Marco Rubio Follows Anti-Science Statements on Climate Change With Even More Anti-Science Statements on Abortion

They can’t help themselves
Wingnuts • Views: 25,274

Here’s Marco Rubio, the one-man Republican rebranding effort, desperately trying to walk back his ignorant statement on climate change, and only managing to sound even more ignorant as he continues pandering to the Republican Party’s lowest common denominator: Marco Rubio Attempts to Change Subject From Climate Change to Abortion.

Marco Rubio says pro-choice Democrats who criticize him for doubting man-made climate change should be questioned on why they support abortion when “it’s a proven fact” that “human life begins at conception.”

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337 comments
1 Skip Intro  May 14, 2014 7:24:53pm

It’s not just a proven fact, it’s settled science, unlike that totally bogus global warming hogwash.

2 Rev_Arthur_Belling  May 14, 2014 7:26:07pm
“it’s a proven fact” that “human life begins at conception.”

If it’s a proven fact, then he should have no problem taking them out of the womb and seeing if they survive on their own. ///

3 Ryan King  May 14, 2014 7:26:19pm

It’s a proven fact that Rubio is more inept at walking back than Donald Sterling.

4 Backwoods_Sleuth  May 14, 2014 7:27:53pm
5 Backwoods_Sleuth  May 14, 2014 7:29:02pm
6 EPR-radar  May 14, 2014 7:29:05pm

Rubio’s “known fact” is completely irrelevant to the real issue at hand: under what circumstances (if any) should a woman be forced to remain pregnant against her will by law?

Edited to add ‘by law’ above, and my answer which is “no circumstances at all”.

7 Backwoods_Sleuth  May 14, 2014 7:30:03pm
8 Justanotherhuman  May 14, 2014 7:31:08pm

Lots of “human life” gets aborted and no one ever knows it. It might just be that heavy period you experienced.

Something obviously Rubio and his ilk never will acknowledge.

Aren’t women yet tired of male politicians thinking they know more about their bodies than they do in an effort to exert control over them?

9 The Ghost of a Flea  May 14, 2014 7:36:09pm

Well, I know I said dumb stuff about climate change, but SQUIRREL FETUS!

10 Dr. Matt  May 14, 2014 7:36:34pm

It’s a proven fact that conservatives are societies’ lowest common denominator.

11 Skip Intro  May 14, 2014 7:39:44pm

I think it’s appropriate for Mario to double down on dumb on the Double Down on Dumb Show, Starring Sean Hannity.

12 NJDhockeyfan  May 14, 2014 7:40:14pm

re: #5 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

13 The Ghost of a Flea  May 14, 2014 7:41:18pm

Obstetrics/Gynecology versus Intelligent Downthereness:

Teach the Controversy, not the lady parts.

14 EPR-radar  May 14, 2014 7:44:15pm

re: #10 Dr. Matt

It’s a proven fact that conservatives are societies’ lowest common denominator.

Anything to distract from the unpleasant reality that these days the GOP is pretty much a party of rich sociopaths organizing the paranoid, the willfully stupid and the evil.

15 Justanotherhuman  May 14, 2014 7:44:46pm

Speaking of which…

Missouri lawmakers send Gov. Jay Nixon a bill requiring women to wait 72 hours before abortions - @AP
Read more on bigstory.ap.org

16 Gus  May 14, 2014 7:48:16pm

re: #12 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

Looks like something from WWI.

17 EPR-radar  May 14, 2014 7:51:16pm

re: #15 Justanotherhuman

Speaking of which…

Missouri lawmakers send Gov. Jay Nixon a bill requiring women to wait 72 hours before abortions - @AP
Read more on bigstory.ap.org

And this is relevant to the GOP’s often claimed “laser like” focus on jobs how? Perhaps they want to hire a bunch of thugs to act as a morality police?

18 NJDhockeyfan  May 14, 2014 7:51:28pm

re: #16 Gus

Looks like something from WWI.

[Embedded image]

It does. Put a few bombers in the sky and you wouldn’t be able to tell if the picture was from WWII or today.

19 Gus  May 14, 2014 7:52:47pm

re: #18 NJDhockeyfan

It does. Put a few bombers in the sky and you wouldn’t be able to tell if the picture was from WWII or today.

Started to do that with a B-24 but I’m too pooped.

20 The Ghost of a Flea  May 14, 2014 7:55:31pm

re: #17 EPR-radar

And this is relevant to the GOP’s often claimed “laser like” focus on jobs how? Perhaps they want to hire a bunch of thugs to act as a morality police?

Hire?

Unpaid interns.

21 Lidane  May 14, 2014 7:56:41pm

It’s a proven fact that Marco Rubio is a complete jabbering moran.

22 EPR-radar  May 14, 2014 7:56:56pm

re: #20 The Ghost of a Flea

Hire?

Unpaid interns.

Touche. I’m sure all kinds of creeps would enthusiastically volunteer for this, thereby making it more perfectly irrelevant for job creation than I had first thought.

23 Kragar  May 14, 2014 7:58:20pm

Republicans seem to have a real problem with the whole concept of “facts”.

24 Skip Intro  May 14, 2014 7:58:42pm

re: #22 EPR-radar

Touche. I’m sure all kinds of creeps would enthusiastically volunteer for this, thereby making it more perfectly irrelevant for job creation than I had first thought.

There’s around 100 of them just hanging around Bundyville. I’m sure they’d jump at the chance to beat some libturd heads. If they got to wear a special uniform, they’d like it even better.

25 EPR-radar  May 14, 2014 8:00:26pm

re: #24 Skip Intro

There’s around 100 of them just hanging around Bundyville. I’m sure they’d jump at the chance to beat some libturd heads. If they got to wear a special uniform, they’d like it even better.

The real draw for a morality police would doubtless be molesting women under color of law.

26 EPR-radar  May 14, 2014 8:03:01pm

re: #23 Kragar

Republicans seem to have a real problem with the whole concept of “facts”.

Hell, I’ll concede the fact that a human zygote is alive. No much of a concession since a) it is self-evidently true, and b) doesn’t settle the abortion question the way the forced-pregnancy crowd thinks it does.

27 HappyWarrior  May 14, 2014 8:03:35pm

It’s a proven fact that Marco Rubio is a hack who is desperate to regain the nutjobs love.

28 NJDhockeyfan  May 14, 2014 8:06:05pm
29 Lidane  May 14, 2014 8:07:23pm

re: #23 Kragar

Republicans seem to have a real problem with the whole concept of “facts”.

A whole bunch of them openly believe that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and that the Flintstones was a documentary. That’s a problem in 2014.

30 Fineday  May 14, 2014 8:08:35pm

Since no one is denying that human life starts at contraception, this is just a strawman built by Rubio to deflect from his pathetic comments on climate change with the added bonus of attracting conservative voters, who abandoned him after his forray into immigration reform.

Rubio is Perry without the glasses. Oops!

31 Decatur Deb  May 14, 2014 8:09:44pm

re: #30 Fineday

Since no one is denying that human life starts at contraception, this is just a strawman built by Rubio to deflect from his pathetic comments on climate change with the added bonus of attracting conservative voters, who abandoned him after his forray into immigration reform.

Rubio is Perry without the glasses. Oops!

If you don’t know the pencil feature, this would be a good moment to learn.

32 Zamb  May 14, 2014 8:16:49pm

re: #26 EPR-radar

Hell we could classify every cell in the human body as a living thing, doesn’t make my skin flakes human beings.

33 NJDhockeyfan  May 14, 2014 8:17:20pm
34 Rev_Arthur_Belling  May 14, 2014 8:23:37pm

Has anyone watched Frontline’s “United States of Secrets” first part yet? Thoughts. There’s a big photo of Snowden at the top of the web page. Wondering if I should watch, or it would just make me lose respect for Frontline.

35 William Barnett-Lewis  May 14, 2014 8:29:14pm

Heh. One more good one on Hero Cat:

36 NJDhockeyfan  May 14, 2014 8:35:00pm
37 jaunte  May 14, 2014 8:37:49pm
38 jaunte  May 14, 2014 8:38:48pm

What misogyny?

39 jaunte  May 14, 2014 8:41:52pm
40 Floral Giraffe  May 14, 2014 8:45:55pm

re: #12 NJDhockeyfan

SHIT! My friend runs those flower fields.

41 Rightwingconspirator  May 14, 2014 8:54:09pm

re: #40 Floral Giraffe

SHIT! My friend runs those flower fields.

Oh fuck…. Andy’s Orchids is in the area…

42 EPR-radar  May 14, 2014 8:54:21pm

re: #32 Zamb

Hell we could classify every cell in the human body as a living thing, doesn’t make my skin flakes human beings.

Even if the fetus is deemed to be a human being, that doesn’t give it the right to use the body of another for sustenance.

Bodily autonomy is as absolute a right as anything out there, and keeping another human being alive is clearly insufficient grounds for infringing it, otherwise we’d have mandatory blood donations from the living, and transplant harvesting from the dead without requiring prior consent.

43 Floral Giraffe  May 14, 2014 9:05:00pm

re: #41 Rightwingconspirator

Andy’s is farther north & the wind has died down…

44 Zamb  May 14, 2014 9:19:06pm

re: #42 EPR-radar

Ha, I’d love to see some liberal toss out the mandatory blood donation thing on the issue, get all the crazies worked up about secret vampires and bodily fluids.

45 Gus  May 14, 2014 9:26:45pm
46 Gus  May 14, 2014 10:00:29pm

47 Rightwingconspirator  May 14, 2014 10:02:31pm

Oh man. “Dozens of homes lost” KTLA 5

Local San Marcos man “feels like arson”

cbs8.com

48 Gus  May 14, 2014 10:07:40pm

Test.

49 Gus  May 14, 2014 10:15:15pm

Good night.

50 Kragar  May 14, 2014 10:18:55pm

re: #47 Rightwingconspirator

Oh man. “Dozens of homes lost” KTLA 5

Local San Marcos man “feels like arson”

cbs8.com

Officially, everything is still unknown

51 Lidane  May 14, 2014 10:27:55pm

OK. This is awesome:

Read the entire Oatmeal review of the Tesla and just what favor he asks of Elon Musk. It’s pretty cool that Musk responded at all, much less that he’d be happy to help.

52 William Barnett-Lewis  May 14, 2014 10:52:42pm

re: #51 Lidane

OK. This is awesome:

[Embedded content]

Read the entire Oatmeal review of the Tesla and just what favor he asks of Elon Musk. It’s pretty cool that Musk responded at all, much less that he’d be happy to help.

I’m still ambivalent about him but that’s a good thing and I’m glad he’s doing it.

53 William Barnett-Lewis  May 14, 2014 10:53:07pm

Good night all,

54 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 14, 2014 11:21:12pm

Just morning it here in Germany. Having a bit of a cold snap, the Eisheilige, the “icy saints”, which often sets in at the start of May.

It is a peasant rule of thumb never to shear your sheep before May 15th, St Sophia’s Day, or they might freeze to death.

55 Lidane  May 14, 2014 11:57:56pm
56 Single-handed sailor  May 15, 2014 1:26:17am

Some nice background music to fall asleep to. Wendy Carlos - Sonic Seasonings

Youtube Video

57 Rev_Arthur_Belling  May 15, 2014 2:53:53am

re: #55 Lidane

[Embedded content]

John McCain’s solution to everything seems to involve sending the military into situations that have every likelihood of becoming clusterfucks and engendering further ill will towards the U.S.

Dodging two bullets is right.

58 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 3:05:36am

re: #17 EPR-radar

And this is relevant to the GOP’s often claimed “laser like” focus on jobs how? Perhaps they want to hire a bunch of thugs to act as a morality police?

Meet the GOP’s new morality police. Nice watch on the chap in the middle.

59 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 3:27:57am

Meanwhile, in Turkey, in the wake of the Soma mine disaster, a lesson on how not to win political support:

PM Erdogan’s Adviser Sparks Outrage For Kicking Mourner Amid Soma Protests

An adviser of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sparked outrage after being photographed while kicking a mourner in Soma on May 14, in the wake of the previous day’s mining disaster.

Tension rose as the anger in the small mining town, where at least 282 workers lost their lives in the worst mining tragedy in Turkey’s history, turned against Erdogan. Flanked by bodyguards, the prime minister faced boos and calls for his resignation.

Yusuf Yerkel, one of Erdogan’s advisers, was then captured delivering an enraged kick at a grounded protester who was being held down by two soldiers. According to witness accounts, the special forces were interrogating the protester after he kicked an official car belonging to the convoy of the prime minister. Yerkel, who saw the scene as he was preparing to take a seat in the car assigned to him, reportedly ran at the protester, kicking him three or four times.

The act has caused fury on social media, with the picture being shared widely and fanning protests on the evening on May 14.

Confirming that he was the one in the picture, Yerkel said he would soon make a public statement regarding the incident.

Not a good campaign image.

Needless to say, this has pissed off a whole lot of folks, including quite a few of the AKP’s nominal supporters; it’s so over-the-top that some of my Turkish friends - who are themselves AKP supporters, generally speaking - are saying that not only does Mr. Yerkel need to be fired - publicly - but that perhaps it’s time for another party to step up. They’re looking at the Republican People’s Party, or Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP.

hurriyetdailynews.com

60 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 3:28:22am

Shit. First headlines I see this morning.

Broken oil line spews 1 million gallons of crude oil into streets in Atwater Village, Los Angeles - @ABC7
see original on twitter.com

61 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 3:32:27am

re: #59 Dr Lizardo

Meanwhile, in Turkey, in the wake of the Soma mine disaster, a lesson on how not to win political support:

PM Erdogan’s Adviser Sparks Outrage For Kicking Mourner Amid Soma Protests

Not a good campaign image.

Needless to say, this has pissed off a whole lot of folks, including quite a few of the AKP’s nominal supporters - it’s so over-the-top that some of my Turkish friends - who are themselves AKP supporters, generally speaking - are saying that not only does Mr. Yerkel need to be fired - publicly - but that perhaps it’s time for another party to step up. They’re looking at the Republican People’s Party, or Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP.

hurriyetdailynews.com

I’m surprised Erdogan hasn’t been taken down yet. But that’s pretty awful itself. Erdogan & Co must think themselves quite privileged.

62 KiTA  May 15, 2014 3:35:20am

Er, if life begins at conception, then every sexually active woman who has been sexually active more than oh, 4 months, is one of the worst serial killers this world has ever known. Every single one of them.

Forgive me if I forget my bio classes, but… A fertilized egg — the result of conception — only has about a 1 in 4 chance of attaching to the wall and growing into a fetus. The vast majority of them are expelled during menstruation.

Or, in other words: Rubio is a fucking moron.

63 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 3:37:39am

re: #61 Justanotherhuman

I’m surprised Erdogan hasn’t been taken down yet. But that’s pretty awful itself. Erdogan & Co must think themselves quite privileged.

Turkey’s had a brilliant economic run as of late, and a lot of people credit the AKP for that winning streak. Like they say, people vote with their pocketbooks. In fairness to the AKP, they have done a good job economically speaking - it’s their biggest strength.

What also assists the AKP is that their main opposition, the CHP, is still somewhat fragmented and searching for a new internal direction in order to have greater appeal to the Turkish electorate.

64 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 3:43:27am

Elusive Muscovite with three names takes control of Ukraine rebels

reuters.com

Umm, shouldn’t that headline read, “Russian interlopers”?

(Reuters) - He is a man with three names, sought by Ukrainian intelligence as the top Russian operative in the separatist east. He moves through the streets in a black Mercedes, his face with pencil moustache hidden behind tinted windows, and his aim is to “destroy” Ukrainian forces that venture onto his territory.

“In a leaflet distributed this week in the rebel Donetsk region, “Colonel Igor Strelkov” assumed command of all rebel forces there and called for Russian army help to ward off what he calls the threat from the Kiev “junta” and from NATO.

“To Kiev and its Western allies, Strelkov is living proof that Moscow is behind the uprising in eastern Ukraine, despite its denials, and trying to replay the scenario that saw it seize the Crimea province in March.” More

65 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 3:44:01am

re: #62 KiTA

Er, if life begins at conception, then every sexually active woman who has been sexually active more than oh, 4 months, is one of the worst serial killers this world has ever known. Every single one of them.

Forgive me if I forget my bio classes, but… A fertilized egg — the result of conception — only has about a 1 in 4 chance of attaching to the wall and growing into a fetus. The vast majority of them are expelled during menstruation.

Or, in other words: Rubio is a fucking moron.

Well, that goes without saying. The man was supposed to be the GOP’s “Great Brown Hope,” their young and hip candidate to run next election who’d have the built-in advantage of being Hispanic and thus winning them that vote. But he’s pretty much totally reinvented himself…into yet another cookie-cutter far-right loon. If we wanted Ted Cruz, we’d vote for Ted Cruz, not the knock-off imitation.

66 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 3:45:17am

re: #63 Dr Lizardo

Turkey’s had a brilliant economic run as of late, and a lot of people credit the AKP for that winning streak. Like they say, people vote with their pocketbooks. In fairness to the AKP, they have done a good job economically speaking - it’s their biggest strength.

What also assists the AKP is that their main opposition, the CHP, is still somewhat fragmented and searching for a new internal direction in order to have greater appeal to the Turkish electorate.

