Links, Afternoon. 1 serving.

Enjoy a happy hour beer, citizen!

 

Good news, citizens!  the Links ration has been increased from 4 to 3! Now you will enjoy a bounty of links, three of them to be exact. It the commenting goes really well, and the quota is overfilled, there may be a sharing out of a taste of Victory Gin!

Celebrate the taste of INGSOC!

 

Your links ration:

  1. Remember, Big Brother is watching.
  2. Rebellion will be punished.
  3. We have always been in favor of the spending bill.

 

…read the Links.

Comments

493 responses to “Links, Afternoon. 1 serving.”

  1. This is better than we deserve…

    1. Tundra

      Suck up.

    2. What’s this “we” shit, Kemosabe?

  2. Sean

    $1.3 trillion
    FUCKING $1.3 trillion dollars and he signed it.

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      Make America….DEBT AGAIN.

      MADA!

    2. Oh, who saw that coming? Oh yeah, it was completely unsurprising.

      1. Just Say’n

        I think the Bolton pick was fairly surprising. The man clearly doesn’t know why those Midwestern voters chose him

    3. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      And the latest tweet is that DOJ will someone be banning bump stocks.

  3. Zunalter

    We have always been in favor of the spending bill.

    But Rand Paul gets a pass, because reasons.

    1. kinnath

      Because he voted against it . . . . . . .

      1. Zunalter

        Ha!

        Sorry, I read his big tweet storm last night lambasting the bill over and over, then first thing this morning I read a story saying, essentially, “Mitch McConnell got Rand and Risch to give in on spending bill”.

        1. Just Say’n

          Now go say a prayer to Ron Paul and ask for forgiveness

          1. Zunalter

            “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Mises and the Rothbard and the sometimes Friedman. Say 10 “Audit the Feds” and 5 “9/11 was an Inside Jobs”

          2. Just Say’n

            Amen

        2. Tundra

          Give in on filibustering it, not voting for the fucking thing. And he really didn’t, because Rand knew there were plenty of votes to pass it.

          The Swamp (like the house) always wins.

          1. Stinky Wizzleteats

            Rand’s a good guy, an intelligent fellow, principled…and as ineffective as he can get when it comes to realizing his political will.

            Just like us.

    2. Chipwooder

      Wait. why is this Rand’s fault?

      1. jesse.in.mb

        The Good is the number one enemy of The Perfect.

        1. Chipwooder

          It’s just a weird stance to take even if you think Rand could do more to oppose it. He’s still more vocally opposed to the pile of shit than any other senator.

          1. jesse.in.mb

            I have no idea if that’s Zunalter’s position. He may have a great reason for his statement. That just seems to be a common complaint when it comes to the Pauls: they’re close enough to my position that I expect them to get it and they missed the mark.

          2. Zunalter

            Turns out I only had about 50% of the pertinent information, so most of my annoyance was misplaced.

      2. Tonio

        Because he’s the Emmanuel Goldstein of the political establishment.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Which is nothing like being the Nick Gillespie of the political establishment.

          1. Just Say’n

            True

      3. Tundra

        Because he wields such immense power in Congress yet failed to stop this travesty.

        Or something.

      4. MikeS

        Ask Ken Schultz. He’ll tell ya!

    3. The bill cuts Medicaid spending by $0.00000000000001 over 10 years while raising everything else eleventy squillion percent, so Ken Shultz supports it.

      1. Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are.

      2. Chafed

        No wall of text reply? Ken must not have seen it.

    4. Urthona

      Rand Paul is like the superstar on your team that you blame after your playoff loss. The truth is everyone around him sucked way more.

      1. whiz

        ^^ This!

      2. peachy rex

        Rand is Ovechkin? This Russia shit goes deeper than I thought. Gonna need more tinfoil – brb.

        1. Tundra

          ^^ So much win in such a short comment.

          1. juris imprudent

            And just like our foreign military actions, the vast majority of American don’t give a fuck about hockey either.

          2. dontreadonme

            Their loss on both counts.

          3. Tundra

            ^^ My new fave commenter.

  4. OT Commenting is Crimethink

    So?

    Anyway, Woot, Plastic Sisters!

    1. Plastic Sisters = kitbash nuns?

  5. LJW

    Michael Bennett allegedly injured a paraplegic woman while trying to get on the field after Super Bowl LI

    So many questions!

    Why was an elderly paraplegic working security at the Super Bowl?
    10 years for pushing someone?
    Why is this now just coming out?

    1. 1: Affrimative Action

      2: Assault

      3: I blame the Media.

    2. Private Chipperbot

      And the Eagles traded for him last week 😀

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        Yeh, I thought that was a bad move given the baggage. I was surprised they did that.

    3. Drake

      And why the Roman numerals?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Because using hoof stomps is clumsy.

    4. Rufus the Monocled

      “Prosecutors allege he pushed through security personnel, including a 66-year-old disabled woman who had told him to use a different entrance to access the field.”

      Racist cops!

      Whatever happened to that other incident last year where he was tackled by a couple of officers in Vegas was it?

      He made such a stink of it and if I recall, he embellished the story a tad?

  6. Chipwooder

    Since the last thread has probably shuffled off its mortal coil, I just wanted to mention that Vox interview with the Princeton guy who wrote a Rednecks in the Mist book – if it’s possible to be any more condescending and deliberately obtuse, I have a hard time imagining how.

    1. Fear not! When SMOD comes, if he doesn’t die in the initial impact, we survivors will use him as food.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        I don’t expect any Vox writer to provide the least bit of nutrition, nor to be even a little tasty.

        In the apocalypse, I will use his guts to string my tennis racket.

        1. juris imprudent

          I think I found your new avatar.

    2. The Other Kevin

      I read some of that before it made my blood pressure too high. He just goes straight to the assumption that every from those rednecks is irrational and wrong, and based on racism or something. Never once thinking that maybe they see things from a different perspective and have valid points and concerns.

      1. “I know I am rational, so no one who disagrees with me could possibly be a rational actor.”

      2. Lachowsky

        I did the same Kevin. I got through about a third of it before I had to stop. What a condescending prick. I wish he would come interview me.

  7. Tundra

    “But I say to Congress I will never sign another bill like this again,” he told reporters. “I’m not going to do it again.”

    Rigggggghhhhht. See you in six months, bitch.

    Bring a pen.

    1. Just Say’n

      What a damn joke. All he’s good for is empty threats. Schumer’s own staff was trolling everyone after he signed the bill. One guy Tweeted “tired of all this winning”. I got to find the link

      1. Yup. I don’t know what’s happened to the guy in the past few months, but it ain’t good.

        1. invisible finger

          He acquired a taste for power.

        1. Just Say’n

          ^ This is a Schumer staffer trolling everyone after the president signed the spending bill

      2. Chortle.

    2. Chipwooder

      And, once again, that’s the punch line to the whole Trump business. After all the screeching from the Dems, he’s now basically morphed into Dick Gephardt – tariffs, protectionism, a massively overinflated budget.

      1. Chipwooder

        And it also illustrates how little NeverTrump vs. Trumpkin matters – in the end, most of the fucking GOP voted for this horseshit with a big ol’ grin on their faces, regardless of their feelings about the carnival barker in the White House.

    3. Rufus the Monocled

      Why would he have to?

      It’s one trillion dollars!

      /Mr. Burns flashes one trillion dollar

  8. Well, in a world marred by confusion, tragedy, meaninglessness and nihilism; tainted by lying politicians, grandstanding snot-nosed punks, historical amnesiacs and corrupt kleptocrats; tarnished by disease, suffering, hopelessness and despair… at least we have tits.

    http://archive.is/BoNJ6

    1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 22, 24, 29, 37.

    1. Error 503 Service Unavailable

      Service Unavailable
      Guru Meditation:

      XID: 22774671

      Varnish cache server

      Very odd. I didn’t know you were into that.

    2. Drake

      #2 looks like the woman who beat up her husband in the morning links.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Banjos?

    3. Chipwooder

      36…..chicks always dig dress blues

    4. Gordilocks

      *Crawls out of Bunk, commits Q’s latest titty update to memory, crawls back in.*

    5. “When I look at myself I am so beautiful, I scream with joy.” — Maria Montez

    6. DEG

      #3 looks like a RealDoll.

      #6 is Erica Rose Campbell. I swore I saw her in a sandwich shop in southern New Hampshire. She grew up in New Hampshire and supposedly moved back after she discovered religion and got married. If it wasn’t Erica Rose Campbell I saw, that woman was a close double.

      #8 is Katy Perry.

      I’m really tired from the week and I have some shit to do around the house. I’ll just take #14.

    7. dontreadonme

      For some reason my scroll bar got stuck at 23.

    8. dontreadonme

      And the dudes with 32 are total douches. It’s not like we’re blind assholes.

  9. Private Chipperbot

    Attempted terror attack at Travis AFB?

    Law enforcement sources say the car carried propane tanks and the driver deliberately ignited the fire. He died inside the car which drove off the road into a ditch. There are no reports of shots fired during the incident. The driver has been identified by law enforcement but not been named. Since he ignited himself investigators are treating this as an act of terrorism.

    1. ChipsnSalsa

      Or a Jackass parody gone bad?

    2. PBRstreetgang

      “Since he ignited himself investigators are treating this as an act of terrorism”
      Usually its considered an act of foolishness.

      1. Jan Palach was most decidedly not a terrorist.

        1. Grumbletarian

          The jury is still out on Richard Pryor though.

    3. The Last American Hero

      I realize this is picking nits, but is it really terrorism if they are attacking a military target?*** Seems more like an act of rebellion, or war if done by a foreign agent or with foreign backing.

      ***Note to fuck stick DA’s – I do not condone any such acts of atrocious violence, be it against civilians or the military.

      1. The Other Kevin

        Shush you. Only WE are allowed to engage in undeclared wars.

      2. R C Dean

        Not a member of a foreign military/not in uniform means it’s a (war) crime. Motivation and means the same as terrorism. Choice of target doesn’t really make that much difference?

        1. The Last American Hero

          I would argue that motivation is different. Terrorism is attacking a shopping mall or an office tower to undermine the public’s confidence that their government can protect them and agitate for a change in leadership or policy. Attacking a military base could be an attempt to do the same, or it could be – Fuck You, I have no real problem with Americans but I have real problems with your asshole government bombing my country.

          1. Number.6

            Historically, conducting irregular and insurgent operations against the military of a nation is treated as terrorism, especially nowadays with the Geneva Conventions effectively defining what ‘war’ is.

            If you’re un-uniformed and initiating a program of destruction of property or lives via irregular warfare you are an illegal combatant, and by (usual) interpretation, a terrorist.

    4. Lachowsky

      Not a very effective plan either. Propane bottles don’t explode. They have an over pressure relief valve on them. When they get hot, the gas inside them expands and builds pressure. Once the limit is reached, the bottle vents the gas. All you get is a propane torch.

      1. Chafed

        Look at you helping the terrorists.

  10. kinnath

    You people need to pick up the pace. I have nothing to do, but I am stuck at work for another hour.

    1. Tundra

      Go to Q’s lynx, Number 23.

      That should keep you busy for awhile.

      1. kinnath

        Not from work.

    2. jesse.in.mb

      Perhaps you’d like to play a game?

      1. Chipwooder

        Later. First, let’s play Global Thermonuclear War.

      2. Sean

        Oh my god.

