Sarah Palin Rushed to Defend Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson - Even Though She Had No Idea What He Said

You can’t make up stuff like this
Wingnuts • Views: 24,112

Remember when Sarah Palin instantly jumped onto Fox News to support the anti-gay and racist comments by Duck Dynasty’s head cretin Phil Robertson?

“Free speech is an endangered species. Those ‘intolerants’ hatin’ and taking on the Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us.”

Well, turns out the dullard from Wasilla had absolutely no idea what Robertson actually said. She didn’t even bother to read it before leaping to his defense.

When pressed by Fox News host Greta Van Susteren whether the language Robertson used when talking about his opposition to homosexuality was graphic and offensive, Palin admitted she didn’t know what Robertson had said.

“I haven’t read the article. I don’t know exactly how he said it,” Palin said Monday on Fox News’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

Thanks, John McCain.

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362 comments
1 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave of the waffle light)  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:29:34am

She has to defend him, the occupy similar niches in the modern media environment: they both symbolize the True Conservative virtues of self-reliance, disdain of uppity elites and Family Values.

2 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:30:26am

FREEZE PEACH for Phil Robertson but none for Martin Bashir!

3 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:31:33am

Why do these nit wits think free speech is endangered, and why do all her comments look like they were tweeted by Piper?

4 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:33:57am

re: #2 Pie-onist Overlord

Exactly. From where I stand she looks a lot like one of those ‘intolerants’ hatin’ people, she made Piper tweet about.

5 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:35:10am
6 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:36:04am

re: #3 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin

Why do these nit wits think free speech is endangered, and why do all her comments look like they tweeted by Piper?

Can’t have her eating three meals a day without working, now, can we?

7 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave of the waffle light)  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:38:03am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

Just saw a great bumper sticker: if they ban guns, we will carry swords.

There is no discussion of limiting access to guns because it is automatically turned into a tirade against banning them, which almost nobody is out to do.

8 sauceruney  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:39:29am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

Swords will cut you wide open

Youtube Video

Edit: NSFW language and lots of fake blood

9 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:39:32am

Yep. It was more manbro quote than bible quote.

10 Dr. Matt  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:39:45am

Translation: The Alaskan hick just wanted to insert herself into yet another story.

It’s only a matter of time before she claims she was “taken out of context” about not reading Phil’s hate speech.

11 Political Atheist  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:40:18am

There is a certain,,, consistency here. seems she looked at at Phil Robertson exactly as carefully as the MCCain team looked at VP choices.

12 sagehen  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:40:43am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

And if they carry swords, all I have to do is stay more than a sword-length distant and they can’t hurt me.

ETA: imagining the duck hunters armed with swords…

13 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:42:30am

re: #1 Sol Berdinowitz

She has to defend him, the occupy similar niches in the modern media environment: they both symbolize the True Conservative virtues of self-reliance grifting off the rubes, disdain of uppity elites resentment and Family Values telling everyone else how to live.

FTFY

14 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:43:37am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

Go ahead. I got bows’n’arras.

15 Ace-o-aces  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:45:19am

“When pressed by Fox News host Greta Van Susteren whether the language Robertson used when talking about his opposition to homosexuality was graphic and offensive, Palin admitted she didn’t know what Robertson had said.”

The most shocking part of that sentence is that a Fox News host actually pressed Palin on her opionion.

16 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave of the waffle light)  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:45:48am

re: #13 GeneJockey

FTFY

Needless to say, there is a big disconnect between what they purportedly stand for and what they actually epitomize.

17 freetoken  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:48:17am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

Then you will die by them.

18 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:48:25am

When you correct a wingnut for Tweeting false information they’re like all HURR HURR DON’T TRUST A LIBRUL!!!!111!!!
When you correct a liberal for Tweeting false information you get this:

19 freetoken  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:49:19am

Eric son of Erick’s latest outbursts perhaps come from new found confiden$e from having sold out to Salem Comm.

20 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:49:22am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

Uh, yeah, ok, and pull a muscle in your groin, Eric? Swords are heavy and take years to learn how to use!

21 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:49:39am

re: #16 Sol Berdinowitz

Needless to say, there is a big disconnect between what they purportedly stand for and what they actually epitomize.

I’ll say.

22 Danforth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:50:44am

The real irony-meter-pegging comes when one realizes her diatribe about “free speech” is really an attempt to suppress the free speech of those outraged by what was said.

23 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:50:48am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

Well, Erick, I’m a farmer who owns a plow and knows how to use it…

24 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:51:21am

I had dinner with some friends yesterday who were solidly on Snowden and Greenwald’s side last time we talked a couple of months ago. I couldn’t talk them out of it.

But now they’re thoroughly disgusted with both of them, with special anger at Snowden for hiding in Russia and dissing the US from there.

These idiots are sabotaging their own agenda with their extremism and whining crybaby antics.

25 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:51:55am
26 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:52:27am

re: #25 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

Exactly.

27 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:52:57am

re: #24 Charles Johnson

I had dinner with some friends yesterday who were solidly on Snowden and Greenwald’s side last time we talked a couple of months ago. I couldn’t talk them out of it.

But now they’re now thoroughly disgusted with both of them, with special anger at Snowden for hiding in Russia and dissing the US from there.

These idiots are sabotaging their own agenda with their extremism and whining crybaby antics.

They GUY IS in freakin’ RUSSIA.

No one else will take him.

Does no one see the irony?

28 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:53:26am
29 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:53:54am

re: #18 Pie-onist Overlord

When you correct a wingnut for Tweeting false information they’re like all HURR HURR DON’T TRUST A LIBRUL!!!!111!!!
When you correct a liberal for Tweeting false information you get this:

[Embedded content]

Does she have any idea how many calls the police get of people confessing to crimes they did not do?

30 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:54:24am

re: #5 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

That will guarantee the death count goes down.

31 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:54:58am

re: #18 Pie-onist Overlord

To answer Sasha’s question as to why the tweeter claimed it was a recent pic, I went through his timeline and he said he saw it on FB today, went ahead and tweeted it, and was still trying to find out more information.
Then, after original tweeter was informed by several people that it wasn’t true, he got all Hurr Hurr Hurr…doesn’t matter!!11!!Boycott Shell!!11!!

32 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:55:12am

re: #17 freetoken

Then you will die by them.

And that’s less of a problem than you’d think. At the very least, a man who perishes that way dies fighting, face to the enemy. That is a death worthy of a man of honor.

33 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:55:42am
34 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:55:45am

If they ban guns, we will carry switchblades.

35 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:55:57am

re: #10 Dr. Matt

Translation: The Alaskan hick just wanted to insert herself into yet another story.

It’s only a matter of time before she claims she was “taken out of context” about not reading Phil’s hate speech.

She reads them all.

36 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:57:02am

re: #34 Gus

If they ban guns, we will carry switchblades.

Those are already banned,

37 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:57:34am

Only a good guy with a sword can stop a bad guy with a sword.

38 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:57:37am
39 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:58:02am

re: #34 Gus

If they ban guns, we will carry switchblades.

If they ban rocks, we will carry poop in socks!

40 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:58:57am
41 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:59:40am

re: #40 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

In capitalist Argentina, fish sticks eat you!

42 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 10:59:45am
43 Amory Blaine  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:00:35am

Twister Goulash denier!!

44 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:02:04am
45 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:03:55am

BBL

46 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:04:37am
47 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:04:45am
48 The Mountain That Blogs  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:05:33am

re: #40 FemNaziBitch

Thousands of bathers were cooling off […] in the Parana River

Shocking that that could have ended badly.

49 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:07:27am

Who poked the Gulag?

50 The Mountain That Blogs  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:09:57am

re: #49 wrenchwench

Probably when they suspended all of Todd Kincannon’s several backup accounts.

51 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:11:10am

re: #49 wrenchwench

Who poked the Gulag?

Not sure why these numbskulls are suddenly raving about it again. Did Twitchy.com call out the Cretin Squad today or something?

52 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:11:11am

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out and if it’s going to be an issue in the next election. It’s going to be hard for either party to nominate a candidate with serious national security credentials and gives some momentum to the Rand Paul/Elizabeth Warren wings. Moderate candidates are at least going to have to pander on the NSA issue.

53 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:11:21am

re: #50 The Mountain That Blogs

Probably when they suspended all of Todd Kincannon’s several backup accounts.

Must be crowded in there.

54 nines09  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:11:41am

Then Sarah went on to say that she didn’t need to know what Phil actually said, she knew it was an attack on free speech, liberty and another golden opportunity for her to get in front of cameras, yap, and grift yet another day. The proof is in the pudding. Look! I’m on TV again getting paid!

55 lawhawk  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:12:10am

re: #44 FemNaziBitch

But delivered how many of them in time for Christmas? The answer: Not as many as 426 per second.

UPS, FedEx, and Amazon are all trading blame for that.

56 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:12:50am

re: #34 Gus

Switch blades can stop fighter jets and bombs. Betcha’ so!11!11!11!1!!

57 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:13:15am

re: #50 The Mountain That Blogs

Probably when they suspended all of Todd Kincannon’s several backup accounts.

What’s he been up too lately? He’s a tough act to follow if your looking for full frontal sexism / racism and a bonus round of ultra-derp.

RBS

58 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:13:28am

re: #51 Charles Johnson

Not sure why these numbskulls are suddenly raving about it again. Did Twitchy.com call out the Cretin Squad today or something?

That mule twit retweeted one of yours from May of 2012. I’ve never seen them so desperate for derp. Malkin must have skipped a feeding.

59 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:16:15am

re: #58 wrenchwench

That mule twit retweeted one of yours from May of 2012. I’ve never seen them so desperate for derp. Malkin must have skipped a feeding.

Under new management.

60 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:17:41am

re: #55 lawhawk

But delivered how many of them in time for Christmas? The answer: Not as many as 426 per second.

UPS, FedEx, and Amazon are all trading blame for that.

I’m pretty amazed at how well they did do. I’ve heard that there were drivers out past 7pm doing deliveries Christmas eve. I’m sure that part of the problem was weather related, both Memphis and Louisville have been hit hard, and part of it is just sheer volume. I watched a NatGeo special on UPS’s operations, how it all flows through the system and it freaking amazed me. I got the feeling that a lot of the technology they basically developed for their own operations. Be interesting to see a graph of their volume over the last couple of weeks, compared to a normal time-span.

RBS

61 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:18:53am

re: #59 Gus

Under new management.

Ah. They’re having trouble with the adjustment.

62 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:19:07am

re: #49 wrenchwench

Who poked the Gulag?

They sure are a charming bunch. I can’t imagine why they’d ever get sent to the Twitter gulag.

Oddly, I have 4 Twitter accounts and not a single one has ever been suspended. Must be because I’m one of Charles’ fawning sycophants. //

63 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:21:34am

TGDN is so 2012. They need to get new material.

64 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:21:59am

re: #62 CuriousLurker

They sure are a charming bunch. I can’t imagine why they’d ever get sent to the Twitter gulag.

Oddly, I have 4 Twitter accounts and not a single one has ever been suspended. Must be because I’m one of Charles’ fawning sycophants. //

I have two unscathed ones. We must be under Lizard Scales of Protection.

65 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:22:33am

re: #55 lawhawk

But delivered how many of them in time for Christmas? The answer: Not as many as 426 per second.

UPS, FedEx, and Amazon are all trading blame for that.

Bring in the Drones!

66 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:23:27am

re: #64 wrenchwench

I have two unscathed ones. We must be under Lizard Scales of Protection.

I can haz only one Twitters.

67 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:23:47am

Yeah, that’s how to prove that you’re being suspended for no reason just because you’re a “conservative” — yell “#SuckACockProg” at someone.

Such a victim.

68 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:24:51am

re: #67 Charles Johnson

Yeah, that’s how to prove that you’re being suspended for no reason just because you’re a “conservative” — yell “#SuckACockProg” at someone.

Such a victim.

I looked at that guy’s timeline, it’s a bunch of stupid and NSFW derp. Blocked.

69 Bubblehead II  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:25:11am

re: #55 lawhawk

But delivered how many of them in time for Christmas? The answer: Not as many as 426 per second.

UPS, FedEx, and Amazon are all trading blame for that.

Still waiting for the Wife’s gifts to show up. Fedex tracking has one on the truck out for delivery today. The USPS tracking hasn’t been updated since the 21st so who knows when that one will show up.

70 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:25:44am

WTFITS
Oh yeah, it’s hate speech.

71 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:26:33am

re: #64 wrenchwench

I have two unscathed ones. We must be under Lizard Scales of Protection.

My account was suspended twice. It came back.

72 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:27:14am

re: #47 Charles Johnson

I love the derpiest of the twitterati.

You hashtagged “admit” and “ok”?

Um, okay.