“Turkey’s had a brilliant economic run as of late…”

Yes, but at what cost? We’re beginning, I think, to see it.

67 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 3:46:26am

Oh, and PM Erdogan punched someone out - apparently, he’s not one to be upstaged by a mere adviser.

Turkish PM Erdogan Punches Soma Local After Protest

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoᇺn punched a local in Soma, where at least 282 miners were killed in Turkey’s worst industrial disaster in modern history, during his visit to the district on Wednesday, video footage has revealed.

After he visited the mine, Erdoᇺn headed to the municipality office to hold a press conference. Following the news conference, Erdoᇺn left the building amid boos and calls for resignation by locals. When Erdoᇺn got out of his car, angry locals met him with boos and protests. Engaging in a quarrel with a local, Erdoᇺn appeared stunned and bewildered in the face of the protests against him by Soma residents.

Despite being surrounded by an army of guards and police forces, Erdoᇺn faced difficulties while walking in the streets close to the Soma municipality. Along with other top officials accompanying him, Erdoᇺn appeared to seek refuge in a supermarket, where he was caught on camera as he punched a local.

On the same day, Erdoᇺn’s special assistant and advisor Yusuf Yerkel was caught on camera while kicking a Soma mourner whose relatives were trapped deep inside the coal mine.

There’s a video in the story; it’s been slowed down with arrows added starting at 1:20. Unfortunately, the one thing I can’t see is whether the local from Soma took a swing at Erdogan first, in which case, Erdogan struck back in self-defense, which is - while perhaps not politically wise - at least understandable. Perhaps some Lizards with more discerning eyes can tell otherwise.

todayszaman.com

68 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 3:51:48am

re: #67 Dr Lizardo

“This video has been removed by the user.”

Too inflammatory?

69 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 3:54:08am

re: #68 Justanotherhuman

“This video has been removed by the user.”

Too inflammatory?

It was up when I posted it.

Most likely, the Turkish government pulled it down - they’re known for doing that. It’ll be back up soon enough, I’m pretty sure of that.

Found it. Youtube Video

70 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 3:57:04am

re: #59 Dr Lizardo

…
Needless to say, this has pissed off a whole lot of folks, including quite a few of the AKP’s nominal supporters; it’s so over-the-top that some of my Turkish friends - who are themselves AKP supporters, generally speaking - are saying that not only does Mr. Yerkel need to be fired - publicly - but that perhaps it’s time for another party …

Dude, he kicked my car!!!

71 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:02:44am

re: #69 Dr Lizardo

It was up when I posted it.

Most likely, the Turkish government pulled it down - they’re known for doing that. It’ll be back up soon enough, I’m pretty sure of that.

Found it. [Embedded content]

Video

Thanks, I couldn’t tell. Looked like the guy in the greenish safety vest wanted his turn, though. : )

72 wheat-doggha -- oo bird outside my window  May 15, 2014 4:06:28am

re: #62 KiTA

Er, if life begins at conception, then every sexually active woman who has been sexually active more than oh, 4 months, is one of the worst serial killers this world has ever known. Every single one of them.

Forgive me if I forget my bio classes, but… A fertilized egg — the result of conception — only has about a 1 in 4 chance of attaching to the wall and growing into a fetus. The vast majority of them are expelled during menstruation.

Or, in other words: Rubio is a fucking moron.

Either he believes it himself, or he’s pandering to the masses, but lot of the anti-abortion types have only a vague idea of how babbies are formed. They know as much about conception and embryonic growth as they do evolution or genetics.

73 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 4:07:03am

re: #60 Justanotherhuman

Shit. First headlines I see this morning.

Broken oil line spews 1 million gallons of crude oil into streets in Atwater Village, Los Angeles - @ABC7
see original on twitter.com

[Embedded content]

Good Humid Morning!

So, another pipeline breaks and spews oil. And people still want to say that Keystone would have no problems. I know we ahve pipes running all over this country…but Keystone cuts across some pretty frail land that cannot have any problem.

By the way…Hero Cat is going to be on The Today show this morning. They just showed the cat munching on some treats and getting ready for a big national appearance.

74 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 4:07:49am

re: #71 Justanotherhuman

Thanks, I couldn’t tell. Looked like the guy in the greenish safety vest wanted his turn, though. : )

Heh.

In any event, a head of government getting into a physical altercation with a member of the public never looks good.

Like I pointed out; I can’t tell if it was a case of self-defense or not. I mean, I’m a nice guy and all, but I ain’t Ghandi. That being said, if I were PM of a country, I’d probably do my best to avoid creating an atmosphere where members of the public would feel compelled to punch my lights out.

But that’s just me. :)

75 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:08:42am

re: #72 wheat-doggha — oo bird outside my window

Either he believes it himself, or he’s pandering to the masses, but lot of the anti-abortion types have only a vague idea of how babbies are formed. They know as much about conception and embryonic growth as they do evolution or genetics.

I imagine I could write the understanding an anti-choicer has about the intricacies of procreation on a notecard…with room left over for the Gettysburg Address.

76 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 4:10:17am

re: #65 Targetpractice

Well, that goes without saying. The man was supposed to be the GOP’s “Great Brown Hope,” their young and hip candidate to run next election who’d have the built-in advantage of being Hispanic and thus winning them that vote. But he’s pretty much totally reinvented himself…into yet another cookie-cutter far-right loon. If we wanted Ted Cruz, we’d vote for Ted Cruz, not the knock-off imitation.

I don’t think Rubio really stands for anything. He has no real core ideals. All he does is play politics and that is why he ends up all over the place. It is why he can’t frame a decent conversation on his policy because he doesn’t believe in anything but power and the bucks that come with it.

A bad actor.

77 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:12:30am

re: #76 ObserverArt

I don’t think Rubio really stands for anything. He has no real core ideals. All he does is play politics and that is why he ends up all over the place. It is why he can’t frame a decent conversation on his policy because he doesn’t believe in anything but power and the bucks that come with it.

A bad actor.

Agreed, Rubio is everything that wingnuts have accused the President of being, namely an empty suit. He’s whatever you want him, so long as he’s got your vote. Which is why, when he actually took a position on something and engineered the Senate’s immigration reform bill with a “pathway to citizenship,” the base responded with absolute rage and swore firey vengeance upon him.

78 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:12:56am

It appears an historic synagogue has been turned into a venue for the likes of Glenn Greenwald. And what an ironic motto: “Where Jewish identity and community intersect.” Neither of which “identity” nor “community” apply to him.

facebook.com

79 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:16:00am

Yikes! That’s Charlotte.

Tornado Warning for Mecklenburg County in NC until 7:30 AM EDT - @TWCBreaking
Read more on weather.com

80 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 4:18:15am

Justanotherhuman,

Looks like some bad weather and tornado warnings in NC today.

Stay dry and safe.

81 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:20:34am

re: #80 ObserverArt

Justanotherhuman,

Looks like some bad weather and tornado warnings in NC today.

Stay dry and safe.

Yeah, we have tornado warnings at least once a year, but haven’t had one in the 15 yrs I’ve been here. Some high winds which took down trees a couple of years ago, but no other property damage. : )

82 Dr. Matt  May 15, 2014 4:24:16am

With 24 hours before operation American spring, I’m guessing satellites have detected the 10s of millions massing somewhere outside of DC. Right?

83 Varek Raith  May 15, 2014 4:30:20am

re: #82 Dr. Matt

With 24 hours before operation American spring, I’m guessing satellites have detected the 10s of millions massing somewhere outside of DC. Right?

2-4 inches of rain expected in to tomorrow.

84 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:30:41am

re: #82 Dr. Matt

With 24 hours before operation American spring, I’m guessing satellites have detected the 10s of millions massing somewhere outside of DC. Right?

I can hear the rumble now of their approach to D.C.

85 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 4:31:23am

There’s supposed to be a general strike of fast food workers today.

86 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:32:34am

re: #85 Pie-onist Overlord

There’s supposed to be a general strike of fast food workers today.

Well, guess that’s my lunch options ruined. Figure I’ll just stay inside and cook up some ramen noodles then.

//

87 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:33:43am

re: #82 Dr. Matt

With 24 hours before operation American spring, I’m guessing satellites have detected the 10s of millions massing somewhere outside of DC. Right?

Wonkette has the story, of course.

THE MARCHING MORONS 5:45 pm May 13, 2014
Operation American Spring Will Bring 10-30 Million Patriots To DC Friday, If You Include Imaginary Friends

Read more at wonkette.com

88 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 4:35:44am

re: #87 Justanotherhuman

Wonkette has the story, of course.

THE MARCHING MORONS 5:45 pm May 13, 2014
Operation American Spring Will Bring 10-30 Million Patriots To DC Friday, If You Include Imaginary Friends

Read more at wonkette.com

LOLOL

Nice reference to the short story by Cyril M. Kornbluth. Love it.

89 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:36:05am

Wait, am I going senile or didn’t they promise us months back that they’d be doing this very thing? You know, the whole convergence on D.C., roads in and out packed with 18-wheelers, and the removal of the President and his cohorts at gunpoint? I distinctly remember some dumbass standing before the gates of the White House with a Confederate flag while another dumbass ranted on a bullhorn about how the President needed to “put down the Koran and come out with his hands up.”

Anybody remember how that turned out, because my memory’s a bit fuzzy.

90 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:38:02am

American Spring 5/16/2014

91 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 4:39:42am

re: #89 Targetpractice

Wait, am I going senile or didn’t they promise us months back that they’d be doing this very thing? You know, the whole convergence on D.C., roads in and out packed with 18-wheelers, and the removal of the President and his cohorts at gunpoint? I distinctly remember some dumbass standing before the gates of the White House with a Confederate flag while another dumbass ranted on a bullhorn about how the President needed to “put down the Koran and come out with his hands up.”

Anybody remember how that turned out, because my memory’s a bit fuzzy.

Yeah last Labor Day was supposed to be the “Million Truckers Shut Down The Beltway” event. They actually had three big rigs driving abreast which were pulled over and ticketed. Wingnuts on Twitter were spamming pictures of random truck traffic jams from other times & places and claiming it was their event!

92 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 4:40:21am

re: #89 Targetpractice

Wait, am I going senile or didn’t they promise us months back that they’d be doing this very thing? You know, the whole convergence on D.C., roads in and out packed with 18-wheelers, and the removal of the President and his cohorts at gunpoint? I distinctly remember some dumbass standing before the gates of the White House with a Confederate flag while another dumbass ranted on a bullhorn about how the President needed to “put down the Koran and come out with his hands up.”

Anybody remember how that turned out, because my memory’s a bit fuzzy.

At times like this, I’d love to President, simply for the lulz.

I’d be all like, “Foolish Patriots! Let’s see how you fare against my Sardukar troops! I, Padisha Emperor Shaddam VI laugh at your puny insignificance!”

93 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:44:12am

re: #92 Dr Lizardo

At times like this, I’d love to President, simply for the lulz.

I’d be all like, “Foolish Patriots! Let’s see how you fare against my Sardukar troops! I, Padisha Emperor Shaddam VI laugh at your puny insignificance!”

See, I’d be a truly evil bastard and send out someone to deliver a written message to these Jonesian nutters:

“To the Wingnut Commander:

NUTS!

The American Commander.”

94 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:46:55am

re: #93 Targetpractice

See, I’d be a truly evil bastard and send out someone to deliver a written message to these Jonesian nutters:

“To the Wingnut Commander:

NUTS!

The American Commander.”

Yeah, last time I looked, Barack Hussein Obama is the Commander in Chief of all the armed forces in the US.

That must really get Harry Riley’s adult diapers in a total twist.

95 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 4:49:07am

Tcot nutbags have this fantasy.

96 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:51:05am

re: #95 Pie-onist Overlord

Tcot nutbags have this fantasy.

[Embedded content]

I’ll be surprised if they manage 10,000, let alone 1 million. And the only way they’re fitting even 1 million people in D.C. is if they all park in Arlington and walk to the Mall. Finding a parking spot convenient to this little get together in the middle of the day? You’d have an easier time finding evidence of Bigfoot.

97 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 4:51:06am

I know this is an often-used form of getting to where you’re going in southern Asia, but damn, another sinking.

Ferry capsizes in Bangladesh with 200 passengers on board; casualties unknown, officials say - @Reuters
End of alert

98 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 4:51:57am

re: #96 Targetpractice

I’ll be surprised if they manage 10,000, let alone 1 million. And the only way they’re fitting even 1 million people in D.C. is if they all park in Arlington and walk to the Mall. Finding a parking spot convenient to this little get together in the middle of the day? You’d have an easier time finding evidence of Bigfoot.

I’d be surprised if they get more than 100.

99 Bubblehead II  May 15, 2014 4:56:08am

Morning Lizards.

100 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 4:58:49am

I don’t live in D.C. but I’ve visited several times, and any of these nutters from further West than the state line who think that they’ll arrive in D.C. and find gorgeous weather in ample supply might as well just dunk their heads in water. There’s basically three seasons in D.C.: Frigidly cold, miserably wet, or blisteringly hot. If you manage to find a day that’s dry and nice, then enjoy it for all of the hour it lasts.

101 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:00:31am

re: #95 Pie-onist Overlord

Tcot nutbags have this fantasy.

[Embedded content]

“In God I Trust” is a particularly nasty liar and twister of facts as well.

102 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 5:01:22am

re: #100 Targetpractice

There’s basically three seasons in D.C.: Frigidly cold, miserably wet, or blisteringly hot. If you manage to find a day that’s dry and nice, then enjoy it for all of the hour it lasts.

They will blame it Obama controlling the climate from an NSA weather satellite.

103 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 5:03:46am

re: #101 Justanotherhuman

“In God I Trust” is a particularly nasty liar and twister of facts as well.

He’s less obnoxious than jjauthor.

104 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:05:17am

Damn.

105 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:06:59am

re: #103 Pie-onist Overlord

He’s less obnoxious than jjauthor.

Oh, Janie? For sure. She has to get her 2 cents in, viciously.

106 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 5:09:08am

re: #105 Justanotherhuman

Oh, Janie? For sure. She has to get her 2 cents in, viciously.

2 cents is more than she ever earned working at an actual job, but she’s all like HURR HURR!!!! TEH POORS ALL DESERVES THERE POORNESS FOR BEING LAZY MOOCHERS!!!!!!

107 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:12:25am

Holy crap!

108 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:14:02am

We’re west of there, and are just getting some light rain right now. It’s very cloudy and quiet.

Haven’t heard whether or not anything touched down yet, though.

ETA: It appears to have moved on.

wsoctv.com

109 Dr. Matt  May 15, 2014 5:17:29am

re: #95 Pie-onist Overlord

Tcot nutbags have this fantasy.

[Embedded content]

The comments at that moonie times article are a cesspool of fucktardiness.

110 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 5:20:26am

re: #109 Dr. Matt

The comments at that moonie times article are a cesspool of fucktardiness.

All news comment sections are cesspools of fucktardness, but at washtimes they delete comments that do not meet their standards of batshittery.

111 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 5:21:17am

But he plays one on Teh Internets…

112 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 5:21:27am

re: #89 Targetpractice

Wait, am I going senile or didn’t they promise us months back that they’d be doing this very thing? You know, the whole convergence on D.C., roads in and out packed with 18-wheelers, and the removal of the President and his cohorts at gunpoint? I distinctly remember some dumbass standing before the gates of the White House with a Confederate flag while another dumbass ranted on a bullhorn about how the President needed to “put down the Koran and come out with his hands up.”

Anybody remember how that turned out, because my memory’s a bit fuzzy.

The Keynan resigned and President West took over. it was a shame about Secretary of State Palin.

113 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:22:52am

Would you want this “nurse” caring for you? I have no doubt there are vets on drugs, but they should be helped, not condemned. This witch should be investigated herself, just for her attitude. She is, after all, sucking on the public tit as much as those she disrespects. Those vets earned their benefits.

wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —

An employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Salisbury came to Eyewitness News saying a growing number of veterans are using the hospital to feed their drug addiction.

The nurse told Eyewitness News anchor Peter Daut that every day she sees veterans on illegal drugs who show no interest in getting treatment.

(snip)

“I’m not a disgruntled employee; I’m a disgruntled taxpayer when I see that our taxpayer dollars are being used to subsidize drug habits,” the nurse said. (my emphasis)

More

114 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 5:24:35am

re: #113 Justanotherhuman

Would you want this “nurse” caring for you? I have no doubt there are vets on drugs, but they should be helped, not condemned. This witch should be investigated herself, just for her attitude. She is, after all, sucking on the public tit as much as those she disrespects. Those vets earned their benefits.

wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —

An employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Salisbury came to Eyewitness News saying a growing number of veterans are using the hospital to feed their drug addiction.

The nurse told Eyewitness News anchor Peter Daut that every day she sees veterans on illegal drugs who show no interest in getting treatment.

(snip)

“I’m not a disgruntled employee; I’m a disgruntled taxpayer when I see that our taxpayer dollars are being used to subsidize drug habits,” the nurse said. (my emphasis)

More

Somebody explain to this “nurse” what chronic pain is like. But no it’s not something that you can explain, it’s something you have to experience.

