Weekly Standard’s Great Idea of the Day: Go Bold With Gold!

Forward… into the past!
Wingnuts • Views: 22,303

You gotta love this! Today at the Weekly Standard we find a terrific suggestion for the Republican Party, a winning issue if there ever was one: GO BOLD WITH GOLD!

Republicans are searching for big, bold ideas that will inspire voters to embrace a conservative agenda. To unite its disparate segments, the GOP needs to uphold our nation’s founding principles—a key requirement for Tea Party adherents—while fostering the aspirations of those who believe the United States should play a strong leadership role in the world. A prime opportunity presents itself in the most compelling problem America faces: the need to restore confidence in its economic future.

[…]

To reinvigorate faith in democratic capitalism as the best path to liberty, opportunity, and prosperity—at home and abroad—Republicans should focus on sound money as the logical foundation. But “sound money” cannot be invoked as a mere platitude; it’s time to consider profound monetary reform to establish the reliability of America’s currency and help build a new international monetary system.

And yes: We should be prepared to debate the potential role of gold in our nation’s monetary affairs and as an anchor for international monetary stability.

Yes, the gold standard! Possibly the worst economic idea in the history of humanity! I totally support this “GO BOLD WITH GOLD” initiative for the GOP, and I truly hope they listen to Judy Shelton of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

You can tell she’s a serious deep thinker, because she cites noted economic genius… Sarah Palin! Oh yes! More, please.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin similarly argued for fundamental monetary reform, inveighing against “temporary, artificial economic growth” caused by the Fed’s pump priming. “We want a stable dollar combined with real economic reform. It’s the only way we can get our economy back on the right track.”

This is such a good idea.

Also see
Why the Gold Standard Is the World’s Worst Economic Idea, in 2 Charts

Jump to bottom

327 comments
1 lawhawk  Jul 14, 2014 5:51:54pm

The GOP platform from 2012 already had an oblique reference to the gold standard with a proposal to study a metallic based currency. This is out-and-out crank economic theory masquerading as a policy.

2 GeneJockey  Jul 14, 2014 5:53:01pm

re: #1 lawhawk

The GOP platform from 2012 already had an oblique reference to the gold standard with a proposal to study a metallic based currency. This is out-and-out crank economic theory masquerading as a policy.

Hey, give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they meant Zinc.

3 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 5:53:31pm

Morons.

This book, The Lords of FInance explains how the gold idiocy contributed mightily to causing the great depression.

Fortunately the Germans stayed on gold anyway. That was one of the reasons they couldn’t grow their economy enough to win WWII…

4 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 5:54:23pm

BITCOIN IS THE NEW GOLD!!!!!!

5 Shiplord Kirel  Jul 14, 2014 5:55:47pm

This fits very well with other cutting edge GOP ideas, like young Earth creationism, the property qualification for voting, and the abolition of public schools. I think they could build a winner around this.

6 Targetpractice  Jul 14, 2014 5:56:05pm

re: #4 Pie-onist Overlord

BITCOIN IS THE NEW GOLD!!!!!!

Bitcoin has nowhere to go but up!

7 RealityBasedSteve  Jul 14, 2014 5:56:45pm

gold pressed latinum

RBS

8 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 14, 2014 5:56:57pm

Let’s base our currency on something we have too much of. Too many of.

The Dudebro Dollar! Issued as a coin called the standing Libertarian. Made of… pig iron.

9 GeneJockey  Jul 14, 2014 5:57:19pm

re: #5 Shiplord Kirel

This fits very well with other cutting edge GOP ideas, like young Earth creationism, the property qualification for voting, and the abolition of public schools. I think they could build a winner around this.

There’s also their pre-1863 view of employer/employee relations….

10 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 5:58:11pm

Via I Hate Ants

11 CuriousLurker  Jul 14, 2014 5:59:04pm

Reposted form the last thread by request:

re: #56 wrenchwench

Juice running everything especially the banks how are we going to get it away from them I have an idea….