73 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:27:55am

re: #68 Pie-onist Overlord

I looked at that guy’s timeline, it’s a bunch of stupid and NSFW derp. Blocked.

Same here. Whenever I run across a particularly nasty one I block them them just in case.

74 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:28:24am

G-D said a bunch of things are sin, Matt. Do you go around shouting at people SHRIMP!!! CHEESEBURGERS!!! TATTOOS!!!!!

75 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:28:39am

Never suspended.

76 Internet Tough Guy  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:28:49am

re: #42 Charles Johnson

lol at racists using Holocaust denial inference

77 Bubblehead II  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:29:01am

Utah is finding it harder each day to catch a break. Good.

Utah. Gay marriage. Boy Scouts. Pizza. Say no more

(CNN) — Amid the women in lacy wedding veils and the men in spiffy suits at the county clerk’s office was Peter Brownstein. He’d replaced the blue neckerchief of his Scoutmaster’s uniform with one in the colors of the rainbow, the colors of gay pride. He carried boxes of hot pepperoni and cheese pizzas in his arms. And by his side, he had his son Michael, a 14-year-old Eagle Scout.

78 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:29:33am

I don’t troll people that blocked me either. Rarely troll folks.

79 Internet Tough Guy  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:29:38am

re: #72 erik_t

Someone needs to hashtag noun markers.

80 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:29:57am

re: #75 Gus

Never suspended.

That can be fixed.

81 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:30:16am

re: #74 Pie-onist Overlord

G-D said a bunch of things are sin, Matt. Do you go around shouting at people SHRIMP!!! CHEESEBURGERS!!! TATTOOS!!!!!

[Embedded content]

OOOOOOHHHHH FOR FREAKING COMMON SENSE!

82 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:30:31am

I don’t Tweet Greenwald. Some people will cc a Tweet response to him which I don’t like.

83 lawhawk  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:31:15am

Rabbi Boteach:

A good many of the religious people condemning homosexuals as perverts because of the word “abomination” seem to forget the New Testament, where the world “abomination” appears in its original form only twice (Luke 16:15, Revelation 21:27), where it seems to be implying that love of money is an abomination, which might give some of the televangelists flying in G5s pause before going after gays.

And for those religious people accustomed to equating homosexuality with immorality, I remind them that God gave the Ten Commandments not on one large stone but on two separate tablets. The reason was to distinguish between two different types of transgression: religious and moral. The first tablet involves transgressions between God and man, such as the prohibitions of idolatry, blasphemy and desecration of the Sabbath. The second tablet contained moral sins between man and his fellow human, like adultery, theft and murder.

The essence of an ethical violation, as opposed to a religious infraction, is injury to an innocent party. This is not the case with two unattached adults entering a consensual relationship that is not based on deception or lies.

I am an orthodox Rabbi, and I freely acknowledge that the Bible clearly labels homosexuality a sin. However, it is not a moral sin but rather akin to the prohibition of lighting fire on the Sabbath or eating bread on Passover. It may violate the divine will, but there is nothing immoral about it.

So if religious people were serious about their faith, they would treat those who smoke on the Sabbath with the same opprobrium they reserve for gays. The fact that they don’t shows that their opposition to homosexuality has little to do with religion and a lot to do with homophobia.

Judaism, I feel, has a very healthy approach to homosexuality. It’s this simple. There are 613 commandments in the Torah. One is a prohibition on homosexual relations. Another is an obligation to have children. I tell gay couples all the time. “You have 611 commandments left to you. That should keep you busy. Now, go give charity, honor the Sabbath, put a mezuzah on your door, keep a kosher home, and pray to God three times a day for you are his beloved children and He seeks you out.”

Way too may people are spending way too much time getting up in the private business of others, and are trying to impose a religiously-motivated morality on others when the underlying doctrine doesn’t actually support it.

And last time I checked, Christians actively ignore the Old Testament’s restrictions (aka sins), particularly on food, clothing, etc.

Stones, glass houses, and … All.That.Jazz (let’s see those Jazz hands!)

84 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:31:17am

re: #80 b_sharp

That can be fixed.

凸(¬‿¬)凸

85 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:31:48am

Meanwhile, she held a racially named “game” (“Eskimo Bingo”, otherwise known as “Rob Your Neighbor” or “Yankee Swap”) in her cavernous, decorated-like-a-hotel-lobby of a LR in the house built of stolen materials when she was mayor of Wasilla.

Image: 1525553_10152113147078588_2096098888_n.jpg

86 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:32:31am

re: #75 Gus

Never suspended.

@Curious_Lurker is one of the backup ones I got when the creepy crawlers started Twitter-stalking us and registering names similar to our LGF nics.

87 HoosierHoops  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:33:44am

re: #62 CuriousLurker

They sure are a charming bunch. I can’t imagine why they’d ever get sent to the Twitter gulag.

Oddly, I have 4 Twitter accounts and not a single one has ever been suspended. Must be because I’m one of Charles’ fawning sycophants. //

I have written tens of thousands of posts here. Only once has Charles deleted a post. When I found out the Marines were sending the 3/5th to Japan after the Fallujah, Iraq take down. I was so excited That Charles deleted my post and wrote me that we can’t post troop movements.
God Bless you Charles but was I excited that night.. Jumping up and down knowing Jordan was safe from Afghanistan. The 3/5th Marines paid a heavy price and the US gave the boys a break spending the end of the tour in Japan. The stories I told here were filled with tears and death.

88 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:34:58am

re: #87 HoosierHoops

I have written tens of thousands of posts here. Only once has Charles deleted a post. When I found out the Marines were sending the 3/5th to Japan after the Fallujah, Iraq take down. I was so excited That Charles deleted my post and wrote me that we can’t post troop movements.
God Bless you Charles but was I excited that night.. Jumping up and down knowing Jordan was safe from Afghanistan. The 3/5th Marines paid a heavy price and the US gave the boys a break spending the end of the tour in Japan. The stories I told here were filled with tears and death.

How was your Christmas, BTW? Hope you had a merry one!

89 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:37:38am

WTFITS I can’t even…

90 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:39:00am
91 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:39:56am

re: #89 Pie-onist Overlord

I bet you one shiny internet dollar that when they write “worked in private business prior to their cabinet appointment”, they mean “worked in private business immediately prior to their cabinet appointment”.

Oops.

92 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:40:29am

re: #83 lawhawk

Rabbi Boteach:

Way too may people are spending way too much time getting up in the private business of others, and are trying to impose a religiously-motivated morality on others when the underlying doctrine doesn’t actually support it.

Oh hell, it’s more than that. Most of the world doesn’t even believe in the bible anyway, a book that doesn’t seem to make much of a difference when it comes to hatred, war, or anything else that dooms human beings.

These religious nuts certainly aren’t going to tell me how to conduct my sex life. I think I know where to draw the line, I know what I’m comfortable with, and that’s conducting myself with consenting adults who don’t pressure or force me into doing something I don’t want, and vice versa. Consenting adults are the key words here. If you can’t conduct yourself according to those 2 little words, then don’t have sex.

93 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:42:01am
94 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:42:02am

re: #90 Gus

[Embedded content]

I wonder if they’ll manage to alienate all the Catholics too before 2016…

95 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:42:38am

re: #94 CuriousLurker

I wonder if they’ll manage to alienate all the Catholics too before 2016…

Just like old times. Some things never change.

96 Stanley Sea  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:43:40am

re: #87 HoosierHoops

Are we there yet?

97 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:43:58am

re: #94 CuriousLurker

I wonder if they’ll manage to alienate all the Catholics too before 2016…

Here’s hoping!

98 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:45:46am

OT. George Takei’s facebook, alerted me to the comments for this interesting book.

How to avoid huge ships

My favorite so far:

I bought How to Avoid Huge Ships as a companion to Captain Trimmer’s other excellent titles: How to Avoid a Train, and How to Avoid the Empire State Building.

99 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:48:41am
100 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:50:31am

I watched this yesterday. If anyone has 3-4 hours to kill this weekend, it’s a very worthwhile documentary. Also very uncomfortable, many of the truths:

Slavery And The Making of America

Youtube Video

101 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:50:50am

re: #85 Justanotherhuman

And I don’t know about you all, but people I entertain in my home, modest as it may be, remove their hats when they come in.

102 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:51:38am

re: #99 Gus

[Embedded content]

That was posted downstairs not long before that thread died. I commented that last night I Hulu-Binged on WRECKED: Live in the crash lane a reality show (and probably more real than most of them) about a towing company in Chicago. It was interesting some of the ways that they have to rig things to get a wreck or stuck vehicle moved. Good show.

RBS

103 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:54:06am

re: #102 RealityBasedSteve

That was posted downstairs not long before that thread died. I commented that last night I Hulu-Binged on WRECKED: Live in the crash lane a reality show (and probably more real than most of them) about a towing company in Chicago. It was interesting some of the ways that they have to rig things to get a wreck or stuck vehicle moved. Good show.

RBS

Looking at the photo it appears it wasn’t a high speed pile up. Fortunately. I’ve seen a bazillion accidents on Liveleak. It’s kind of addictive for weirdos like me. :D

104 Stanley Sea  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:54:37am

Knockout game Texas Style

abclocal.go.com

A Katy man has been charged with a federal hate crime for allegedly assaulting a 79-year-old African-American man in a knockout game-style attack, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Thank you Fox news for making this non-event now a freaking event.

105 dog philosopher  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:55:17am

She didn’t even bother to

i can’t find any evidence that sarah palin ever reads anything

106 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:55:35am

Everyone traveling in the same direction helps.

107 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:56:04am

re: #103 Gus

Looking at the photo it appears it wasn’t a high speed pile up. Fortunately. I’ve seen a bazillion accidents on Liveleak. It’s kind of addictive for weirdos like me. :D

The only driving that scares me is mountain driving. I have no idea how the number of bad accidents in the mountains isn’t way higher than anywhere else.

108 Stanley Sea  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:56:17am

They are setting us freeeeeeeeeeeee.

Get to leave work early, us crazies who came in.

See ya’ll later!

109 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:57:42am

Glenn Greenwald: I Defend Snowden Like MSNBC Defends Obama ‘24 Hours a Day’

Typical Greenwald. This is a lie, by the way — MSNBC airs a LOT of criticism of Obama. Yes, they’re basically liberal-ish in outlook, but saying they defend Obama 24/7 is just ludicrous.

110 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:57:53am

re: #100 CuriousLurker

I watched this yesterday. If anyone has 3-4 hours to kill this weekend, it’s a very worthwhile documentary. Also very uncomfortable, many of the truths:

>Slavery And The Making of America

[Embedded content]

I should add that it was Decatur Deb’s comments on this Page that snet me looking for more info on slavery in colonial times, so DD, if you’re reading: Thanks!

Okay, taxi’s on the way—gotta run to the store. BBL

111 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:58:02am

Ah! I think I understand the problem now. Poor people should be stocks and bonds :0

112 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:58:20am

re: #109 Charles Johnson

Glenn Greenwald: I Defend Snowden Like MSNBC Defends Obama ‘24 Hours a Day’

Typical Greenwald. This is a lie, by the way — MSNBC airs a LOT of criticism of Obama. Yes, they’re basically liberal-ish in outlook, but saying they defend Obama 24/7 is just ludicrous.

What would Glenn do without a straw man to beat the living shit out of?

113 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:59:00am

re: #109 Charles Johnson

Glenn Greenwald: I Defend Snowden Like MSNBC Defends Obama ‘24 Hours a Day’

Typical Greenwald. This is a lie, by the way — MSNBC airs a LOT of criticism of Obama. Yes, they’re basically liberal-ish in outlook, but saying they defend Obama 24/7 is just ludicrous.

Is that supposed to read as a defense? “Other journalists are shit so it’s okay for me to be shit too”?

Even if it were true, it would be pathetic.

114 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:59:02am

re: #111 FemNaziBitch

Ah! I think I understand the problem now. Poor people should be stocks and bonds :0

[Embedded content]

No, they should just save their money in their Cayman Islands account.

115 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:59:25am

re: #103 Gus

Looking at the photo it appears it wasn’t a high speed pile up. Fortunately. I’ve seen a bazillion accidents on Liveleak. It’s kind of addictive for weirdos like me. :D

I agree… more the everybody was probable going along about the same slowish speed, but way too close for conditions. Once one of them got sideways it was all done but the insurance adjusting. Lots of “stop… Stop…. STOP!!!” going on I’m sure however. Probably looked like the “BIG ONE” at Talladega, but 10X slower.

RBS

116 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:59:31am

re: #107 b_sharp

The only driving that scares me is mountain driving. I have no idea how the number of bad accidents in the mountains isn’t way higher than anywhere else.

I imagine the twists and turns act like a natural speed reducer. Low population and when tourist season comes the roads are crowded reducing speeds even more. Ninja biker types were always crashing north of San Francisco. Spinning out in ice patches was common in Ulster Country, NY.