      3. Just Say’n

        Seriously that girl needs to grow her hair. It’s not normal for a sixteen or seventeen year-old girl to want the same haircut as marine who’s just entered boot camp.

        1. jesse.in.mb

          That’s an unreasonable expectation. She probably cut her hair short because she liked Stranger Things or something completely banal, and now it’s a signature style because she became famous with that as her look. It–for the time being at least–is part of who her public persona is.

          1. Just Say’n

            I like to think that she either shaved her head in solidarity with her father who suffers from male pattern baldness or she has lice.

          2. jesse.in.mb

            Lol. Both valid reasons.

      4. Why can’t I be the shooter?

      5. Oh for fuck’s sake.

      6. Bobarian LMD

        This is a FPS, right?

    3. I. B. McGinty

      What do you mean “you people?”

      1. What do you mean “what do you mean”?

        1. Tundra

          Watch it, friend.

          1. Just Say’n

            Who you calling ‘friend’, pal?

          2. Who you callin’ “pal”, buddy?

          3. Caput Lupinum

            I’m not your pal, buddy.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    How odd. I tried to watch 1984 the other night, but I kept nodding off. I’ll have to give it another shot.

    1. Tonio

      Which version? Neither one really impressed me.

      1. Just watch the Apple commercial for condensed, or a documentary on NK if you need a real visual version.

  12. Well it seems as though the markets sure do love massive government spending.

    DJIA: -400

    1. Just Say’n

      So much winning

      1. Tundra

        Oh well, I was bored with all this business, anyway.

    2. TK

      Not sure if that’s a reaction to gov’t spending or tariffs on China. I’d argue that is has way more to do with tariffs. Wall Street loves huge government spending.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    We have always been in favor of the spending bill.

    [insert Bugs Bunny “I’ll do it, but I’ll hate myself in the morning.” clip.]

  14. The Late P Brooks

    the car carried propane tanks and the driver deliberately ignited the fire.

    DIY JATO!

  15. mexican sharpshooter

    1.Remember, Big Brother is watching.

    My boss mentioned it this afternoon. My lip is still bleeding from my biting it.

    …and I thought she was cool

    1. Take solace – it’s being run by Government IT, so it doesn’t work.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Which version?

    John Hurt and Richard Burton. The real one.

    1. Now you’re making me think of a mash-up of A Man For All Seasons and Anne of the Thousand Days.

  17. The Late P Brooks
  18. Derpetologist

    Pennsylvania school wants to arm students with rocks to protect them against active shooters
    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/23/pennsylvania-school-wants-to-arm-students-with-rocks-to-protect-them-against-active-shooters.html

    ***
    Blue Mountain School District Superintendent David Helsel made headlines recently after testifying to lawmakers at the state capitol that his students could be armed with rocks in case of an active shooter lockdown.

    “Every classroom has been equipped with a five-gallon bucket of river stone,” Helsel told lawmakers. “If an armed intruder attempts to gain entrance into any of our classrooms, they will face a classroom full students armed with rocks and they will be stoned.”

    The superintendent told Fox News on Friday he was surprised by the added media attention for something he calls a “last resort.” He said he has received positive support from parents in the community.
    ***

    “No one is stone anyone until I blow this whistle!”

    1. Aloha snackbar.

    2. Caput Lupinum

      That’s in Schuylkill county. Pretty sure damn near every male teacher and the majority of the students are deer hunters. Let ’em have guns, they know how to use them.

    3. TK

      That’s the funniest shit I’ve heard all day!

    4. Old Man With Candy

      they will face a classroom full students armed with rocks and they will be stoned.

      Pretty much describes my high school days. We were always stoned.

    5. Bobarian LMD

      Everybody must get stoned?

    6. Zunalter

      Better than the current policy of hoping your classmates bodies shield you from the bullets.

    7. ruodberht

      Blue Mountain? Every student there is armed with a deer rifle anyway. Good luck, school shooter.

    8. dontreadonme

      “JEHOVA!”

  19. Working hard to relax? This seems self-defeating.

    https://www.artofmanliness.com/2018/03/21/fall-asleep-fast/

    But maybe worth it to all you insomniacs out there. (The rest of us just drink until we pass out)

    1. jesse.in.mb

      It’s quite a knack to be able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, regardless of where you are and what’s going on around you.

      I had a coworker in Korea who would fall asleep as soon as the bus we were on left the station and wake up exactly one stop before where we were supposed to get off. It didn’t matter if we were going to the stop near our apartments or on an intercity bus to Daejeon or something. Every. Fucking. Time. It’s one of the most jealousy-inducing traits I’ve ever encountered in another person.

      1. TK

        Internal clocks are super precise. My body shuts down sometime between midnight and 1pm, but I wake up at 7AM sharp, every single day, with no alarm. I can choose to go back to sleep if I want, but no matter what, I always wake up at 7AM sharp. Like, on the dot.

        1. jesse.in.mb

          I have an issue where if I stay up until 2am one night the next night or two regardless of when I go to bed I’ll pop wide awake at 2am and have difficulty getting back to sleep.

          Internal clocks are very weird and I can’t wait until we’re cyborgs and I can replace mine with a phone app.

        2. Lachowsky

          My internal clock is shot. For the past 5 years, I have been working rotating 12 hour shifts. 4 days of 7am-7pm, 4 days off, 4 nights of 7pm to 7am, 4 days off, repeat ad infinitum. Mix in extra days and nights as needed.

          The benefit is that I have learned to sleep during the day. The detriment is that I often get extremely sleepy during the day.

      2. The Last American Hero

        What a shitty superpower.

        1. dontreadonme

          LOL, right?1

    2. Tundra

      Thanks, that was really interesting. I’m a lousy sleeper, so I will try the techniques.

    3. Gary Cooper apparently had the ability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, a skill he learned from long shooting delays on the sets of his movies.

    4. jesse.in.mb

      So I’m reading the set of relaxation techniques and I would like an audiotrack of the instructions done by someone with a smoky soothing voice like Shohreh Aghdashloo.

  20. tarran

    Some of you may have heard of the municipalities in California that dragged Chevron and a bunch of oil companies into court for causing devastating sea-level rise.

    Those municipalities had a very, very bad day in court two days ago.

    The case is being heard in Federal Court in front of a Clinton appointee. That judge apparently likes to program computers for his amusement and has a quite active mind.

    The municipalities had tried to sue in state court, but the federal judge took the case into Federal court on the grounds that anything affecting the global climate belonged in Federal court so that there’d be one policy rather than 50. Further, he (in a blow to the oil companies) said they weren’t indemnified by the clean air act: that this was a common law case.
    And he ordered all sides to give him a presentation on the science of sea level rise due to global warming which was the hearing held on the 21st.

    At the hearing the oil companies, represented by Chevron, presented the following evidence:

    1) The damning documents that showed foreknowledge of the dangers of global warming were, in fact, notes on internal presentations summarizing IPCC publications that were current at the time the presentations were made.
    2) The AR 5 IPCC section on sea level rise with the massive uncertainties.
    3) That the plaintiffs themselves were issuing bonds to investors that either omitted the dangers of sea level rise entirely or used language indicating massive uncertainty about the future.

    The plaintiffs were reduced to arguing:
    1) The oil companies knew that the IPCC was underestimating sea level rise
    2) The IPCC AR 5 is now several years out of date, and more recent research shows IT’S WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT!!!!!!!

    This is an interesting set of arguments in that it blames the oil companies for being insufficiently psychic. And they just called the IPCC science deniers.

    At the end of the hearing, the judge made a ruling of sorts from the bench. He announced that there was no conspiracy by the oil companies to hide the dangers of global warming, that sharing public information between themselves and discussing their import in no way prevented the general public from seeing the same information.

    This ruling will be appealed. I doubt that the 9th circuit court will overturn it. There is no longer a dispute in facts. The common law governing the issue is pretty well established. And to prevail, the plaintiffs have to open themselves to bankrupting suits by all the bond purchasers who were given misleading prospecti.

    So once the inevitable appeal dies, the case will come to an end.

    Oh! And… Fuck Tom Steyer with the discarded bones from Trump’s next KFC bucket!

    1. Tonio

      Good news. Linky?

    2. Thanks for the update tarran. I think I speak for most of us when I say that I appreciate that you follow this kind of thing so closely and comprehensively.

    3. But…but it is different when we did it!

      /CA cities

    4. R C Dean

      If the oil companies lose, look for class actions against all those cities who issued bonds without warning they would be underwater (hah!) in a few years.

      1. tarran

        What scares me is that the municipalities thought this was a good lawsuit.

        Only a completely politicized judiciary, the sort you get in a banana republic such as Ecuador, would entertain a set of arguments this flawed.

        It’s tempting to think they’re just stupid. But that’s not correct. They’re not stupid. They seriously thought this lawsuit would work. What that says about the judiciary that rules over us is pretty ominous. The wrong judge, and the case would be continuing…. :0

        1. JaimeRoberto

          Define work. It will probably get them votes from their stupid voters. In that sense it still works.

        2. juris imprudent

          It’s not like they were risking their own money. And I bet if you could do discovery you’d find a slick powerpoint about how all of the municipalities were going to cash in on settlement.

  21. Chipwooder

    The Children’s Crusade going on tomorrow is totally on the level and in no way an astroturf Democrat Party operation.

    1. Sean

      I’m going to celebrate their protest by going to a gun show tomorrow and buying something shiny.

    2. I hope all the 16 year old boys enjoy the pussy they get for selling their souls.

    3. I wish I gave enough of a shit about this to go open carry across the street from my local demonstration, but I’d rather go skiing. Therefore, we’re going skiing.

    4. Tonio

      A very apt analogy. Heh.

    5. Tonio

      Because teh chirren are too poor to afford hotel rooms, locals are “opening their homes.” No potential for that to go wrong.

      1. bow-chicka-wow-wow

  22. Just Say’n

    “Trump’s Bolton pick is genius, because he owned the libs…” so says an idiot

    https://townhall.com/columnists/markdavis/2018/03/23/john-bolton-n2463876

    The level of mentally deranged gymnastics that it must take to justify choosing John Bolton is breathtaking. I could have sworn that just last week these same people were discrediting Trump critics Max Boot, David Frum, and Bret Stephens by talking about how wrong they have been on foreign policy since forever. Now, the new tactic is, “well actually, interventionist foreign policy is good if it makes liberals cry or something”. Dumb

    1. Chipwooder

      I’m going to try to get a laugh out of Max Boot twisting himself into a pretzel to explain why his ideological twin is a terrible Russian-directed choice. Other than that, I’m going to occupy myself by crying into my Irish whiskey.

    2. It was a perfectly predictable choice. Bolton is constantly on Fox News.

    3. Gordilocks

      ”well, actually, _______________Anything we didn’t have a principled commitment to, anyways is good if it makes liberals cry …..

      /Every dumbass right winger from Hannity to Cernovich to Molyneux to Jim Goad to everyone at Fox

    4. grrizzly

      I think McMaster was canned for accepting the “Russian interference” narrative:

      McMaster said on Saturday that it is now “incontrovertible” Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

      What does Bolton think about it? I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump finds an attempt to overthrow him more important than anything related to foreign policy.