115 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  May 15, 2014 5:25:25am

re: #113 Justanotherhuman

Yeah. Guess what, nurse jackass, if someone’s addicted to drugs, that means they need those drugs. Of course it’s better to get them off of it, but it isn’t just something they’re doing for shits and giggles, if they’re addicted to, say, painkillers and then go off of them, they’ll undergo immense amounts of misery.

My grandpa came back from WWII addicted to morphine.

116 Bubblehead II  May 15, 2014 5:28:29am

Breakfast now being served at the nest.

117 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 5:33:07am

re: #116 Bubblehead II

Breakfast now being served at the nest.


“Aww Mom, pigeon again?”

Very cool site.

118 Bubblehead II  May 15, 2014 5:37:43am

re: #117 Decatur Deb


“Aww Mom, pigeon again?”

Very cool site.

I have a tab and monitor here at home dedicated to the site. I also have it bookmarked on my tablet so I can check in during the day at work.

Guess you could call me addicted.

119 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:40:48am

re: #115 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

Yeah. Guess what, nurse jackass, if someone’s addicted to drugs, that means they need those drugs. Of course it’s better to get them off of it, but it isn’t just something they’re doing for shits and giggles, if they’re addicted to, say, painkillers and then go off of them, they’ll undergo immense amounts of misery.

My grandpa came back from WWII addicted to morphine.

She probably doesn’t care that a high percentage of the homeless are veterans, either. Many of them cannot get treatment at overcrowded and poorly run VA facilities (I’ve heard complaints in the past about Salisbury, where she is).

Self-medicating isn’t something new, and veterans aren’t just kindly grandfathers seeking treatment for old-age related illnesses. If VA hospitals can’t treat recent, younger victims of Middle East wars in the proper way, then a general overhaul is needed. It appears they learned nothing from Vietnam, either.

120 Rev_Arthur_Belling  May 15, 2014 5:41:00am

re: #111 Pie-onist Overlord

Journalist Glenn Greenwald said his book describing the sequence of events around Edward Snowden’s release of classified documents demonstrates the fugitive former contractor was neither “reckless” nor “treasonous.”

In an appearance in Washington, Greenwald said the former National Security Agency contractor carefully sorted the material into items he felt should be made public and those in which he asked the journalists he met to decide on whether to publish.

“There was other information he was insistent should not be published,” Greenwald told a group as part of his tour promoting his book, “No Place To Hide,” released earlier this week.

Snowden withheld information he deemed harmful to American security or innocent people, Greenwald said.

“He did not come forward in order to harm the United States,” said the journalist who led the Pulitzer Prize-winning team at The Guardian that broke the story about NSA surveillance based on Snowden’s files.

Aside from criticizing TV journalists, I’m amazed that a relatively low-level contract IT person has the skills and operational knowledge to make those judgements about “national security” all by his lonesome. How many different stories has GG offered up about the documents Snowden stole on his way to a Russian asylum bid?

121 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 5:47:41am

re: #120 Rev_Arthur_Belling

Aside from criticizing TV journalists, I’m amazed that a relatively low-level contract IT person has the skills and operational knowledge to make those judgements about “national security” all by his lonesome. How many different stories has GG offered up about the documents Snowden stole on his way to a Russian asylum bid?

I heard Greenwald on NPR yesterday rattling on and on about how carefully he & Snowflake protected the documents so as not to endanger anyone. Yeah right, not endanger his book sales.

I changed the radio station to traffic/weather alerts instead of punching out the console with my fist.

122 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 5:50:33am

These idiots are so idiotic.

123 NJDhockeyfan  May 15, 2014 5:52:35am
124 NJDhockeyfan  May 15, 2014 5:55:13am

re: #122 Pie-onist Overlord

These idiots are so idiotic.

[Embedded content]

That fool should watch these videos before tweeting stupid shit.

Youtube Video

Youtube Video

125 b.d.  May 15, 2014 5:55:20am

re: #95 Pie-onist Overlord

Tcot nutbags have this fantasy.

[Embedded content]

UPRISING!! 10 to 30 Million Strong!

(est. ± 30 Million)

126 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 5:58:06am

re: #120 Rev_Arthur_Belling

How could he possibly have gone through every NSA doc he stole since 2012 (when he worked for Dell) anyway? How do you make that decision when you don’t have all the facts, when you’ve never worked in real intelligence, had any real foreign experience, and question the expertise of those with both the education and experience in a field you only observed from the outside? You cannot appoint yourself judge and jury about something that not only affects the US, but other countries as well as intl relations.

When he was at Dell, not only did Snowden steal NSA docs, but he also stole docs from Britain that were in the system. Is it any wonder that he and those connected with him are persona non grata in Britain. Any wonder that Miranda was detained when he landed there?

I just don’t think facts matter to Greensnow and their ilk as long as there is (a) a way to harm the US govt, (b) screw up intl relations, and (c) a way to make tons of money from (a) and (b).

And I’m still not convinced that the “ordinary person” is being tracked by the US govt unless there is some valid reason to do so, such as their connection, however thin, to terrorism. Even so, it seems to me that if everyone was being tracked, as Greensnow claims, the Boston bombings would have never happened and the Tsarnaev brothers would have been deported before they could accomplish their goals. Of course if they had been monitored, Greensnow would be yelling about “civil liberties” at the top of their lungs.

Do we excuse “terrorism” and the monitoring of those caught up in metadata simply because they reside in or are citizens of the US? Perhaps there could be better safeguards in place to protect the innocent and to prevent screw-ups (the NSA is comprised of humans, too), but I’m not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater, as Greensnow and others would have us do.

127 Alyosha  May 15, 2014 5:58:44am

re: #121 Pie-onist Overlord

I heard Greenwald on NPR yesterday rattling on and on about how carefully he & Snowflake protected the documents so as not to endanger anyone. Yeah right, not endanger his book sales.

I changed the radio station to traffic/weather alerts instead of punching out the console with my fist.

The real problem is, if the documents they have have indeed been accessed without their knowledge (but just how naive do you have to be?) the actors who would profit most would certainly not advertise their acquired knowledge.

The degree to which some people are satisfied by Greenwald’s words imploring us all to just trust him, is simply pathetic.

Can’t wait for the downfall his ego so desperately deserves.

128 GunstarGreen  May 15, 2014 6:00:13am

re: #122 Pie-onist Overlord

These idiots are so idiotic.

[Embedded content]

And they never answer that question, do they?

More related to the post topic: a reminder that the ‘sanctity of life / life begins at conception’ crowd is the exact same crowd that gleefully watched and cheered as a man was pumped full of untested chemicals and died an excruciating, torturous death.

I don’t ask for much from political ideologies. I just expect them to, you know, NOT be full to overflowing with obvious hypocrisy.

129 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 6:00:57am

re: #122 Pie-onist Overlord

These idiots are so idiotic.

[Embedded content]

You know, the “rapidly becoming” BS has now been going on since 2009. When exactly do we start seeing soldiers goose-stepping down Penn Ave, conservatives being marked with yellow elephants, people being imprisoned or executed for speaking against the government, or books being burned?

By this point in his reign, Hitler had already wiped out all opposition, effectively stripped the courts and legislature of the ability to override his rule, begun the quiet extermination of “undesirables,” and turned Germany into a police state.

130 Mattand  May 15, 2014 6:01:02am

Going to Google it in a second, but is anyone familiar with Common Core? My SIL, she of “I’m a government worker who got furloughed in Oct. but it’s the GOP isn’t entirely to blame” thought process, is having a freakout over it on FB.

Independent Journal Review (ijreview.com) posted a story in which college students supposedly couldn’t figure out 32𠄱2=20. Some quick Googling reveals that ijreview.com is Fox News without the angry old white guys shouting at a TV camera.

She’s now all bent out of shape that my nephew won’t be able to do math and she can’t help with his homework, blah blah blah.

I’m guessing Common Core has its issues, but I’m also guessing this ijreview.com report is a load of shit.

131 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 6:03:31am

re: #129 Targetpractice

You know, the “rapidly becoming” BS has now been going on since 2009. When exactly do we start seeing soldiers goose-stepping down Penn Ave, conservatives being marked with yellow elephants, people being imprisoned or executed for speaking against the government, or books being burned?

By this point in his reign, Hitler had already wiped out all opposition, effectively stripped the courts and legislature of the ability to override his rule, begun the quiet extermination of “undesirables,” and turned Germany into a police state.

Well speaking of “books burning” I found a copy of Ann Coulter book that Zedushka was sneaking seekritly reading in the bathroom. Should I take it away or just knock it into the toilet bowl (oops).

132 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 6:03:41am

re: #125 b.d.

UPRISING!! 10 to 30 Million Strong!

(est. ± 30 Million)


“And we’d have had the numbers, too, but most of our people wound up in Seattle.”

133 NJDhockeyfan  May 15, 2014 6:03:59am
134 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 6:04:24am

re: #131 Pie-onist Overlord

Well speaking of “books burning” I found a copy of Ann Coulter book that Zedushka was sneaking seekritly reading in the bathroom. Should I take it away or just knock it into the toilet bowl (oops).

Depends, is it serious reading or just for laughs?

135 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 6:05:09am

re: #134 Targetpractice

Depends, is it serious reading or just for laughs?

It’s for passing the time while taking a dump.

136 A Mom Anon  May 15, 2014 6:05:15am

I swear I’m not nitpicking here but could we maybe tweak one thing when we talk about abortion?

A fetus is a developed embryo. Most abortions occur during the embryo stage, which I think ends at about 10 weeks. Fetus conjures up images (thanks to anti-abortion activist groups) of a fully formed baby being ripped out of the womb and having it’s spine severed. Especially when you have mega morons like Paul Broun who say that embryology is a lie from the pit of hell. It’s astounding to me how many grown ass men and women have NO clue of basic human biology. The religious right is full of these idiots, they’re re-educating and misinforming people to create these insane imaginary concepts of what abortion actually is from a medical standpoint.

Also, late term abortions rarely if ever happen. Ask any practicing OB/GYN without a political axe to grind. I have, most of them have never seen the procedure done, let alone done it themselves. We have to stop letting these fools spout this shit unchallenged and stop using their terms to describe what’s going on.

BBL, I have to take the canine kid to the vet this morning. Sorry to rant so early.

137 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 6:06:12am

re: #135 Pie-onist Overlord

It’s for passing the time while taking a dump.

Well hell, guess it’s not worth getting upset about…yet. But if you notice any signs of wingnut-itis, best to flush it.

138 NJDhockeyfan  May 15, 2014 6:06:19am
139 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 6:07:11am

re: #137 Targetpractice

Well hell, guess it’s not worth getting upset about…yet. But if you notice any signs of wingnut-itis, best to flush it.

You know who else flushed books…

140 lawhawk  May 15, 2014 6:07:11am

Greets and saluts from the muggy and overcast NYC metro area. Had a relatively uneventful commute this morning, but that’s about to change as security is being ratcheted up with the President scheduled to arrive in Lower Manhattan shortly for dedicating the National 9/11 Museum.

The media trucks were lining Vesey at Church, and the newscasters were busy prepping and primping ahead of the visit. The security scheme is a bit different this time, as construction and schedules have dictated. Saw lots of USSS, plus PAPD heavy security (SWAT-type gear), plus lots of NYPD and PAPD and other security involved.

The families will be able to visit the museum before it opens to the general public. Families will be able to access the museum free of charge (which is as it should be), but the general public will be required to pay for admission, which is something I’ve long opposed.

Once the museum opens, I understand that access to the memorial will become easier as well, allowing people to visit without needing the passes that they currently do.

141 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 6:08:16am

re: #136 A Mom Anon

I swear I’m not nitpicking here but could we maybe tweak one thing when we talk about abortion?

A fetus is a developed embryo. Most abortions occur during the embryo stage, which I think ends at about 10 weeks. Fetus conjures up images (thanks to anti-abortion activist groups) of a fully formed baby being ripped out of the womb and having it’s spine severed. Especially when you have mega morons like Paul Broun who say that embryology is a lie from the pit of hell. It’s astounding to me how many grown ass men and women have NO clue of basic human biology. The religious right is full of these idiots, they’re re-educating and misinforming people to create these insane imaginary concepts of what abortion actually is from a medical standpoint.

Also, late term abortions rarely if ever happen. Ask any practicing OB/GYN without a political axe to grind. I have, most of them have never seen the procedure done, let alone done it themselves. We have to stop letting these fools spout this shit unchallenged and stop using their terms to describe what’s going on.

BBL, I have to take the canine kid to the vet this morning. Sorry to rant so early.

And Broun is actually a doctor. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s a liar, a cheat, and spreads misinformation intentionally to preserve his own political ambitions.

He’s scum.

142 Alyosha  May 15, 2014 6:08:49am

Hitler was Austrian.
Stalin was Georgian.
And even if Obummer isn’t Kenyan,
He’s Hawaiian!!

// not sure where I was going with that…

Amped for American Spring though ;)

143 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 6:08:52am

I actually have to confess that I have a few of Coulter’s older books, along with some other wingnut literature from my time during the Bush years when I lost my sanity. Considered boxing them up and donating them to Goodwill, but then I began to think that would be horrid of me, to inflict such suffering on others.

144 GunstarGreen  May 15, 2014 6:10:33am

re: #143 Targetpractice

I actually have to confess that I have a few of Coulter’s older books, along with some other wingnut literature from my time during the Bush years when I lost my sanity. Considered boxing them up and donating them to Goodwill, but then I began to think that would be horrid of me, to inflict such suffering on others.

A book is just a book. Ideas are just ideas, and if an adult human cannot be trusted to be exposed to ideas and recognize bullshit when they see it, then the problem is not with the book — it is a flaw in the human.

145 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 6:10:39am

re: #143 Targetpractice

I actually have to confess that I have a few of Coulter’s older books, along with some other wingnut literature from my time during the Bush years when I lost my sanity. Considered boxing them up and donating them to Goodwill, but then I began to think that would be horrid of me, to inflict such suffering on others.

As a private gesture, there is nothing unlawful about throwing them into your private burn barrel in your private backyard as the trash they are. : )

146 lawhawk  May 15, 2014 6:11:00am
147 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 6:11:20am

re: #129 Targetpractice

You know, the “rapidly becoming” BS has now been going on since 2009. When exactly do we start seeing soldiers goose-stepping down Penn Ave, conservatives being marked with yellow elephants, people being imprisoned or executed for speaking against the government, or books being burned?

By this point in his reign, Hitler had already wiped out all opposition, effectively stripped the courts and legislature of the ability to override his rule, begun the quiet extermination of “undesirables,” and turned Germany into a police state.

What I would ask is if Obama is so dictatorial, why didn’t he take advantage when the Dems had a supermajority in both houses and his party controlled most of the governor’s mansions. Those fools don’t know how a real totalitarian state is. A real totalitarian state would never have Boehner in charge of the House for instance. But these people are perpetual victims, it’s all they have.

148 William Barnett-Lewis  May 15, 2014 6:12:32am

re: #143 Targetpractice

I actually have to confess that I have a few of Coulter’s older books, along with some other wingnut literature from my time during the Bush years when I lost my sanity. Considered boxing them up and donating them to Goodwill, but then I began to think that would be horrid of me, to inflict such suffering on others.

Find a paper recycler?

149 iossarian  May 15, 2014 6:13:20am

re: #139 Decatur Deb

You know who else flushed books…

Shitler?

Sorry.

150 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 6:14:14am

re: #144 GunstarGreen

A book is just a book. Ideas are just ideas, and if an adult human cannot be trusted to be exposed to ideas and recognize bullshit when they see it, then the problem is not with the book — it is a flaw in the human.

I’m concerned for the innocent who thinks he’s getting a book about a skinny blonde prostitute and finds he’s stuck with a skinny blonde proselytizer.

151 Bubblehead II  May 15, 2014 6:14:24am

re: #132 Decatur Deb


“And we’d have had the numbers, too, but most of our people wound up in Seattle.”

Drones, you forgot the drones.

152 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 6:15:52am

HURR HURR U POORS IN FAST FOOD JRRBS JUST GET URSELF A BETTER JRRB WITH BOOTSTRAPS & MOAR BETTER SKILLS!!!!!!

153 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 6:17:26am

re: #152 Pie-onist Overlord

HURR HURR U POORS IN FAST FOOD JRRBS JUST GET URSELF A BETTER JRRB WITH BOOTSTRAPS & MOAR BETTER SKILLS!!!!!!

[Embedded content]

Well maybe if your side supported making student loans easier to afford Amy. Oh wait. You can’t complain about people not getting better jobs when you oppose every tool there is out there to equip them with better skills.

154 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 6:17:39am

re: #135 Pie-onist Overlord

It’s for passing the time while taking a dump.

Anything by Ann Coulter is perfectly appropriate for passing the time while dropping a deuce. After all, her books are the literary equivalent of dropping a deuce, so there’s that.

155 GunstarGreen  May 15, 2014 6:18:01am

re: #152 Pie-onist Overlord

“McDonald’s and Walmart are open during school hours. Somebody, who is not a teenager, has to work these jobs, and those people have bills to pay. What is your solution?”

156 lawhawk  May 15, 2014 6:18:24am

re: #152 Pie-onist Overlord

Average age of fast food workers is 28. They aren’t teens in jeans. They’re people struggling to make ends meet in a demanding work environment.