117 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:59:36am

re: #113 erik_t

Is that supposed to read as a defense? “Other journalists are shit so it’s okay for me to be shit too”?

Even if it were true, it would be pathetic.

TOO KWOH KWAY.

118 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 11:59:38am
119 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:00:26pm

re: #115 RealityBasedSteve

I agree… most likely everybody was probably going along about the same slowish speed, but way too close for conditions. Once one of them got sideways it was all done but the insurance adjusting. Lots of “stop… Stop…. STOP!!!” going on I’m sure however. Probably looked like the “BIG ONE” at Talladega, but 10X slower.

RBS

120 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:00:31pm

I think we should ask Robert Hanssen what the US government tends to do with those who commit espionage.

121 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:00:42pm

re: #115 RealityBasedSteve

I agree… more the everybody was probable going along about the same slowish speed, but way too close for conditions. Once one of them got sideways it was all done but the insurance adjusting. Lots of “stop… Stop…. STOP!!!” going on I’m sure however. Probably looked like the “BIG ONE” at Talladega, but 10X slower.

RBS

Gotta pump the breaks in snow/ice. Also no abrupt gear changes. Gotta be really smooth. Don’t over control. Don’t speed.

122 HoosierHoops  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:01:07pm

re: #88 CuriousLurker

How was your Christmas, BTW? Hope you had a merry one!

May God bless your life my friend. I pray he brings joy and hope to you.
We are packed up and ready to go…I still have until the End of the month but really..I’m hours out from moving..The Temp will be a balmy 28 at the Lakehouse on Saturday. Yes CL.. I’m going 1400 miles straight north any minute now.
You know what is funny? I’ve been trying to design a pantry for the LakeHouse.. After a year of prepertions there I just now realize.. There is no fricking pantry.. Half the living room will propably be canned goods. I’m such a clothes freak I won’t give up any closet space there. Really CL..Walk in closets are my life. I have way to many clothes and need a pantry up north.

123 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:01:25pm

Like when people are at a light in the snow. Then they get a little stuck and start flooring it. Derp.

124 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:01:50pm

A rash prediction: The Russian, Ecuadorian, and Brazilian governments will eventually get tired of/pissed off at Snowden, Assange, and Greenwald respectively and all 3 will be expelled. Assange and Snowden will stand trial while GG will decamp to the states where he will become an ever-fading star of the conspiracy circuit.

125 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:02:24pm

Approaching a stop light or stop sign they brake like it’s a dry summer day. Instead you have to plan ahead almost three times the distance under normal driving conditions.

126 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:03:21pm

re: #125 Gus

Approaching a stop light or stop sign they brake like it’s a dry summer day. Instead you have to plan ahead almost three times the distance under normal driving conditions.

You mean a 4-wheel drive needs to do that too?

127 palomino  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:03:42pm

But I thought Palin read “all of them” when it comes to newspapers and magazines. At least that was her claim back in 2008 when “grilled” by Katie Couric with the question, “What periodicals do you read?”

I found the Duckman’s comments on Christianity to be just as offensive as his homophobic and racially ignorant statements that have gotten all the media coverage. He essentially contends that atrocities only happen when Jesus isn’t a part of the culture. As examples, he cites the Nazis, Pearl Harbor, and Islamic terrorism.

Now I wouldn’t expect the guy to know the history of late medieval and early modern Europe, a time when Christians were slaughtering other Christians (as well as Jews and Muslims) for religious reasons. Nor would I expect him to be aware of the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, again a situation where terrorism and oppression were purely between rival Christian sects. But I would expect an old man from Louisiana to know a thing or two about the Civil War. Namely that the War didn’t happen because our country, North and South, lacked Christianity. For fuck’s sake, the nation was about 99% Christian back in those days.

The man’s views are repugnant, and he’s a nearly fossilized relic of the mid 20th century.

128 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:03:45pm

re: #126 FemNaziBitch

You mean a 4-wheel drive needs to do that too?

Yep. :D

129 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:04:20pm

re: #126 FemNaziBitch

You mean a 4-wheel drive needs to do that too?

No, I’m pretty sure 4-wheel-drive is a God Is My Copilot magical get-out-of-jail-free card for any and all low-traction driving conditions!

Just ask my dumbass neighbors.

130 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:04:33pm

Actually. You see a lot Jeep derp sometimes. People that think because they have a Jeep or a 4-wheel drive they’re invincible.

131 Internet Tough Guy  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:05:14pm

re: #124 Shiplord Kirel

“In a show of good will before the Olympics, President Putin will extradite Edward Snowden to the United States for trial.”

Won’t happen, but the Internet meltdown would be epic.

132 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:07:58pm

re: #123 Gus

Like when people are at a light in the snow. Then they get a little stuck and start flooring it. Derp.

The year I spent in Alaska, I learned that. You would do a quick “brake check’ in the middle of the block, see what conditions were like. Problem was that when you got to the intersection, it tended to be a lot slicker.

It became a positive feedback cycle. It’s slick, so your tires spin. Spinning tires melts the stuff, which at 0* freezes right back into ice, making it slicker for the next person. Lather / Rinse / Repeat.

Part of my job up there was doing brake condition checks on the runway each morning. I’d take our truck (with ABS) and a pendulum type device that measured how hard you were slowing down. Up to 35, hit brakes, write down readings. Repeat length of runway, go into Ops, toss all the figures into the formula, and write down “Braking Conditions: Poor” all winter long. That made me a believer in ABS. A highly trained driver could stop faster using threshold breaking, but for 99.99% of driver (me included), the panic reaction is “SLAM THE PEDAL”.

RBS

133 HoosierHoops  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:09:05pm

re: #130 Gus

Actually. You see a lot Jeep derp sometimes. People that think because they have a Jeep or a 4-wheel drive they’re invincible.

Hey Gus..Hope you can visit us on Lake Tomahawk this Summer.
Vacation in the North Woods dude..:)

134 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:09:43pm

re: #130 Gus

Actually. You see a lot Jeep derp sometimes. People that think because they have a Jeep or a 4-wheel drive they’re invincible.

4 wheel drive lets you get a lot further off the road before you get stuck.


RBS

135 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:10:16pm
136 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:10:22pm

re: #133 HoosierHoops

Hey Gus..Hope you can visit us on Lake Tomahawk this Summer.
Vacation in the North Woods dude..:)

Thanks man! Summer is 100 years away. :D

137 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:10:46pm

re: #136 Gus

Thanks man! Summer is 100 years away. :D

so is next week, AFAIK

138 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:10:48pm

re: #134 RealityBasedSteve

4 wheel drive lets you get a lot further off the road before you get stuck.

RBS

Yep. Which means call out search and rescue.

139 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:12:22pm

Oops. Forgot the other snow driving technique. It’s called staying home. :D

140 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:13:08pm
141 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:13:21pm

Even if you’re the best snow driver in the world you still have to drive around a bunch of people who can’t drive in the snow. Just some dumb 20 MPH love bump can ruin your day/week/month. Kaching!

142 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:14:26pm

If it’s going to snow on Wednesday get your cigarettes and booze by Tuesday night. //

143 makeitstop  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:15:02pm

Mah surprise, etc.

S.F. school bears brunt of ‘merry Christmas’ hoax

Did you know a San Francisco elementary school suspended a student for wishing an atheist teacher a merry Christmas?

No?

That’s because it didn’t happen.

But an Internet hoax had people across the country believing it did, resulting in e-mail tirades and more than 75 phone complaints and veiled threats of violence against the fictitious teacher or the actual principal. And taxpayers picked up the tab for beefed-up security and staff time to deal with the phony story.

Because of the threats, Argonne elementary school administrators called an emergency teacher meeting to review security procedures and district officials assigned an extra security officer to the campus. In addition, police have increased patrols around the school this week, said district Assistant Superintendent Leticia Salinas.

The rumor originated about six days ago on what appears to be a satirical website called the National Report, which features content designed to look like real news stories.

It pisses me off that innocent people have to deal with a raft of shit just because some Christian asshole somewhere wants to get his victimhood on.

144 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:16:31pm

Noooooo! And yes, appeal this POS reversal.

Monsignor William Lynn conviction overturned by Pa. court; D.A. ‘most likely’ to appeal
Read more at philly.com

145 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:17:02pm

Spin out of control at an intersection and smash into a parked car only because you wanted to get some milk.

146 BroncD  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:19:14pm

Translation:
“He pissed off liberals, so I had to sign off on whatever it was.”

You know, eventually one of these yokels is going to rubberstamp something that’s beyond the pale even for them, just because it pisses off liberals. Some big name national level Republican is going to give the thumbs-up to something truly awful just because the person who said it got an angry segment from Lawrence O’Donnell.
It should be fun to see the back-tracking then.

147 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:19:56pm

re: #130 Gus

Actually. You see a lot Jeep derp sometimes. People that think because they have a Jeep or a 4-wheel drive they’re invincible.

As we were driving from Bozeman to Livingston MT, in the predawn hours, with snow flying and piling up on the road, with lots of 4wd vehicles passing us, my friend told me, “Four Wheel Drive will help you go, but it won’t help you stop.”

148 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:20:49pm

re: #143 makeitstop

Mah surprise, etc.

S.F. school bears brunt of ‘merry Christmas’ hoax

It pisses me off that innocent people have to deal with a raft of shit just because some Christian asshole somewhere wants to get his victimhood on.

One hypothesis I have is that some Christian churches have swung too far the other way after centuries of puritanism and judgmental excess. The fundies in particular seem quite tolerant of drunkenness, adultery, and meth use, so long as the sinner repents from time to time. As a result, their congregations are filled with angry, violent, out-of-control people who hear the letter of the Gospel, and act on it, but have no clue about the spirit.

149 gwangung  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:21:11pm

re: #146 BroncD

Translation:
“He pissed off liberals, so I had to sign off on whatever it was.”

You know, eventually one of these yokels is going to rubberstamp something that’s beyond the pale even for them, just because it pisses off liberals. Some big name national level Republican is going to give the thumbs-up to something truly awful just because the person who said it got an angry segment from Lawrence O’Donnell.
It should be fun to see the back-tracking then.

What do you mean eventually? They’ve been doing it steadily for the last two years.

150 HoosierHoops  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:21:36pm

re: #142 Gus

If it’s going to snow on Wednesday get your cigarettes and booze by Tuesday night. //

Do you have any idea what I’m driving into? This is man up time and stop your crying..The last 20 miles of route D is frozen over for the winter. It will take hours to traverse the road. This is been planned for a year and fuck it. The new year will be spent in the North Woods on the Lake..Or die trying. Period!

151 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:21:39pm

re: #145 Gus

Spin out of control at an intersection and smash into a parked car only because you wanted to get some milk.

Several years ago we had a pretty good ice then snow storm here in TN. I went out walking and came across a car with front wheel busted off at an angle (ball joints snapped) resting against the curb. It was obvious from the paths on the road that whoever was driving it had been doing doughnuts, spinning it on the ice. I just had to chuckle at the stupid.

RBS

152 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:23:17pm

re: #130 Gus

Actually. You see a lot Jeep derp sometimes. People that think because they have a Jeep or a 4-wheel drive they’re invincible.

Here’s a 60-ton tank trying and failing to go up-hill on ice.

Youtube Video

Ice is the honey badger of weather.

153 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:23:35pm

re: #151 RealityBasedSteve

Several years ago we had a pretty good ice then snow storm here in TN. I went out walking and came across a car with front wheel busted off at an angle (ball joints snapped) resting against the curb. It was obvious from the paths on the road that whoever was driving it had been doing doughnuts, spinning it on the ice. I just had to chuckle at the stupid.

RBS

WHEEEEE! WHEEEEEEEEE!!

*BANG*

whee?

154 Feline Fearless Leader  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:23:48pm

re: #152 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

Here’s a 60-ton tank trying and failing to go up-hill on ice.

[Embedded content]

Ice is the honey badger of weather.

It doesn’t give a slick?
:)

155 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:24:38pm

re: #150 HoosierHoops

Do you have any idea what I’m driving into? This is man up time and stop your crying..The last 20 miles of route D is frozen over for the winter. It will take hours to traverse the road. This is been planned for a year and fuck it. The new year will be spent in the North Woods on the Lake..Or die trying. Period!

No. Did you check the weather? It’s sunny and almost 60 in Denver. You can always buy some chains before you get there. Also those plastic “chains.”

156 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:25:03pm

Chains will break if you go too fast.

157 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:26:00pm

re: #156 Gus

Chains will break if you go too fast.

Then they’ll shred your inner fender, get wrapped around your suspension arms, and seriously fuck you up.

158 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:26:03pm

Studded tires.