  23. Derpetologist

    here we go again

    ***
    A recent academic journal article claims that “meritocratic ideology” and “depoliticized” classroom environments contribute to a sense of exclusion and isolation among female students.
    The professors argue that the emphasis on “meritocracy,” “individualism,” and “technical prowess” in engineering all contribute to a “masculine culture” that marginalizes women.

    The professors are especially concerned with how engineering courses tend to be “depoliticized” compared to classes in other fields, which they contend is due in part to engineering culture’s emphasis on meritocracy and individualism.

    “Socialization into the ideologies of meritocracy and individualism, coupled with a valorization of ‘technical’ prowess at the expense of ‘socially focused’ work processes, depoliticizes the gendered structure of the profession,” they write.

    The professors add that this can be problematic because “students learn that raising concerns about marginalization—of themselves or others—is tangential or even distracting to what counts as the ‘real’ practical and objective work of engineering.”
    ***

    https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10680

    1. The laws of phsics don’t give a damn about your identity. Gravity will not give your footbridge a pass because you have a womb.

      1. jesse.in.mb

        “Rather than resisting hegemonic meritocracy, these brilliant young women engineers are its active promoters,” they say, later adding that this commitment to meritocracy undermines women’s best interests, as it unwittingly reinforces the “gendered consequences of engineering professional hegemony.”

        I’m not quite sure that it’s the women in STEM that are particularly concerned about this hooey…

        1. Zunalter

          this commitment to meritocracy undermines women’s best interests

          ummm….seriously?

          1. jesse.in.mb

            Seriously. The point is it’s a third party academic in…sociology (although she actually looks like she’s interested in some cool topics like police misconduct and prison crowding), and not actually women in engineering generating this.

            I’d also be interested in looking at the paper instead of just the juicy pull quotes made for maximum butthurt, but the link CR gave isn’t working from my work network.

      2. Old Man With Candy

        No, but your chem prof might give you a pass because you have a vagina.

        Or so I’ve heard.

        1. Caput Lupinum

          My lesbian chemistry professor sister endorses this policy.

    2. trshmnstr

      The death throes of an obsolete academy.

      1. TK

        You mean when we’re selecting the building materials for a bridge that will support over 1 million in foot traffic every day, you don’t want to be distracted by whether or not LaQuisha feels as though the bridge will contribute to the scourge white cis-hetero patriarchy?

        1. “They’re putting it in a white neighborhood. We need to route that five miles down the river.”

    3. kinnath

      The professors argue that the emphasis on “meritocracy,” “individualism,” and “technical prowess” in engineering all contribute to a “masculine culture” that marginalizes women.

      I work at at Fortune 500, and the vice president of engineering is a woman the same age as my son. She got there because she is extremely talented.

      Clearly, the system failed to marginalize her. I suppose I should email her to let her know she doesn’t belong here.

      1. TK

        I don’t know, kinnath, your VP of engineering is a female, so she’s likely intimidated by the idea of having to be the best at what she does, having to distinguish herself as an individual instead of as a group and having to demonstrate proficient technical prowess. That’s what the academics are telling us – women just can’t handle having to be the best at what they do – they simply can’t compete because it’s too intimidating for those delicate flowers.

        Jesus, they really are absolutely oblivious to how sexist they are being towards women.

      2. Ed Wuncler

        The third wave feminists in their quest for “equality” has run into a paradox: Are women strong and able or are they delicate flowers who can’t handle what the world has in store for them because of toxic masculinity?

        I work in finance and some of the women who has risen to the top are some of the toughest broads I have ever met and are probably some of the harshest critics of feminists I know. On a side note and this is anedotal, I have noticed the women in the professional environment who are always pissing and moaning about the patriarchy are the ones who are at best mediocre or at worst absolutely terrible at their jobs but know they aren’t going to be fired anytime soon.

    4. TK

      “Socialization into the ideologies of meritocracy and individualism, coupled with a valorization of ‘technical’ prowess at the expense of ‘socially focused’ work processes, depoliticizes the gendered structure of the profession,” they write.

      Listen everyone, spot A is certainly the most structurally sound place to put the main load-bearing support beam in our building, but since we’re a socially-oriented work process – let’s take a vote! Isn’t this wonderful?

      Okay, now that we’ve voted to put the main most important load bearing support beam in gender neutral spot Xir, lets verify that this is okay by looking up the DNC’s official handbook for load bearing support beams. We want to make sure that the load bearing, life-hanging-in-the-balance, support beam is sufficiently politicized for you ladies in the room. Holla!

  24. Derpetologist

    RBG rules that hot dogs are sandwiches, a conclusion supported by Merriam-Webster

    http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2018/03/23/ruth-bader-ginsburg-rules-that-hot-dogs-are-sandwiches.html

    The key argument is the bread. Must the it be 2 slices or does a split roll count? Subs are served on split rolls and are classified as sandwiches, Ergo, by the same logic, a hot dog must also be a sandwich.

    1. Does that mean that calzones and strombolis are also sandwiches?

      1. Calzones are obviously dumplings. Stomboli is just a large Tortino’s Pizza Rolls™

        1. Tundra

          Stomboli is just a large Tortino’s Pizza Rolls™

          *drops gloves*

          Take it back, man.

          Take. It. Back.

          1. *drops mittens* Wait… Are you mad because I besmirched TOTINO’S or Zambonis?
            *uses asterisks to denote actions*

        2. It’s TOTINO’S Pizza Rolls™

          1. Meh, You say TOTINO’S I say TOR…oh you’re correct, my bad. TOTINO’S…everyone…TOTINO’S.

    2. invisible finger

      Is soup in a bread bowl a sandwich now?

      1. Derpetologist

        A bread bowl is neither a split roll nor 2 slices of bread. So no.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Your reasoning is as ate up as a soup sandwich?

          Army platitude.

      2. Yes, it is a soup sandwich.

    3. The Last American Hero

      So now I can tell her to Make Me a Hot Dog?!!!

      Sweet.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    You want a driverless car?

    How many lines of code? How many data channels? And this is in a controlled environment.

  26. Rufus the Monocled

    “It’s like when your old-a** parents are like, ‘I don’t know how to send an iMessage,’ and you’re just like, ‘Give me the f**king phone’ and you take it and you’re like, ‘OK, let me handle it,’ and you get it done in one second,” Hogg said. “Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government because our parents don’t know how to use a f**king democracy, so we have to.” — David Hogg, Spokeschild, 2nd Amendment Expert, and person who was vaguely in the vicinity when something bad happened to people he didn’t know”

    Repeat:

    “Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government because our parents don’t know how to use a f**king democracy, so we have to.”

    That my friend (s) is the line of the year.

    http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=374466

    1. Tonio

      Hogg this morning on NPR: … now the adults have to listen to us.

      Tonio: No we don’t. [turns radio off]

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        Aaaaand, jumps the shark.

        And not in the cool way like Fonzie.

        1. trshmnstr

          You could say that this kid is the Nick Gillespie of victim porn.

          1. Just Say’n

            *thumbs up* Ayeeeeeeeee

    2. Chipwooder

      This kid really, really needs an ass-kicking in the worst way.

      1. Sean

        If a bridge fell on him, I’d laugh.

      2. What in the hell has his dad been doing?

    3. Private Chipperbot

      Has anyone broken the news to him that he doesn’t live in a democracy?

      1. Rope Snake

        It’s a Hoggtocracy now, bitch.

    4. Rope Snake

      Hogg is exactly what Plato had in mind for the guardians.

      We did it.

  27. Count Potato
    1. The Last American Hero

      Are they grass fed and GMO free as well?

    2. dontreadonme

      This is so f’ing sad.

  28. It’s probably been posted already, but this kid is just plain hilarious.

    http://freebeacon.com/issues/pro-gun-control-parkland-survivor-nra-want-keep-killing-children/

    I could not keep a straight face if I interviewed this geek.

    “NRA could have children’s blood splatted all over their faces and just see dollar signs” LOL. Yeah ok kid. Go get Daddy another Gin and Tonic. LOL.

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      “David Hogg

      Verified account

      @davidhogg111
      Follow Follow @davidhogg111
      More
      Can we please not debate this as Democrats and Republicans but discuss this as Americans? In the comments if you see someone you dissagree with do not attack each other talk to one another, this applies to me too. WE MUST WORK TOGETHER TO SAVE OUR FUTURE.”

      “It’s like when your old-a** parents are like, ‘I don’t know how to send an iMessage,’ and you’re just like, ‘Give me the f**king phone’ and you take it and you’re like, ‘OK, let me handle it,’ and you get it done in one second,” Hogg said. “Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government because our parents don’t know how to use a f**king democracy, so we have to.” — David Hogg, Spokeschild, 2nd Amendment Expert, and person who was vaguely in the vicinity when something bad happened to people he didn’t know”

      You already lost the plot kid and you’re not even 20. Tsk, tsk.

      1. “do not attack each other talk to one another, this applies to me too”

        “The NRA are pathetic fuckers that want to keep killing our children”

        LOL. Go mow the lawn little boy. And don’t forget to take out the trash.

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          And when you’re done with that, John Stuart fucken Mills, go rake the fucken leaves for the fucken democracy. After that go take your fucken bath and don’t forget to wash behind your ears and under your ball sack. Dry up and then go to bed and dream of fucken Athens. You know how fucken irritable you get when you to bed past 7pm. Mr. Fucken Alex de Tocqueville.

      2. Rufus the Monocled

        Dude has 490k followers?

        1. He’s a Soros darling; who knows how many of them are even real.

  29. Count Potato

    “Today, our CEO announced Citi is instituting a new U.S. Commercial Firearms Policy. It is not centered on an ideological mission to rid the world of firearms. That is not what we seek. There are millions of Americans who use firearms for recreational and other legitimate purposes, and we respect their Constitutional right to do so.

    But we want to do our part as a company to prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands. So our new policy centers around current firearms sales best practices that will guide those we do business with as a firm.

    Under this new policy, we will require new retail sector clients or partners to adhere to these best practices: (1) they don’t sell firearms to someone who hasn’t passed a background check, (2) they restrict the sale of firearms for individuals under 21 years of age, and (3) they don’t sell bump stocks or high-capacity magazines. This policy will apply across the firm, including to small business, commercial and institutional clients, as well as credit card partners, whether co-brand or private label. It doesn’t impact the ability of consumers to use their Citi cards at merchants of their choice. ”

    https://blog.citigroup.com/2018/03/announcing-our-us-commercial-firearms-policy

    1. “It is not centered on an ideological mission to rid the world of firearms”

      Every time you lie, baby Jesus cries.

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        And an angel loses a wing.

    2. Apparently, they’ll still sell firearms to police departments.

    3. Chipwooder

      You know how long it takes me to change magazines? Maybe two seconds. Maybe.

      1. FURTHER PROOF THAT WE NEED TO OUTLAW DETACHABLE MAGZ!!!

        For the children.

        1. Caput Lupinum

          You would be in favor of stripper clips, Q.

        2. Lachowsky

          +1 bullet button AR

    4. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      “We like the money we’re making from our current firearms clients and aren’t going to fool with their business. We just don’t want any more of that business.”

      Anyone know the capital requirements for starting a bank in Arizona?

    5. Zunalter

      (3) they don’t sell bump stocks or high-capacity magazines.

      Buy one 10-round mag, get 1 30 round mag free.

      1. “This is a variable recoil compensation stock.”