Being a line cook may not require a college degree, but there’s skill involved, to say nothing of stamina and concentration to make sure the food is prepared properly.

157 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 6:23:28am

re: #152 Pie-onist Overlord

HURR HURR U POORS IN FAST FOOD JRRBS JUST GET URSELF A BETTER JRRB WITH BOOTSTRAPS & MOAR BETTER SKILLS!!!!!!

[Embedded content]

I invite every asshole who thinks that minimum wage jobs are not “real jobs” to spend a month working the line at McDonald’s or working at Wal-Mart. About having your life dictated by your work schedule, about having no free time to yourself because you’re effectively always on-call, about being treated like crap because your manager knows he can easily find a replacement for you and the customers think you’re too stupid to get a “real job,” about career advancement being waiting for your superior to be promoted/get fired/drop dead, and about knowing at the end of the day that you’ll be back there tomorrow to work your ass off for no respect and shit wages.

Do that, then we’ll talk.

158 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 6:24:11am

re: #156 lawhawk

Average age of fast food workers is 28. They aren’t teens in jeans. They’re people struggling to make ends meet in a demanding work environment.

Being a line cook may not require a college degree, but there’s skill involved, to say nothing of stamina and concentration to make sure the food is prepared properly.

It’s an article of faith at #tcot that FAST FOOD EMPLOYEES ARE LAZY & STUPID & UNSKILLED & WHY SHUD THEY GET PAID MOAR WHEN ARE SOLDIERS GET MINIMUM WAGE!!!!!!

Of course soldiers shouldn’t be getting minimum wage either (& most of them do not) but what about veterans who are employed at fast food & Walmart?

159 Jayleia  May 15, 2014 6:24:29am

re: #144 GunstarGreen

A book is just a book, but…some books have ideas that I’d feel guilty about passing on.

I’ve dropped my copies of Buchanan and Dawkins in the trash. No symbolic burning, just making them go away.

160 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 6:25:18am

re: #157 Targetpractice

I invite every asshole who thinks that minimum wage jobs are not “real jobs” to spend a month working the line at McDonald’s or working at Wal-Mart. About having your life dictated by your work schedule, about having no free time to yourself because you’re effectively always on-call, about being treated like crap because your manager knows he can easily find a replacement for you and the customers think you’re too stupid to get a “real job,” about career advancement being waiting for your superior to be promoted/get fired/drop dead, and about knowing at the end of the day that you’ll be back there tomorrow to work your ass off for no respect and shit wages.

Do that, then we’ll talk.

Especially country club queens like Janie Johnson who never had to work in her life.

161 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 6:25:20am

re: #155 GunstarGreen

“McDonald’s and Walmart are open during school hours. Somebody, who is not a teenager, has to work these jobs, and those people have bills to pay. What is your solution?”

And honestly a teenager’s first focus should be on their education so they can get a better job in their 20’s. See this is the problem with conservatives on labor. They don’t want to raise the minimum wage because they claim it will lead to raises on prices. Yet they think nothing of executives giving themselves healthy bonuses when profits are down. They complain about welfare yet don’t want to give people tools such as more easier to afford student loans and better wages to get out of it. Conservatives are fond of telling people to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. The problem with conservatives is they think they can cut the same bootstraps that they or their family have used and then tell other people to just pull themselves up.

162 nsmith25  May 15, 2014 6:26:36am

re: #143 Targetpractice

I actually have to confess that I have a few of Coulter’s older books, along with some other wingnut literature from my time during the Bush years when I lost my sanity. Considered boxing them up and donating them to Goodwill, but then I began to think that would be horrid of me, to inflict such suffering on others.

I work as a Social Studies teacher in a Catholic High School in KY, and I have a bookshelf full of teh derp, given to me by conservative parents over the years. I once got called a “liberal-faco-communist” by a parent for mentioning Howard Zinn. If you need to check out a copy of The Obama Nation, or Liberty and Tyranny, come on by

163 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 6:29:22am

Sudan: Woman facing death sentence on grounds of her religion must be released

A heavily pregnant Christian Sudanese woman who could be sentenced to death by hanging for ‘apostasy’, and to flogging for ‘adultery’ should be immediately and unconditionally released, Amnesty International said ahead of the ruling expected tomorrow.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim is eight months pregnant and currently in detention with her 20-month-old son.

“The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion is abhorrent and should never be even considered. ‘Adultery’ and ‘apostasy’ are acts which should not be considered crimes at all, let alone meet the international standard of “most serious crimes” in relation to the death penalty. It is flagrant breach of international human rights law,” said Manar Idriss, Amnesty International’s Sudan researcher.

164 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 6:29:32am

Oh and Tucker Carlson.
HURR HURR FOR TEH FIRST TIME IN HISTORY WE CAN HAS TEH POORS WHO HAS SO MUCH FOODS THEY ARE TEH FAT!!!! HURR HURR ALL TEH FATTY FAT POORS THEIR NOT STARVING LIKE TEH POORS DID BACK IN TEH DAY1!!!!! AMURIKA IS SO TEH GREATEST!!!!!!

166 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 6:31:38am

re: #156 lawhawk

Average age of fast food workers is 28. They aren’t teens in jeans. They’re people struggling to make ends meet in a demanding work environment.

Being a line cook may not require a college degree, but there’s skill involved, to say nothing of stamina and concentration to make sure the food is prepared properly.

Unfortunately, the majority of jobs in this country are some kind of “service” job anymore.

We’ve undergone a revolution in what constitutes “work” as much as the industrial revolution of the 1800s. Just because business, or the public, doesn’t value that kind of work doesn’t make it any less valuable to the enrichment of society. This shows that with the exception of construction which doesn’t require further education generally and does actually “produce” something, most increases from 2012 to 2022 are in health care and other non-producing service areas. Actual “production” occupations are expected to only increase by 0.8% from 2012 to 2022.

—Nearly two-thirds of all job openings are expected to be in
occupations that typically do not require postsecondary education for
entry. (See table 7.)

bls.gov

167 Sergey Romanov  May 15, 2014 6:31:46am

re: #139 Decatur Deb

You know who else flushed books…

Putinjugend:

168 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 6:33:55am

re: #164 Pie-onist Overlord

Oh and Tucker Carlson.
HURR HURR FOR TEH FIRST TIME IN HISTORY WE CAN HAS TEH POORS WHO HAS SO MUCH FOODS THEY ARE TEH FAT!!!! HURR HURR ALL TEH FATTY FAT POORS THEIR NOT STARVING LIKE TEH POORS DID BACK IN TEH DAY1!!!!! AMURIKA IS SO TEH GREATEST!!!!!!

It’s easy to eat great and exercise when you’ve the budget and time for it. But when you’re working two jobs just to keep a roof over your child’s head, your diet is gonna include a lot of take-out, microwave meals, and sandwiches. You don’t get time for three square meals, and most places now won’t even allow you to leave the premises for meal-time because they might need to cut your OSHA-mandated break short to address a rush of customers.

First job I worked was at Food Lion and after a couple times of leaving for lunch, I got told by management not to leave the store anymore because they’d be liable for my safety, even though I wasn’t on the clock. When I asked my fellow workers if that was true, I was informed that it was a lie, that they just want you available if they need to get your ass back to work 10 minutes into your half-hour break.

169 William Barnett-Lewis  May 15, 2014 6:34:37am

re: #155 GunstarGreen

“McDonald’s and Walmart are open during school hours. Somebody, who is not a teenager, has to work these jobs, and those people have bills to pay. What is your solution?”

At 50 years old, I just accepted a job at the local McDonald’s. 8 to 4, 35 ~37 hours a week, starting at minimum wage. That’s about $1000 a month with about 800 in bills. My first day will be Tuesday.

I also was offered a position, about the same level, by Walmart but I’d prefer to make hamburgers for a franchise owner than stock shelves for the benefit of the Walton clan.

With 8 out of the last 10 years being a stay at home dad, that was the best I could get in a small town.

170 GunstarGreen  May 15, 2014 6:35:04am

re: #164 Pie-onist Overlord

Oh and Tucker Carlson.
HURR HURR FOR TEH FIRST TIME IN HISTORY WE CAN HAS TEH POORS WHO HAS SO MUCH FOODS THEY ARE TEH FAT!!!! HURR HURR ALL TEH FATTY FAT POORS THEIR NOT STARVING LIKE TEH POORS DID BACK IN TEH DAY1!!!!! AMURIKA IS SO TEH GREATEST!!!!!!

Completely ignoring, of course, that back in “the day”, teh poors didn’t have twinkies and hot pockets that were cheap, awful for you, and extremely calorie-dense. Honestly, one of the largest contributing factors to the American obesity epidemic has been the shifting of our food supply from whole foods to highly-processed, ultra-dense crap.

re: #165 Varek Raith

SC woman fires shot at friend to test his bulletproof vest but she misses, and he’s dead

e_e

Responsible Gun Owners™.

171 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 6:36:29am

re: #165 Varek Raith

SC woman fires shot at friend to test his bulletproof vest but she misses, and he’s dead

e_e

Well, that’s one data point.

172 lawhawk  May 15, 2014 6:37:08am

The Qatari govenrment is putting on the World Cup in 2022. They are in the midst of a huge building spree, and they simply don’t care about worker safety in the rush to build. So people die. More than a thousand documented thus far, and that’s the tip of the iceberg.

This is the same story repeated in all the Gulf States, where migrant workers are treated so poorly that the US provides more protection for cattle treatment in fields than what the Qatari government is willing to do for worker safety (I wish I was exaggerating, but that’s the only way to look at how poorly these migrant workers are being treated).

Qatar doesn’t have enough skilled workers to do construction work, so Indians and Pakistanis and people from all over are brought in to work on skyscrapers and other major projects. They’re housed in decrepit conditions, and worker protection and safety is nonexistent.

That’s got to change.

Another way to look at this is the number of workers who died putting up the infrastructure for major sporting events like the world cup or Olympics. (the link goes to the basic report, which was issued this past March).

Russia had 40 workers who died. London had no fatalities. Sydney had 1. Beijing had 10, while Brazil has had 7 fatalities. The low numbers speak to the worker protections involved, and stress on worker protections.

Qatar clearly has none.

173 NJDhockeyfan  May 15, 2014 6:37:28am
174 iossarian  May 15, 2014 6:37:54am

re: #165 Varek Raith

SC woman fires shot at friend to test his bulletproof vest but she misses, and he’s dead

e_e

DKos has been doing a roundup of people accidentally shooting each other for a while now. It makes for depressing reading - a lot of the victims are kids.

175 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 6:38:18am

re: #173 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

I’m sure his American fans will love this. Yep, Gay Nazis.

176 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 6:39:08am

re: #174 iossarian

DKos has been doing a roundup of people accidentally shooting each other for a while now. It makes for depressing reading - a lot of the victims are kids.

I know someone who posts these on facebook. Not exactly what you want to read first thing in the morning because yeah so depressing and so many of these could be prevented with just a tad of common sense.

177 iossarian  May 15, 2014 6:39:23am

re: #164 Pie-onist Overlord

Oh and Tucker Carlson.
HURR HURR FOR TEH FIRST TIME IN HISTORY WE CAN HAS TEH POORS WHO HAS SO MUCH FOODS THEY ARE TEH FAT!!!! HURR HURR ALL TEH FATTY FAT POORS THEIR NOT STARVING LIKE TEH POORS DID BACK IN TEH DAY1!!!!! AMURIKA IS SO TEH GREATEST!!!!!!

Tucker looks kinda pies in the screenshot on Wonkette.

178 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 6:39:27am

gay = evil

Nazi = evil

ergo

gay = Nazi

179 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 6:40:57am

re: #169 William Barnett-Lewis

At 50 years old, I just accepted a job at the local McDonald’s. 8 to 4, 35 ~37 hours a week, starting at minimum wage. That’s about $1000 a month with about 800 in bills. My first day will be Tuesday.

I also was offered a position, about the same level, by Walmart but I’d prefer to make hamburgers for a franchise owner than stock shelves for the benefit of the Walton clan.

With 8 out of the last 10 years being a stay at home dad, that was the best I could get in a small town.

Good for you, though. No one is going to dis you for doing honest work.

If you have a few construction skills, you might get some infrequent work if you know someone in this area or go to Charlotte (which most do), but the majority of businesses are “family” types which don’t hire outsiders, and the retail chains and fast food joints are the only other thing in most semi- or rural areas, if you don’t want to have to travel 50-100 mi round trip every day, just another expense added to take away those couple of extra bucks you might make doing so.

180 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 6:40:59am

re: #166 Justanotherhuman

Unfortunately, the majority of jobs in this country are some kind of “service” job anymore.

We’ve undergone a revolution in what constitutes “work” as much as the industrial revolution of the 1800s. Just because business, or the public, doesn’t value that kind of work doesn’t make it any less valuable to the enrichment of society. This shows that with the exception of construction which doesn’t require further education generally and does actually “produce” something, most increases from 2012 to 2022 are in health care and other non-producing service areas. Actual “production” occupations are expected to only increase by 0.8% from 2012 to 2022.

—Nearly two-thirds of all job openings are expected to be in
occupations that typically do not require postsecondary education for
entry. (See table 7.)

bls.gov

All these jobs are in STEM fields, but #1 is fucked up and reminds you that something is missing from this list.

181 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 6:41:17am

Exclusive: Centrifuges emerge as key sticking point in Iran nuclear talks

The gap can be measured in tens of thousands of centrifuges, the slender cylindrical machines that spin in linked clusters at supersonic speed to concentrate uranium’s fissile element.

“We need at least 100,000 IR-1 (first generation) centrifuges to produce enough fuel for each of our (civilian) nuclear (power) plants. We have informed the International Atomic Energy Agency about our plans to build 20 plants,” a senior Iranian official said on condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials, however, have made clear for months that the number of centrifuges they are willing to tolerate operating in Iran over the medium term is in the low thousands to ensure that Tehran’s ability to produce a usable amount of bomb-grade uranium, should it go down that road, is severely limited.

Iran, which has demonstrated a readiness to curb higher-level enrichment, says such draconian limitations would be a violation of its right to enrich - an issue Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said is a “red line” for Tehran.

182 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 6:42:57am

re: #170 GunstarGreen

Completely ignoring, of course, that back in “the day”, teh poors didn’t have twinkies and hot pockets that were cheap, awful for you, and extremely calorie-dense. Honestly, one of the largest contributing factors to the American obesity epidemic has been the shifting of our food supply from whole foods to highly-processed, ultra-dense crap.

Carlson seems to be lost on the reality that all that “abundance” does not have long shelf-lives. That a poor person buys up dozens of packets of Ramen noodles not because he’s a decadent slob, but because they’re selling for pocket change and you can make them with nothing more than hot water. I invite Carlson to look at the dietary values on a can of Spam and tell me that using that in place of fresh meat, which is always more expensive to buy and prepare, will lead to a healthier lifestyle.

183 Dr. Matt  May 15, 2014 6:43:25am

re: #165 Varek Raith

SC woman fires shot at friend to test his bulletproof vest but she misses, and he’s dead

e_e

I’ll venture a guess that the last thing he said was, “Hey, hold my beer, I got an idea”

184 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 6:43:55am

We’ve sent the storm front off to justahuman, so it’s dog walk time. BBL.

185 iossarian  May 15, 2014 6:44:00am

re: #172 lawhawk

The World Cup going to Qatar is a huge scandal in many ways, but this is the most egregious.

It’s getting a bit more press in soccer-following countries, but not as much as it should. It’s a disgrace.

186 William Barnett-Lewis  May 15, 2014 6:44:10am

re: #179 Justanotherhuman

Good for you, though. No one is going to dis you for doing honest work.

If you have a few construction skills, you might get some infrequent work if you know someone in this area or go to Charlotte (which most do), but the majority of businesses are “family” types which don’t hire outsiders, and the retail chains and fast food joints are the only other thing in most semi- or rural areas, if you don’t want to have to travel 50-100 mi round trip every day, just another expense added to take away those couple of extra bucks you might make doing so.

I’m working on adding driving school bus. Due to some rule changes I can’t get my medical card & learner’s permit till the end of this month but then I can train for that over the summer and work both around each other during the school year.

187 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 6:46:18am

re: #111 Pie-onist Overlord

But he plays one on Teh Internets…

Glenn Greenwald bashes ‘actors who play the role of journalists on TV ’ rawstory.com …

So, does everyone in the world need to check with the Great Greenwald to see if he blesses what they are doing and how they are doing it?

I fear this earth is no longer capable of containing such awesomeness.

Whatever will humankind do?

188 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 6:47:02am

re: #174 iossarian

DKos has been doing a roundup of people accidentally shooting each other for a while now. It makes for depressing reading - a lot of the victims are kids.

I’ve been noticing their Gun fail/lol roundups are limited to mostly white legal gun owners in red states. if there are 50 shot in Chicago it won’t make the list but if a white guy in South Dakota shoot himself in the foot they think it’s really important and funny. It’s a counterproductive effort if people are really interested in reducing gun crime and fatalities.