159 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:26:07pm

re: #151 RealityBasedSteve

Several years ago we had a pretty good ice then snow storm here in TN. I went out walking and came across a car with front wheel busted off at an angle (ball joints snapped) resting against the curb. It was obvious from the paths on the road that whoever was driving it had been doing doughnuts, spinning it on the ice. I just had to chuckle at the stupid.

RBS

My daughter, who is here from Tennessee for the holidays and was in Lubbock to see her aunt last week, claims that Tennesseeans are much better ice and bad road drivers than Lubbockites. That is easy to believe: it seems likely to me that the people of Tonga would be better ice and snow drivers than Lubbockites, even though Tonga has probably not had ice or snow in its entire geological history and certainly not in recorded history.

160 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:26:28pm

Why not just use the Laser to cut the Pizza?

161 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:27:23pm

re: #152 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

Here’s a 60-ton tank trying and failing to go up-hill on ice.

[Embedded content]

Ice is the honey badger of weather.

They need to fire the gun for propulsion…

162 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:27:41pm

re: #157 GeneJockey

Then they’ll shred your inner fender, get wrapped around your suspension arms, and seriously fuck you up.

Yep. Or fly off and cause a 747 to crash into a dam which breaks the dam and drown 30,000 people down stream.

163 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:28:05pm

OK. Maybe that’s only in the movies. //

164 makeitstop  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:28:42pm

re: #158 Gus

Studded tires.

Do they still make those? I thought they stopped because they chewed up the pavement when there wasn’t any snow.

165 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:29:41pm

re: #164 makeitstop

Do they still make those? I thought they stopped because they chewed up the pavement when there wasn’t any snow.

State laws vary. I see them around here sometimes. Don’t know the CO laws. Some allow them only for a certain period.

166 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:30:52pm

Studded tires can be used year round in Colorado.

167 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:31:06pm

re: #134 RealityBasedSteve

4 wheel drive lets you get a lot further off the road before you get stuck.

RBS

Which is extremely helpful when the roads are covered in ice, because 4WD doesn’t work on ice any better than non-4WD.
OTOH, 4WD will get you out of the ditch/median/middle of oh-shitland after you’ve slid off said ice-covered road…

(personal experience, yes I haz it…)

168 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:31:22pm

re: #166 Gus

Studded tires can be used year round in Colorado.

Well, Colorado can get paralyzing snowstorms in June…

169 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:31:25pm

Ah, snow tires! When I was too young for a drivers license, but old enough to be usefully strong, my Dad put my obsession with cars to good use by ‘letting’ me put on the snow tires. I’d get to back the cars out of the garage, and drive them back in again.

Sneaky so-and-so, my Dad.

170 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:32:24pm

Studded Tires United States

171 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:32:52pm

Puerto Rico
Studded tires are not permitted.

Damn it! //

172 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:33:30pm

re: #150 HoosierHoops

Do you have any idea what I’m driving into? This is man up time and stop your crying..The last 20 miles of route D is frozen over for the winter. It will take hours to traverse the road. This is been planned for a year and fuck it. The new year will be spent in the North Woods on the Lake..Or die trying. Period!

Two words for those last 20 miles: “tire chains”.

173 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:33:49pm

I remember a video, think it was from Seattle, of a salt truck during an ice storm. He had stopped at the top of the hill, and you could tell he was debating taking it down the hill. He started down, was OK for about a 1/3 of the way, then the back end got loose. From there on down to the bottom it was like a ball in a pachinko machine…. bouncing off parked cars left and right until he got to the bottom.

I’m sure that once it started to slide he though “I KNEW this was a BAD idea”.

RBS

174 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:33:57pm

Some twit wants to truetwit to verify my tweets?

175 HoosierHoops  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:34:01pm

re: #155 Gus

No. Did you check the weather? It’s sunny and almost 60 in Denver. You can always buy some chains before you get there. Also those plastic “chains.”

Check the weather every day..Saturday is a balmy 28 then back to sub zero shit again. Jeez..This is funny, But, I have a stop to make Monday in the Midwest to do a banking thing..So..How do you plan that as far as weather?
Motels..

176 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:35:08pm

re: #167 Backwoods_Sleuth

Which is extremely helpful when the roads are covered in ice, because 4WD doesn’t work on ice any better than non-4WD.
OTOH, 4WD will get you out of the ditch/median/middle of oh-shitland after you’ve slid off said ice-covered road…

(personal experience, yes I haz it…)

Yeah. On the Montana trip, my friend took me up to see a frozen waterfall, somewhere in the mountains near Bozeman. The higher we went, the deeper the snow. We slid off the narrow, twisty road no fewer than 3 times. I kept thinking, “This is it. We’re going to be stuck up here, and they’ll find our frozen-fresh-thawed corpses up here come spring!”

I was tempted to panic, but my friend never did, so I didn’t either.

177 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:35:19pm

re: #175 HoosierHoops

Check the weather every day..Saturday is a balmy 28 then back to sub zero shit again. Jeez..This is funny, But, I have a stop to make Monday in the Midwest to do a banking thing..So..How do you plan that as far as weather?
Motels..

Don’t know. Was wondering if there was some route-weather website out there.

178 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:35:20pm

My theory is that I should stay off the roads in bad weather. Gives more room for emergency vehicles and salt trucks.

179 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:35:40pm

re: #110 CuriousLurker

I should add that it was Decatur Deb’s comments on this Page that snet me looking for more info on slavery in colonial times, so DD, if you’re reading: Thanks!

Okay, taxi’s on the way—gotta run to the store. BBL

Damn edit window timed out. Let me try again:

I should add that it was Decatur Deb’s comments on this Page that sent me looking for more info on slavery in colonial times, so DD, if you’re reading: Thanks!

180 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:35:42pm

re: #171 Gus

Puerto Rico
Studded tires are not permitted.

Damn it! //

That’s it. No statehood for them!

181 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:35:52pm

re: #176 GeneJockey

Yeah. On the Montana trip, my friend took me up to see a frozen waterfall, somewhere in the mountains near Bozeman. The higher we went, the deeper the snow. We slid off the narrow, twisty road no fewer than 3 times. I kept thinking, “This is it. We’re going to be stuck up here, and they’ll find our frozen-fresh-thawed corpses up here come spring!”

I was tempted to panic, but my friend never did, so I didn’t either.

was the frozen waterfall cool?

182 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:36:47pm

re: #178 FemNaziBitch

My theory is that I should stay off the roads in bad weather. Gives more room for emergency vehicles and salt trucks.

Sometimes you have no choice when they officially close a road.

183 erik_t  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:37:08pm

re: #159 Shiplord Kirel

My daughter, who is here from Tennessee for the holidays and was in Lubbock to see her aunt last week, claims that Tennesseeans are much better ice and bad road drivers than Lubbockites.

The most dangerous drivers are the ones who get to do it about every ten, years, so they are Pretty Sure They Kinda Know What They’re Doing and hot-dog it, rather than someone from Miami who would just laugh and not even open the front door for three days.

184 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:37:20pm

Hawaii
Studded tires are not permitted.

185 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:38:35pm


I’m just not a belieber.

186 aagcobb  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:38:49pm

re: #175 HoosierHoops

Check the weather every day..Saturday is a balmy 28 then back to sub zero shit again. Jeez..This is funny, But, I have a stop to make Monday in the Midwest to do a banking thing..So..How do you plan that as far as weather?
Motels..

Next week I’m leaving for a cruise to the Bahamas. According to the forecast, its going to be 78 and partly sunny in Nassau. :)

187 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:39:14pm

re: #181 FemNaziBitch

was the frozen waterfall cool?

Definitely.

188 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:41:37pm


Is there an Adult in Charge?

189 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:41:57pm

I’ve never seen or heard Justin Bieber sing and I’ve never seen or heard Edward Snowden’s “Christmas message.” Not much difference there. :D

190 GeneJockey  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:42:34pm

re: #187 GeneJockey

Definitely.

[Embedded image]

Also saw The Majestik Moose…

191 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:44:03pm

I do not understand.

192 lawhawk  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:46:04pm

Takes money to make money.

If you bought Twitter at its IPO, priced at $26, you’re looking at a very nice gain. It opened at just over 46.

It’s now trading at $72.35.

Doing the maths, on 100 shares, you would have made $4,635 dollars if you sold it today after picking it up in IPO. Over the past 30 days it’s up +70%.

All for a stock that hasn’t exactly shown a profit in any quarter, ever.

Some people are making a killing on this (but you needed to have money to do it - for instance Fidelity required $500k in assets to be considered for that IPO; other IPOs may require as “little” as $100k). It’s not for the little guy, that’s for sure.

193 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:48:16pm

re: #164 makeitstop

We had to use them in Alaska. So every year, my husband would switch our tires over once the snow and ice hit.

194 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:48:41pm

195 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:48:49pm

re: #192 lawhawk

Takes money to make money.

If you bought Twitter at its IPO, priced at $26, you’re looking at a very nice gain. It opened at just over 46.

It’s now trading at $72.35.

Doing the maths, on 100 shares, you would have made $4,635 dollars if you sold it today after picking it up in IPO. Over the past 30 days it’s up +70%.

All for a stock that hasn’t exactly shown a profit in any quarter, ever.

Some people are making a killing on this (but you needed to have money to do it - for instance Fidelity required $500k in assets to be considered for that IPO; other IPOs may require as “little” as $100k). It’s not for the little guy, that’s for sure.

Equal playing field for all! //

196 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:50:24pm

re: #195 Gus

They said we should just borrow $100k from our parents.

197 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:51:03pm

re: #196 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

They said we should just borrow $100k from our parents.

Using Mitt Romney’s rule I’d need 5 parents. //

198 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:52:12pm

re: #197 Gus

There’s a polygamy joke to be made here, but I’m not sure what it is.

199 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:52:45pm

If you wondered about this photo (I know I did), here’s who he was:

And there’s a Wikipage for Gordon.

200 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:53:28pm

re: #198 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

There’s a polygamy joke to be made here, but I’m not sure what it is.

It’s the new Utah. I’ve got 5 fathers now. //

201 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:54:19pm

Notice anything about these mugs?

202 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:54:53pm

re: #194 Charles Johnson

[Embedded image]

creepy

203 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:58:18pm

Elf lobby blocks Iceland road project

204 Bubblehead II  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:59:05pm

re: #191 FemNaziBitch

I do not understand.

Pretty straight forward. The crooks are using tin foil to block the satellite transmission/reception causing the credit card terminal to think it is down. Since the store owner can’t verify the card, they have to do a manual receipt and verify it at a later time. Of course by the time they can do this, the crooks have already left with the merchandise and the store owner is screwed out of payment.

205 lawhawk  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:59:18pm

re: #194 Charles Johnson

It’s lunacy! And for a change, the lunatic isn’t on the grass.

206 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 12:59:36pm
207 Eventual Carrion  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:01:10pm

re: #143 makeitstop

Mah surprise, etc.

S.F. school bears brunt of ‘merry Christmas’ hoax

It pisses me off that innocent people have to deal with a raft of shit just because some Christian asshole somewhere wants to get his victimhood on.

Fucking libertards are so hateful and violent … what? … never mind

208 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:01:58pm
209 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:03:03pm
210 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:04:00pm

re: #204 Bubblehead II

Pretty straight forward. The crooks are using tin foil to block the satellite transmission/reception causing the credit card terminal to think it is down. Since the store owner can’t verify the card, they have to do a manual receipt and verify it at a later time. Of course by the time they can do this, the crooks have already left with the merchandise and the store owner is screwed out of payment.

They are putting the foil where exactly? and why doesn’t the retailer call the CC company for verification —especially if it’s booze or cigaretters—big red flag theft items.

211 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:04:08pm

It’s like the fake quotes from the TGDNturds. HURR HURR OK IT’S FAKE BUT ACCURATE LIBTARD!!

212 Eventual Carrion  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:05:17pm

re: #152 First As Tragedy, Then As Farce

Here’s a 60-ton tank trying and failing to go up-hill on ice.

[Embedded content]

Ice is the honey badger of weather.

That’s exactly it. Ice don’t give a fuck what you are driving. You will go whichever way you were heading when you hit it, NO TURN FOR YOU!

213 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:08:36pm
214 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:09:26pm

re: #213 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

Equal playing field for all! //

215 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:10:19pm

America. Land of the temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

//

217 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:11:48pm

People are innocent until proven guilty but they’re treated like they’re guilty until they’re proven either guilty or innocent.

218 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:12:14pm

And if you’re poor and can’t make bail then you really look guilty.

219 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:12:15pm
Kenton began arguing with his daughter because he did not approve of her dating an African-American youth and referred to her as a “n*gger lover,” according to the arrest report.

As he was exiting the home, he apparently saw the boyfriend and shouted, “You are the one!”

Kenton was accused of hitting the boy in the face and the head, and then choking him. Police said that he then picked up a brick and used it to strike the boy in the back of the head.