You know that book I’m reading that I keep talking about, and the whole Juice & the Bilderburg/bankers/moneylenders thing? It turns out that after the pogroms in Europe around the early Crusades, the Jews that were left were marginalized and could no longer make money as they’d previously done by trading and supplying the upper classes/nobility with luxury items (those positions were taken over by Christians).

The thing was, charging interest was forbidden for all three Abrahamic religions, so the Christians pushed the Jews into becoming moneylenders in order to keep their own hands clean. The upper classes were stingy and would only pay extremely low interest rates that didn’t allow the Jews to make enough income to survive, so they ended up lending to the businessmen & craftsmen, etc.—who desperately needed the loans—at higher rates.

I was kinda gob-smacked. It was like, “Wait—what? You guys effectively forced the Jews into money lending to keep yourselves free of sin, then turned around and called them greedy, eventually creating conspiracy theories about cabals of evil Jewish bankers controlling the world?” *thud*

12 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 5:59:16pm

re: #2 GeneJockey

Hey, give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they meant Zinc.

Hey!! Zinc money was in circulation when I was a kid.

en.wikipedia.org

13 GeneJockey  Jul 14, 2014 5:59:53pm

It’s Bastille Day. Time to go home and have a burger and some French Freedom Fries. I’ll use some French’s Freedom’s mustard. Maybe even French Freedom kiss the wife…

14 Lidane  Jul 14, 2014 6:01:02pm

re: #5 Shiplord Kirel

This fits very well with other cutting edge GOP ideas, like young Earth creationism, the property qualification for voting, and the abolition of public schools. I think they could build a winner around this.

Hey, don’t forget getting rid of the direct election of Senators and abolishing the vote for women. Those are totally winning positions for the GOP.

15 GeneJockey  Jul 14, 2014 6:01:42pm

re: #12 Decatur Deb

Hey!! Zinc money was in circulation when I was a kid.

en.wikipedia.org

Zinc money is in circulation right now. Lincoln’s head is on it.

16 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 6:01:50pm

re: #14 Lidane

Not to mention sending Pershing back into Mexico.

17 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 6:02:32pm

The “Atlas Economic Research Foundation.” I smell a Randian.

18 GeneJockey  Jul 14, 2014 6:02:45pm

re: #14 Lidane

Hey, don’t forget getting rid of the direct election of Senators and abolishing the vote for women. Those are totally winning positions for the GOP.

In one of his few lucid moments, Lindsey Graham said they were running out of angry white men. Can’t come soon enough.

19 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 6:03:48pm

re: #17 Charles Johnson

The “Atlas Economic Research Foundation.” I smell a Randian.

Just shrug it off.

20 Belafon  Jul 14, 2014 6:04:28pm

I read somewhere that at the current value of gold, there wasn’t enough around to cover the size of the US economy. Don’t know if it’s true or not, and wonder what people think about that statement.

21 wrenchwench  Jul 14, 2014 6:04:49pm

re: #11 CuriousLurker

Scratch one of these gold bugs and nine times out of ten you’ll find an anti-Semite.

22 Varek Raith  Jul 14, 2014 6:04:56pm

Wouldn’t the Feds have to confiscate all the gold???

23 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 6:06:15pm

re: #21 wrenchwench

Scratch one of these gold bugs and nine times out of ten you’ll find an anti-Semite.

This is very true. It’s almost guaranteed.

24 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 6:06:50pm
25 Floral Giraffe  Jul 14, 2014 6:07:14pm

re: #21 wrenchwench

Ron Paul!

26 wrenchwench  Jul 14, 2014 6:07:46pm

re: #25 Floral Giraffe

Ron Paul!

Not to mention Rand.

27 wrenchwench  Jul 14, 2014 6:08:20pm

smbc-comics.com

Later, lizards.

28 Jack Burton  Jul 14, 2014 6:08:53pm

re: #17 Charles Johnson

The “Atlas Economic Research Foundation.” I smell a Randian.

Department of Economic Research and Planning. DERP.

