has the smelliest farts in the tent?”, and “Who can piss the most on a campfire?”, that were a staple of my childhood.

[Heroic Mulatto]

4 years ago, I was a Cubmaster for a local pack despite the fact that I do not have a son. I was asked by my former Scoutmaster’s widow to help restart the Scouting program at her church. My daughter would have joined Cub Scouts in a heartbeat.

Particularly for the fart game.

And she would have won.

[thrakkorzog]

Yeah, but she probably would have ended up resenting you for trying to feed her a constant diet of cabbage, onions, and asparagus.

[thrakkorzog]

Yeah, but she probably would have ended up resenting you for trying to feed her a constant diet of cabbage, onions, and asparagus.

[thrakkorzog]

Possibly with a beat of squirrel meat tossed in the stew.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Publically or privately funded?

Publically…fuck off Boy Scouts

Privately…fuck off Unicorns

Simple

[Derpetologist]

presented without comment

New survey shows majority of US troops has ‘unfavorable’ view of Obama’s years

[Sevo]

So we can assume Tony, turd and commie-kid aren’t in the military?

[Derpetologist]

oopsy- link

[GILMORE?]

New survey

was there an old one that asked them what they thought of him, and his many great foreign policy accomplishments?

[Rufus The Monocled]

I found the part about which they felt represents the greatest to the USA Russia didn’t make it interesting. China and Iran did though.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

So Pan Zagloba posted this in the PM links, and I’ve been slowly reading through it (while being distracted by other thin..SQUIRREL!)

There’s a pretty damn good section about the problem with Top Men fetishists and TEAM tribalism in there:

These factors are deepened by the fact that almost all of those whose job it is to explain politics and campaigns have never been responsible for a complex organisation in general or a campaign in particular, so they are unsuited to understand how politics ripples out from decisions at the centre through dysfunctional bureaucracies to the ground. They almost always exaggerate the extent to which important decisions have been considered carefully by people who know what they are talking about. (The worse educated are actually often helped by their lack of education towards the truth.) They constantly discuss complex systems as though errors can be eradicated instead of asking how quickly errors are adapted to and learned from. This perspective biases them in favour of existing centralised systems that fail continually and against innovations with decentralised systems. They understand little about the challenges faced by small businesses and the lower middle classes.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

(cont…)

The more closely involved people are in the media and politics the more they are driven by fashion and the feeling, rarely acknowledged and almost always rationalised, that ‘this is my gang’. Look at all those in SW1 who tweet attacks on Dacre to each other then retweet the praise from their friends, then look at those who attack them. Look at Robert Peston tweeting pictures of the London Eye and Habermas quotes on election night and his opponents ranting about ‘elites’. Both sides are just like football team fans defending their in-group and attacking their out-group enemies. The more they think of themselves as original the more likely they are to be conformist ? and conformist within very narrow parameters. We all fool ourselves but the more educated are particularly overconfident that they are not fooling themselves. They back their gang then fool themselves that they have reached their views by sensible, intelligent, reasoning.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

(cont…)

This makes them particularly vulnerable to ‘influence operations’. It also makes them vulnerable to repeated errors about what the sort of people who ignore politics other than for a few weeks before voting time are thinking. It creates something of a paradox: it is almost impossible to get a good feel of public opinion, or of ‘the winning strategy’, by listening to those whose job it is to speculate about it. However often this happens, the lesson is never learned. It is very hard to see how it could change as it is so entangled with our evolved nature.

[Derpetologist]

On the San Francisco CEO who said among other things that “we especially don’t want to live in states where the majority of the residents are still voting for things that are against their own interests just because they don’t want brown people to thrive”-

The black population of San Francisco has dropped from 13% to 6% over the past 40 years. So I have to ask, if those San Fran progs have such a hard-on for black people, why did they adopt policies that drove away most of them? Not only that, but San Francisco’s black population is poorer and more likely to be arrested.

Congrats, progs. If hypocrisy didn’t exist, you’d have invented it by accident.