189 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 6:47:25am

re: #131 Pie-onist Overlord

Well speaking of “books burning” I found a copy of Ann Coulter book that Zedushka was sneaking seekritly reading in the bathroom. Should I take it away or just knock it into the toilet bowl (oops).

Ann Coulter Porn…who knew!

190 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 6:49:02am

re: #184 Decatur Deb

We’ve sent the storm front off to justahuman, so it’s dog walk time. BBL.

Damn you. : )

191 wheat-doggha -- oo bird outside my window  May 15, 2014 6:49:19am

re: #130 Mattand

Going to Google it in a second, but is anyone familiar with Common Core? My SIL, she of “I’m a government worker who got furloughed in Oct. but it’s the GOP isn’t entirely to blame” thought process, is having a freakout over it on FB.

Independent Journal Review (ijreview.com) posted a story in which college students supposedly couldn’t figure out 32�󝌒=20. Some quick Googling reveals that ijreview.com is Fox News without the angry old white guys shouting at a TV camera.

She’s now all bent out of shape that my nephew won’t be able to do math and she can’t help with his homework, blah blah blah.

I’m guessing Common Core has its issues, but I’m also guessing this ijreview.com report is a load of shit.

Common Core has not been in place long enough to have affected most current college students. If they can’t figure out basic math problems, the fault lies somewhere else. Now, if college kids in five or ten years time can’t do math, then CC may be the culprit.

Also, only students in public (and maybe parochial) schools will be affected by CC. Private and home schools are not required to implement CC.

192 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 6:51:00am

re: #142 Alyosha

Hitler was Austrian.
Stalin was Georgian.
And even if Obummer isn’t Kenyan,
He’s Hawaiian!!

// not sure where I was going with that…

Amped for American Spring though ;)

And Greenwald is in Brazil!!!

Do you know who else ended up in Brazil???

Happenstance? I think not.

193 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 6:51:22am

4 Dead, 22 Wounded in Mother’s Day Weekend Violence

If this happened in a white suburban mall there would be around the clock live coverage.

194 iossarian  May 15, 2014 6:53:09am

re: #188 Killgore Trout

I’ve been noticing their Gun fail/lol roundups are limited to mostly white legal gun owners in red states. if there are 50 shot in Chicago it won’t make the list but if a white guy in South Dakota shoot himself in the foot they think it’s really important and funny. It’s a counterproductive effort if people are really interested in reducing gun crime and fatalities.

The point is that these are people who shoot each other (or themselves) by accident.

195 klys  May 15, 2014 6:53:17am

196 iossarian  May 15, 2014 6:54:01am

re: #194 iossarian

The point is that these are people who shoot each other (or themselves) by accident.

But go ahead, make the “progressives won’t talk about black-on-black crime because they’re the real racists” point anyway.

197 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 6:55:02am

re: #194 iossarian

The point is that these are people who shoot each other (or themselves) by accident.

True, it happens.

198 blueraven  May 15, 2014 6:56:26am

re: #188 Killgore Trout

I’ve been noticing their Gun fail/lol roundups are limited to mostly white legal gun owners in red states. if there are 50 shot in Chicago it won’t make the list but if a white guy in South Dakota shoot himself in the foot they think it’s really important and funny. It’s a counterproductive effort if people are really interested in reducing gun crime and fatalities.

If there were 50 shot in Chicago, it is doubtful these were accidental shootings.

DKos has been doing a roundup of people accidentally shooting each other for a while now

199 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 6:58:25am

re: #173 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

Damn… Bryan Fischer really is Putin’s long lost brother now living in America and posing as a radio/internet theologian.

200 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 6:58:39am

The whole point is to show how there’s a lot of irresponsibility with guns out there and that it’s not just “bad guys with guns versus good guys with guns.” We have far too many accidental gun related deaths in this country especially where the victims are kids.

201 iossarian  May 15, 2014 6:58:59am

re: #197 Killgore Trout

True, it happens.

Yes, it does.

Meanwhile, DKos also pushes out a bunch of stuff about gang violence and how it’s a terrible blight on cities such as Chicago, disproportionately affects minority youth, and receives little mainstream coverage.

202 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 6:59:35am

re: #186 William Barnett-Lewis

I’m working on adding driving school bus. Due to some rule changes I can’t get my medical card & learner’s permit till the end of this month but then I can train for that over the summer and work both around each other during the school year.

My grandson went from Burger King to delivering pharmaceuticals to nursing homes and other facilities (the co owns 50 of its own nursing homes). His hours are horrible. On the weekend days, he goes in at 2:30 pm and works his shift and gets home earlier (about midnight or so) but during the week, it’s in at 5:30 and no return until dawn. Away from home almost 12 hrs each shift (including his own driving time to another town) and sleeping all day, almost until he goes to work. He works all their routes which comprise NC, SC, to the GA state line and some of the areas are a little “sketchy” where he has to be extra-careful. He’s talking about getting a CCW permit, as some of the other drivers have. I don’t like the idea, of course, but I also value his safety since there have been “incidents”. He has to have his own cell phone and GPS as well.

All that for a $.70/hr raise. But he likes it—he’s on his own and it gives him a feeling of “control” that he didn’t have at BK with people breathing down his neck.

203 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:02:14am

re: #191 wheat-doggha — oo bird outside my window

Common Core has not been in place long enough to have affected most current college students. If they can’t figure out basic math problems, the fault lies somewhere else. Now, if college kids in five or ten years time can’t do math, then CC may be the culprit.

Also, only students in public (and maybe parochial) schools will be affected by CC. Private and home schools are not required to implement CC.

It has to be better than No Child Left Behind, which was implemented when HS srs today were entering first grade, and which a recent report indicated that only 38% of 12th graders could qualify in reading and math skills by testing. I left that report on an earlier thread.

204 NJDhockeyfan  May 15, 2014 7:02:25am
205 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:06:25am

re: #204 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

9/11 Troofers…

206 wheat-doggha -- oo bird outside my window  May 15, 2014 7:09:23am

re: #203 Justanotherhuman

It has to be better than No Child Left Behind, which was implemented when HS srs today were entering first grade, and which a recent report indicated that only 38% of 12th graders could qualify in reading and math skills by testing. I left that report on an earlier thread.

I didn’t get the entire story Mattand linked to, because the video is being blocked by the Great Firewall of China, but the issue is supposedly whether the college kids can solve the subtraction problem using the CC algorithm. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to prove, really, other than provide fodder for know-nothing sites like Independent Journalism Review aka Fox News Lite.

As far as I can tell, the Common Core Standards are a big improvement over NCLB, which was mostly about testing and funding. The CCS encourage deeper learning and interaction among students and teachers.

207 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 7:10:23am

HURR HURR!!!! THEY CAN JUST GO OUT AND FIND ANOTHER JRRB!!!!

208 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 7:10:57am

re: #206 wheat-doggha — oo bird outside my window

I didn’t get the entire story Mattand linked to, because the video is being blocked by the Great Firewall of China, but the issue is supposedly whether the college kids can solve the subtraction problem using the CC algorithm. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to prove, really, other than provide fodder for know-nothing sites like Independent Journalism Review aka Fox New Lite.

As far as I can tell, the Common Core Standards are a big improvement over NCLB, which was mostly about testing and funding. The CCS encourage deeper learning and interaction among students and teachers.

That’s a good thing. Really it’s better for everyone involved when students have positive interaction with their teachers.

209 wheat-doggha -- oo bird outside my window  May 15, 2014 7:13:25am

re: #208 HappyWarrior

Also with other students. I’ve watched videos where students pair up to solve math problems. The CCS require them to sketch or diagram the problem, discuss it, propose possible solution methods, double check each other’s work, and finally prep a report on what they found. That was for a 5th grade class.

210 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 7:13:40am

re: #206 wheat-doggha — oo bird outside my window

I didn’t get the entire story Mattand linked to, because the video is being blocked by the Great Firewall of China, but the issue is supposedly whether the college kids can solve the subtraction problem using the CC algorithm. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to prove, really, other than provide fodder for know-nothing sites like Independent Journalism Review aka Fox News Lite.

As far as I can tell, the Common Core Standards are a big improvement over NCLB, which was mostly about testing and funding. The CCS encourage deeper learning and interaction among students and teachers.

Well there’s the problem (the part in bold).

Obviously deeper learning and interaction leads to indoctrination of liberal/progressive ideas, and we can’t have that.

211 Backwoods_Sleuth  May 15, 2014 7:14:05am

GM announces new recall of 3 million vehicles
Bulk of latest recall involves wiring problem

The bulk of the latest recall applies to 2.4 million cars with a wiring problem. That includes the 2004-2012 Chevrolet Malibu, 2004-2007 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, 2005-2010 Pontiac G6 and 2007-2010 Saturn Auras.
The wiring problem could cause the brake lamps to fail, meaning that they don’t illuminate when the brakes are applied, or they light up when the brakes are not engaged, the company said. Additionally, cruise control, traction control, electronic stability control and panic braking assist operation could be disabled.

212 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 7:14:40am

re: #208 HappyWarrior

That’s a good thing. Really it’s better for everyone involved when students have positive interaction with their teachers.

Heh. I just put the same words in bold, but a completely different take from it.

213 Backwoods_Sleuth  May 15, 2014 7:14:51am

re: #211 Backwoods_Sleuth

The smallest of the five recalls is also potentially the most serious. GM said that 477 trucks have problems with the steering system’s tie rods that can cause accidents. Truck owners are being told they shouldn’t even drive their trucks to dealers for repairs. GM will send a flatbed truck to pick up the vehicles, which include some 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups and some 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs.

214 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 7:15:10am

re: #209 wheat-doggha — oo bird outside my window

Also with other students. I’ve watched videos where students pair up to solve math problems. The CCS require them to sketch or diagram the problem, discuss it, propose possible solution methods, double check each other’s work, and finally prep a report on what they found. That was for a 5th grade class.

Sounds good to me. You get kids learning problem solving, teamwork, etc at an early age.

215 steve_davis  May 15, 2014 7:16:19am

re: #29 Lidane

A whole bunch of them openly believe that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and that the Flintstones was a documentary. That’s a problem in 2014.

so perhaps you’d like to explain how, Mr. Smarty, cavemen were able to listen to the l.p.’s on their record players without the wise-cracking bird to use as a needle, hmmmm?

216 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 7:18:54am

Gun-Fucking Meme of the Day.
Wingnuts don’t realize:
1. This is a very “well-regulated” militia.
2. Swiss citizens are issued standard govt.-approved weapons, they can’t own all the guns their heart desires.
3. Govt. strictly controls all the ammo.

217 wheat-doggha -- oo bird outside my window  May 15, 2014 7:19:58am

re: #210 ObserverArt

Well there’s the problem (the part in bold).

Obviously deeper learning and interaction leads to indoctrination of liberal/progressive ideas, and we can’t have that.

Oh, these people want to return to the McGuffey readers. Some still complain about New Math, which was ditched maybe 40 years ago. One guy is especially incensed about Venn diagrams. Then, there’s anti-IB crowd, who swear IB is a plot by the UN to indoctrinate American kids with crazy ideas about multiculturalism, peace and brotherhood; the anti-evolution crowd; the abstinence crowd; the “public education is government indoctrination” crowd — the list goes on.

Education in China is not ideal, by any means, but at least everyone seems to be on the same page about the value of education. I look at the nutjobs in the USA and feel glad I don’t have to deal with them as a teacher.

218 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 7:20:43am

Fucking Terms of Service, how do they work?

219 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 7:21:07am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

Gun-Fucking Meme of the Day.
Wingnuts don’t realize:
1. This is a very “well-regulated” militia.
2. Swiss citizens are issued standard govt.-approved weapons, they can’t own all the guns their heart desires.
3. Govt. strictly controls all the ammo.

[Embedded content]

Yeah don’t they have a registry? I mean that’s something that the gun rights orgs repeatedly shut down. Oh and it’s funny how they want to use Switzerland’s guns as a model but want to totally ignore how the rest of the Western World does health care.

220 NJDhockeyfan  May 15, 2014 7:22:27am

re: #205 Justanotherhuman

9/11 Troofers…

Rosie O

221 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:23:05am

re: #213 Backwoods_Sleuth

Sounds like a quality control issue somewhere along the mfg process.

222 iossarian  May 15, 2014 7:25:37am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

Gun-Fucking Meme of the Day.
Wingnuts don’t realize:
1. This is a very “well-regulated” militia.
2. Swiss citizens are issued standard govt.-approved weapons, they can’t own all the guns their heart desires.
3. Govt. strictly controls all the ammo.

[Embedded content]

There are also periodic incidents of people misusing their guns in Switzerland (often to commit suicide). It’s basically not at all clear that if Switzerland *didn’t* have a volunteer army, their crime rate would be any different.

Also, Switzerland is the epitome of “well-regulated”. I once saw a rail commuter in Zurich chew out the platform attendant because his train had pulled in seven minutes late and thus his car had been forced to circle the block.

223 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 7:27:52am

re: #222 iossarian

There are also periodic incidents of people misusing their guns in Switzerland (often to commit suicide). It’s basically not at all clear that if Switzerland *didn’t* have a volunteer army, their crime rate would be any different.

Also, Switzerland is the epitome of “well-regulated”. I once saw a rail commuter in Zurich chew out the platform attendant because his train had pulled in seven minutes late and thus his car had been forced to circle the block.

Also this.

224 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 7:28:19am

Time to get something going for the day. Stay Dry, Stay Safe everyone.

Oh yeah…for those in the drought areas, especially the Californians…I hope you do get wet!

225 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 7:29:11am

re: #219 HappyWarrior

Yeah don’t they have a registry? I mean that’s something that the gun rights orgs repeatedly shut down. Oh and it’s funny how they want to use Switzerland’s guns as a model but want to totally ignore how the rest of the Western World does health care.

Stop for a second and think how the Bundy crew would react if a politician jumped up and said that part of the process of obtaining a gun license should be visiting a psychiatrist? They’d be tarred and feathered before the sun set. Yet Switzerland has that, as well as restrictions on how many guns you can own, where you can and can’t use them, and if you get caught with one and you’re not either going to or coming from a place where it’s legal to shoot them, then you’re going to jail and they’re taking your gun into their possession until you’ve been marched in front of a judge to explain why you’re a total idiot for thinking that you’ve a right to possess a gun anywhere you like.

226 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:31:55am

re: #223 Pie-onist Overlord

Also this.

“A 2011 study showed that 43 percent of homicides within Swiss households were committed with firearms, a far higher rate than in neighboring countries. Adding to concerns about lax controls, the Swiss army said recently that it had lost track of about 5,000 weapons issued to soldiers who left active duty.”

Yeah, it’s not all wine and roses in Switzerland, either. Guns kill and they’re easier than other methods.

227 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:34:22am

This is probably over by now. Let’s home there’s some action taken.

Live video: Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki appears before a Senate committee over hospital treatment of veterans - @NBCNews
End of alert

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.: ‘This needs to be a wake up for VA. The lack of accountability is inexcusable’ - live video
End of alert

228 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 7:34:48am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

Gun-Fucking Meme of the Day

Twitter is there to let us know who you are hanging with or what you had for lunch.

It is not at all suited to political discussion beyond spouting talking points.

229 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:36:05am

Whaddaya say, GG?

A Senate report says new rules may be needed unless leading Internet companies better protect consumers from hackers - @AP
End of alert

That goes for your boss/benefactor, too.

230 Alyosha  May 15, 2014 7:38:03am

It’s almost as though gun enthusiasts are sticking to shallow talking points and refusing to wade into the choppy seas of reality where their vision of the US is the malformed missing link between Switzerland and Somalia…

231 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:39:50am
232 bubba zanetti  May 15, 2014 7:40:36am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

There is so much wrong with that, starting with that fake statistic:

In 2005 over 10% of households contained handguns, compared to 18% of U.S. households that contained handguns. In 2005 almost 29% of households in Switzerland contained firearms of some kind, compared to almost 43% in the US.

Wikipedia: Gun Politics In Switzerland

233 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 7:41:24am

re: #230 Alyosha

It’s almost as though gun enthusiasts are sticking to shallow talking points and refusing to wade into the choppy seas of reality where their vision of the US is the malformed missing link between Switzerland and Somalia…

That’s because most have never lived outside the US and thus don’t know what it’s like to live in a country where gun ownership is not a right which they may exercise in whatever dumbass fashion they please. In most of the First World, just the act of obtaining a gun license is a bureaucratic nightmare. And assuming the laws allow CCW, they usually require a bit more in the way of obtaining the license than just sitting in on an hour-long hunting safety course.

234 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 7:44:29am

re: #232 bubba zanetti

There is so much wrong with that,..

So I heard a story about a Swiss fellow who was issued his army rifle and five rounds of ammunition. He discharged one of the rounds, which was not allowed.

But it was not noticed, as he simply passed the rifle and ammo onto his son when he came of age.

which puts pressure on him to have a son so he does not have to be in position of returning the ammo and explaining the missing round…

235 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 7:47:32am

re: #233 Targetpractice

That’s because most have never lived outside the US and thus don’t know what it’s like to live in a country where gun ownership is not a right which they may exercise in whatever dumbass fashion they please. In most of the First World, just the act of obtaining a gun license is a bureaucratic nightmare. And assuming the laws allow CCW, they usually require a bit more in the way of obtaining the license than just sitting in on an hour-long hunting safety course.