Chaired by Ron Paul, Co chaired by Peter Schiff

Board: Rand Paul, Alex Jones, Adam Kokesh, Lew Rockwell, Hans-Herman Hoppe, Andrew Napolitano, Clyde Wilson.

First on the agenda: GOLD!!!11!!11!ELEVENTY!

29 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 6:09:26pm
For over two decades, a Virginia-based organization has been quietly working as the Johnny Appleseed of antiregulation groups. With a modest $4 million dollar budget in 2003 and a staff of eight, Atlas Economic Research Foundation is on a mission to populate the world with new “free market” voices. In its 2003 review of activities, quaintly titled its “Investor Report,” Atlas announced it worked with “70 new think-tank entrepreneurs from 37 foreign countries and several states of the U.S.,” including Lithuania, Greece, Mongolia, Ghana, the Philippines, Brazil and Argentina.

The mission of Atlas, according to John Blundell (president from 1987 to 1990), “is to litter the world with free-market think-tanks.”

sourcewatch.org

30 Backwoods_Sleuth  Jul 14, 2014 6:09:41pm

re: #17 Charles Johnson

The “Atlas Economic Research Foundation.” I smell a Randian.

That’s what ants smell like.

31 Jack Burton  Jul 14, 2014 6:11:10pm

re: #28 Jack Burton

They also plan to send Bothan spies into the Bilderberg Meeting to steal plans for the Death Star of David. An all-powerful space station home to the 5 Jewish Bankers who run the world.

32 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 6:11:12pm
“Atlas has cosponsored Heartland Institute events dedicated to the proposition that climate change is not a crisis and has supported organizations such as the John Locke Foundation which has attacked efforts by state elected officials working on climate solutions with the Center for Climate Strategies.”
sourcewatch.org
33 Targetpractice  Jul 14, 2014 6:13:14pm

re: #31 Jack Burton

They also plan to send Bothan spies into the Bilderberg Meeting to steal plans for the Death Star of David. An all-powerful space station home to the 5 Jewish Bankers who run the world.

Many Bothan spies died to bring us this information.

//

34 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 6:13:14pm

re: #32 jaunte

“Atlas has cosponsored Heartland Institute events dedicated to the proposition that climate change is not a crisis and has supported organizations such as the John Locke Foundation which has attacked efforts by state elected officials working on climate solutions with the Center for Climate Strategies.”
sourcewatch.org

So it’s another RW money laundering scheme.

35 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 6:13:32pm

re: #28 Jack Burton

Department of Economic Research and Planning. DERP.

Chaired by Ron Paul, Co chaired by Peter Schiff

Board: Rand Paul, Alex Jones, Adam Kokesh, Lew Rockwell, Hans-Herman Hoppe, Andrew Napolitano, Clyde Wilson.

First on the agenda: GOLD!!!11!!11!ELEVENTY!

The nose knows.

36 Romantic Heretic  Jul 14, 2014 6:14:22pm
To reinvigorate faith in democratic capitalism as the best path to liberty, opportunity, and prosperity

Um, this is one of the great myths of the modern era; that democracy and capitalism are somehow intertwined and that the economic system supports the political system. This is a major load of bullshit.

Capitalism loathes democracy and if the nation lets it will undermine and subvert it. As the last several decades in the States have demonstrated.

Capitalism can have a decent working relationship, as the years between 1945 and approx. 1970 showed, but they’ll never be friends.

As my favourite writer puts it, “Capitalism was content under Hitler, happy under Mussolini, very happy under Franco and delirious under General Pinochet.”

37 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 6:15:00pm

re: #34 Decatur Deb

“…We got word this afternoon that the Institute for Energy Research (IER), a polluter front-group, has released a study from CEPOS, a Danish think-tank, that claims to show that wind power’s contribution to the power supply in Denmark is overstated.

We need to look at the substance of the charge, but in the meantime it is well worth knowing that both IER and CEPOS are tied to polluter funding. IER is run by former Koch Industries and Petroluem Refiners lobbyist Thomas Pyle. And IER has recieved $150,000 from the Charles and David Koch-controlled Claude R. Lambe Foundation since 2006.