This is why I never dated a black man. Bigoted drunk fathers. same link as #216

220 Bubblehead II  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:13:40pm

re: #210 FemNaziBitch

They are putting the foil where exactly? and why doesn’t the retailer call the CC company for verification —especially if it’s booze or cigaretters—big red flag theft items.

Feed Horn

AS for why they don’t do a manual verification, it could be the crooks wait until they are busy and don’t have the time to do one. The last is just a guess on my part though.

221 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:15:13pm

re: #220 Bubblehead II

Feed Horn

AS for why they don’t do a manual verification, it could be the crooks wait until they are busy and don’t have the time to do one. The last is just a guess on my part though.

ah!

222 S'latch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:15:16pm

Does Sarah Palin believe that her “Ignorance is Strength?”

223 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:17:09pm

re: #222 S’latch

Does Sarah Palin believe that her “Ignorance is Strength?”

She does seem to ASSume alot.

or maybe she CONSUMES a lot.

224 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:17:12pm

re: #209 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

Next year: Chilean military police surround the place, confiscate possessions for unpaid taxes, and jail or deport the erstwhile Galts who don’t resist. If they do resist, well, it sucks to be them. It’s not as though the procedures used to enforce Chilean law are any sort of secret.
Note that the founder is a former water ionizer salesman (ie, con artist) and he admits he didn’t actually finish Atlas Shrugged.

225 S'latch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:17:49pm

re: #209 FemNaziBitch

an ecosystem now endangered.

226 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:18:22pm

re: #224 Shiplord Kirel

Next year: Chilean military police surround the place, confiscate possessions for unpaid taxes, and jail or deport the erstwhile Galts who don’t resist. If do they resist, well, it sucks to be them. It’s not as though the procedures used to enforce Chilean law are any sort of secret.
Note that the founder is a former water ionizer salesman (ie, con artist) and he admits he didn’t actually finish Atlas Shrugged.

Hey, there is a sucker borne very minute who needs to be separated from his/her money…

:0

227 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:19:03pm

re: #216 FemNaziBitch

Drunk Florida man hurls bricks, racial slurs at kids — and then flees cops on bicycle

From the Band-Aid on his forehead, it looks as though he resisted the cops as well.

228 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:20:52pm

The wealthy walk into court wearing a suit and a $500 haircut. The poor shuffle into court wearing an orange jumpsuit and in cuffs.

229 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:25:03pm

I want a camera that can do this.

230 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:26:24pm

Need a break. I’ll be Bach.

231 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:27:56pm

hahahaaa…(seen in comments at another blog)

232 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:28:49pm

looks like he’s being squeezed

233 FemNaziBitch  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:32:12pm

bbl

234 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:32:14pm

re: #232 FemNaziBitch

looks like he’s being squeezed

[Embedded content]

Looks like someone took his DeLorean back to the future…

235 CuriousLurker  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:32:52pm

re: #229 FemNaziBitch

I want a camera that can do this.

[Embedded content]

Me too, but a lens that can do that will set you back around 1K.

236 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:33:49pm

Hooray! Just heard from the realtor in Lubbock. I’ve got a good offer on my house there and I think I’ll take it. Of course, the deal might fall through if the buyers learn about my politics, for fear the place might be infested with lib cooties and haunted by the shade of Sol Alinsky. So mum’s the word if you happen to know the location.

237 Dr. Matt  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:43:24pm

238 bratwurst  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:44:15pm
239 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:45:55pm

oy…I’m seeing that hoax Florida Shell station picture popping up from lots of people in my twitter feed.

240 Dave In Austin  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:46:41pm

re: #236 Shiplord Kirel

Hooray! Just heard from the realtor in Lubbock. I’ve got a good offer on my house there and I think I’ll take it. Of course, the deal might fall through if the buyers learn about my politics, for fear the place might be infested with lib cooties and haunted by the shade of Sol Alinsky. So mum’s the word if you happen to know the location.

Lubbock……..
Bless you my friend.

241 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:48:02pm
242 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:49:50pm

Kwanzaa by the tweet:

243 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:53:00pm
244 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:55:50pm
245 Ryan King  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 1:55:55pm

Alabama Lawmaker To Introduce Resolution Honoring Gay-Bashing ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star

Alabama State Sen. Jerry Fielding (R) announced Monday that he will introduce a resolution honoring “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson, who was suspended from the A&E reality television show after making controversial anti-gay comments in an interview with GQ magazine, the Daily Home reported.

246 Decatur Deb  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:02:15pm

re: #245 Tim TeaBro

Alabama Lawmaker To Introduce Resolution Honoring Gay-Bashing ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star

We’re Number One !!!

Alabama was ranked 1 out of 51 (50 states + the District of Columbia) on 2011 final teen births rates among females aged 15-19 (with 1 representing the highest rate and 51 representing the lowest rate).RH1

hhs.gov

247 Ryan King  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:04:03pm

re: #246 Decatur Deb

DAMN YOU. I lost again.

248 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:04:42pm

My next project will probably be to fulfill an ambition I have nursed for years: a Cessna 182 with the new-fangled diesel engine. A new 182 from the factory is more than half a million bucks (eeek!) but there is an alternative. Really good used 182s can be had for 70-90K and the full conversion to the diesel engine is about the same. Used 182 prices are probably depressed because they need 100LL gasoline. Their fuel supply is doomed by increasing pressure to eliminate this last vestige of leaded fuel. The diesel is fully certified and burns Jet-A.

249 Decatur Deb  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:06:00pm

re: #247 Tim TeaBro

DAMN YOU. I lost again.

Home court advantage.

250 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:08:27pm

re: #244 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

My ex-wife Jezebel the Church-lady and my brother Judas the Pious Deacon should see that. It is only her second marriage and his first; but it is, shall we say, problematical in the sanctity department.

251 ausador  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:09:06pm

re: #231 Backwoods_Sleuth

hahahaaa…(seen in comments at another blog)

[Embedded image]

Lemuel Snowman and the Snowiputians?

252 Ryan King  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:09:21pm

Duck Dynasty and a Free Society
Burke, Paine, and the bearded guy
By Jonah Goldberg

Normally at this time of year, the culture-war fight is over a guy with a white beard. That’s true again this year. What’s different is that Phil Robertson took Santa’s place, and instead of a war on Christmas, we have a war on Duck Dynasty.

(…blather about old smart dudes, means something abut bigot)

253 Mattand  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:15:14pm

re: #24 Charles Johnson

I had dinner with some friends yesterday who were solidly on Snowden and Greenwald’s side last time we talked a couple of months ago. I couldn’t talk them out of it.

But now they’re thoroughly disgusted with both of them, with special anger at Snowden for hiding in Russia and dissing the US from there.

These idiots are sabotaging their own agenda with their extremism and whining crybaby antics.

A bit late on this one, but what turned them around? The latest This Week in Tech podcast went with the whole “I’m grateful to Snowden” worship when doing their year in review show.

254 Ryan King  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:16:25pm
I was like, all gacked up on Mountain Dew an shit, then I rolled a Triple Quad 60 and dropped it hard on the spine then fluffed a low down RayDo up in the jeezy.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Thomas Paine

See how the skateboarding lingo is much more powerful followed by a Thomas Paine quote?

255 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:28:30pm

Hey DUMBSHIT, robotics engineers make A WHOLE BUNCH MOAR MONEY than burger flippers.

256 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:30:51pm

re: #129 erik_t

No, I’m pretty sure 4-wheel-drive is a God Is My Copilot magical get-out-of-jail-free card for any and all low-traction driving conditions!

Just ask my dumbass neighbors.

I’ve owned nothing but 4x4s and 1 all wheel drive since ‘84.

Newbies think the laws of physics do not apply to 4x4s.

257 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:31:17pm

About my occasional posts on my “robber baron car” (Rolls Royce) and the airplane project etc.

I’m relatively open about being well off not to boast but to dispose of the wingnut claim that liberal, progressive people commonly resent success and wealth. It also disposes of the idea that affluent liberals are typically guilt ridden heirs, since I was born poor and earned what I have through hard work, good luck, and some government help in the form of public roads, the GI Bill etc. So long as it is managed responsibly and not built on the backs of the powerless, I have no problem with personal wealth at all and I think that’s true of most people here. I do have a problem with Walton style wealth, both in its incredible magnitude and in how it was accrued.

258 Ryan King  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:32:14pm

You know the cretins will fire up about this one.

259 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:35:00pm

re: #145 Gus

Spin out of control at an intersection and smash into a parked car only because you wanted to get some milk.

I can’t count how many times I’ve screamed “don’t hit the brakes! don’t hit the brakes” to people I knew were going to slam on the brakes when they started to slide.

260 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:38:10pm

re: #166 Gus

Studded tires can be used year round in Colorado.

Same here.

261 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:42:09pm

If I had Alice Walton’s dough, I would be scheming with Elon Musk and Paul Allen to send people back to the Moon. Given the dramatic reductions in launch cost (thanks to Musk’s SpaceX) and the availability of proven landing and exploration technology (thanks to the government financed Project Apollo) costs would be well within the reach of certain very wealthy individuals.
I won’t be surprised at all if it happens. The NEXT person on the Moon should be a woman though.

262 Ryan King  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:43:12pm

re: #258 Ryan King

You know the cretins will fire up about this one.

263 Stanley Sea  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:49:51pm

re: #262 Ryan King

[Embedded content]

Yep.

264 dog philosopher  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:54:06pm

re: #255 Pie-onist Overlord

Hey DUMBSHIT, robotics engineers make A WHOLE BUNCH MOAR MONEY than burger flippers.

automatic burger making machine designers
automatic burger making machine factory workers
automatic burger making machine field installation and maintenance workers
automatic burger making machine personal injury lawyers

… and the $15/hr minimum wage worker to make french fries, make change, get sodas, and watch over the automatic burger making machine and make sure it doesn’t get stuck, run out of burgers, overcook them, or catch on fire

265 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:54:26pm

Falcon Heavy at SpaceX

Falcon Heavy is the world’s most powerful rocket, a launch vehicle of scale and capability unequaled by any other currently flying. With the ability to lift into orbit over 53 metric tons (117,000 lb)—a mass equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel—Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate nearly 4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars. (emphasis added)

266 Dr. Matt  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:55:08pm

re: #258 Ryan King

You know the cretins will fire up about this one.

casarez79
times have changed, ive never heard of rappers being inside the white house until Obama became president

Yeah, the Dubyah White House didn’t have rappers but allowed gay prostitutes posing as journalists.

267 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 2:56:25pm


Cache County backed down and started marrying spouses of the same sex on Christmas Eve.

Any holdouts in Utah? Any more quitting clerks in New Mexico?

268 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:02:26pm

re: #267 wrenchwench

[Embedded content]


Cache County backed down and started marrying spouses of the same sex on Christmas Eve.

Any holdouts in Utah? Any more quitting clerks in New Mexico?

Yes, a few more counties in Utah are defying the law.

Along with Cache County, Box Elder, Utah, Juab, Sevier, Piute and San Juan counties also declined to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples Monday. Sevier and San Juan counties began issuing licenses on Tuesday.

So Box Elder, Juab, and Piute Counties are still in denial.

269 gwangung  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:03:32pm

re: #266 Dr. Matt

Yeah, the Dubyah White House didn’t have rappers but allowed gay prostitutes posing as journalists.

Of course, during both presidencies, the biggest consumers of rap were middle class white teens.

Hm.

270 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:05:18pm

re: #268 wrenchwench

Yes, a few more counties in Utah are defying the law.

So Box Elder, Juab, and Piute Counties are still in denial.

Whoops, that was old info.

The last of the Utah counties that were holding out on issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples reversed course Thursday and decided to hand out licenses to all eligible applicants.

Officials for the four holdouts — Box Elder, Utah, Piute and San Juan counties — told The Associated Press they made the decision to offer licenses to same-sex couples.

[…]

That article is about 5 minutes old.

271 AlexRogan  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:07:18pm

re: #256 b_sharp

I’ve owned nothing but 4x4s and 1 all wheel drive since ‘84.

Newbies think the laws of physics do not apply to 4x4s.

Such as Newton’s First Law of Motion (an object either is at rest or moves at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by an external force), while on ice.

They find out soon enough.

272 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:08:20pm

From the same link:

Bruckman has said counties could be held in contempt of federal court if they refused to comply.

The holdouts said they decided to obey Shelby’s ruling despite reservations and questions about their legal liability. Utah makes it a misdemeanor for county clerks to sanction a same-sex marriage.

San Juan County Clerk Norman Johnson said “what finalized it for me” was Gov. Gary Herbert’s order to state agencies to comply with Shelby’s decision and change procedures for the delivery of state services. To that end, the Utah Department of Workforce Services is recognizing gay couples for food stamp and welfare benefits.

It’s not just about getting married. It’s about eating, too.