There’s a great Dave Chappelle joke where he’s in SF and talking about how nice everyone is, and the idiot audience is just basking in smug self-satisfaction. Then Chappelle says “and then I realized it’s because you forced all the black people to live on the other side of the bridge.”

[The Fusionist]

Yeah, but that’s different because the white liberals are thinking nice thoughts while they do whatever they do to black people.

[The Fusionist]

(I’m guessing these white liberals may well be anti-poor, not anti-black – earn enough to afford compliance with all the laws, hold the right opinions, and you’re welcome regardless of color!)

[Sevo]

I refuse to apologize for the brain-deads who live nearby, but that does not surprise me at all.
Haven’t kept an actual count (since it’s their problem, not mine), but the local rag seems to have a daily quota of 4-5 anti-trump articles and they are stretching more and more to fill the quota.
Today, most were rah-rah O-care pieces, as if anyone outside of SF is an O-care supporter…

[american socialist]

I’m cherry-picking, of course, by choosing the numbers at the beginning of Obama’s term and at the end of his term, but by my calculations the number of US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan are down by 96%. Obama is such a dick!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Son, you’re too young. Do you really think there are that many people responding to your post on this forum? It was all me. Let me change another user ID again and post the same expression here, then you’ll know.

[Derpetologist]

73% of US casualties in Afghanistan were under Obama. That’s about 1500 deaths.

We all know math is not your strong suit. You don’t have to keep showing more proof.

Oooh, ‘member when AmSoc pretended to be a chemical engineer? I ‘member.

[Ken Shultz]

Are you adding in all the innocent children Obama killed with drone strikes?

http://tinyurl.com/of6gq8v

Obama has killed more innocent children than Adam Lanza!

I guess that’s okay with you?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Obama withdrew from Iraq on W’s timetable.

The Bush Administration later sought an agreement with the Iraqi government, and in 2008 George W. Bush signed the U.S.?Iraq Status of Forces Agreement. It included a deadline of 31 December 2011, before which “all the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory”.[11][12][13] The last U.S. troops left Iraq on 18 December 2011, in accordance with this agreement.[1][11][12] US Forces, in the form of air support, resumed operations in Iraq in June 2014, to defend it against ISIL.

Our savior!

[Sevo]

american socialist|1.9.17 @ 11:46PM|#
“I’m cherry-picking, of course”

Yes, you are. It has been shown many times. Do you think continuing to prove you have no concept of numbers helps your case?
Fuck off.

[Migrant Log Chipper]

fuck off, scumbag

[Derpetologist]

Fun military trivia

There is an Army unit nicknamed the Rakkasans. The name in Japanese means “falling umbrella men”. An American Army interpreter was trying to explain to a Japanese official what kind soldiers they were, and since he didn’t know how to say paratrooper in Japanese, he improvised. Everyone thought the name was funny, so it stuck.

[Ken Shultz]

My German professor told us that the slang French word for a transom window over a door is “wasistdas”.

Apparently, they had a lot of them in the warmer parts of France before air conditioning became common, and when German soldiers were being quartered during the occupation, they’d never seen a window over their doors like that before–coming from a colder climate. They wanted to lock their bedroom doors so they could sleep at night not having to worry about their boarders sneaking in and killing them in their sleep, but there was this window over the door . . .

Apparently, they’d all point at the transom when they first saw it and say, “Was Ist Das?, which is “What is that?”

[Hyperion]

I owned a house that had those for every bedroom. But it wasn’t in the south of France, it was in Indiana. I’m pretty sure that it’s just about as cold in northern Indiana as it is in Germany, so not sure what those things were for.

[thrakkorzog]

From context, it seems like you’re supposed open those up so you can get a draft flowing during the summer, without having to leave your door and/or windows open so that any prevert can use to walk into your bedroom.

That said, I’m guessing that the designers of the house might have had a cargo cult thing going on where they aped French design without understanding why the french designed them that way.

[John Galt II]

Was her speech just more Hollywood virtue-signaling,

It was free speech, Nick. But you’ve pandered to your Bellowing Goobers, who are throwing predictable hissy fits all down the page.

does it carry the harsh truth that the billionaire developer is going to rule with an iron fist and a harsh Twitter account?