CEPOS, the originator of the study, was also awarded a $100,000 grant from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, which in turn received funding from the Charles G. Koch Foundation.”
switchboard.nrdc.org

38 Lidane  Jul 14, 2014 6:15:42pm

IIRC, there’s not enough gold on the planet for us to go back on the gold standard. Also, going back to gold would prevent the banks from reacting to any real crisis. It would fuck us over in ways we can’t even calculate.

It takes a special kind of stupid and some serious, weapons-grade economic illiteracy to think that a gold standard is a good idea in 2014. Kim Jong Un would look like an economic genius in comparison.

39 Varek Raith  Jul 14, 2014 6:16:38pm

I haz an idea.
Instead of gold, we use bullshit.
We’d be rich.
Or something.

40 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 6:18:46pm

re: #36 Romantic Heretic

“Capitalism was content under Hitler, happy under Mussolini, very happy under Franco and delirious under General Pinochet.”

Beat me to it.

41 Jack Burton  Jul 14, 2014 6:18:47pm

re: #38 Lidane

IIRC, there’s not enough gold on the planet for us to go back on the gold standard. Also, going back to gold would prevent the banks from reacting to any real crisis. It would fuck us over in ways we can’t even calculate.

It takes a special kind of stupid and some serious, weapons-grade economic illiteracy to think that a gold standard is a good idea in 2014. Kim Jong Un would look like an economic genius in comparison.

Yeah but RON PAUL!1!1

Um he’s a gynecologist and a career politician from a middle of nowhere uber-gerrymandered district in Texas, not a economic PhD.

WHY DO YOU HATE FREEDOM!

42 nines09  Jul 14, 2014 6:18:56pm

Once again the GOP shows the world it not only has no answers, it hasn’t got a fucking clue.

43 dog philosopher  Jul 14, 2014 6:19:18pm

awarded a $100,000 grant

i’m obvious failing to monetize my ability to say stupid things

44 Jack Burton  Jul 14, 2014 6:20:07pm

re: #43 dog philosopher

awarded a $100,000 grant

i’m obvious failing to monetize my ability to say stupid things

I’d get up and say something stupid to an echo chamber if I got 100 grand out of it.

45 CuriousLurker  Jul 14, 2014 6:21:11pm

re: #21 wrenchwench

Scratch one of these gold bugs and nine times out of ten you’ll find an anti-Semite.

Indeed—wouldn’t surprise me a bit. The more I read the more it just galls me. I mean, so much of the lying was intentional—it wasn’t just ignorance or fear or whatever. The banking/money lending thing seems to have been pure envy & spite over pushing a minority into a corner and then watching them become successful. There was another case, during the pogrom in Worms:

[Enemies of the Jews] plotted craftily against them. They took a trampled corpse of theirs , that had been buried thirty days earlier, and carried it through the city, saying: “Behold what the Jews have done to our comrade. They took a gentile and boiled him in water. They then poured the water into our wells in order to kill us.” When the crusaders and burghers heard this, they cried out and gathered— all who bore and unsheathed [a sword], from great to small— saying: “Behold, the time has come to avenge him who was crucified, whom their ancestors slew. Now let not a remnant or a residue escape; even an infant… in the cradle. 5
————————————————
5 Quoted in Chazan, In the Year 1096, 31.

WTF? I just can’t… After that came the story that started the whole blood libel thing, but I only got as far as them finding the body of the kid and people swearing that the Jews must’ve done it because… JEWS. And people know they could get away with just about anything they did to Jews without having to worry about the law coming after them. Ugh.

46 Shiplord Kirel  Jul 14, 2014 6:21:16pm

Thanks to decades of goldbuggery propaganda, hinterland GOPers are holding huge amounts of the precious metal. This would increase in value by orders of magnitude if the gold standard were adopted. Coincidence? I think not.