    6. Grumbletarian

      Under this new policy, we will require new retail sector clients or partners to adhere to these best practices: … (2) they restrict the sale of firearms for individuals under 21 years of age

      Even if it violates state law? Because that would be an actionable illegal act on your part to require customers to violate state law in order to conduct business with you.

  30. Derpetologist

    the story behind the Middle Eastern holiday of Nowruz:

    ***
    Zahak, who is named Zuhak by the Kurds,[3][14] was an evil Assyrian king who conquered Iran and had serpents growing from his shoulders.[15] Zahak’s rule lasted for one thousand years; his evil reign caused spring to no longer come to Kurdistan.[3] During this time, two young men were sacrificed daily and their brains were offered to Zahak’s serpents in order to alleviate his pain.[15] However, the man who was in charge of sacrificing the two young men every day would instead kill only one man a day and mix his brains with those of a sheep in order to save the other man. As discontent grew against Zahak’s rule, the nobleman Fereydun planned a revolt.[16] The revolt was led by Kaveh (also known as Kawa) (in the Ossetian language, Kurdalægon), a blacksmith who had lost six sons to Zahak.[15] The young men who had been saved from the fate of being sacrificed (who according to the legend were ancestors of the Kurds[12][13][17]) were trained by Kaveh into an army that marched to Zahak’s castle where Kaveh killed the king with a hammer. Kaveh is said to have then set fire to the hillsides to celebrate the victory and summon his supporters; spring returned to Kurdistan the next day.[3]
    ***

    Stop. HAMMER TIME!

    1. blighted_non_millenial

      Nowruz was cool in Iran. Lived there in there mid 70’s. More cars had a bunch of grass on the hood driving around than they do reindeer at Christmas in the US now. All the neighbors would build bonfires and jump over them.

    1. No way the 13 year old had any idea what he was doing either.

      It’s a crying shame.

      1. Gordilocks

        But he would have been one step closer to knowing.

        We all have to start somewhere, and this teacher has to be given kudos for being the first rung on the ladder.

    2. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      Goddammit, why did I never have teachers like this.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        You should have been a cuter kid.

    3. She’s kinda walleyed. Still would.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        That happens a lot at Maricopa County Jail.

    4. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      FTA, parents were running spyware on the kids phone.

    5. I notice no one complains about this in a #metoo fashion.

  31. Count Potato

    “Reddit Removes Pro-Gun Communities In Overnight Sweep

    A popular subreddit relating to firearms called r/Gundeals was removed from Reddit on Wednesday along with a variety of similar forums including “r/AKMarketplace “and “r/GunsForSale.”

    This sudden purge of gun-related online communities comes following a “New Addition to the site-wide rules” regarding transactions on the site.”

    https://www.dangerous.com/42790/reddit-removes-pro-gun-communities-overnight-sweep/

    1. This is laughable. It’s not as if the people that populate these forums are just going to say “Well that changes my mind about everything! Gun control NOW!” Their just going to get hardened in their opinions and find other outlets.

      Pointless virtue signaling that actually accomplishes the opposite of what they’re trying to do.

      1. Mad Scientist

        They’re doing the same thing they did to smokers. Make doing anything relevant to guns inconvenient, expensive, and out of sight of everyone else. Everyone else will eventually find guns even more alarming as a result.

        1. RegicidalManiac

          In this case, Reddit did the same thing to smokers – any page involved in selling or trading tobacco of any kind also got shut down.

  32. Stinky Wizzleteats

    A comedian with actual balls in Great Britain, Jonathan Pie, on the Dankula conviction. He actually breaks into a Nazi imitation in public and throws out some Nazi jokes at the end (around 3 min 50 sec).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti2bVS40cz0

    I wonder how long before he’s arrested.

    1. kinnath

      I love Jonathon Pie

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        I’d never heard of the guy but he seems alright.

    2. thepasswordispassword

      Not even the Nazi’s were able to convict a guy for getting his dog to do the Nazi salute. Good job Scotland.

    3. blighted_non_millenial

      He’s a twat on gun control though.

    4. blighted_non_millenial

      He’s a twat on gun control though.

      1. blighted_non_millenial

        Doubly so….

  33. Lachowsky

    So, it’s pretty much official now that Team red is just as eager to bankrupt the country as team blue.

    Jesus, our country is long term fucked. There isn’t anybody is Washington who is even remotely capable of righting this fiscal ship. One day our debts will come due and we will all pay for this stupidity. Fucking politicians only give a shit about reelected. None of them stand on a single principal.

    1. Tonio

      Rand Paul? Justin Amash? Thomas Massie?

      Granted, it’s only three out of hundreds.

      1. Lachowsky

        I’ll give you them, but it’s not nearly enough to make a difference.

    2. Stinky Wizzleteats

      This week has moved me firmly into the let it all fucking burn camp. Not only is the budget busted, there were several anti-privacy measures thrown into this bill that rode right on through with it. We got massive military funding for more useless wars, massive funding for useless social programs, pork and cronyism as far as the eye can see, and enough what should have been poison pills to kill a herd of elephants. Fuck them all.

      1. Buy guns, gold and land.

        1. All three of those are popular for confiscation efforts.

          1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            Because they are the means to resist tyrants in all history.

        2. Bobarian LMD

          Don’t forget lead and brass.

          You do want to be able to keep that stuff, right?

      2. Chipwooder

        We’ve been doomed for quite a while now. The only question is how much longer before the whole thing implodes.

      3. Semi-Spartan Dad

        This is why I don’t have the slightest concern about the supposed increase to deficit from tax cuts. Any deficit from the tax cuts is just a blip in the spending orgy they are doing. $100 billion a year? That’s what the gov spends to study the mating habits of transgender orangutans walking in bike lanes while eating avocados.

        Fuck it, completely repeal taxes across the board and keep spending like drunken sailor. Makes no difference in the ultimate outcome. The reckoning is going to be the same in the end but at least I can get mine while I can.

        1. Stinky Wizzleteats

          I agree, at least we’d be able to have a hedonistic last good time before it all goes down in flames.

          1. Semi-Spartan Dad

            Yep, though I probably should have said keep what’s mine rather than get mine like some leech.

      4. Lachowsky

        Don’t forget gun control
        I’m pretty sure the fix NICS bullshit was mixed in there between transgender orangutan grant money and funding for the effects of meth on squirrels.

    3. Gordilocks

      Yep. And all of our grandchildren’s grandchildren will be held up at gun point to pay for this.

      Burn it to the ground.

      1. Lachowsky

        I have a feeling that I will be paying the bill one way or another in my lifetime.

    4. Derpetologist

      Eh, I blame the voters. The politicians are just responding to incentives.

      In any case, you only need a little bit of money to stay alive and only somewhat more to be comfortable.

      Greece, Spain, Japan and various other countries are heavily in debt, and life goes on in those places.

      Basically, the voters have chosen inflation. They may not realize that, but that is what will happen.

      1. I blame the voters and the politicians. But fuck me, the voters are incredible unaccountable pieces of shit.

      2. Stinky Wizzleteats

        The voters don’t know enough to know what they’ve chosen (which is inflation, you’re right about that).

        1. Lachowsky

          Even if the voters are stupid, if politicians were decent human beings, they wouldn’t saddle our future generations with debt from the current generations idiocity.

          1. Gadfly

            But what if the voters don’t want decent human beings, because a pleasant lie is more palatable than a hard truth? Ultimately the failings of our government lie with the failings of our people.

      3. Lachowsky

        Universal suffrage is a bad idea. I really mean this. I’m all for all skin in the game enfranchisement. If you ain’t paying for government, then you shouldn’t have a say in what it does.

        1. Rope Snake

          You’d still have cronyism without it. Probably to an even greater degree.

  34. Trials and Trippelations

    I just wanted to say after the discussion about IJ and amazon smile that y’all can download a browser extension so that when you open amazon it always redirects to amazon smile

    1. You can donate to the NRA! Oh that is too good…

      1. Trials and Trippelations

        Amazon is a terrorist enabler!!

      2. grrizzly

        Just wait until the SJW mob notices it. Amazon will remove the NRA from the list of eligible charities right away.

        1. Stinky Wizzleteats

          I wouldn’t be so sure about that-Amazon, along with Apple and a few others, said no recently to calls to remove NRA TV from their platform. Bezos may be a leftist shitstain but he seems to not be completely unprincipled.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    “Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government because our parents don’t know how to use a f**king democracy, so we have to.”

    “Mob rule” not same as “Democracy”

    Somebody should tell the little twat that Robespierre ended up on the guillotine.

    1. B.P.

      Well, they really don’t even have the mob on their side, hundreds of mouth-breathing pretend revolutionaries marching around with puerile slogans on signs notwithstanding.

  36. Derpetologist

    from the Republicans in the Mist guy mentioned earlier:

    A Princeton sociologist spent 8 years asking rural Americans why they’re so pissed off

    ***
    They believe that Washington really does have power over their lives. They recognize that the federal government controls vast resources, and they feel threatened if they perceive Washington’s interest being directed more toward urban areas than rural areas, or toward immigrants more than non-immigrants, or toward minority populations instead of the traditional white Anglo population.

    Now, I doubt she made this us up herself. She likely heard it at church or from her neighbors or from Fox News or talk radio.

    Part of me wants to take some of these people, shake them up, and tell them to “move on.” This is the 21st century, after all. Quit listening to Rush Limbaugh and try to think as clearly as you can about what’s going on.

    If they feel threatened by racial diversity or homosexuality or abortion or whatever it might be, I want to understand why they feel that way.

    I think a lot of white Americans in these small towns are simply reacting against a country that is becoming more diverse — racially, religiously, and culturally. They just don’t how to deal with it. And that’s why you’re seeing this spike in white nationalism.
    ***

    https://www.vox.com/2018/3/13/17053886/trump-rural-america-populism-racial-resentment

    1. “This is the 21st century, after all”

      The instant someone makes this appeal is the instant you should stop taking anything they say seriously.

      1. Gadfly

        Quite right. Arguing “Because it’s [Present Year]” is arguing for morality as fashion statement.

      2. blighted_non_millenial

        Unless they are talking about not having to print every damn thing. In that case, this is the actual 21st century.

    2. Chipwooder

      I forgot who wrote it now, but Instapundit frequently links an old article explaining how no one hates rednecks, hillbillies, etc like those who grew up in such places and then fled to big cities and become leftists.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    They believe that Washington really does have power over their lives.

    And… what? Is this a myth? Has he debunked this as some weird paranoid fantasy gripping the hicks?

    1. Lachowsky

      If Washington wasn’t robbing me blond every week, I wouldn’t be inclined to be so hateful towards them.

      1. jesse.in.mb

        robbing me blond

        They take EVERYTHING right down to the pigmentation in your hair!

        1. Lachowsky

          Just wait jesse, it’s coming.

  38. Derpetologist

    First Major U.S. City Bans Fur
    San Francisco’s new ban is a milestone in a global war against fur that is gaining momentum.
    https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/massive-victory-animals-san-francisco-becomes-worlds-first-major-city-ban-fur

    1. Sean

      Ban everything!!!!!!!!!

      REEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

    2. whiz

      That really is a misleading headline, it makes it sound like if you wear fur that you are breaking the law. That’s probably the next step…

  39. thepasswordispassword

    https://www.thecut.com/2017/01/psychologys-racism-measuring-tool-isnt-up-to-the-job.html

    Remember those implicit association tests that prove you’re a racist even if you don’t think you’re a racist? Never mind that they are premised on the idea that time differences in choice are external symptoms of bias without proving that relationship. They seem to have issues getting the same results from the same person taking the test again.