His dumbfuck response already confirms that — for those who still need proof — but never those suffering severe denial.

I now understand the budding bromance between Trump and Putin. They’re each afraid the other will launch nuclear missiles if their ass isn’t french kissed. And they’re obviously both right.

As our local goobers reach yet another trigger point, screaming in PC outrage while shouting down any and all dissent …. and attacking “progtards” for …. DARING to behave the exact same way … in tribal America.

All Hail the power of Groupthink!

[John Titor]

Take you meds, get off the computer, and go do something meaningful with your remaining years Hihn. Stop wasting everyone’s time.

[John Galt II]

But Titor is not an authoritarian thug … and PROUD to be. (snort)

[Sevo]

John Galt II|1.9.17 @ 11:55PM|#
“I now understand the budding bromance between Trump and Putin.”

Yeah, man, see, it has to do with the other guy on the grassy knoll, ya know? Oh, and the meeting between Hitler and Nixon in Uruguay in ’55, with Elvis’ alien love-child!
We get it! Yes we do!
More than you know.

[John Galt II]

I now understand the budding bromance between Trump and Putin. They’re each afraid the other will launch nuclear missiles if their ass isn’t french kissed. And they’re obviously both right.

Yeah, man, see, it has to do with the other guy on the grassy knoll, ya know? Oh, it’s Sevo.

[straffinrun]

Free speech can’t possibly include virtue signalling in the overlapping circles of the Hihn diagram.

[John Galt II]

straffinrun|1.10.17 @ 12:28AM|#
Free speech can’t possibly include virtue signalling in the overlapping circles of the Hihn diagram.

(laughing) It includes everything

[commodious just wasting time]

It’s raining men, hallelujah.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I saw Nick Gillespie at a grocery store in D.C. yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

[The Fusionist]

Seriously?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Everyone knows Nick is fucking addicted to Milky Ways.

[The Fusionist]

OK, so you’re messing with us, right? The stoned/drunk Gillespie thing didn’t happen?

[Ken Shultz]

The same thing happened to me with Matt Welch, but it was in New York and he was trying to walk out of a 7-11 with 15 Slurpees.

[The Fusionist]

All right, all right, it just seems like a really elaborate story with no particular point.

Why not – I crashed a Reason staff party, they were too stoned to notice, then I…well, I don’t know, something really outrageous and dirty.

[Quincy.]

I thought I saw Robby Soave in a Pep Boys once, but I was mistaken.

[The Fusionist]

I saw him drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s, and his hair was perfect.

[Quincy.]

This guy’s hair was perfect, but he was talking knowledgeably about lug nut torque. So, yeah, never mind.

[The Fusionist]

When the moon is full, he turns into a good old boy named Buford.

[The Fusionist]

When he recovers the next day, his car and appliances are fixed and there’s the taste of grits in his mouth.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Did I ever tell you my Robby story?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ok. So I was in a certain Wal-Mart and I was standing at the magazine rack, reading US and World Report as their college and university rankings issue had just come out?basically just minding my own business?and then Robby Soave stepped to me quite improper
First, he bumped me. Then he flipped the edge of the magazine I was pilfering, in a threatening way as he passed, and then said, “College is for fags.”
I was like?’yeah, I don’t believe everyone is suited for Higher Education but you don’t need to inform me that you suck off your friends for free, because that’s already obvious. thanks for bumping into me though, dickface’ Actually i only got to the ‘friends for free’ part and he was all up in my face, grabbing the magazine out of my hand and telling me how Asawin Suebsaeng was gonna kick my ass. I DID think of the rest later on though. now, normally i try to avoid violence ? mostly because my awesome Muay Thai/Krabi-Krabong skills must be kept in check, or they could cause serious damage. if i punch the ground hard enough, I’m pretty sure i could split the world in half?or at least knock some stuff off a table nearby.