273 dog philosopher  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:11:14pm

$15/hr? Say hello to your replace

in the future, robot burger machines will serve robot burgers to self driving cars, that then drive their owners to jobs where they will design robot-designing-robots to put themselves out of work

274 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:12:21pm

re: #255 Pie-onist Overlord

Hey DUMBSHIT, robotics engineers make A WHOLE BUNCH MOAR MONEY than burger flippers.

[Embedded content]

Yes. Because EVERYBODY that works at McDonald’s is a liberal Democrat. Everybody.

Also. Good luck having illiterate folks from Mississippi use that machine.

275 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:15:24pm

re: #274 Gus

Yes. Because EVERYBODY that works at McDonald’s is a liberal Democrat. Everybody.

Also. Good luck having illiterate folks from Mississippi use that machine.

You mean people have to learn stuff?

Insufficient nutrition kind of screws that up.

Poor people can’t afford to feed their kids, who then have trouble learning and consequently have to settle for jobs like mom’s so their own kids also have trouble learning.

Do I see a cycle here?

276 Mike Lamb  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:16:33pm

re: #255 Pie-onist Overlord

Hey DUMBSHIT, robotics engineers make A WHOLE BUNCH MOAR MONEY than burger flippers.

[Embedded content]

They can change it to “You want to be paid anything to work here? Say hello to your replacement.”

277 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:17:25pm

re: #275 b_sharp

You mean people have to learn stuff?

Insufficient nutrition kind of screws that up.

Poor people can’t afford to feed their kids, who then have trouble learning and consequently have to settle for jobs like mom’s so their own kids also have trouble learning.

Do I see a cycle here?

Meanwhile the Waltons of the world rake in the billions. This can’t go on.

278 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:18:07pm

re: #275 b_sharp

You mean people have to learn stuff?

Insufficient nutrition kind of screws that up.

Poor people can’t afford to feed their kids, who then have trouble learning and consequently have to settle for jobs like mom’s so their own kids also have trouble learning.

Do I see a cycle here?

Yes. Now let’s replace Walmart workers with robots and self-service check outs. Then you’ll have some freeway town with a Walmart and McDonalds that doesn’t employ workers. Or at least very few. Now those former workers will by not a thing and have to go even deeper into government assistance.

279 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:18:23pm
The Roosevelt County [NM] Commission grudgingly filled the county clerk position Monday that was vacated last week in protest to New Mexico becoming the 17th state in the nation to allow same-sex marriages.

During an emergency meeting Monday, commissioners expressed their disappointment with state Supreme Court’s ruling but felt the need to make an appointment for fear that if they didn’t act, the governor’s office would appoint a clerk for them.

“The issue is not over; keep praying guys,” Commissioner Kendell Buzard said about the same-sex marriage ruling.

Commissioners expressed hopes that one of the state’s legislators will propose a constitutional amendment in the upcoming legislative session to define marriage as between a man and a woman. They hope the issue will come before voters in an election.

[…]

The Roosevelt family should politely request that county to change its name.

280 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:21:55pm

No one is talking about $15/hr anyway. At best we’re looking at slightly over $10/hr and that would be by 2016. 3 years from now. Some states are going higher and close to $15 but that’s also 3 years from now. Obama’s proposal remains at slightly over $10/hour and again that would be years away.

281 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:24:01pm

And as Shiplord Kirel mentions. Meanwhile the Waltons can amass close to 43% the net worth of all Americans. Just 5 fucking people. This isn’t capitalism. It’s a freaking plutocracy.

282 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:25:05pm

re: #261 Shiplord Kirel

If I had Alice Walton’s dough, I would be scheming with Elon Musk and Paul Allen to send people back to the Moon. Given the dramatic reductions in launch cost (thanks to Musk’s SpaceX) and the availability of proven landing and exploration technology (thanks to the government financed Project Apollo) costs would be well within the reach of certain very wealthy individuals.
I won’t be surprised at all if it happens. The NEXT person on the Moon should be a woman though.

Actually if I had Walton’s dough I would be desperately working to set up a space colony so I could escape the inevitable revolt that will result from our current rapacious system. I already have my plan for the new Bastille day. I will dress like a shabby old farmer, which I normally do anyway these days, and lay low. If that fails I will point the rebellious mobs toward the nearest fast food or low-wage retail billionaire’s mansion. “NO! Why run me through with your pitchforks when there’s a real fatcat just over the hill?!”

283 Targetpractice  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:26:17pm

re: #280 Gus

No one is talking about $15/hr anyway. At best we’re looking at slightly over $10/hr and that would be by 2016. 3 years from now. Some states are going higher and close to $15 but that’s also 3 years from now. Obama’s proposal remains at slightly over $10/hour and again that would be years away.

Hell, if I really wanted to be demanding, I’d say slightly above $10 and then going one better by requiring it to rise with inflation. Phased in wage increases that then sit there for another 3 years before another phase-in period is not cutting it. Just to give the minimum wage today the buying power is had in the 60s would mean raising it to just under $11. In a year, it could be $12.

284 A Mom Anon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:28:07pm

re: #280 Gus

No, you’re supposed to argue that the minimum wage MIGHT AS WELL BE 25 DOLLARS AN HOUR THEN. Or what about 30? Or even 100? This seems to come up any time a wingnut talks about raising minimum wage. Is our children learning? Um no.

The level of mean and stupid(is no way to go through life, son) in this country is really alarming. Maybe it’s just being in the south for so long and watching even the transplants here assimilate into the conservative right wing Christian borg that’s clouding my vision here, but GOD THIS IS FREAKING DEPRESSING.

285 Kid A  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:28:59pm
286 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:29:17pm

Somebody hasn’t heard about the inoffensive neutral penguin idea…
In Santa’s bag: booze, drugs and immorality, Turkish Muslim group says

“Traditions such as new year celebrations, Christmas tree decorations, and Santa Claus leaving presents are leading to degeneration of our culture and leading to identity crises in our society. It tears our youth from their own culture and familiarizes them with the culture of the West leading them to embrace those values,” the Anatolia Youth Association said in a statement.

The group used an inflatable plastic Santa as a prop — littering the ground below it with beer cans, a syringe and a cross to illustrate the dangers of inviting Santa into Turkish homes.

They also distributed an image of a man delivering a brutal left hook to Santa’s bearded cheek.

Three years ago, the same group stabbed a blow-up Santa.

Such sentiments are not widespread in Turkey.

287 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:31:04pm
Despite Thursday’s unpleasantness, Turkey and ol’ Claus go way back — all the way to 4th Century. That’s when, as religious tradition has it, the Christian St. Nicholas secretly gifted money and other items to residents around his home in what is now the southern Turkish city of Demre, becoming the model for the modern Santa Claus.

I thought he was Greek, close enough.

288 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:32:29pm

When I started to college in 1973, minimum wage was $2.30 an hour. I had a part time job, 20 hours a week, that paid that. I could easily live on that and my $215 a month GI Bill stipend, and this was in Ithaca, New York. Today, there is no way in hell that could be done.

289 dog philosopher  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:34:11pm

re: #287 Killgore Trout

I thought he was Greek, close enough.

it was a greek area in the 4th century

it would be a few centuries more before the turks arrived in what is now called turkey

290 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:34:25pm

How did I miss this story from yesterday?
Turkey requests Santa Claus’ bones from Pope

291 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:35:59pm

re: #289 dog philosopher

it was a greek area in the 4th century

it would be a few centuries more before the turks arrived in what is now called turkey

The Turks should really be exploiting that as a tourist attraction. I bet it would be huge.

292 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:37:41pm

re: #283 Targetpractice

Hell, if I really wanted to be demanding, I’d say slightly above $10 and then going one better by requiring it to rise with inflation. Phased in wage increases that then sit there for another 3 years before another phase-in period is not cutting it. Just to give the minimum wage >today the buying power is had in the 60s would mean raising it to just under $11. In a year, it could be $12.

Minimum wage in Saskatchewan is now $10.00/hr.

Our economy is growing like crazy.

293 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:38:03pm

re: #290 Killgore Trout

How did I miss this story from yesterday?
Turkey requests Santa Claus’ bones from Pope

Is Turkey making “Santa Stock” now?

RBS

294 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:38:13pm

What a cool looking place!
google.com

295 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:39:04pm

High wages didn’t cause the lines in Detroit to become automated. They became automated regardless and would have become automated even if they were paying the UAW minimum wage.

296 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:39:31pm

re: #293 RealityBasedSteve

Is Turkey making “Santa Stock” now?

RBS

I wonder if they’ve been checked. lots of fake relics floating around out there.

297 Targetpractice  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:39:43pm

re: #292 b_sharp

Minimum wage in Saskatchewan is now $10.00/hr.

Our economy is growing like crazy.

How can that be, when paying such wages is surely enough to kill any business?

///

298 A Mom Anon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:40:02pm

I hope you all have had a happy holiday. Mixed reviews here. I lost what I thought was a good friend over the idiot Duck Family nonsense, so yay. Now she and her new conservative buddy are posting all kinds of fucked up shit on Facebook and acting like Mean Girls in some stupid high school clique. 50 something year old women, acting like this over a fake redneck, duck serial killing, multimillionaire family. It’s fucking sad, and really, really weird. So um, yeah- go team Duck Cult. A smaller friends list, and a Happy New Year, eh.

On the flip side, I took The Teenager out for his first time driving today. He did pretty good for being scared and overwhelmed. I was glad I got to be there and help him through his anxiety before he goes to real driving school. We’ll go every day, weather permitting until he returns to school in Jan. I think back to the doctors that told me he might never read or talk or do much of anything when he was a little guy and I just wonder in amazement at this kid. Long journey ahead, but he keeps defying the odds. Kinda makes up for some of the stupid this world offers up.

299 Killgore Trout  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:40:34pm

re: #295 Gus

High wages didn’t cause the lines in Detroit to become automated. They became automated regardless and would have become automated even if they were paying the UAW minimum wage.

Maybe. High wages probably speed up the transition but your probably right that it’s inevitable anyways.

300 Targetpractice  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:43:31pm

re: #299 Killgore Trout

Maybe. High wages probably speed up the transition but your probably right that it’s inevitable anyways.

It was inevitable for the reason other industries have adopted automation where they can, because they can work in conditions that are hazardous to humans, they can do so with a precision humans can’t match, and can accomplish tasks far faster than a human could. Yet humans remain on the assembly line because there are still tasks that require that “fuzzy logic” that robots either can’t match or can’t match to the degree a human could.

301 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:44:53pm

re: #297 Targetpractice

How can that be, when paying such wages is surely enough to kill any business?

///

Sask GDP/pop = $72,156
Top US State = Delaware with a GDP/pop = $69,667
Texas GDP/pop = $58,099

302 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:45:25pm

re: #299 Killgore Trout

Maybe. High wages probably speed up the transition but your probably right that it’s inevitable anyways.

Yep. Phone operators, shipping/dock workers, luggage handlers, general shipping, warehousing, etc.

303 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:45:30pm

re: #298 A Mom Anon

I hope you all have had a happy holiday. Mixed reviews here. I lost what I thought was a good friend over the idiot Duck Family nonsense, so yay. Now she and her new conservative buddy are posting all kinds of fucked up shit on Facebook and acting like Mean Girls in some stupid high school clique. 50 something year old women, acting like this over a fake redneck, duck serial killing, multimillionaire family. It’s fucking sad, and really, really weird. So um, yeah- go team Duck Cult. A smaller friends list, and a Happy New Year, eh.

Not for me to say, but it sounds like no great loss. Just a big disappointment for you.

On the flip side, I took The Teenager out for his first time driving today. He did pretty good for being scared and overwhelmed. I was glad I got to be there and help him through his anxiety before he goes to real driving school. We’ll go every day, weather permitting until he returns to school in Jan. I think back to the doctors that told me he might never read or talk or do much of anything when he was a little guy and I just wonder in amazement at this kid. Long journey ahead, but he keeps defying the odds. Kinda makes up for some of the stupid this world offers up.

You’ve done a great job! Congrats.

304 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:46:28pm

re: #298 A Mom Anon

I hope you all have had a happy holiday. Mixed reviews here. I lost what I thought was a good friend over the idiot Duck Family nonsense, so yay. Now she and her new conservative buddy are posting all kinds of fucked up shit on Facebook and acting like Mean Girls in some stupid high school clique. 50 something year old women, acting like this over a fake redneck, duck serial killing, multimillionaire family. It’s fucking sad, and really, really weird. So um, yeah- go team Duck Cult. A smaller friends list, and a Happy New Year, eh.

On the flip side, I took The Teenager out for his first time driving today. He did pretty good for being scared and overwhelmed. I was glad I got to be there and help him through his anxiety before he goes to real driving school. We’ll go every day, weather permitting until he returns to school in Jan. I think back to the doctors that told me he might never read or talk or do much of anything when he was a little guy and I just wonder in amazement at this kid. Long journey ahead, but he keeps defying the odds. Kinda makes up for some of the stupid this world offers up.