    What constitutes an acceptable level of test-retest reliability? It depends a lot on context, but, generally speaking, researchers are comfortable if a given instrument hits r = .8 or so. The IAT’s architects have reported that overall, when you lump together the IAT’s many different varieties, from race to disability to gender, it has a test-retest reliability of about r = .55. By the normal standards of psychology, this puts these IATs well below the threshold of being useful in most practical, real-world settings.

    Strangely this article is from a culture blog on a fashion website that is a culture magazine spinoff.

    1. Gilmore

      “”‘Strangely this article is from a culture blog on a fashion website that is a culture magazine spinoff””

      Not at all. For progs, perpetual, contrived, ostentatious moral-outrage is the most fashionable thing of all.

    2. whiz

      I have a problem with the whole concept of an IAT (that the time it takes to answer the question can be indicative of a bias). I tend to be very analytical and could spend a lot of time answering whether biased or not.

  40. The Other Kevin

    “Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government because our parents don’t know how to use a f**king democracy, so we have to.”

    I have been doing my own research into mass shootings. There are some who believe in a contagion effect, in which one mass shooter will inspire future mass shooters. Many of these kids idolize the Columbine killers, and even trade photos of them. There are entire online communities dedicated to the Columbine killers.

    Although social media is mostly harmless, it can in some cases be used to encourage and inspire mass shooters. Therefore, I propose serious, common sense regulation of social media, including severe restrictions for those under age 21, who are more impressionable. I also propose bans on the extent to which mass killings are reported by news networks.

    I’m sure this is something this kid and all his DNC protester buddies can get behind.

    1. Gilmore

      “”I have been doing my own research into mass shootings. There are some who believe in a contagion effect””

      I do a little research about crime-trends from time to time

      one thing i came across is that “serial killings” – where a perp murders more than 1 person and does so over a extended period of time – had a weirdly “boom-bust” cycle

      i posted about it here (hope that works)

      “”from 1900 to 1950, there were ~50 or so people killed *per decade* by serial killers. but then in the 1960s that number jumped to 200, then in the 1970s….to 600… where it stayed through the end of the 1990s… then for whatever reason* (which i will argue in a moment) fell back to ~100 or so in the 2000s and 2010s.”

      I think the idea of “fashion trends” in ‘mass murder’ is a real thing. School shootings happen because they’ve become popularly known as ‘ways to channel murderous intent’.

      1. Gilmore

        Figured out how link properly: here

      2. The Other Kevin

        I was about 75% serious in this post. While I’m not for censorship, they have documented a contagion effect in suicides, and the media has voluntarily tamped down coverage of suicides as a result.

        Also, all these shooters are looking for notoriety. They want to be forever known as the guy who had the biggest body count. I think there’s something valid in taking that away from them.

        1. jesse.in.mb

          I’m big on the social contagion theory here. I’d posit you end up with two primary vectors of contagion with media saturation: fame and a lowered barrier for outrageous behavior being treated as common.

    2. Gilmore

      Problem with most “mass shooting” data is that, much like the way the idiot-left tries to dilute “Terrorism” to meaninglessness, and throw all sorts of “any crime committed by someone with vague association to political group (despite that crime/violence having no actual terror-intent)”… the number crunchers aim to try to include ‘every shooting which wounds more than 2-3 people’.

      (i think the FBI has multiple cuts of the data, and the asshole gun-grabbers always choose the widest possible definition)

      I think Mother Jones did a decent job with their own data set. You can download and cut the stuff however you want. You can also sort “crazy, spur of moment” from ‘clearly pre-meditated’.

  41. Derpetologist

    Video shows Houthi rebels in Yemen using a jury-rigged Russian fighter jet missile to take on an F-15

    http://www.businessinsider.com/video-houthi-r-27t-russia-missile-attacking-saudi-fighter-jet-2018-3

    The missile hit; the Saudis claim the plane returned safely.

  42. Rufus the Monocled

    What do you think is going through their minds?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMItitO18iM

  43. Derpetologist

    Saskatchewan woman rescues porcupine stuck on its back

    ***
    A Saskatchewan woman filmed her unusual encounter with a porcupine having trouble getting off its back on a snowy road.

    The video shows the woman using a snow brush from her SUV to help the porcupine flip back onto its legs Monday on a road in Melville.

    “Apparently, this little guy is stuck on his back,” the woman says in the video. “I know how you feel, buddy. It happens to me in the morning sometimes.”

    The woman, who said she spotted the distressed creature while driving, ends up helping the porcupine a second time when climbing a difficult snowbank causes it to flip onto its back again.
    ***

    1. Libertarian moment?

      1. The Last American Hero

        What sort of Libertarian accepts a handout?

  44. RE: Gun control piglet.

    I’m sure he doesn’t realize it (because he’s a dumbass, snot nosed teenager whose balls just dropped), but his over the top, ludicrous, profanity laden rants against millions of people are actually counterproductive to his cause. I’m actually kind of surprised his Brady Bunch, Bloomberg/Soros handlers have let him off the leash this much. They’re smart enough to know that approach doesn’t work since they’ve tried it and it failed (hence they don’t do it anymore).

    1. The Other Kevin

      Well, that “basket of deplorables” strategy worked so great the first time, why not keep going?

    2. Expounding further, his worldview is that of a high school campus. A place in which aforementioned rants are effective. Granted, progs are doing their best to infantilize the nation to the point in which those kinds of rants are effective in general, we’re not there yet. He thinks this will work because he’s young and stupid and approaching a complex problem from the point of view of a 16 year old.

      That, by itself, would turn people off from it; but the more ridiculous he is, the more people will dismiss him and his pathetic astroturfed “movement”.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        “his worldview is that of a high school campus”

        That’s true, he will get high fives from his likeminded schoolmates for this. Most adults don’t go for this kind of nonsense though.

      2. He’s managed to make me wish he’d gotten shot, which I think is basically like rolling a 1 on your Charisma check, for all y’all old AD&D heads out there.

        1. Pan Zagloba

          *autistic pedanting intensifies*

          Weeeel akshully, in AD&D skill and attribute checks were done by rolling under or equal to relevant stat. So 1 would be auto-pass and possibly a crit success if your DM used them. And wasn’t classy enough to know that in the best RPG, it’s ‘roll under to succeed, roll equal for crit’.

          1. Number.6

            Depends on the version, man. Which explains why the classiest RPG players go Ars Magica.

          2. Pan Zagloba

            AD&D only had two versions. 1st and 2nd. Everything else is D&D. Roll under was rule in 2nd and optional rule in 1st.

            Ars Magica is for people who really wanted Vampire:The Masquerade but it didn’t exist yet.

          3. DEG

            AD&D only had two versions. 1st and 2nd. Everything else is D&D.

            Yes. And for D&D, BECMI or forget it.

            I occasionally take part in a 5th Edition D&D game. I miss the older editions.

            I have some Ars Magica books but I never used them.

          4. The Last American Hero

            AD&D only had one version. Everything after 1st was a combination of money grab and clusterfuck.

          5. Number.6

            I had a quite heavily modified AD&D 2ed campaign running for years back in the Old Country. I never saw the point in all the subsequent versions, and everyone had plenty of fun with it as it was.

            A couple of the players turned out to be far more plot-minded than combat-minded, so we ran up an Ars campaign that worked pretty well too, but some of the hoped-for inductees wanted to dungeon-crawl.

            I’ve often considered relaunching the old AD&D 2.5ed campaign, but a beer always gets in the way. If I did, I’d roll in a bunch of the “script” that the Ars campaign created.

          6. You right, you right. I was thinking THAC0.

          7. DEG

            Chaosium produced Call of Cthulhu, which is the best RPG.

    3. Sean

      He’s a SJW. Vitriol and reeeeeeeeing is their stock-and-trade.

    4. Keep on truckin’, Hogg, you little asshole.

    5. Pan Zagloba

      If he works really hard, he can become his generation’s Ezra Klein.

  45. PBRstreetgang

    The Root tacking an actual important issue. Which joker is the Big Joker in a game of spades?
    https://www.theroot.com/which-one-is-the-big-joker-a-black-supreme-court-rulin-1823897219

    1. This Is My Damn House v. That Don’t Make You Right, Luther

      Hi-larious, thanks for that.

    2. Creosote Achilles

      I’m going to repost the joke I made when I shared this link a couple of days ago. (No static intended PBRStreetgang):

      Of course the Colored one is the bigger joker…

  46. Derpetologist

    has this made the rounds yet?

    Craigslist Shuts Down Personals Section After Congress Passes Bill On Trafficking
    https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/23/596460672/craigslist-shuts-down-personals-section-after-congress-passes-bill-on-traffickin

    ***
    You can still find furniture or a roommate on Craigslist. But ads seeking romance or sexual connections are no longer going to be available, after Craigslist took down the “personals” section Friday for its U.S. site.

    The company says it made the change because Congress has passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, meant to crack down on sex trafficking of children. It was approved by a landslide in the Senate earlier this week, as NPR’s Alina Selyukh has reported, but has been met with criticism by free speech advocates and sex workers.

    As Craigslist wrote, the law seeks “to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully.”
    ***

    1. Lachowsky

      Back to the streets, you whores.

    1. juris imprudent

      OK, how exactly does an ad-scraper determine the cost of the ad?

  47. Count Potato

    “Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA. As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period. We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.”

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/977286489410240514

    What’s next, a pantsuit?

    1. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Fuck it, I hope he gets impeached.

    2. Oh yeah, the famously pro-2A Obama administration.

    3. DEG

      Regs issued. 90 day comment period starts.

      The Justice Department said it was publishing for public comment a proposed rule “that would define ‘machine gun’ to include bump stock-type devices under federal law — effectively banning them,” Mr. Sessions said in a statement.

      A bump stocks ban would defy the conclusion of Justice Department officials, who have said they could not, under existing law, stop the sales of bump stocks, accessories that allow semiautomatic guns to mimic automatic fire, and that congressional action was needed to ban them. But Mr. Sessions said the department had worked around those concerns.

      1. DEG

        Here is the press release:

        If the NPRM is made final, bump-stock-type devices would be effectively banned under federal law and current possessors of bump-stock-type devices would be required to surrender, destroy, or otherwise render the devices permanently inoperable. The comment period for the NPRM is 90 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.

        Proposed regulations here, warning: PDF.

        1. DEG

          Oh yeah. I’m reading the proposed regulations. I’ve always said Heller has holes you can drive a truck through. The proposed regulations reference Heller as allowing the regulation of machine guns. See page 17 and 18 of the linked PDF.

          1. Pan Zagloba

            That…that’s a go-to Michael Hihn argument.

            God, let’s just have him write the fucking bill in six months. Maybe then Trump will understand what he’s signing.

          2. DEG

            I never paid much attention to Hihn. That was a sign to start scrolling.

    4. . We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.

      39D chess, folks. That’s what it looks like.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        He isn’t even playing checkers at this point.

      2. R C Dean

        So I guess files and machine tools are right out, being devices that can etc.

  48. Stinky Wizzleteats

    I went to The_Donald over at Reddit out of curiosity and those people are really tying themselves in knots trying to justify what just happened. They’re delusional and are making excuses for why they just got royally screwed. I’ve never seen anything like it, they don’t realize the man just signed his presidency away.