[Heroic Mulatto]

But Robby was asking for it, so I lulled him into a false sense of security by apologizing and assuring him that i would procure an ice cream cone of any flavor he chose, as a peace offering. This seemed to confuse him, but made him cautiously optimistic about the situation, which is when i chose to deliver a jumping front kick to his throat, knocking him back several feet into the Young Miss section where he got tangled up in a Bratz bed canopy and then lurched sideways into rack of Stussy activewear?JUST AS I HAD PLANNED! Since he was incapacitated, I reached behind me for something large and heavy to pound his face with.. but it was all sheet sets, bedspreads, duvet covers and such?when I turned back around he was already back in my face and he had a hanger in his hand. I managed to block the first shot with my left arm, but when i tried to counter with a right jab, he got me in the ribs with the end of the hanger and dropped me to one knee which left me open to vicious and repeated face kicks, followed by a Garmin GPS display unit to the head.

[Heroic Mulatto]

At this point I really needed to even things up, so I went for the double hammer fist to the nuts?.a staple move from the knees?cliche really ? but i admit I was desperate. i wasn’t gonna let a punk with Flock of Seagulls hair beat up a heroic mulatto like me, wearing American flag shorts, a wife beater, flip flops, mirrored sunglasses and rocking a sweet dragon chain around my neck. The second I made contact, he grunted and crumpled to the ground like a sack of wet grass. For a moment or two I considered continuing the pounding to get even MORE even, but then a Wal-Mart employee (surprisingly!) showed up and asked if anything was wrong. I looked at her, then back down at Robby and said “No, nothing’s wrong. but could you do me a favor? She said ‘no’ and turned around to walk away, unconcerned that an unconscious person was laying in the aisle surrounded by defaced Wally World merchandise?but I pretended like she said ‘yes’ and stayed to listen, so i could make my exit the proper way.

I turned back to this crumpled loser who was starting to rouse from his coma of nut pain and said triumphantly as I stepped over him “I need a price check?.” then stopped to push him back to the ground with my foot as i continued “?on bitches.”

I then left through the outdoor gardening area exit feeling like I had just made the world a better place?because iIhad.

[Hyperion]

I went to a book signing to meet Ron Bailey, but when I pulled into the parking lot, I saw Ron sneaking out the back door with the bookshop’s Espresso machine. What is up with these guys?

[Heroic Mulatto]

You ever see what they put in those cocktails?

[Heroic Mulatto]

According to the many-worlds (Everett) interpretation of quantum mechanics, there exists at least one universe in which it did happen. So I cannot truthfully answer in the negative.

[The Fusionist]

Is there a universe where you say, “hey, turn off that twerking video, I want to watch Charlie Rose!”

[Heroic Mulatto]

Depends on who the guest is.

[thrakkorzog]

One of the few times I watched Charlie Rose was around 2000. He had P.J. O’Rourke on, and they were talking about Bill Clinton’s legacy, and Rose asked him about the most memorable moment of Clinton’s presidency.

And O’Rourke told the story about the first time he met Clinton. Rolling Stone sent him and Hunter S. Thompson to go interview Clinton, since they were all baby boomers and Clinton was relatively young by presidential candidate standards. So Clinton had great gift for sounding like he was speaking 1 on 1 to crowds. So Clinton gave his boilerplate, “If elected I will put 100,00 cops on the street.”

And then O’Rourke had to spend the rest of the night explaing to Thompson that it wasn’t meant as a personal threat.

[Hyperion]

You been in AC’s stash, bro?

[John Galt II]

Behold the mentality of the Reason commentariat echo chamber. Described to perhaps millions on the leading website for civil liberties, popehat

“Reason.com, a leading libertarian website whose clever writing is eclipsed only by the blowhard stupidity of its commenting peanut gallery.”

EVERYBODY knows. But in their own tribal cave …. they high-five each other, (nobody else does)

[Derpetologist]

file under: the patient ails; more leeches!

Venezuela hikes minimum wage 50% as hyperinflation rages

[Hyperion]

It doesn’t make sense economically, but it’s the right thing to do.

/ Nicolas Maduro Jerry Brown

[OneOut]

So.

Is Alabama destined to win ?

[The Fusionist]

The heck with Hollywood and its Golden Globes, take a look at these globes, hubba hubba!

[Quincy.]