Here in the Czech Republic, we do allow for CCW.

Remember the shooting competition from the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force? That’s basically what you have to pass here. Oh, and you need to be able to field-strip and reassemble your firearm - I don’t know how long you have to do it, but it’s timed.

And you might need to see a shrink. If the cops feel you should.

Then…..you’ll get your CCW permit.

236 bubba zanetti  May 15, 2014 7:47:40am

Note that the source of the image is of girls going to a shooting contest, which is sponsored and controlled by the government. The ammunition purchased at such events can only be used at the event.

237 iossarian  May 15, 2014 7:48:05am

re: #234 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

Ha. Would that were true.

There’s unfortunately a fair amount of ammo that goes missing from the army in Switzerland. I would hazard a guess that their army is probably about as well-run as ours, which is to say that it’s pretty tightly disciplined but mistakes inevitably occur.

I think the bigger difference is in the general well-behavedness of society at large, which can be stifling at times but which also makes it a safe/stable place to live.

238 bubba zanetti  May 15, 2014 7:49:39am

re: #234 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)

So I heard a story about a Swiss fellow who was issued his army rifle and five rounds of ammunition. He discharged one of the rounds, which was not allowed.

You used to be given a limited amount of ammo with the idea that in the event of an invasion it would be enough get you to the barracks. Since 2007 they no longer give you any ammo. And yes, the old boxes of ammo were sealed and highly regulated.

239 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 7:51:35am

re: #236 bubba zanetti

Note that the source of the image is of girls going to a shooting contest, which is sponsored and controlled by the government. The ammunition purchased at such events can only be used at the event.

Yep, you can take your rifle to shooting ranges or to contests, but it’s always unloaded and the ammo is provided when you arrive, where you have to account for every round and return what isn’t used. There is no walking around with half a dozen loaded magazines as if you’re expecting to fight off a Communist invasion ala Red Dawn.

240 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 7:53:43am

Support Higher Wages for Fast Food Workers

241 bubba zanetti  May 15, 2014 7:55:34am

re: #239 Targetpractice

Yep, you can take your rifle to shooting ranges or to contests, but it’s always unloaded and the ammo is provided when you arrive, but you have to account for every round and return what isn’t used. There is no walking around with half a dozen loaded magazines as if you’re expecting to fight off a Communist invasion ala Red Dawn.

Precisely. That gunfucker image is misleading - those girls aren’t carrying loaded weapons, everyone knows they’re unloaded, and they have about as much self defense value as a field hockey stick.

242 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 7:55:55am

re: #236 bubba zanetti

Note that the source of the image is of girls going to a shooting contest, which is sponsored and controlled by the government. The ammunition purchased at such events can only be used at the event.

Read an article on that national championship a couple years ago. IIRC it was won by a young girl, and there are weird metrics for the scoring. Each contestant only gets five rounds for the event.

243 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 7:57:51am

re: #225 Targetpractice

Stop for a second and think how the Bundy crew would react if a politician jumped up and said that part of the process of obtaining a gun license should be visiting a psychiatrist? They’d be tarred and feathered before the sun set. Yet Switzerland has that, as well as restrictions on how many guns you can own, where you can and can’t use them, and if you get caught with one and you’re not either going to or coming from a place where it’s legal to shoot them, then you’re going to jail and they’re taking your gun into their possession until you’ve been marched in front of a judge to explain why you’re a total idiot for thinking that you’ve a right to possess a gun anywhere you like.

Seems to me that Switzerland has the definition of gun control. Wingnuts want it both ways. They want tons of guns with no regulations.

244 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 7:58:10am

re: #241 bubba zanetti

Precisely. That gunfucker image is misleading - those girls aren’t carrying loaded weapons, everyone knows they’re unloaded, and they have about as much self defense value as a field hockey stick.

In other words, those Swiss don’t care if their women get raped.

/

245 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 7:59:58am

Finally caught up on Louie from this past week and man the episode with the “fat lady” was brilliant. Awesome monologue about the double standards placed on overweight women in society by Sarah Baker. Elevator Part I looks good too. I think C.K is one of the better comics out there today since I think one of the keys to being a great comedian is being first and foremost an observer and C.K does that as good as anyone since Carlin.

246 Alyosha  May 15, 2014 8:03:04am

re: #233 Targetpractice

That’s because most have never lived outside the US and thus don’t know what it’s like to live in a country where gun ownership is not a right which they may exercise in whatever dumbass fashion they please. In most of the First World, just the act of obtaining a gun license is a bureaucratic nightmare. And assuming the laws allow CCW, they usually require a bit more in the way of obtaining the license than just sitting in on an hour-long hunting safety course.

One of the few measures enacted by our conservative party that I have supported retroactively (I was too young to fully understand the debate at the time) was gun control after the Port Arthur massacre.
Disturbed individuals with guns are a problem, but having fired a pistol that belonged to a friend-of-a-friend a few years ago, and knowing that even decent and ‘normal’ people can experience periods of unbalance and rage, I can say that the atavistic pleasure of discharging a firearm combined with the lows encountered in life make for a dangerous combination.

Universal access acts as a probability multiplier. Mass shootings aren’t an American phenomenon, to my mind because Americans are innately more violent (as some I know have postulated).
The problem is legislative. Constitutional, even.

And when you mess with that, people who are ordinarily law-abiding, even decent and ‘normal’, will use the power granted by the Constitution to protect the very ink that gives them the right to bear arms.
Voting rights, by contrast, doesn’t have that kind of protection because it is decided in the legislative chamber.
The right to bear arms is its own protection and, ironically, the worse it gets, the more reasonable gun-ownership seems to become.

I’ll stop now…

247 Rightwingconspirator  May 15, 2014 8:08:08am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

Gun-Fucking Meme of the Day.
Wingnuts don’t realize:
1. This is a very “well-regulated” militia.
2. Swiss citizens are issued standard govt.-approved weapons, they can’t own all the guns their heart desires.
3. Govt. strictly controls all the ammo.

[Embedded content]

At this link you will find the page of a young lady who exemplifies competition shooters in the USA. D_L and I met her quite a few times, and if you watch her shoot, well it’s world champion level. I happen to know her from being a range safety/scorekeeper at the Steel Challenge, aka world speed shooting championships.

They can keep their guns and ammunition at home. They can make their own, many do as factory made is not the best for world class scores. There are tens of thousands of people just like those in Switzerland, who also enjoy a sport, in such a way as it is a safely run sport with very few accidents.

Those who really don’t like guns will probably find many of her opinions on guns objectionable. Well the feeling is mutual, and that’s just gonna be the lay of the land so to speak.

It’s a good time to remember that for every wingnut, there are many good people out there. With those guns and gun sports

248 Skip Intro  May 15, 2014 8:13:43am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

Gun-Fucking Meme of the Day.
Wingnuts don’t realize:
1. This is a very “well-regulated” militia.
2. Swiss citizens are issued standard govt.-approved weapons, they can’t own all the guns their heart desires.
3. Govt. strictly controls all the ammo.

[Embedded content]

4. The Swiss still appear to be mostly sane, unlike here.

249 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 8:15:44am

re: #235 Dr Lizardo

Here in the Czech Republic, we do allow for CCW.

Remember the shooting competition from the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force? That’s basically what you have to pass here. Oh, and you need to be able to field-strip and reassemble your firearm - I don’t know how long you have to do it, but it’s timed.

And you might need to see a shrink. If the cops feel you should.

Then…..you’ll get your CCW permit.

Which I think is reasonable. As I’ve said before. I’ve got nothing against gun ownership in principle whatsoever. I do want responsibility though and the gunfucker crowd* shouts down any attempt to talk about that. They want to make it all about “good guys with guns” versus “bad guys with guns.” The young woman who shot her friend wearing the bulletproof vest wasn’t a bad person. Irresponsible? Definitely but not malicious or evil and that sadly is what at the center stage of many a gun tragedy. And I honestly do feel the solution to the problem isn’t more guns and it does worry me that more and more guns are being owned by a few who use any excuse whether it’s someone they hate being elected or whatever to stock up more.
*As opposed to your average gun owner, they are different kinds of people

250 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 8:17:36am

re: #248 Skip Intro

4. The Swiss still appear to be mostly sane, unlike here.

Yeah you don’t hear about the Swiss shooting their neighbors over petty bs like you do here. As said, the Swiss seem to practice and enforce the definition of gun control and yet gun ownership still persists. If anything, if you ask me, the Swiss example throws a wrench in the extremist argument that gun control leads to gun rights abolishing.

251 Skip Intro  May 15, 2014 8:20:05am

re: #235 Dr Lizardo

Here in the Czech Republic, we do allow for CCW.

Remember the shooting competition from the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force? That’s basically what you have to pass here. Oh, and you need to be able to field-strip and reassemble your firearm - I don’t know how long you have to do it, but it’s timed.

And you might need to see a shrink. If the cops feel you should.

Then…..you’ll get your CCW permit.

Speaking of someone who needs to see a shrink, I give you the ex-police chief of Gilberton, PA.

‘Libtard’-hating ex-police chief is back with profane video rant and reality TV show deal

Former Gilberton, PA police chief Mark Kessler has released a new expletive-laden video in which he threatened his critics, then angrily fired an assault rifle.

The video opened with Kessler off-camera, trying to secure the camera to the tripod. Then, wearing a black baseball cap and a pair of matching black ear protection earmuffs and carrying an AR-15 assault rifle, he entered the frame and began to rant.

rawstory.com

Nothing prevents this loon from owning all the weapons he can afford. Is this a great country or what?

252 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 8:21:11am

re: #251 Skip Intro

Speaking of someone who needs to see a shrink, I give you the ex-police chief of Gilberton, PA.

[Embedded image]

‘Libtard’-hating ex-police chief is back with profane video rant and reality TV show deal

rawstory.com

Nothing prevents this loon from owning all the weapons he can afford. Is this a great country or what?

Holy Bachmann eyes. But yes Kessler is the poster boy for what I am talking about. The hoarding nutcase who thinks he can threaten people. He’s a tragedy asking to happen.

253 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 8:21:37am

Last-minute change avoids performance of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ after NJ Gov. Christie’s remarks at 911 museum dedication - @AP
Read more on bigstory.ap.org

Sounds hilarious, but the original singer was sick, so another sang “Amazing Grace”.

254 lawhawk  May 15, 2014 8:22:32am

The GOP is bashing the President after his appearance yesterday at the TZ Bridge calling for $300+ billion in new infrastructure investments.

They complain that Obama is sitting on Keystone approvals. What the GOP seems to completely ignore is that the Keystone project is a privately owned piece of infrastructure, the value of which is uncertain, is not likely to create the jobs claimed, and whose integrity is questionable given the company’s history.

Rebuilding roads, bridges, and mass transit are publicly owned infrastructure in dire need of replacement, maintenance, and upgrades. They are separate and distinct issues, but that wont keep the GOP from making the false analogy.

Topping that off, the GOP will refuse to increase taxes or fees to cover the needed improvements, even if they’re use taxes that directly fund those items. This shows how unserious the GOP is about the nation’s infrastructure and economic health.

Oh, and another thing about the GOP. While Obama has been in office, they’ve been making the claim that cutting the deficit (the long term debt) is paramount, but already GOP contenders for 2016 are suggesting that they’ll put up new spending without any cuts or tax hikes - pushing the debt even higher. It’s another sign of just how fiscally irresponsible the GOP is to say nothing of how the GOP holds a double standard on funding government operations, especially when a Democrat is in the White House.

255 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 8:22:41am

re: #251 Skip Intro

Speaking of someone who needs to see a shrink, I give you the ex-police chief of Gilberton, PA.

[Embedded image]

‘Libtard’-hating ex-police chief is back with profane video rant and reality TV show deal

rawstory.com

Nothing prevents this loon from owning all the weapons he can afford. Is this a great country or what?

Looks like a speed freak.

Or any other kind of freak.

256 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 8:23:58am

re: #254 lawhawk

The GOP is bashing the President after his appearance yesterday at the TZ Bridge calling for $300+ billion in new infrastructure investments.

They complain that Obama is sitting on Keystone approvals. What the GOP seems to completely ignore is that the Keystone project is a privately owned piece of infrastructure, the value of which is uncertain, is not likely to create the jobs claimed, and whose integrity is questionable given the company’s history.

Rebuilding roads, bridges, and mass transit are publicly owned infrastructure in dire need of replacement, maintenance, and upgrades. They are separate and distinct issues, but that wont keep the GOP from making the false analogy.

Topping that off, the GOP will refuse to increase taxes or fees to cover the needed improvements, even if they’re use taxes that directly fund those items. This shows how unserious the GOP is about the nation’s infrastructure and economic health.

Oh, and another thing about the GOP. While Obama has been in office, they’ve been making the claim that cutting the deficit (the long term debt) is paramount, but already GOP contenders for 2016 are suggesting that they’ll put up new spending without any cuts or tax hikes - pushing the debt even higher. It’s another sign of just how fiscally irresponsible the GOP is to say nothing of how the GOP holds a double standard on funding government operations, especially when a Democrat is in the White House.

So more elephant shit from the GOP. Typical day in the neighborhood but man it would be nice if just for one moment, they weren’t’ such pathetic gasbags.

257 cuzIsaidso  May 15, 2014 8:25:50am

re: #62 KiTA
… every sexually active woman who has been sexually active without using contraception, more than oh, 4 months, has probably experienced a spontaneous abortion.

Ovulation suppression (eg The Pill) and barrier contraception methods (condoms, diaphragms, etc.) prevent abortion, spontaneous or induced, so in a more rational world one might think the forced birth crowd would love them.

And yes: Rubio is a fucking moron.

258 Skip Intro  May 15, 2014 8:26:39am

re: #254 lawhawk

How dare he want to repair the infrastructure when he could be giving that money away to billionaires as tax breaks? Doesn’t that Muslim libturb understand that they’ll use their own money to fix everything because it’s in their best interest to do so?

This is a True Fact because the patron saint of the GOP, Ayn Rand, said so.

Anyway, why is the the government’s responsibility? Don’t like unsafe roads and bridges? Buy a helicopter.

259 kirkspencer  May 15, 2014 8:27:12am

re: #247 Rightwingconspirator

At this link you will find the page of a young lady who exemplifies competition shooters in the USA. D_L and I met her quite a few times, and if you watch her shoot, well it’s world champion level. I happen to know her from being a range safety/scorekeeper at the Steel Challenge, aka world speed shooting championships.

They can keep their guns and ammunition at home. They can make their own, many do as factory made is not the best for world class scores. There are tens of thousands of people just like those in Switzerland, who also enjoy a sport, in such a way as it is a safely run sport with very few accidents.

Those who really don’t like guns will probably find many of her opinions on guns objectionable. Well the feeling is mutual, and that’s just gonna be the lay of the land so to speak.

It’s a good time to remember that for every wingnut, there are many good people out there. With those guns and gun sports

And not one person here is objecting to controlled and safe use of firearms. Nobody’s objecting to the many good people out there with those guns and gun sports.

What we’re a bit concerned about all the nuts.

The problem is that the nuts tend to claim they’re good people, too.

So tell me, Mr. Gun Rights Advocate, what do we do to control the nuts’ access to weapons without removing the weapons from the good people? Because if your position is all or nothing, you’re facing the real possibility of nothing.

260 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 8:29:47am

“On September 11, 2001, while LaChanze was eight months pregnant with her second child, her husband, securities trader Calvin Gooding, was killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was at working at Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower One of the World Trade Center. On September 6, 2002, she sang the National Anthem at a joint meeting of Congress in Federal Hall, the first meeting of Congress in New York since 1790.[3][4]

en.wikipedia.org

She also won an Emmy for her role in “The Color Purple” on Broadway in 2006.

Youtube Video

261 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 8:32:48am

re: #254 lawhawk

The GOP is bashing the President after his appearance yesterday at the TZ Bridge calling for $300+ billion in new infrastructure investments.

They complain that Obama is sitting on Keystone approvals. What the GOP seems to completely ignore is that the Keystone project is a privately owned piece of infrastructure, the value of which is uncertain, is not likely to create the jobs claimed, and whose integrity is questionable given the company’s history.

Rebuilding roads, bridges, and mass transit are publicly owned infrastructure in dire need of replacement, maintenance, and upgrades. They are separate and distinct issues, but that wont keep the GOP from making the false analogy.

Topping that off, the GOP will refuse to increase taxes or fees to cover the needed improvements, even if they’re use taxes that directly fund those items. This shows how unserious the GOP is about the nation’s infrastructure and economic health.

Oh, and another thing about the GOP. While Obama has been in office, they’ve been making the claim that cutting the deficit (the long term debt) is paramount, but already GOP contenders for 2016 are suggesting that they’ll put up new spending without any cuts or tax hikes - pushing the debt even higher. It’s another sign of just how fiscally irresponsible the GOP is to say nothing of how the GOP holds a double standard on funding government operations, especially when a Democrat is in the White House.

Meanwhile, the GOP quietly voted to make $300 billion worth of tax cuts permanent, cuts that only affect their campaign donors and which will not be paid for at all. They can’t even offer up the excuse they made for making the Bush Tax Cuts permanent, which was that the lowest tax brackets got a few cents more in their paychecks and that’s a “good thing.”