    1. Lachowsky

      And he didn’t even get his border wall. I’ve never used this term before but what the hell.

      What a Cuck.

      1. jesse.in.mb

        Trigger Warning SPLC: [Traditional Worker’s Party] chief Matthew Heimbach arrested for battery after affair with top spokesman’s wife

        Self-described white nationalists cucking each other is just too delicious not to link though

        1. Lachowsky

          That is funny.

        2. Stinky Wizzleteats

          White nationalism can be a lonely life, I’m not surprised one of those guys fell into the welcoming arms of a willing white woman.

        3. Pan Zagloba

          Awesome, the cuckold has left the party because he’s got cucked.

          Life outmemes 4chan!

          1. Stinky Wizzleteats

            Don’t you have to secretly enjoy it to be a cuck?

          2. Pan Zagloba

            That’s why I used “cuckold” which demands that the guy who wears the horns don’t know it’s happening.

            The “cuck” thing is just…well, it’s a cool word, so I can see why it got traction. But it’s literally opposite from what the word should mean.

            Look, English is not my native language, so I still demand it make sense at some level!

          3. Stinky Wizzleteats

            Ah, OK, I read cuckold as cuck because that’s what I was expecting to see I guess-missed the “old” part.

          4. jesse.in.mb

            Strictly speaking, no. A cuckold is anyone who has been fleeced by their wife cheating on them with another man. Once you jump into the specifics of it being a fetish it’s a dominance game (specifically a humiliation) where you implicitly enjoy being out-manlied by some other dude. Sometimes–but not always–there’s a racial dimension to the fetish. Ideally you like the humiliation if you’re playing the game (“Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure.” –Cicero)

            The political use of it drills down to that racial component with the concept of you–the cuck– cheerfully working for the good of some other people or (((people))) while ignoring your own people’s needs. The aspect is the humiliation whether it’s known to you or it’s just fremdschämen or whatever.

          5. Stinky Wizzleteats

            Good synopsis…

          6. trshmnstr

            you–the cuck– cheerfully working for the good of some other people or (((people))) while ignoring your own people’s needs.

            I think there’s also a more basic aspect to this. There’s a level of “you can’t even recognize that you’re embarrassing yourself” to it. They see the “cucks” like the 5 year old who’s hamming it up to his audience, missing the fact that they’re not laughing at him because of his antics, but because there’s toilet paper hanging out of his pants. “Cuck” is an insulting way to say that somebody is too stupid to realize that they’re making a fool of themselves. Why use “cuck”? Because that’s exactly what they think of cuckolds.

        4. Scruffy Nerfherder

          He seems so adorably chubby.

      2. Stinky Wizzleteats

        Maybe he thinks his followers love him so much they won’t care. If that’s the case I think he’s seriously miscalculated.

    2. Pan Zagloba

      SugarFree version of Trump is superior to IRL as a human being, and that’s before The Hat and The Hair are added to it.

      I don’t think even he expected that, but here we are.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        I didn’t expect him to be Mother Theresa but I’m surprised and, yes, disappointed a billionaire who’s done so well in the business world can be so incompetent at such a pivotal moment.

    3. DiegoF

      I don’t exonerate Trump for this, and I am not going over to visit The_Donald to see what they do or do not think, but the Trump defenders at TOS seem to think that any bump stock reg will never take effect, that it’s going to get sued, stayed, and eventually overturned. If I were the House speaker right now, I might have actually asked Trump to provide cover for my skittish members’ current line: that they want to ban bump stocks, too, but new legislation isn’t necessary. Play for time until the heat dies down. (As I have always said, time is not on our side, and will be until “our” “leaders” have the balls to tell America that mass shootings are a moral panic, but never mind.)

      Of course, if Trump were actually playing this game, he would be dragging his feet instead, which he could do for a very long time. So fuck him. But maybe this is not quite as bad as it looks for now (if still ultimately doomed). Don’t get me wrong; I care a lot about bump stocks. I am not some sort of “realist” who doesn’t care about bump stocks. I reject the premise that there is anything realist about giving in on this restriction.

      What do you think?

      1. Number.6

        I have no personal use for a bump stock. What I’m concerned about is that it establishes a precedent that permits the government to limit the capabilities of a firearm and legitimizes the idea that an inanimate external accessory has the capability to make a gun ‘more dangerous’.

        Just about every external accessory has the same objective.

  49. Gilmore

    Someone @ TOS pointed me to videos of US Cops talking-tough on youtube (apparently they’re part of their sheriff re-election campaigns or something)…

    …and i noticed a striking stylistic similarity, which i highlighted here

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Christ…

      Those fucktards get their jollies by breaking down doors, busting up houses, shooting dogs, and generally acting like mafioso enforcers. Wait, I take that back, mafioso enforcers have some sense of dignity and lines that can’t be crossed. These guys act like cowboys, get other people killed, and when they get hurt by doing something extraordinarily stupid, claim the mantle of hero for themselves.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Great, now I’m pissed off. Thanks Obama Gilmore.

      2. Number.6

        Act like cowboys, LARP like jihadis.

      3. Gilmore

        You think that’s bad, this is even more entertaining

        part of me excuses them because its louisiana, and you need to be blunt when talking to some types of folks.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Southern sheriffs are a special breed, and it seems to get worse the further south you go.

        2. thepasswordispassword

          Now that’s a blast from the past. Same guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzaD3ebUAlk

    2. Jesus tapdancing Christ. What kind of a mouthbreathing fucktard do you need to be to actively style yourself on the very terrorist organizations we’re supposed to be at war with for, what, fifteen years now?

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        I can understand why narcs would want to hide their identities as a practical matter. Showing that nonsense in public is a stupid idea though.

  50. trshmnstr

    Fuck! All I wanted to do was watch Charles Barkley make a fool of himself before the basketball games. Instead they have fascist propaganda about how they’re gonna grab our guns.

  51. Mustang

    Fuck you Trump. Just…fuck you.

    Side note, why do people treat you like a pariah when you are trying online encryption apps? Switching email and messaging over to encrypted ones and it’s like people think you’re a lunatic.

    They’ll screech about Russian hackerzzzz and identity theft and SMOD knows what else but when push comes to shove, they won’t take responsibility for their own safety.

    You know what, nevermind. I just answered my own question.

    1. jesse.in.mb

      You can drop your PGP code into Facebook and they’ll send all of their notifications to you encrypted. I switched to ProtonMail after thinking some of my accounts were compromised (I fucked up, but wasn’t 100% sure and decided to be proactive). I ended up using that quietly as my account to which other accounts are linked and continuing to use gmail as my primary email.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        ProtonMail is a great service.

      2. I have a PGP key on my gmail sig, but nobody uses it and I’ve since sidelined that in favor of a mail server I’m running myself and a Lavabit account.

    2. Hey, you know what’s weird? The people who think that Donald Trump is literally Hitler also want him and his employees to be the only people who own firearms.

  52. Here’s some fun stats from the CDC.

    In 2016, across all age groups, 9 times as many people died of drowning than died of firearms-related incidents. Of that group, about half drowned in a pool or bathtub. So, back of napkin analysis would indicate that pools or bathtubs, to use the banner logic, cause something like 4 to 5 times as many deaths as firearms.

    So go ban a fucking swimming pool you cunts. Molon labe.

    1. The Last American Hero

      I’m sorry. What does any of this have to do with bio terror or the spread of infectious disease?

      1. trshmnstr

        The CDC is a case study in the infectious spread of leftist authoritarianism and the comorbid spread of terminal derp.

      2. There’s an epidemic of water-related deaths caused by lax pool regulation. You know what I mean. Pools. The things that hold water. No, not like cups, the things that hold water that you use to swim in. I mean, yeah, sure, some people use bathtubs to take a bath, but there’s no reason you can’t just use a shower. Seriously, what’s more important, you getting to have your stupid bathtub or a child’s life?

        1. Didn’t that exact thing happen in the seventies? When I was a youngster everyone was installing swimming pools, I remember watching Superhost in the afternoons and every other commercial was for in ground swimming pools. Then the lawyers set in, first it was fences then liability waivers, then came the dump trucks and the fill and no more swiming pools. I can’t think of the last time I heard of someone building a pool.

  53. ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ Motherfuckers.

    1. Tundra

      Yeah, I’m not sure they really comprehend how this is an absolute red line for an awful lot of Normals.

      1. Number.6

        Politicians typically don’t understand what a red line is. Otherwise Chocolate Jesus might have had a lot more pushback.

      2. trshmnstr

        I’ve been meaning to update my semi-serious “civil war 2” series with a serious note at the end of the next one. In the past ones, I’ve been playing with the idea that if Trump were impeached and removed from office, there would be serious and organized hostilities. I think that threat was very low at the time, and by now has completely passed. The shine is off enough that people wouldn’t put their asses on the line for him. However, there is a serious red line in place for guns. If anything is passed that substantially curtails gun rights, there will be widespread violence.

  54. Go buy a gun. Today. Order it online, go to the LGS, go to fucking Walmart (shitheads that they are) and buy a gun.

    (flips off whole world)

    1. Number.6

      I bought a large pile of ammo and have a Ruger carbine on back-order.

      Does that count?

      1. Tundra

        I think I’m gonna buy that carbine. I don’t have any Glocks or Rugers, but it gives me tingles down my leg.

        1. Number.6

          Shoots nice. It’ll be fine out to 200 yards, which is ‘long range’ for up here. Shame it’s butt ugly though.

    2. DEG

      A rifle I won on gunbroker arrived at a local gun shop (I starting typing “fun” instead of “gun”) today. I’ll pick it up tomorrow. Earlier this week I dropped off a proxy bid sheet to bid on three rifles at this weekend’s Amoskeag Auction. I’m winning another auction on gunbroker.

      I might just say “Fuck my bank account” and go buy a Tavor x95 tomorrow.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        Now’s a good time to buy, I’m ordering a Glock 19 tomorrow-this craziness has gotten me nervous.

      2. thepasswordispassword

        CDNN had them for 1600 last I checked. Which is cheap for what they normally go for.

        1. DEG

          I found a local gun store that has them for $1800, though quantities are limited.

          I checked CDNN’s website. “Too low to print – call!” is what they show for price.

      3. I have a Tavor SAR and it kicks fucking ass. Buy the Tavor, you won’t regret it.

        1. DEG

          I saw crappy reviews of the SAR’s trigger. It sounded worse than the trigger on my Soviet made 91/30. I read that the x95 has an improved trigger and has a few other improvements.

          1. It does have a pretty heavy factory trigger. There are upgrade kits you can get.

            https://geissele.com/super-sabra-trigger-tavor.html

            Kind of expensive, but the rifle is pretty damn expensive too so you might as well go all out.

          2. DEG

            Danke!

          3. Number.6

            Hmm, that looks suspiciously like a modification that would make the firearm shoot faster.

      4. R C Dean

        I like their 12 gauge. Would want to check out the ergonomics, but if it handles it would satisfy my boner for a combat shotgun.

      5. ITEM #28
        U.S. M1 Carbine by IBM

        IBM made M1s??

        1. DEG

          Yes. Smith Corona made 1903A3 Springfields. Lots of companies got drafted into making war material during the Second World War.

        2. juris imprudent

          Yep, very sought after collectable (particularly for computer geek gun collectors).