I’d spin them on their axis, if you know what I mean.

[thrakkorzog]

I’d Rand their McNally’s.( wink wink, nudge nudge.)

[Sevo]

Man, when Swinney walks down the hallway to the clubhouse, I’ll bet you can hear his balls clanking!
That took a LOT of nerve!

[Ken Shultz]

Clemson.

The correct answer is Clemson.

[thrakkorzog]

While I didn’t care either way about who won or lost, you have to admit, that there is the kind of high stakes drama people watch sports for.

[Agammamon]

Does Meryl Streep Speak for America, Will Trump Be Awful, And What’s Obama’s Legacy?

No.

Yes.

Making Merryl Streep awful.

[Sevo]

“Making Merryl Streep awful.”

Hey, he only helped.

[Jerryskids]

Well, hell. I passed out dozed off in the third quarter and missed the fourth.

I was just happy to see that the greatest defense in the history of college football ever ever ever only surrendered a mere 35 points – I’d hate to see them give up a lot of points and make every expert on TV who’s been blathering about Alabamer’s unstoppable defense all damn year long look like idiots.

(Oh, yeah, and a big “kiss my OSU ass” to you haters who said after the Clemson dog-stomping that this proved what a crappy team Ohio State was – apparently it should have told you how great Clemson was that they could shut out a good team like OSU.)

[deborahlee11]

up to I saw the paycheck which had said $8845 , I have faith that my friends brother woz like actualy erning money part-time on their apple labtop. . there aunt had bean doing this 4 only 7 months and resently took care of the morgage on there mini mansion and bought themselves a Lancia . view it now….

========http://www.joinpay40.com

[Domestic Dissident]

1. No.

2) Probably.

3) Vastly increased divisiveness and discord between blacks and whites compared to when he first got elected. Which was what he truly wanted all along, contrary to his laughable 2008 campaign claims that he wanted unity. In that sense alone, he was wildly successful.

[Anton Wilhelm Amo]

no, streep does not speak for all americans… however, her characterizations of the jack-o-lantern (orange on the outside, empty of anything meaningful inside for those who need a translation) were spot on… unfortunately, he’s done more to show that his administration will likely be a tragedy than any president-elect i can ever recall… as a former cia official has warned, his election was presented the republic with its greatest crisis since the civil war… yes, obama bears responsibility for the power available to the thin-skinned psychopathic narcissistic immoral irresponsible egomaniac who will take an oath that no sentient being should think he believes… moreover, congress bears greater responsibility for failing to govern as required by the constitution and effectively abdicating its powers to the executive branch by acting like petulant children over the years… additionally, former presidents from nixon to bush 43 set increasingly dangerous precedents that will now come home to roost in the form of an off-his-rocker chicken hawk… we can only hope that congress does its job as required by amendment xxv to the constitution of the united states and remove him from office due to the fact that his behavior clearly demonstrates that something is not quite right with him and he is unfit for duty… i truly hope they submit the letter as required in section four before the nutcase does something irreparable…

[birucito]

Nevaeh. I agree that Richard`s storry is shocking… last wednesday I got a great BMW M3 from earning $5318 this-past/4 weeks and just a little over 10/k lass month. without a question it is the most comfortable job Ive ever had. I began this 10-months ago and pretty much straight away got me at least $83, p/h. see here now

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ http://www.homejobs7.com

[diazalice87]

start working at home with Google! It’s by-far the best job I’ve had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this ? 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail?

??? http://www.JobMax6.com

[wulaveto]

Ella . although Margaret `s article is super, on friday I got a new McLaren F1 after having earned $4887 this-past/four weeks and just over ten grand last-month . this is actually my favourite-work Ive had . I actually started six months/ago and right away began to earn minimum $82 p/h
. Read more on this site…..

================= http://www.homejobs7.com

[kbolino]

Those weren’t bombs we dropped in Yemen, they were Nobel Committee-approved peace packages.

[Sevo]

A peace-package with a PUNCH! Brought to you by Mr. Peace Prize himself!

[Sevo]

The President of Peace leaves a LEGACY!
Anyone else smell something here?