262 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 8:33:02am

re: #259 kirkspencer

And not one person here is objecting to controlled and safe use of firearms. Nobody’s objecting to the many good people out there with those guns and gun sports.

What we’re a bit concerned about all the nuts.

The problem is that the nuts tend to claim they’re good people, too.

So tell me, Mr. Gun Rights Advocate, what do we do to control the nuts’ access to weapons without removing the weapons from the good people? Because if your position is all or nothing, you’re facing the real possibility of nothing.

Exactly, there’s plenty of good people out there who own guns. That’s not the issue and I don’t think anyone denies that. I certainly despite the fact I have a personal distaste for guns don’t think gun owner= bad or evil person. Hell got plenty of friends and family that own guns. The issue for me here is responsibility and frankly the people representing the gun lobby don’t want to talk about that. They want to talk about video games, movies, music, lack of school prayer.

263 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 8:33:52am

Yikes.

FCC approves plan to allow for paid priority on Internet - @washingtonpost
Read more on washingtonpost.com

264 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 8:36:30am

re: #263 Justanotherhuman

Yikes.

FCC approves plan to allow for paid priority on Internet - @washingtonpost
Read more on washingtonpost.com

Honest headline: “FCC paves way for ISPs to throttle access to company websites and services they don’t own in order to fatten their monopolies.”

265 andres  May 15, 2014 8:37:13am

Contributing with the quotes Gus was posting last night, I got this one from the QOTD of my terminal:

However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There
is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs.
There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ,
or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any
powerful weapon, the use of God’s name on one’s behalf should be used
sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are
not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force
government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree
with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they
threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I’m frankly sick and
tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen
that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,” “C,” and
“D.” Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to
claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more
angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group
who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll
call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step
of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans
in the name of “conservatism.”
— Senator Barry Goldwater, Congressional Record

266 Skip Intro  May 15, 2014 8:37:37am

re: #263 Justanotherhuman

Yikes.

FCC approves plan to allow for paid priority on Internet - @washingtonpost
Read more on washingtonpost.com

I knew I shouldn’t have gotten rid of my 56k modem. It will probably seem fast after the ISPs throttle down every site that doesn’t pay to play.

267 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 8:39:58am

re: #265 andres

Contributing with the quotes Gus was posting last night, I got this one from the QOTD of my terminal:

And he sadly would go nowhere in today’s Republican party. Hell, I wager to say that Goldwater if he had ran in 2012 for the GOP nomination would have done worse than Jon Huntsman. I have my disagreements with Goldwater’s worldview but at least Goldwater wasn’t a religious zealot who thought that rule of law should only favor straight conservative Christians.

268 wrenchwench  May 15, 2014 8:41:33am

re: #136 A Mom Anon

I swear I’m not nitpicking here but could we maybe tweak one thing when we talk about abortion?

A fetus is a developed embryo. Most abortions occur during the embryo stage, which I think ends at about 10 weeks. Fetus conjures up images (thanks to anti-abortion activist groups) of a fully formed baby being ripped out of the womb and having it’s spine severed. Especially when you have mega morons like Paul Broun who say that embryology is a lie from the pit of hell. It’s astounding to me how many grown ass men and women have NO clue of basic human biology. The religious right is full of these idiots, they’re re-educating and misinforming people to create these insane imaginary concepts of what abortion actually is from a medical standpoint.

Also, late term abortions rarely if ever happen. Ask any practicing OB/GYN without a political axe to grind. I have, most of them have never seen the procedure done, let alone done it themselves. We have to stop letting these fools spout this shit unchallenged and stop using their terms to describe what’s going on.

BBL, I have to take the canine kid to the vet this morning. Sorry to rant so early.

Right on.

Never apologize for that rant.

I hope the canine is well.

269 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 8:43:30am

re: #263 Justanotherhuman

Yikes.

FCC approves plan to allow for paid priority on Internet - @washingtonpost
Read more on washingtonpost.com

No surprise there. I’ll be equally unshocked when the Comcast merger gets approved.

270 Skip Intro  May 15, 2014 8:44:04am

re: #267 HappyWarrior

And he sadly would go nowhere in today’s Republican party. Hell, I wager to say that Goldwater if he had ran in 2012 for the GOP nomination would have done worse than Jon Huntsman. I have my disagreements with Goldwater’s worldview but at least Goldwater wasn’t a religious zealot who thought that rule of law should only favor straight conservative Christians.

All that died in the late 1970s with the rise of the Moral Majority and others of their ilk. They completely poisoned politics with their religious fanaticism, and it’s only getting worse.

It’s just amazing to me that I can look back at a Nixon or a Goldwater and see the voices of reason compared to what the GOP is today.

271 HappyWarrior  May 15, 2014 8:47:18am

re: #270 Skip Intro

All that died in the late 1970s with the rise of the Moral Majority and others of their ilk. They completely poisoned politics with their religious fanaticism, and it’s only getting worse.

It’s just amazing to me that I can look back at a Nixon or a Goldwater and see the voices of reason compared to what the GOP is today.

I know. I thought the RR was bad during the Bush years but during the Obama years, they’ve gotten even worse and nasty with their likening support for LGBT equality to Nazism and their opposition to any birth control and the general slut shamming. The religious right arguably is the most toxic force in modern American politics.

272 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 8:47:29am

re: #269 Killgore Trout

No surprise there. I’ll be equally unshocked when the Comcast merger gets approved.

Agreed. I think by this point the experiment of “deregulation” has about run its course, with us ending up back where we started before Ma Bell was broken up in the 70s.

273 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 8:48:37am

I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.

Said in July 1981 in response to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell’s opposition to the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, “Every good Christian should be concerned.” as quoted in Ed Magnuson, “The Brethren’s First Sister,” Time Magazine, (20 July, 1981)
According to John Dean, Goldwater actually suggested that good Christians ought to kick Falwell in the “nuts”, but the news media “changed the anatomical reference.”
Dean, John (2008). Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches. Penguin Group. “I know because I was there when he said it.”

en.wikiquote.org

274 EmmaAnne  May 15, 2014 8:49:21am

re: #145 Justanotherhuman

As a private gesture, there is nothing unlawful about throwing them into your private burn barrel in your private backyard as the trash they are. : )

What’s wrong with recycling? It is more work because you have to tear the pages out, but hey - save a tree.

275 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 8:52:29am

re: #274 EmmaAnne

What’s wrong with recycling? It is more work because you have to tear the pages out, but hey - save a tree.

Recycling, yes, before burning, of course. I was just being snarky about the burning books scenario. : )

We have to haul all our recyclables to a “convenience site” in this county, which doesn’t encourage it much, although some do if they’re conscientious enough.

277 wrenchwench  May 15, 2014 8:53:58am
278 Mattand  May 15, 2014 8:55:42am

re: #217 wheat-doggha — oo bird outside my window

Oh, these people want to return to the McGuffey readers. Some still complain about New Math, which was ditched maybe 40 years ago. One guy is especially incensed about Venn diagrams. Then, there’s anti-IB crowd, who swear IB is a plot by the UN to indoctrinate American kids with crazy ideas about multiculturalism, peace and brotherhood; the anti-evolution crowd; the abstinence crowd; the “public education is government indoctrination” crowd — the list goes on.

Education in China is not ideal, by any means, but at least everyone seems to be on the same page about the value of education. I look at the nutjobs in the USA and feel glad I don’t have to deal with them as a teacher.

Thanks for your feedback. My SIL is one of those that gets easily outraged by stuff like this video without stopping to think that maybe the people who created it have an axe to grind.

I’ve been looking into off-and-on this morning. I’ve found some sample tests, but nothing so far that explains what the process is. Wikipedia had some useful information.

279 klys  May 15, 2014 8:56:17am

re: #263 Justanotherhuman

It’s worth noting that what really happened is there was a vote to allow the proposal to move forward into the four month public comment phase, the feedback of which they are supposed to take into account when determining the votes on the final proposal.

Not that I would put a ton of money on anticipating a different outcome, but it’s worth being semi-accurate as to what happened here.

280 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 8:57:24am

re: #277 wrenchwench

[Embedded content]

I doubt most of those who speak out against net neutrality who aren’t the heads of major ISPs have a damned clue what it really is. They just assume that it’s some plot by Democrats, like the Fairness Doctrine, to silence conservatives or some shit. The idea that it means Google will be shelling out money to Verizon to make sure Youtube doesn’t suddenly have all the resolution of a 90’s digital camera doesn’t register in their heads. Or that Netflix is gonna have to charge a lot more to avoid getting throttled by Comcast for competing with their cable networks.

281 klys  May 15, 2014 8:59:48am

re: #280 Targetpractice

Also worth noting is that the vote was 3-2, along party lines.

The Democrats voted in favor of advancing the proposal.

282 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 9:02:32am

He who controls the Spice, controls the universe!

283 Killgore Trout  May 15, 2014 9:03:37am

The spice must flow.
/for a nominal fee, of course.

284 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 9:03:53am

re: #281 klys

Also worth noting is that the vote was 3-2, along party lines.

The Democrats voted in favor of advancing the proposal.

Ayep. But let us not worry about the details, there’s outrages to be had.

285 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:04:06am

re: #279 klys

It’s worth noting that what really happened is there was a vote to allow the proposal to move forward into the four month public comment phase, the feedback of which they are supposed to take into account when determining the votes on the final proposal.

Not that I would put a ton of money on anticipating a different outcome, but it’s worth being semi-accurate as to what happened here.

Yes, I provided the link. But the internet knows no limits to its greed, either.

I don’t have a lot of hope that there will be a different outcome just because the public raises an outcry. Companies do as they wish, and whenever additional revenue is involved, well, we know how that works.

I mean, how do you think it even got to this stage?

“The plan, approved in a three-to-two vote along party lines, could unleash a new economy on the Web where an Internet service provider such as Verizon would charge a Web site such as Netflix for the guarantee of flawless video streaming.

“Smaller companies that can’t afford to pay for faster delivery would likely face additional obstacles against bigger rivals. And consumers could see a trickle-down effect of higher prices as Web sites try to pass along new costs of doing business with Internet service providers.

“The proposal is not a final rule, but the three-to-two vote on Thursday is a significant step forward…”

286 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:06:52am
287 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 9:07:50am

re: #285 Justanotherhuman

Yes, I provided the link. But the internet knows no limits to its greed, either.

I don’t have a lot of hope that there will be a different outcome just because the public raises an outcry. Companies do as they wish, and whenever additional revenue is involved, well, we know how that works.

I mean, how do you think it even got to this stage?

“The plan, approved in a three-to-two vote along party lines, could unleash a new economy on the Web where an Internet service provider such as Verizon would charge a Web site such as Netflix for the guarantee of flawless video streaming.

“Smaller companies that can’t afford to pay for faster delivery would likely face additional obstacles against bigger rivals. And consumers could see a trickle-down effect of higher prices as Web sites try to pass along new costs of doing business with Internet service providers.

“The proposal is not a final rule, but the three-to-two vote on Thursday is a significant step forward…”

Metric fucktons of money. And it’s something that is a feature of American politics, not limited to one party or affiliation. Even the third parties, who the dudebros and wingnuts alike love to argue are “different” from the GOP or the DNC are themselves bankrolled by millionaires and billionaires whose interests are served first before the little people like you or me are even considered.

288 klys  May 15, 2014 9:11:25am

re: #284 Targetpractice

Ayep. But let us not worry about the details, there’s outrages to be had.

I’ll save my outrage for actually expressing my opinion in the public comments.

I’m against the whole concept. That ISPs are facing bandwidth difficulties is much more a function of their unwillingness to invest in the infrastructure required, particularly once it became obvious that bandwidth usage has been growing exponentially. There are real, physical limits on the amount of data one can send through a single fiber optic cable. The pipelines are going to hit them soon. But laying more fiber requires an outlay of cash, and that cuts into profits, and that cuts into shareholder happiness and CEO bonuses.

I’m not optimistic, but I’m tired of outrage. I’ll look into how to make the public comment because participating in the process is important, and I’ll do my best to vote in line with my beliefs, but I’m sure as hell not going to vote Republican just because the Republican commissioners voted against this proposal so I have to acknowledge that may not be fully possible.

What is perhaps more likely to change the decision is the fact that a lot of the big businesses in Silicon Valley are very against this.

289 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 9:12:15am

Everyone who tweets this meme is an asshole:

290 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 9:12:53am

291 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:14:49am

re: #287 Targetpractice

Metric fucktons of money. And it’s something that is a feature of American politics, not limited to one party or affiliation. Even the third parties, who the dudebros and wingnuts alike love to argue are “different” from the GOP or the DNC are themselves bankrolled by millionaires and billionaires whose interests are served first before the little people like you or me are even considered.

Yeah, I never imagined in my wildest mental scenarios that getting decent TV reception would cost $100 or more each month, esp when it used to be free, with ads picking up the tab for transmission by networks.

We conquered some of that with a wireless router, first using an Xbox, now a DVD player, but everything we watch usually has a year or more lag. Doesn’t really bother me, though, since we’re not huge TV viewers and we get not just older TV shows, but also movies and foreign content as well by streaming Netflix and others. If we want a more current movie, we just go to Redbox. We don’t really miss cable since there is so little on it that we want to watch.

292 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 9:15:27am

re: #289 Pie-onist Overlord

Everyone who tweets this meme is an asshole:

[Embedded content]

That’s like asking why anybody should be paid what they are paid. Why does a cubicle rat who spends hours at a keyboard earn more than the guy who’s stocking shelves at the local market? “Minimum effort,” my ass.

293 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 9:17:07am

re: #292 Targetpractice

That’s like asking why anybody should be paid what they are paid. Why does a cubicle rat who spends hours at a keyboard earn more than the guy who’s stocking shelves at the local market? “Minimum effort,” my ass.

Also how do they justify CEO pay? Do CEO’s work 100 times harder than the low-level workers? HURR HURR THEY WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER!!!!!

294 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:18:02am

re: #293 Pie-onist Overlord

Also how do they justify CEO pay? Do CEO’s work 100 times harder than the low-level workers? HURR HURR THEY WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER!!!!!

Smarter? Well, yeah, they do get paid huge severance packages even when they run a company into the ground.

295 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 9:18:13am

Want to know why your prescription coverage is so expensive?

Yesterday a box appeared on my porch. The box contained a nice foam cooler just right for a 6-pack of beer. Inside were four 1 liter frozen gellpacks. The gel was maintaining the shipping temperature of a single 5 milliliter bottle of a common prescription eyedrop, about a month’s supply.

The insurance paid about 90% of the $300 the meds cost. They insist that we use the online pharmacy or pay a 50% penalty for using the one down the street.

Somebody’s getting screwed, and I’m getting a bunch of nice coolers.

296 Dr Lizardo  May 15, 2014 9:24:21am

re: #294 Justanotherhuman

Smarter? Well, yeah, they do get paid huge severance packages even when they run a company into the ground.

My offer to corporate America still stands; for a mere $5 million dollars, I, Dr. Lizardo, will take your profitable enterprise and run it into ruin in one fiscal quarter.

Guaranteed results, or you don’t have to pay!

297 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:24:44am

re: #295 Decatur Deb

Want to know why your prescription coverage is so expensive?

Yesterday a box appeared on my porch. The box contained a nice foam cooler just right for a 6-pack of beer. Inside was 4 1 liter frozen gellpacks. The gel was maintaining the shipping temperature of a single 5 milliliter bottle of a common prescription eyedrop, about a month’s supply.

The insurance paid about 90% of the $300 the meds cost. They insist that we use the online pharmacy or pay a 50% penalty for using the one down the street.

Somebody’s getting screwed, and I’m getting a bunch of nice coolers.

They’ve been trying for years to get me to order my Rxs by mail. I refuse, because, well, the local pharmacy I use always has it stocked anyway.

Not to mention that when it comes to supplies, companies over-send—like testing strips, etc.

My son had a one-month ahead supply of Lisinopril and Crestor which I saved and will use, so I didn’t reorder those when I ran out of mine. I got a letter from CVS (which manages my Rxs, although I don’t use them) wondering if I had stopped taking my “medications”. No, I just refuse to throw something that can be used in the trash.

298 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 9:25:07am

re: #291 Justanotherhuman

Yeah, I never imagined in my wildest mental scenarios that getting decent TV reception would cost $100 or more each month, esp when it used to be free, with ads picking up the tab for transmission by networks.

We conquered some of that with a wireless router, first using an Xbox, now a DVD player, but everything we watch usually has a year or more lag. Doesn’t really bother me, though, since we’re not huge TV viewers and we get not just older TV shows, but also movies and foreign content as well by streaming Netflix and others. If we want a more current movie, we just go to Redbox. We don’t really miss cable since there is so little on it that we want to watch.

Fewer and fewer shows I watch anymore are ones that I can’t just watch on Hulu with a day or two delay. Hell, right now I’m watching old episodes of Top Gear on Netflix, something that even a decade ago would have required buying the series on DVD. There’s Youtube, BlipTV, and a host of other video hosting sites that make it possible for me to watch things that either are no longer on TV or never were to begin with.