My autistic grandson is about to turn 18.
He never fails to impress me.

305 Backwoods_Sleuth  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:47:02pm
306 Kid A  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:49:12pm

re: #298 A Mom Anon

Yesterday morning, I spent Christmas with my mother’s side of the family (these are the wing nuts), and my mom’s boyfriend finally sold his house in Maryland. He was on and on and on about how, THANK JESUS! (yes, really), he won’t have to pay the “real estate tax” that’s in “Obamacare.” I quickly googled it, and, of course, it was all bullshit. The first $500,000 in PROFIT, not the sale, are EXEMPT. AND you have to make at least $250,000 a year to even begin to qualify for this dastardly, socialist tax to fund the all-evil Obamacare.///

Anyway, over lunch, I had finally had enough. I busted out the facts, and informed my wingnut family that all the damn law does is expand the parameters of Medicaid, and institute new regulations for the insurance companies. One of my crazy uncles said “But it’s government-run health care.” I replied, “What do you call Medicare that you used to fund your emergency surgery when you almost died from that blood infection two years ago?” *crickets*

307 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:49:39pm

Cops. Used to be two per patrol car. Airliner. Used to have a pilot, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer. Now you get the first two. Some day we might be looking at unmanned flight for airliners.

308 dog philosopher  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:51:30pm

from an article on the minimum wage:

1950
Minimum wage: $0.75/hour
Gas: $0.27 or 22m
Movie ticket: $0.48 or 38m
Rent: $42 or 56hrs

1960
Minimum wage: $1/hour
Gas: $0.31 or 19m
Movie ticket: $0.69 or 41m
Rent: $71 or 71hrs

1970
Minimum wage: $1.60/hour
Gas: $0.36 or 14m
Movie ticket: $1.55 or 58m
Rent: $108 or 67.5hrs

1980
Minimum wage: $3.10/hour
Gas: $1.25 or 24m
Movie ticket: $2.60 or 50m
Rent: $243 or 78hrs

1990
Minimum wage: $3.80/hour
Gas: $1.13 or 18m
Movie ticket: $4.23 or 1hr, 7m
Rent: $447 or 118hrs

2000
Minimum wage: $5.15/hour
Gas: $1.49 or 17m
Movie ticket: $5. 39 or 1hr, 3m
Rent: $602 or 117hrs

2010
Minimum wage: $7.25/hour
Gas: $2.78 or 23m
Movie ticket: $7.95 or 1hr, 6m
Rent: $602 or 109hrs

309 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:51:39pm

Is that “red” sky symbolic of something?


Like homophobia?

310 A Mom Anon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:51:39pm

re: #303 wrenchwench

Yeah, it’s weird, but I’m better off. We were good friends for 3 yrs. We got our doggies around the same time and they used to play together all the time. One of her neighbors is a right wing loon and I think hanging out over the holidays tipped things over the edge. Ah well, it happens. She’s gonna hate not hanging out at my pool this summer. Moohahahaha.

But The Teenager is The Awesome, he was also Heavy Metal Santa, which was hysterical on Christmas morning. I just hope he can develop the hand/eye coordination for driving. He’s teaching himself guitar, which is not easy, I’m hoping the driving and guitar playing sort of bounce around in his brain so he can become proficient at both. I think he can do it.

311 Kid A  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:52:00pm

I forgot to add that I also said that the ACA is NOT “government-run health care,” and it sure as hell ain’t socialist. Insurance companies getting 40 million new customers in the private sector is called CAPITALISM. FFS.

312 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:53:20pm

re: #307 Gus

Cops. Used to be two per patrol car. Airliner. Used to have a pilot, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer. Now you get the first two. Some day we might be looking at unmanned flight for airliners.

Cops are still sometimes two to a car, and the decision on 1 or two is more about budgets and manpower priorities than automation.

As for airliners, I doubt they’ll be automated in my lifetime. UAVs still have a far higher loss rate than manned aircraft, and automating passenger aircraft will not happen till that changes.

313 goddamnedfrank  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:53:52pm

re: #295 Gus

High wages didn’t cause the lines in Detroit to become automated. They became automated regardless and would have become automated even if they were paying the UAW minimum wage.

Exactly, once the technology became available that was it. The cost of labor doesn’t vary by more or less than double, whereas the cost of new tech drops that much or more within the first few years of introduction. Look at any new tech, flat screens, robotics, hard drives. The graph of cost per unit at same capability looks like a reverse hockey stick, starting out high and very rapidly dropping down to a normalized price that never even rises back up to keep pace with inflation.

Things are cheaper than people, and that’s not necessarily the problem. The problem is that we don’t even try to account for the long term environmental and social costs of production.

314 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:54:36pm

re: #310 A Mom Anon

Yeah, it’s weird, but I’m better off. We were good friends for 3 yrs. We got our doggies around the same time and they used to play together all the time. One of her neighbors is a right wing loon and I think hanging out over the holidays tipped things over the edge. Ah well, it happens. She’s gonna hate not hanging out at my pool this summer. Moohahahaha.

But The Teenager is The Awesome, he was also Heavy Metal Santa, which was hysterical on Christmas morning. I just hope he can develop the hand/eye coordination for driving. He’s teaching himself guitar, which is not easy, I’m hoping the driving and guitar playing sort of bounce around in his brain so he can become proficient at both. I think he can do it.

You’re a good mom.

315 Charles Johnson  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:56:07pm

re: #253 Mattand

A bit late on this one, but what turned them around? The latest This Week in Tech podcast went with the whole “I’m grateful to Snowden” worship when doing their year in review show.

I think it’s just starting to sink in, I don’t know if there was any one thing. But they were really irritated by the Christmas message from Mother Russia and Snowden’s stupid comment about “asking is always cheaper than spying.”

316 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:57:26pm

re: #298 A Mom Anon

I hope you all have had a happy holiday. Mixed reviews here. I lost what I thought was a good friend over the idiot Duck Family nonsense, so yay. Now she and her new conservative buddy are posting all kinds of fucked up shit on Facebook and acting like Mean Girls in some stupid high school clique. 50 something year old women, acting like this over a fake redneck, duck serial killing, multimillionaire family. It’s fucking sad, and really, really weird. So um, yeah- go team Duck Cult. A smaller friends list, and a Happy New Year, eh.

On the flip side, I took The Teenager out for his first time driving today. He did pretty good for being scared and overwhelmed. I was glad I got to be there and help him through his anxiety before he goes to real driving school. We’ll go every day, weather permitting until he returns to school in Jan. I think back to the doctors that told me he might never read or talk or do much of anything when he was a little guy and I just wonder in amazement at this kid. Long journey ahead, but he keeps defying the odds. Kinda makes up for some of the stupid this world offers up.

…acting like Mean Girls in some stupid high school clique…

Reminds me of TGDN on Twitter.

317 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 3:58:52pm

re: #311 Balfour Rage

I forgot to add that I also said that the ACA is NOT “government-run health care,” and it sure as hell ain’t socialist. Insurance companies getting 40 million new customers in the private sector is called CAPITALISM. FFS.

Canada has gov’t run health care.

We must be one of the most oppressed, restricted, poorest countries in the world.

Canada’s ‘Satisfaction with Life Index’ is 10th in the world. The US’s is 23rd.

Funny how 5 of the 9 countries with higher SwLI than Canuckistan are more socialist than Canuckistan.

318 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:00:12pm

Wow… I’m glad that I’ve got a pretty healthy ego. I’ve asked some people on an online forum related to pen turning to critique my etsy store. Lots of good advice, busy incorporating it.

If I had a fragile ego, probably would have been disappointed that they didn’t say “It’s perfect, don’t change a thing”. Of course, if I had a fragile ego I wouldn’t have lasted 15 years doing computer training and getting evals every week from my class.

RBS

319 prairiefire  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:00:46pm

re: #298 A Mom Anon

{{amomanon}} I had what I thought was a good friend drop me after Obama was elected in 2008. You’ll be better off, it’s rahther shocking though, when people are so base.

320 Kid A  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:01:48pm
321 b_sharp  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:02:12pm

re: #293 RealityBasedSteve

Is Turkey making “Santa Stock” now?

RBS

Baboom!

322 RealityBasedSteve  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:02:14pm

re: #317 b_sharp

Canada has gov’t run health care.

We must be one of the most oppressed, restricted, poorest countries in the world.

Canada’s ‘Satisfaction with Life Index’ is 10th in the world. The US’s is 23rd.

Funny how 5 of the 9 countries with higher SwLI than Canuckistan are more socialist than Canuckistan.

Don’t you also have a higher life expectancy for people reaching age 55? That’s generally regarded as an important metric for evaluating health care. I seem to recall that the US rates fairly low among 1st world countries by that metric.

RBS

323 A Mom Anon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:02:19pm

I gotta run, The Teenager needs guitar strings and it’s an EMERGENCY, lol. So it’s off to the music store before they close. And then it’s champagne cocktails for me, I’m wore out. Have a good evening lizards.

324 Amory Blaine  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:03:10pm

Here’s what our “friends” thinks of free speech:

Wife: Saudi blogger recommended for apostasy trial

A judge in Saudi Arabia has recommended that imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi go before a high court on a charge of apostasy, which would carry the death penalty upon conviction, according to Badawi’s wife.
Ensaf Haidar initially told CNN on Wednesday that her husband had been sentenced to death. She later clarified to CNN that a judge has recommended he be tried for denouncing Islam, or apostasy. Apostasy carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, according to Amnesty International.
In July, a Jeddah criminal court found Badawi, who has been in prison since June 2012, guilty of insulting Islam through his Free Saudi Liberals website and in television comments.

325 BeenHereAwhile  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:05:09pm

re: #236 Shiplord Kirel

Hooray! Just heard from the realtor in Lubbock. I’ve got a good offer on my house there and I think I’ll take it. Of course, the deal might fall through if the buyers learn about my politics, for fear the place might be infested with lib cooties and haunted by the shade of Sol Alinsky. So mum’s the word if you happen to know the location.

I know they’re not close to each other in terms of distance, but hearing of Lubbock TX, makes me think of Luckenbach.

“Let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas
With Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we’re livin’ got us feudin’
Like the Hatfield and McCoys
Between Hank Williams’ pain songs and
Newberry’s train songs and Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain
Out in Luckenbach, Texas ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain”

Chips Momen

326 goddamnedfrank  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:06:36pm

re: #320 Balfour Rage

[Embedded content]

Listening to critics and not bombing Syria has consequences. As does negotiating with Iran, followthrough on Iraq pullout, preparing for pullout from Afghanistan. Obama can actually take a lot of credit for the effects his foreign policy has had on international markets.

327 Eventual Carrion  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:06:55pm

re: #324 Amory Blaine

Here’s what our “friends” thinks of free speech:

Wife: Saudi blogger recommended for apostasy trial

328 Skip Intro  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:07:08pm

re: #98 People For The Ethical Treatment Of Sarah Palin

OT. George Takei’s facebook, alerted me to the comments for this interesting book.

How to avoid huge ships

I am a huge ship. Imagine having an entire book devoted toward actively avoiding you and your kind. I have always been bigger than other ships - and yes, I have endured years of being moared in the distance, never being able to enter the shallower bays, requiring tugs to guide me in - but now THIS! Mr. Trimmer, you sir, should be ashamed! Please do not be swayed by his drivel. I ask that you judge me not by the size of my cargo hatch but rather the content of my wheelhouse.

329 sagehen  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:10:47pm

re: #266 Dr. Matt

Yeah, the Dubyah White House didn’t have rappers but allowed gay prostitutes posing as journalists.

casarez79
times have changed, ive never heard of rappers being inside the white house until Obama became president

Please to remind young casarez79 that Eazy-E Attends White House Luncheon with President George H.W. Bush

330 Amory Blaine  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:11:52pm

re: #327 Eventual Carrion

[Embedded image]

A forbidden love.

Youtube Video

331 Snarknado!  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:12:18pm

re: #312 Dark_Falcon

Cops are still sometimes two to a car, and the decision on 1 or two is more about budgets and manpower priorities than automation.

As for airliners, I doubt they’ll be automated in my lifetime. UAVs still have a far higher loss rate than manned aircraft, and automating passenger aircraft will not happen till that changes.

And likely, not after. BART (the famously strikey local transit system) was designed to be centrally run — lots of money saved because they wouldn’t need train operators. It turned out that passengers wouldn’t ride “unmanned” subway cars.

332 Shiplord Kirel  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:14:17pm

re: #330 Amory Blaine

A forbidden love.

[Embedded content]

Republican shocker! Bush endorses gay marriage! Announces engagement to Saudi prince pending divorce from Laura!