    3. Drake

      My next gun is a “hunting” rifle. I actually don’t own a scope so I think I’ll buy a Savage package.

      1. Number.6

        “Available only outside of United States Market”.

        1. DEG

          SAD!

          1. Number.6

            It’s probably some dumbass ITAR regulation regarding the optics.

          2. Drake

            Some have Weaver and some have Nikon scopes. I have no idea which is better. I have a Savage .22 with a similar stock and trigger – love it. I hear the rifles are very accurate. I would like to shoot it for a while with the cheap scope then maybe upgrade.

  55. Gilmore

    For some insight into how social-media-marketing functions…

    … this is very long and sort of headache-inducing thread (the format of twitter is anathema to any thoughts longer than a David Burge quip)… which shows how people create dummy accounts, pump them full of echo-chamber reinforcing content, attract follows and likes like flies on shit, and become tool for narrative+ opinion-shaping.

    You might ask, “but why? what’s the purpose? it doesn’t generate revenue?”

    the purpose is because it serves like a “template” for how marketers can quickly get a message out, and rapidly generate traction. Its basically dry-runs future propaganda efforts. and the people who are behind it are professional social-media-marketers.

  56. creech

    I’m tired of all the news shows giving gushing coverage to tomorrow’s march by kids to protest school gun violence. Much like Other Kevin up at #41, I wonder why, since Columbine, these keep happening. Guns have always been around and available to kids. Bullies have always tormented the nerds and outcasts. But I doubt any kids marching will ponder ways to prevent their peers from having murderous thoughts and carrying them out. No, the villain is guns, not their fellow students who suddenly feel compelled to murder. “Why.” they might ask, “is this happening?” No, it isn’t the guns.

    1. News = Propaganda.

    2. trshmnstr

      I think one aspect that isn’t as popular to mention is the all-encompassing nature of school these days. Most kids wake up, run to the school bus, spend 8 hours in class and then another 3 in extracurriculars/daycare and another 2 after that doing homework. There’s no balance to life. Back in “the day”, when you got picked on at school, you looked forward to 3pm, when you got to go be yourself without Billy the bully being a dick. These days, you’re at school with Billy until 6:30, and the few hours you get at home are focused on doing school work. When you’re an outcast, it’s pretty much exile, because you have no opportunity to develop a social life outside of school

      1. That’s a really good point. Also, and I think this is something that ought to be on the table for consideration, twenty years ago prescribing psychiatric drugs for minors wasn’t that common. Ritalin had just come on the scene. I never knew anyone to even talk about anxiety as a mental illness until I was in my 20s. At the risk of getting all John Wayne about shit, when I was in middle and high school the expectation was that you’d experience stress and anxiety and sadness and fear as part of the package. Some more than others, but everybody got a taste. You were expected to deal with it, and generally people just did. Maybe that was by hanging out with other rejects, maybe that was by staying home or hanging out by yourself, maybe that was by discovering the wonders of illegal drugs and booze, but that was it. Often enough, if you had a problem with someone you fought, and that usually settled things. People were hurt, sure, and people definitely died or killed themselves, but mass shootings at school weren’t a thing. I honestly think it was in no small part because we didn’t treat life sucking as an illness, so if you were unfortunate enough to have a genuine mental illness, you had to sort that shit out on your own.

      2. thepasswordispassword

        Let’s not forget that running around outside during the lunch hour has been severely curtailed. Eating quickly for extra play time isn’t done, you have to wait until the prescribed time. Prisons have more recreation than schools.

    3. My wife, I think just to aggravate me, had NPR on, and some dumb broad actually said that the mental health issue was a canard, that it was obviously all about guns and the obvious answer was gun control legislation. And I thought to myself, “I’ll bet you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.” And then I thought, “Has it occurred to this stupid motherfucker how many people there are in the US who own guns? If guns were some causal factor, there’d be piles of bodies. Did Skippy McFuckface declare that he wanted to shoot the school up ‘because guns’? No, of course he didn’t. It’s not entirely a mental health issue, but that is at least the right church albeit the wrong pew.”

  57. On a related note, I can’t possibly see the bump stock thing holding up in court because of the “you must surrender, destroy or disable” the stock provision. Seems like a pretty clear-cut ex post facto argument.

    1. Number.6

      Your problem, Q, is that you lack the ability to see, or perceive, the emanations and penumbras of the Second Amendment.

    2. CPRM

      Shirts with a spring loaded shoulder pad by the fall, I’m guessing. No need to keep trying marketing one design with so many work arounds.

      1. Stinky Wizzleteats

        Thet’s a damn good idea.

        1. CPRM

          not attached to the gun, so if you could get a good design it would be hard to ban.

          1. Stinky Wizzleteats

            Know any good engineers? That’s a moneymaker.

      2. thepasswordispassword

        Make it a vest or jacket and you’ve got yourself a product.

      3. Number.6

        I’m not sure you need any kind of device. You can bump-fire based purely on technique, and then there’s nothing for Uncle Sam to ‘outlaw’.

        1. It’ll turn into that old deal with AR pistols and “cheek rests” not “butt stocks”.

    3. DEG

      Possession before the ban isn’t a crime. Possession after the ban is. The court will be fine with it assuming it gets to the Supreme Court. Remember, Heller allows gun control.

    4. DiegoF

      It is not vulnerable because ex post facto. It is not that. Congress can ban possession of things.

      It is vulnerable over the issue of whether, indeed, “Congress” did in this case. In other words, as Trump reminded us, the Obama DOJ opined that bump stocks were not gun parts and thus cannot be banned by regulatory rulemaking on that basis, any more than the FDA could ban them for not being nutritious.

  58. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Looks like Orange Judas has lost Molyneux:

    “Why Donald Why? President Trump Betrayal, Signs Disastrous Spending Bill!”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opAdGt4gOi8

  59. DiegoF

    So here’s what I see happening with Citi (btw, yet another reason to hate the Mets and those stupid blue bikes):

    Every major bank will eventually follow suit. The most visible upshot of this is that Bass Pro Shops will raise their age to 21. (Assuming this part of the crusade isn’t quietly dropped over the legal problems.) Community banks will pick up the slack for small dealers.

    Citi clarifies to its cardholders that it is not restricting where they can shop. It cannot, of course. But it expresses sorrow that it cannot, however, “adopt a more targeted approach at points of sale.” And “for that reason, we would like to convene those in the financial services industry and other stakeholders to tackle these challenges together and see what we can do.”

    Uh-oh.

    Getting Visa et al. on board really would change everything.

    What do y’all think of the future prospects of firearms availability? Much like that time I got a lift to junior high from Kevin Spacey, are the grabbers in the drivers’ seat now?

    1. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Why not have a differential interest rate based upon the purchase of certain undesirable items-seems like that would be a pretty easy thing to do. Guns and ammo? Thirty percent APR.

    2. thepasswordispassword

      They haven’t banned cash and ATMs yet at least. But it’s the same incrementalist approach that wants to stigmatize gun culture meaning the each successive generation will have fewer and fewer people who care until they become a politically insignificant minority. And then if they’re feeling generous expect something like euro-style clubs (called “Militias” for maximum irony and totally complying with the letter of the 2A) being the only entities allowed to own weapons that members might be allowed to use after passing regular background checks and paying government fees for the privilege of firing a 22LR at a paper target under police supervision.

    3. Count Potato

      I posted it earlier.

      What I don’t see is how this makes more money for Citibank.

      What I do see is that they don’t seem to care.

      Clearly, there are too many regulations protecting big banks. Increase competition so no business can afford virtue signaling.

  60. DiegoF

    I don’t exonerate Trump for this, and I am not going over to visit The_Donald to see what they do or do not think, but the Trump defenders at TOS seem to think that any bump stock reg will never take effect, that it’s going to get sued, stayed, and eventually overturned. If I were the House speaker right now, I might have actually asked Trump to provide cover for my skittish members’ current line: that they want to ban bump stocks, too, but new legislation isn’t necessary. Play for time until the heat dies down. (As I have always said, time is not on our side, and will be until “our” “leaders” have the balls to tell America that mass shootings are a moral panic, but never mind.)

    Of course, if Trump were actually playing this game, he would be dragging his feet instead, which he could do for a very long time. So fuck him. But maybe this is not quite as bad as it looks for now (if still ultimately doomed). Don’t get me wrong; I care a lot about bump stocks. I am not some sort of “realist” who doesn’t care about bump stocks. I reject the premise that there is anything realist about giving in on this restriction.

    What do you think?

    1. DiegoF

      Bit squirrelly, I suppose. It happens to the best of us.

    2. trshmnstr

      I think that this is a sacrifice from Trump to the urban elites, and he’s trying to recover some of his negative image by caving to them.

      1. CPRM

        I think Trump has been taken in by the DEEP STATE, that’s why Tillerson is out and Bolton is in. They got to him! *picks piece of tinfoil hanging from hat and chews it*

    3. Number.6

      I haven’t changed my mind since item 51.

      1. DiegoF

        Yeah I do not care about bump stocks, or any repeated fire device (those shoestrings!) for my personal use, if that’s what needed clarification. I think any ban that sticks is not good. I do think that there are enough asinine regulations already on the books, having more practical consequence than a device that can be easily fashioned at home, that maybe even the “precedent” set by this is not that momentous. But my question is more about the potential future of the ban.

    4. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Trump and the Republican lawmakers aren’t that smart. He sold out his base today on damn near everything.

      1. trshmnstr

        This. Assuming there isn’t a massive campaign of conservative cocksucking, 2018 is going to be a landslide for Dems, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Trump gets primaried in ’20.

        1. Stinky Wizzleteats

          Paul/Amash 2020 or, whatever, flip it. I don’t care at this point.

          1. DiegoF

            That would be wonderful if the national supporters of that ticket could fill the LA Coliseum better than the Rams. Which we couldn’t.

      2. R C Dean

        Yes, he did. Dems take both houses, and the next two years is a dumpster fire of impeachment, Congressional investigations and, natch, continued expansion of the Total State.

        1. DiegoF

          Dems are not taking the Senate. Even I am not that pessimistic.

  61. thepasswordispassword

    Occupational licensing coming for amusement park ride designers.
    http://www.kansascity.com/news/article206605804.html

    1. Number.6

      Rollercoaster Tycoon players hit hardest.

  62. DiegoF

    Here’s another question: Why did Citi do this? No gun owner is going to be assuaged by this “we are not taking sides” language; they are more likely to be further enraged by it.

    More importantly, the heat was dying fast on this issue. Even most gun grabbers understand deep down, in cooler moments, that this is not something a financial giant is going to want to do–take on the task of fighting gun violence in America, especially when the suggested methods are so politically divisive.

    Even more importantly, even if America were 10 to 1 anti-gun, with only poor checking-account-only yokels on the one side, this is a horrible precedent to set for them. Sometimes–in fact, very often–companies hold a hard line on an unpopular issue just so they don’t open up that can of worms. Now that they have opened the door to “taking responsibility” for this, the requests will never end. They’re on the hook for every petty little shit. Hey did you know this stonemason in Bethesda, who once did a contract to replace deteriorating Confederate headstones, has a Citibank account? Retweet!

    Again, why would they do this? As my biological father, Desi Arnaz, used to say, “‘Splain! ‘Splain!”