It’s already absolutely fucking ridiculous in this country that we lag so far behind the rest of the world in terms of internet speeds and wifi access. But the sort of pay schemes in play are highway robbery. I pay an ISP to use their internet service in order to use an XBox whose Gold membership I have to have just to watch Netflix which I’m also paying. Only other option is to settle for whatever mush is playing at that moment on cable TV.

299 A Mom Anon  May 15, 2014 9:25:40am

re: #268 wrenchwench

The canine is fine, she just has issues with her anal glands (TMI, eww, ack) and they have to be expressed more often than normal. (((shudder))) I simply don’t have the stomach for it, I tried once. Um. NO. LOL.

But yeah, I’m so sick of this fight over abortion. It’s the TWENTY FIRST damned century people. Can we start working on improving lives for the already born? That would be The Most Awesome Thing EVAR.

300 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 9:28:33am

Another “FREE MARKET” Meme. YAY CAPITALISM.
Price controls can lead to shortages, but price gouging can lead to people not buying product, which is why “loaves of bread are waiting”

301 kirkspencer  May 15, 2014 9:29:05am

re: #295 Decatur Deb

Want to know why your prescription coverage is so expensive?

Yesterday a box appeared on my porch. The box contained a nice foam cooler just right for a 6-pack of beer. Inside were four 1 liter frozen gellpacks. The gel was maintaining the shipping temperature of a single 5 milliliter bottle of a common prescription eyedrop, about a month’s supply.

The insurance paid about 90% of the $300 the meds cost. They insist that we use the online pharmacy or pay a 50% penalty for using the one down the street.

Somebody’s getting screwed, and I’m getting a bunch of nice coolers.

Actually, and as much as I dislike it, they’re being intelligent.

The cost of all that is tiny in comparison to the cost of trying to ensure a very small package gets to you fast enough that the drug stays below temp or that a very small package can successfully maintain temperatures for a day and a half to two days of travel.

First consideration: the medicine must remain below a certain temperature to remain viable.

Second consideration: while next-day shipping is usually next day, things happen and it’s sometimes second day shipping.

Third consideration: for temperature control, mass matters. The inches of insulation matter as well.

302 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 9:30:33am

People line up to buy iphones, HURR HURR SOSHULIZM!!!!

303 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 9:30:43am

re: #300 Pie-onist Overlord

Another “FREE MARKET” Meme. YAY CAPITALISM.
Price controls can lead to shortages, but price gouging can lead to people not buying product, which is why “loaves of bread are waiting”

[Embedded content]

Internet - Politics

oil - water

304 klys  May 15, 2014 9:31:48am

re: #301 kirkspencer

Actually, and as much as I dislike it, they’re being intelligent.

The cost of all that is tiny in comparison to the cost of trying to ensure a very small package gets to you fast enough that the drug stays below temp or that a very small package can successfully maintain temperatures for a day and a half to two days of travel.

First consideration: the medicine must remain below a certain temperature to remain viable.

Second consideration: while next-day shipping is usually next day, things happen and it’s sometimes second day shipping.

Third consideration: for temperature control, mass matters. The inches of insulation matter as well.

But what is the difference in cost between shipping it versus allowing it to be obtained at the same price at a local pharmacy, where none of that is necessary? Put differently: is the volume discount the company gets by forcing people to go through their pharmacy enough to outweigh the increase in shipping costs?

I think that’s the distinction being drawn here.

305 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 9:32:10am

re: #300 Pie-onist Overlord

Another “FREE MARKET” Meme. YAY CAPITALISM.
Price controls can lead to shortages, but price gouging can lead to people not buying product, which is why “loaves of bread are waiting”

[Embedded content]

Thing not said about the second image: A good percentage of that is gonna end up going to waste. Having worked in a supermarket, I can say that most people would be surprised how much perfectly good bread goes to waste because it’s “Best By” date has run out.

306 wrenchwench  May 15, 2014 9:32:37am

re: #299 A Mom Anon

The canine is fine, she just has issues with her anal glands (TMI, eww, ack) and they have to be expressed more often than normal. (((shudder))) I simply don’t have the stomach for it, I tried once. Um. NO. LOL.

I have a cat whose rear I need to watch almost as closely as his brother does.

But yeah, I’m so sick of this fight over abortion. It’s the TWENTY FIRST damned century people. Can we start working on improving lives for the already born? That would be The Most Awesome Thing EVAR.

Maybe Marco Rubio should be informed of the scientific certainty and political reality that women are adults with constitutional rights and free agency.

307 Ed E. Lishus  May 15, 2014 9:33:16am

re: #300 Pie-onist Overlord

That’s stupid for all kinds of reasons, not least of all that one photo is about consumption/distribution, the other production. I’m pretty sure you’d find both components in capitalism.

308 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 9:33:56am

re: #305 Targetpractice

Thing not said about the second image: A good percentage of that is gonna end up going to waste. Having worked in a supermarket, I can say that most people would be surprised how much perfectly good bread goes to waste because it’s “Best By” date has run out.

I can make the same meme with PEOPLE LINED UP TO BUY IPHONE vs IPHONES IN A DISPLAY CASE and call the first image HURR HURR OBAMAPHONES!!!!!!.

309 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:34:06am

re: #298 Targetpractice

Fewer and fewer shows I watch anymore are ones that I can’t just watch on Hulu with a day or two delay. Hell, right now I’m watching old episodes of Top Gear on Netflix, something that even a decade ago would have required buying the series on DVD. There’s Youtube, BlipTV, and a host of other video hosting sites that make it possible for me to watch things that either are no longer on TV or never were to begin with.

It’s already absolutely fucking ridiculous in this country that we lag so far behind the rest of the world in terms of internet speeds and wifi access. But the sort of pay schemes in play are highway robbery. I pay an ISP to use their internet service in order to use an XBox whose Gold membership I have to have just to watch Netflix which I’m also paying. Only other option is to settle for whatever mush is playing at that moment on cable TV.

We cancelled our Xbox sub because my grandson no longer uses it. If there’s a new game he wants to try, he’ll pay a small fee for a download to play on the gaming computer he built. Now we use a DVD player and just pay for Netflix. That’s about all we need at this point since we limit TV viewing.

310 Decatur Deb  May 15, 2014 9:34:31am

re: #301 kirkspencer

Actually, and as much as I dislike it, they’re being intelligent.

The cost of all that is tiny in comparison to the cost of trying to ensure a very small package gets to you fast enough that the drug stays below temp or that a very small package can successfully maintain temperatures for a day and a half to two days of travel.

First consideration: the medicine must remain below a certain temperature to remain viable.

Second consideration: while next-day shipping is usually next day, things happen and it’s sometimes second day shipping.

Third consideration: for temperature control, mass matters. The inches of insulation matter as well.

Buying and shipping a 6 lb/1 cu ft box like that overnight from Las Vegas to Bumfuck AL cannot be cheaper than encouraging me to buy it from a chain down the street. The store has reefers and a national logistics chain, and stock the med. (They also won’t let me buy several at a time to optimize their shipping.)

311 Pie-onist Overlord  May 15, 2014 9:34:49am

re: #307 Ed E. Lishus

That’s stupid for all kinds of reasons, not least of all that one photo is about consumption/distribution, the other production. I’m pretty sure you’d find both components in capitalism.

In TwitterMemeLand, they like to show two photos side by side and then go all ANY QUESTIONS

312 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  May 15, 2014 9:38:09am

re: #302 Pie-onist Overlord

People line up to buy iphones, HURR HURR SOSHULIZM!!!!
[Embedded image]

Not to mention the people who line up on the freeways outside every major American city every morning to get in and earn money.

313 Ed E. Lishus  May 15, 2014 9:43:16am

Yes, standing in line is socialism.

314 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:44:05am

Danger on the roadways…this is in the same general vicinity across the lake from me.

Police: Loaded rifle found in car after road rage incident

wsoctv.com

“Huntersville police said they found a loaded AR-15 after stopping a driver during a traffic altercation.

“Police responded to Davidson Concord Road around 5:39 p.m. Wednesday after shots were fired. A person reported a driver of another vehicle fired shots at him with a rifle.

“The man said he followed the other driver and called 911.” More

Idiot with Gun

315 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 9:44:59am

re: #275 Justanotherhuman

Recycling, yes, before burning, of course. I was just being snarky about the burning books scenario. : )

We have to haul all our recyclables to a “convenience site” in this county, which doesn’t encourage it much, although some do if they’re conscientious enough.

We had to do that too…and I always did. We were sort of lucky though, the city of Columbus worked a deal with Rumpke Recycling company to put huge drop box bins at all the local Kroger stores. Since there are probably 20 or more Kroger stores in the area you could always find one easily.

But last year about this time Columbus put in a full-blown recycle program with Rumpke. Every home received a nifty blue recycle bin, probably about 80-100 gallon in size that we can put recyclables in and then every other week we wheel them out by our regular trash collection bins. At the same time, we can also put out the huge paper bags for yard waste. If the grass/plant.tree stuff doesn’t fit in the big bag, then you bundle it in 4’ long bundles and tie it up with twine.

We also have companies all over town taking electronics, paint/chemical/auto parts and all kinds of other stuff. If you have a bit of motivation there is somewhere to take and recycle almost everything around here.

316 Ed E. Lishus  May 15, 2014 9:45:32am

However, every time I’m waiting on hold for a half hour when I call my bank or cable company, I know the invisible hand of the free market is working because a recorded voice periodically assures me that my call is important to them.

317 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:51:20am

re: #315 ObserverArt

We had to do that too…and I always did. We were sort of lucky though, the city of Columbus worked a deal with Rumpke Recycling company to put huge drop box bins at all the local Kroger stores. Since there are probably 20 or more Kroger stores in the area you could always find one easily.

But last year about this time Columbus put in a full-blown recycle program with Rumpke. Every home received a nifty blue recycle bin, probably about 80-100 gallon in size that we can put recyclables in and then every other week we wheel them out by our regular trash collection bins. At the same time, we can also put out the huge paper bags for yard waste. If the grass/plant.tree stuff doesn’t fit in the big bag, then you bundle it in 4’ long bundles and tie it up with twine.

We also have companies all over town taking electronics, paint/chemical/auto parts and all kinds of other stuff. If you have a bit of motivation there is somewhere to take and recycle almost everything around here.

Charlotte has always been good about recycling. My son who lives there now gets 2 large bins; one for regular trash and one for recycling (metal, glass, alum which I suppose they sort), plus a small open bin for paper, IIRC. There are a couple of commercial recycling outfits that pay for used aluminum and other waste as well if you deliver it. When our aluminum roofed carport was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo, my sons took it to a recycling place and got $140 for it in 1989.

318 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 9:51:41am

re: #289 Pie-onist Overlord

Everyone who tweets this meme is an asshole:

I just wanted to point something out regarding #minimumwage. #tcot #ccot

Did you happen to catch where old Vince is from?

Maricopa, Arizona - Probably likes him some law and order sheriff.

319 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 9:53:06am

re: #318 ObserverArt

Did you happen to catch where old Vince is from?

Maricopa, Arizona - Probably likes him some law and order sheriff.

AZ has fast become the armpit of the southwest politically. Pity, because you know there are some good people there as well.

320 RealityBasedSteve  May 15, 2014 9:54:56am

Well, the great American Spring is tomorrow…. and from what I can tell, there are still plenty of hotel rooms available in DC. Probably the millions of patriots who will be showing up are all camping out… travelocity.com

RBS

321 b.d.  May 15, 2014 9:59:54am

re: #320 RealityBasedSteve

Well, the great American Spring is tomorrow…. and from what I can tell, there are still plenty of hotel rooms available in DC. Probably the millions of patriots who will be showing up are all camping out… travelocity.com

RBS

STAY OVERNIGHT?!?!? WON’T WE BE DONE OVERTHROWING THE GOVERNMENT BY SUPPERTIME?!?!

322 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 10:04:37am

re: #320 RealityBasedSteve

Well, the great American Spring is tomorrow…. and from what I can tell, there are still plenty of hotel rooms available in DC. Probably the millions of patriots who will be showing up are all camping out… travelocity.com

RBS

Camping? Where, Alexandria?

323 Dr. Matt  May 15, 2014 10:07:33am

re: #320 RealityBasedSteve

Well, the great American Spring is tomorrow…. and from what I can tell, there are still plenty of hotel rooms available in DC. Probably the millions of patriots who will be showing up are all camping out… travelocity.com

RBS

HOTELS!? They are already setting up for the Patriot Siege!

324 Targetpractice  May 15, 2014 10:08:31am

Guess it doesn’t surprise me that RS is running a Fox “News” poll with the headline that Benghazi is very real, people think it’s a big thing, and of course that Obama is just like Nixon, or at least I assume that’s what they’re trying to say by converting his photo to black and white.

325 Justanotherhuman  May 15, 2014 10:09:14am

re: #320 RealityBasedSteve

Well, the great American Spring is tomorrow…. and from what I can tell, there are still plenty of hotel rooms available in DC. Probably the millions of patriots who will be showing up are all camping out… travelocity.com

RBS

Will they not be armed to the teeth?

“The District of Columbia does not permit the concealed carrying of firearms. Open carry is also prohibited.”

en.wikipedia.org

326 RealityBasedSteve  May 15, 2014 10:09:56am

re: #321 b.d.

STAY OVERNIGHT?!?!? WON’T WE BE DONE OVERTHROWING THE GOVERNMENT BY SUPPERTIME?!?!

I don’t know about you… but every time I’ve overthrown a government there always seems to be a paperwork SNAFU and we usually have to wait a day for something to get signed, or the copier jams, things like that.

Yea, it SHOULD be done that same day, but a responsible revolutionary always allows for extra processing time.

RBS

327 Mike Lamb  May 15, 2014 10:10:10am

re: #289 Pie-onist Overlord

Everyone who tweets this meme is an asshole:

[Embedded content]

Considering that most fast food places are staffed with minimum wage employees, how, exactly, are they making a minimum contribution to the work place? If the guy in the back is working the fryers, taking out the trash, and wrapping Big Macs during lunch rush, how, again, is that minimum effort? Is the bi-lingual employee that acts as a liaison between customers and the crew minimally skilled?

328 wrenchwench  May 15, 2014 10:10:39am

re: #318 ObserverArt

Did you happen to catch where old Vince is from?

Maricopa, Arizona - Probably likes him some law and order sheriff.

Certainly, but not the one you’re thinking of. Maricopa, AZ is not in Maricopa County, it’s in Pima County, so his lawn order sheriff is this one:

⸨ I M A G E ⸩

That photo was taken before Sheriff Babeu came out of the closet.

329 blueraven  May 15, 2014 10:13:22am

re: #322 Targetpractice

Camping? Where, Alexandria?

walmart parking lot

330 Eventual Carrion  May 15, 2014 10:14:31am

re: #192 ObserverArt

And Greenwald is in Brazil!!!

Do you know who else ended up in Brazil???

[snip].

The Boys?

331 Eventual Carrion  May 15, 2014 10:19:48am

re: #194 iossarian

The point is that these are people who shoot each other (or themselves) by accident.

If you outlaw guns, then only outlaws will accidentally shoot their children.

[paraphrased from something I heard or read at one time]

332 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 10:33:24am

re: #330 Eventual Carrion

The Boys?

Yeah. And didn’t some people even think that Adolph faked his death and snuck off to either there or Argentina?

333 ObserverArt  May 15, 2014 10:35:59am

re: #328 wrenchwench

Certainly, but not the one you’re thinking of. Maricopa, AZ is not in Maricopa County, it’s in Pima County, so his lawn order sheriff is this one:

⸨[Embedded image] I M A G E ⸩

That photo was taken before Sheriff Babeu came out of the closet.

Thanks for the correction Wrench!

334 wrenchwench  May 15, 2014 10:44:03am

re: #333 ObserverArt

Thanks for the correction Wrench!

Of course, the idiot tweeter could be from Maricopa County, and not the city. I just like that photo.

335 jaunte  May 15, 2014 11:14:37am

re: #289 Pie-onist Overlord

Everyone who tweets this meme is an asshole:

[Embedded content]

There was a piece on NPR this morning about the fast food workers’ strike. They interviewed a McDonald’s employee from Australia, who belongs to a union, and is paid $12.86 an hour. Somehow the fabric of Australian society remains intact.

336 Eventual Carrion  May 15, 2014 11:30:25am

re: #219 HappyWarrior

Yeah don’t they have a registry? I mean that’s something that the gun rights orgs repeatedly shut down. Oh and it’s funny how they want to use Switzerland’s guns as a model but want to totally ignore how the rest of the Western World does health care.

And probably mental health attention to keep the crazies from committing craziness in the first place (and not giving them a gun to boot). Helps keep crime down.

337 BeenHereAwhile  May 15, 2014 12:07:00pm

re: #76 ObserverArt

I don’t think Rubio really stands for anything. He has no real core ideals. All he does is play politics and that is why he ends up all over the place. It is why he can’t frame a decent conversation on his policy because he doesn’t believe in anything but power and the bucks that come with it.

A bad actor.

The biggest problem with using Rubio to attract the Hispanic vote is that he is Cuban American.

The Republicans seem blind to the fact that Cuban immigrants to the US have what all other Hispanic immigrants want but can’t get - instant Green Cards upon arrival in the US.


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