333 elizajane  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:14:47pm

re: #298 A Mom Anon

People can be so weirdly vicious online — like they both know you intimately, and can savage you like they’d savage a political hack who they’ve never met. When I was a single mom with 2 adopted kids, I had this wonderful online support group where we all shared our problems and supported one another. One day I announced to the group that I was adopting a 3d kid, a 6-year-old, and somebody wrote “All you ever do here is complain about the children you already have. You don’t deserve to have another child.” I was so devastated that I cried, quit the group, and adopted kid #3 with no support group.

Also kudos with your teen and good luck surviving the driving years! My oldest had similarly bad diagnoses, I never thought she would read much less graduate from high school, but she definitely does the former and will probably do the latter. She is however still afraid to drive!!

334 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:15:31pm

re: #331 Snarknado!

And likely, not after. BART (the famously strikey local transit system) was designed to be centrally run — lots of money saved because they wouldn’t need train operators. It turned out that passengers wouldn’t ride “unmanned” subway cars.

It’s natural to want someone to be able to step in when systems go haywire. It’s also true that people are always going to be skeptical that a remote operator will be able to step in when Mr. Murphy decides to put in an appearance.

335 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:15:54pm

re: #316 Gus

…acting like Mean Girls in some stupid high school clique…

Reminds me of TGDN on Twitter.

Still derpin’ away

336 sagehen  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:17:30pm

re: #273 dog philosopher

$15/hr? Say hello to your replace

in the future, robot burger machines will serve robot burgers to self driving cars, that then drive their owners to jobs where they will design robot-designing-robots to put themselves out of work

The very first post I made as a young hatchling fits here again:

Youtube Video

337 Targetpractice  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:17:50pm

re: #335 Pie-onist Overlord

Still derpin’ away

[Embedded content]

Yeah, a gun in the hand is worth an entire police force. Just ask the 14 yr old girl shot by her own father in the middle of the night because he thought she was a burglar.

//

338 dog philosopher  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:18:30pm

re: #335 Pie-onist Overlord

RT if you agree G W Bush was not only a better President than Mr. Obama but a better MAN!

george bush was a man????

339 Eventual Carrion  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:22:19pm

re: #334 Dark_Falcon

It’s natural to want someone to be able to step in when systems go haywire. It’s also true that people are always going to be skeptical that a remote operator will be able to step in when Mr. Murphy decides to put in an appearance.

Yep, signals get jammed intentionally and unintentionally. Remote control can be an iffy thing sometimes. Now if they had a reliable way for the signal to go through the rail that might be something. Maybe they already have.

340 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:23:11pm

I don’t do hashtags.

341 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:23:40pm

Used to. It’s just silly. I see the troll is tagging to #tlot which is for liberals. Whatever. So goofy.

342 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:24:32pm

re: #308 dog philosopher

from an article on the minimum wage:

1950
Minimum wage: $0.75/hour
Gas: $0.27 or 22m
Movie ticket: $0.48 or 38m
Rent: $42 or 56hrs

1960
Minimum wage: $1/hour
Gas: $0.31 or 19m
Movie ticket: $0.69 or 41m
Rent: $71 or 71hrs

1970
Minimum wage: $1.60/hour
Gas: $0.36 or 14m
Movie ticket: $1.55 or 58m
Rent: $108 or 67.5hrs

1980
Minimum wage: $3.10/hour
Gas: $1.25 or 24m
Movie ticket: $2.60 or 50m
Rent: $243 or 78hrs

1990
Minimum wage: $3.80/hour
Gas: $1.13 or 18m
Movie ticket: $4.23 or 1hr, 7m
Rent: $447 or 118hrs

2000
Minimum wage: $5.15/hour
Gas: $1.49 or 17m
Movie ticket: $5. 39 or 1hr, 3m
Rent: $602 or 117hrs

2010
Minimum wage: $7.25/hour
Gas: $2.78 or 23m
Movie ticket: $7.95 or 1hr, 6m
Rent: $602 or 109hrs

As I recall, the “old” rule of thumb on shelter costs used to be 25% of your gross income, and that included utilities. Seems like an eternity ago. It was usually what mortgage companies required, no more of your budget than that, with a good sized down payment as well.

So, even today, a lot of people making more than the minimum wage (40 hrs @7.25 = $288/wk) are paying even more than 50% of their wages in shelter cost. I know I am.

343 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:24:47pm

re: #340 Gus

I don’t do hashtags.

#NOPE

344 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:26:14pm

re: #343 wrenchwench

#NOPE

[Embedded image]

OK. I do but very rarely now. :D Certainly not the popular ones. I typically make up my own if I do.

345 Stanley Sea  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:27:46pm

re: #343 wrenchwench

#NOPE

[Embedded image]

I’m saving that one.

346 wrenchwench  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:27:56pm

re: #344 Gus

OK. I do but very rarely now. :D Certainly not the popular ones. I typically make up my own if I do.

I just had to drag out the Nope kitteh.

347 compound_Idaho  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:30:12pm

re: #342 Justanotherhuman

I poked around a couple of months ago trying to understand why just living has gotten so expensive. Saw pretty much the same conclusion. Housing has gotten very very expensive. Everything else, not so much. (including health care)

sorry, no links.

348 Targetpractice  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:30:20pm

re: #334 Dark_Falcon

It’s natural to want someone to be able to step in when systems go haywire. It’s also true that people are always going to be skeptical that a remote operator will be able to step in when Mr. Murphy decides to put in an appearance.

That’s the reality of why humans remain in the loop, because no system is 100% reliable 100% of the time. On a flying metallic cigar flying at tens of thousands of feet at hundreds of miles an hour, a single part failing could be the difference between an eventful landing and picking chunks of passengers out of the ground. Even if a human can’t respond as fast as a computer, he can do one thing even the best computer now can’t do: Improvise.

I’m reminded of United Airlines Flight 232, when the #2 engine in the tail disintegrated and managed to knock out all three hydraulic systems. As the possibility of a triple failure was considered impossible, there was no training for it and nothing in the manuals for how to deal with it. The crew were able to improvise a means of control by varying thrust in the remaining engines. A computer would have been completely lost in such a scenario as the likelihood of such a scenario being programmed into it would be remote.

349 RadicalModerate  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:30:38pm

re: #308 dog philosopher

from an article on the minimum wage:
2000
Minimum wage: $5.15/hour
Gas: $1.49 or 17m
Movie ticket: $5. 39 or 1hr, 3m
Rent: $602 or 117hrs

2010
Minimum wage: $7.25/hour
Gas: $2.78 or 23m
Movie ticket: $7.95 or 1hr, 6m
Rent: $602 or 109hrs

I want to know what part of the country rent hasn’t gone up rather dramatically during the first decade this century.
In the area where I live (Dallas, TX), the average monthly rent for a 1000sqft, 2-bedroom apt went from $675 to $902 during that time - and from 2010-2013 rent has increased to roughly $1105/mo.

350 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:31:41pm

re: #335 Pie-onist Overlord

Still derpin’ away

[Embedded content]

And, of course, the model they use is never the older housewife in curlers and house slippers or the retired elderly man who lives alone and whose house has been cased.

351 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:34:04pm

Gah. Cat puked right nearby. Grr.

352 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:36:56pm

re: #347 compound_Idaho

I poked around a couple of months ago trying to understand why just living has gotten so expensive. Saw pretty much the same conclusion. Housing has gotten very very expensive. Everything else, not so much. (including health care)

sorry, no links.

Yes, true. And my electric bill is only $100/mo averaged. It would be twice that in a leaky trailer, even a newer one, because they’re not well insulated. My landlord is great. When they bought these, he put in extra insulation in these apts and new windows and storm doors and just this year new sliding glass doors in mine & next door. And won’t raise the rent until property taxes go up.

353 dog philosopher  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:38:19pm

re: #349 RadicalModerate

I want to know what part of the country rent hasn’t gone up rather dramatically during the first decade this century.
The average monthly rent for a 1000sqft, 2-bedroom apt went from $675 to $902 during that time - and from 2010-2013 rent has increased to roughly $1105/mo.

yah - actually the intention of the article was to ‘prove’ that the minimum wage isn’t so bad, so the numbers are cooked a little in that direction. anyway, gas here in the bay area is over $4/gallon, movies tickets are $10 apiece, and i don’t know what kind of an apartment a person could expect to rent here at $602/mo, but i’m sure that’s not the ‘median’ apartment price…

… and CA minimum wage, altho slated to go up, is currently about $8/hr

354 fern01  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:45:52pm

re: #109 Charles Johnson

Glenn Greenwald: I Defend Snowden Like MSNBC Defends Obama ‘24 Hours a Day’

Typical Greenwald. This is a lie, by the way — MSNBC airs a LOT of criticism of Obama. Yes, they’re basically liberal-ish in outlook, but saying they defend Obama 24/7 is just ludicrous.

If MorningJoe is part of MSNBC - then it is more than ludicrous - an outright lie - MJ attacks the President every waking day,

355 compound_Idaho  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:47:14pm

re: #352 Justanotherhuman

Two years ago I moved from a small house built in 1906 into a Mac. Mansion. Utility bills dropped dramatically. Apparently they knew nothing of insulation at the turn of the century.

356 Gus  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:54:53pm

re: #355 compound_Idaho

Two years ago I moved from a small house built in 1906 into a Mac. Mansion. Utility bills dropped dramatically. Apparently they knew nothing of insulation at the turn of the century.

They don’t build houses like they used to. Thank goodness.

357 RadicalModerate  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:56:32pm

re: #335 Pie-onist Overlord

Still derpin’ away

[Embedded content]

That “public debt” one has to be one of the most-debunked claims in modern times, yet they keep on referring to it.

About half of the debt attributed to the Obama administration is directly tied to his predecessor. In fact, during the past three years, federal spending has actually gone down by about 5 percent.

Iraq War: $1.8Trillion - this was “off the books” during the Bush years, and was reinstated as a budgetary item by Obama.
TARP: $245Billion
Bush Tax cuts: $1.2Trillion - these were supposed to sunset in 2009, but due to the economic downturn and grandstanding by congressional Republicans, was extended.

Also, there’s another trillion or so that was “added” by the Obama administration simply by the fact that there was an accounting change in 2009 that, among other things, did the following: indexed Alternative Minimum Tax to inflation, fully accounted for Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement costs, reporting of complete (versus best-case anticipated) disaster-relief expenditures. Those costs were there before 2009, they just weren’t reported on the US budget.

358 Justanotherhuman  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 4:58:06pm

re: #355 compound_Idaho

Two years ago I moved from a small house built in 1906 into a Mac. Mansion. Utility bills dropped dramatically. Apparently they knew nothing of insulation at the turn of the century.

Yes, that’s very true; I’ve lived in places like that, too. This place was built circa 1970-something, so did have some insulation; he just added more.

359 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 5:43:31pm

re: #337 Targetpractice

Yeah, a gun in the hand is worth an entire police force. Just ask the 14 yr old girl shot by her own father in the middle of the night because he thought she was a burglar.

//

Why did that slutty ho shoot the nice college boy who bought her a free drink?

360 Pie-onist Overlord  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 5:45:12pm

re: #349 RadicalModerate

I want to know what part of the country rent hasn’t gone up rather dramatically during the first decade this century.
In the area where I live (Dallas, TX), the average monthly rent for a 1000sqft, 2-bedroom apt went from $675 to $902 during that time - and from 2010-2013 rent has increased to roughly $1105/mo.

Detroit.

361 HoosierHoops  Thu, Dec 26, 2013 7:20:31pm

re: #342 Justanotherhuman

As I recall, the “old” rule of thumb on shelter costs used to be 25% of your gross income, and that included utilities. Seems like an eternity ago. It was usually what mortgage companies required, no more of your budget than that, with a good sized down payment as well.

So, even today, a lot of people making more than the minimum wage (40 hrs @7.25 = $288/wk) are paying even more than 50% of their wages in shelter cost. I know I am.

Ole God..We started our family after college.. I made 3.35/hr. and paid a 135/month for the entire 2nd floor of a Victorian on Pine Street in Napa.
For 20 bucks a week we ate like a king and queen with our new born..
I’m not dumb when living in Napa Valley..But we never felt rich, But never felt poor..Those were the days

362 wheat-dogghazi  Fri, Dec 27, 2013 3:46:16am

re: #261 Shiplord Kirel

If I had Alice Walton’s dough, I would be scheming with Elon Musk and Paul Allen to send people back to the Moon. Given the dramatic reductions in launch cost (thanks to Musk’s SpaceX) and the availability of proven landing and exploration technology (thanks to the government financed Project Apollo) costs would be well within the reach of certain very wealthy individuals.
I won’t be surprised at all if it happens. The NEXT person on the Moon should be a woman though.

And she’ll probably be Chinese.


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