    1. Number.6

      When you get to a certain size of operation, the staff perception of the business ‘ethics’ can be as, or more, important as the customer’s perception of the business.

      Case in point – Amazon. How many of Amazon’s customers actually give a damn that Amazon lets staff take their dogs to work. How many of Amazon’s workers actually take a dog to work?

    2. thepasswordispassword

      Major executive was attending South by Southwest, rubbing shoulders with other rich gungrabby liberals and decided to just go for it? Similar to how the CEO of Cloudflare woke up in a bad mood and nuked Daily Stormer?

      1. trshmnstr

        Cloudflare is a gnat compared to the elephant that is Citi. At Citi’s scale, one person can’t make such a decision. It was something that probably went through 20-30 people before being approved.

        1. thepasswordispassword

          The guy who wrote the blog post announcing the change as Citi’s senior PR exec and government relations guy used to work for Bloomberg. The board and C-level suite is mostly ivy league monoculture. Some military service but Ivy-league officer material trends towards progressive politics (see: fully semi-automatic general).

      2. DiegoF

        Well Sadiq Khan was there, basking in the adulation as he called for government action against mean tweets. So maybe Citi will take action on that issue too. They better start planning for how to deal with the demands to do so, that much is sure. They better be working around the clock to draft a policy making sure their accountholders have gender-neutral uniforms, permit dreadlocks, use cage-free eggs, etc. You see what I’m saying? Didn’t they think this through? Even if “high capacity magazines” loaded tiny Confederate flags instead of cartridges, they should have held the line on this.

        1. DiegoF

          .

    3. Count Potato

      Desi Arnaz was your biological father?

  63. Winston

    So for all the caterwauling about how Trump is so beyond the pale he turns out to be very much like a typical Republican.

    1. DiegoF

      Well, without Trump we could have had Cruz, not that I’m in love with the guy. And, come to think of it, not that anyone who ran a campaign this incompetent would necessarily have won either the primaries or the general anyway.

      Now that I think of it, I suppose Rubio would be president now. So fuck that shit. The Swamp threw us a double agent, not that I personally was fooled (he’s back to essentially my expectations of him in January 2017). MAGA is the Five Star Movement of the USA.

      1. Winston

        I always find it amusing that libertarian political strategy is very collectivist. All about interpersonal forces, inevitability of history and It Can’t Happen Here. We will actually need libertarians in power and implementing libertarian ideas. And this will be very hard.

        1. DiegoF

          Our opinions are simply not very popular, even in America; and even the biggest anti-“Libertarian Moment!!!” cynics seem insufficiently cynical about it. Liberalism is exceptionally poorly equipped to be a mass movement, always has been, and perhaps always will be.

          I disagree with the premise that libertarians must be in power to implement libertarian ideas. We can score partial victories with conservatives. But we do need at least that.

          I do not think America has it within itself, in our lifetime, to have its Rightist party be anything passing for libertarian. But making it something passing for conservative might not be an irrational hope for the committed optimist.

          Meanwhile, I stress: We are losing. Hard. And on nearly every front. I must say I enjoyed it better when everyone was telling me to calm down, than I do when everyone is affirming my freakouts and freaking out with me.

          1. trshmnstr

            We are losing. Hard. And on nearly every front.

            Yep, and once you internalize that fact, along with the reasons why (mainly because minding your own business is against human nature), you can finally relax and watch the world fall apart around you.

            History is a study of unwavering authoritarianism and tribalism with an occasional burst of liberty that is inevitably snuffed out.

          2. Winston

            History is a study of unwavering authoritarianism and tribalism with an occasional burst of liberty that is inevitably snuffed out.

            Sandefur disagrees.

            https://www.libertarianism.org/media/free-thoughts/politics-star-trek

            Now, in today’s political culture, you very often hear people say, “Who are we to impose democracy on other countries?” to which the right answer is democracy is not imposed. Tyranny is imposed. Democracy or universal human freedom is the natural state of man because mankind is born free. It’s tyranny that’s imposed.

          3. DiegoF

            I would say liberalism and not democracy, which is of merely instrumental value for promoting liberalism, but yes. I was actually a hawk, albeit while a much more incomplete liberal, for this very reason. I still think that the only thing inherently illegitimate about regime change and “being the world’s policemen” is that it costs taxpayers money. I have also come to see that in practice it is also almost always an incredibly bad idea, therefore illegitimate for more practical reasons.

          4. juris imprudent

            Democracy or universal human freedom is the natural state of man because mankind is born free.

            Eh, since when is “democracy” equatable to universal human freedom. Democracy is simply a form of state, and state is formed by removing certain freedoms from humans (arguably to better secure the remaining ones).

            The reality is that most people may be born free but they sure as hell don’t want to live that way. Too much work and they have to take the blame if things go wrong. Why not let someone lead and then we have someone other than ourselves to blame! Brilliant! Thus is born govt in ALL of its forms, including tyrannical.

          5. Winston

            Liberalism is exceptionally poorly equipped to be a mass movement, always has been, and perhaps always will be.

            What do you mean by “liberalism”?

            We can score partial victories with conservatives.

            Except the limited-government fiscal conservatives haven’t had much influence.

            We are losing. Hard.

            Nuh huh. Libertarian moment. iPhones. Weed, Mexicans and Ass-Sex.

          6. juris imprudent

            Fuck off Gillespie.

      2. R C Dean

        Nobody but Trump would have beat Hillary. The fact that we are better off stabbed in the back by Trump may be the saddest part of this whole tragedy.

        1. Stinky Wizzleteats

          I’m not sure I agree with that. The Reps actually seem to grow a spine when they’re the opposition party.

          1. Number.6

            Their core competency is making concession speeches.

          2. Stinky Wizzleteats

            At least in the short term. In the long term the judge appointments would kill us.

          3. Winston

            That because they know nothing they pass will matter.

          4. Stinky Wizzleteats

            That’s true but they seem more willing to block stupid shit too. Look at what happened with gun control on the federal level after Sandy Hook.

  64. Winston

    Also no matter how terrible the GOP is on spending is the Dems will be worse. let that sink in for a moment.

    1. Possibly, but honestly after this I’m not so sure.

      1. Winston

        What makes you think the Dems will spend less? And they want single-payer which will blow the budget even more.

        And the last time the Dems tried to Reduce Spending was before the Civil War!

      2. Count Potato

        Oh, I’m sure.

  65. DOOMco

    The VT house broke all of s55 down into parts.
    All of it passed. They vote again Tuesday. 10 round limit on mags. Ubc on all sales. Bump stock ban, and as far as I can tell, the ten day waiting period and raising age to 21 are still there. They took out the ar15 ban.

    1. Stinky Wizzleteats

      Pathetic, Vermont goes from the best state on guns to not so damn great.

      1. Winston

        Libertarian complacency fails again.

    2. Winston

      Libertarian Moment!

    3. DOOMco

      So the house will have the final vote on Tuesday afaik. Then back to the Senate. Then to our governor who’s flipped on this.

      Fucking fuckheads. My rep has not picked up any phone calls or responded to any emails, according to GOvt

      1. Bob Boberson

        They are just keeping up with the Jones (NY/CT)……..I REALLY need to get back to a western state….its tough to see that shit flying in MT/ID…….then again I don’t West Virginians’, for all their faults, would put up with that shit either.

        I’m rethinking the necessity of the Free State Project.

    4. That sucks. Vermont was the model for gun rights now it’s aligning with the rest of BosWash.

      1. DOOMco

        They might fucking riot

        1. Tundra

          It might be time.

        2. Do you think they will in VT?

    5. Totally makes sense to do a high capacity mag ban, because the Federal AWB really did jack shit. This is feelz all the way down

  66. Winston

    The last time the Republicans actually tried to roll back the ratchet was just after WWIi. The result was 4 more years of Truman. They never made the same mistake again.

  67. Omnibus + Trade War + Gun Control = count me in as NeverTrumper.

    I (reluctantly) voted for him last time because Hilldog was the Great Satan. I won’t make that mistake again.

    1. Stinky Wizzleteats

      I won’t vote for the lesser of two evils again, that’s for sure. If I don’t actually like one of the candidates I just won’t vote.

      1. trshmnstr

        That was my policy in 2016 after holding my nose for McCain and Romney in my first 2 presidential elections. From here on out, a candidate needs to be good enough to motivate me to get off my ass and stand in line at the precinct.

        1. Bob Boberson

          Not to quibble but McCain 2008 would not necessarily have been the lesser of two evils. Not that I thought any different at the time, I was just to lazy to fill out an absentee ballot. In hindsight a McCain victory probably would have meant all the Obama Era socialism PLUS foreign interventionism X10……not saying that Obama’s foreign policy didn’t suck.

          1. McCain is an absolute fucking psycho. I don’t think he would have been better than Obama

          2. DiegoF

            You are lucky no one is here. That is not a popular opinion, as I discovered recently.

          3. I don’t think the opinion is so uncommon here.

          4. trshmnstr

            I’ll lay out why I disagree with this sentiment:

            Obama set race relations back 25 years in this country
            Obama weaponized the Department of Education
            Obama got us into a bunch of undeclared wars and still weakened our standing relative to the other powers
            Hillary Clinton as SecState
            All of the corruption, including the IRS and Fast n Furious
            1.75 shitty SCOTUS appointees (.25 of Sotomayor is good)
            Abused the hell out of executive orders
            O-care
            A complacent media that swept this and more under the rug

            With McCain, we probably get a more aggressive foreign policy against Iran, and possible hostility against Russia (I’m skeptical about the likelihood of this one), but I don’t think anything listed above in regards to Obama would be a concern in a McCain presidency. He would’ve doubled the deficit and would do frustrating things in the eyes of conservatives and libertarians, but it’s not like he would have the free pass from the media like Obama had.

            To be honest, I see Obama as an ineffectual Wilson, and Wilson is the single worst president in US history.

          5. trshmnstr

            don’t think anything listed above*

            *except for the undeclared war thing, primarily in relation to Iran

          6. DiegoF

            Obama got us into a bunch of undeclared wars and still weakened our standing relative to the other powers

            I don’t think anything listed above in regards to Obama would be a concern in a McCain presidency

            Hunh, I disagree there. Especially since “Russia” is a big fucking caveat, and I don’t think it’s at all unlikely given his statements on Georgia and the Ukraine.

            I am also unconvinced that he would have been less likely to use executive orders than Obama. And while we wouldn’t have Kagan and Sotomayor in SCOTUS, we would have three Garlands. Believe it!

            Most important thing, though, is war with Russia. That has a way of making even bump stocks seem petty, I must admit.

          7. trshmnstr

            Most important thing, though, is war with Russia.

            I haven’t seen anything remotely convincing that leans toward McCain going to war with a nuclear power. I think you’re seeing neocon boogeymen under the bed. Saber rattling is a Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge step away from nuclear war.

          8. trshmnstr

            Honestly, I didn’t really care about foreign policy at the time, and I was more conservative than libertarian back then. McCain had the better domestic policy, even though his sucked.

          9. Tundra

            I was just hoping for bootleg Sarah Palin nudes.

    2. Bob Boberson

      I was inches away from saying “gosh darn it, I was wrong, Trump 2020! The last couple month has been vindicating……not that that is anything to celebrate.

      1. trshmnstr

        As somebody said upthread, I want year 1 Trump back. Year 2 Trump is every bit the moderate Democrat that I expected him to be based on his campaign.