47 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 6:22:12pm

OH LOOK A RACIST==>

48 Targetpractice  Jul 14, 2014 6:23:26pm

re: #42 nines09

Once again the GOP shows the world it not only has no answers, it hasn’t got a fucking clue.

It’s yet another outdated, bad idea that the GOP has happily embraced as a backdoor way of killing all the progress made during the 20th century. Returning to the gold standard would make it virtually impossible to keep budget levels at where they presently stand, meaning killing off the majority of the social safety net due to insufficient funds.

49 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 6:23:57pm

re: #47 Pie-onist Overlord

It’s the 21st century, we have a tool that enables instantaneous conversation all over the connected earth, and some goobers can’t advance past 1860.

50 Romantic Heretic  Jul 14, 2014 6:25:25pm

The basis of their thinking, from what I’ve observed, is that gold has ‘real value’.

The problem is that is that there are no real values. They are all a matter of perception. Even in science the methods of measuring are arbitrary. 50 degrees Centigrade is 122 Fahrenheit, or to regular people, “Too fucking hot.”

If gold had a ‘real’ that is fixed value there could be no market in it. You can’t trade in something where the value never changes and is exactly the same for everybody.

I wish these geniuses did a little thinking once in a while.

51 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 6:25:56pm

re: #46 Shiplord Kirel

Thanks to decades of goldbuggery propaganda, hinterland GOPers are holding huge amounts of the precious metal. This would increase in value by orders of magnitude if the gold standard were adopted. Coincidence? I think not.

The Sovereign Citizens are among the faithful. A couple of years back one of our many sovereigns, a salesman, was busted on tax evasion. They dug $200,000—300,000 in coin out of his back yard.

52 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 6:26:27pm

re: #48 Targetpractice

It’s yet another outdated, bad idea that the GOP has happily embraced as a backdoor way of killing all the progress made during the 20th century. Returning to the gold standard would make it virtually impossible to keep budget levels at where they presently stand, meaning killing off the majority of the social safety net due to insufficient funds.

Feature, meet bug.

53 Romantic Heretic  Jul 14, 2014 6:26:44pm

re: #40 William Barnett-Lewis

Beat me to it.

And there’s reasons that businesses are eager to move to places like China and Indonesia etc. There won’t be any unions there and nobody complains about anything.

Not more than once anyway.

54 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 14, 2014 6:26:47pm

re: #38 Lidane

147.3 million ounces of gold at Ft Knox. Eight thousand billions of dollars. (M2 money supply from wiki)
I make that to be about $54,000 dollars per troy ounce. A one ounce 14kt mans wedding ring would be worth $31,000

55 CuriousLurker  Jul 14, 2014 6:26:57pm

re: #49 jaunte

It’s the 21st century, we have a tool that enables instantaneous conversation all over the connected earth, and some goobers can’t advance past 1860 1096.

FTFY—it’s the same kind of denial & scapegoating.

56 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 6:27:32pm

OMG OMG OMG I looked at its timeline and now I have to boil my browser in lysol.

57 ObserverArt  Jul 14, 2014 6:27:39pm

I put this in the last thread…but had a spelling issue and redid it…so the link was broken to the original posting. Dammmittt! Sorry…slinking away now…

Let’s give them a little response how Texas wants to handle this problem Sean!

(Hat tip to the LGF member(s) that gave me the idea from some of yesterday’s comments.)

58 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 6:29:00pm

re: #57 ObserverArt

Love the gubnor’s “tactical” ball cap.

59 Targetpractice  Jul 14, 2014 6:29:24pm

re: #50 Romantic Heretic

The basis of their thinking, from what I’ve observed, is that gold has ‘real value’.

The problem is that is that there are no real values. They are all a matter of perception. Even in science the methods of measuring are arbitrary. 50 degrees Centigrade is 122 Fahrenheit, or to regular people, “Too fucking hot.”

If gold had a ‘real’ that is fixed value there could be no market in it. You can’t trade in something where the value never changes and is exactly the same for everybody.

I wish these geniuses did a little thinking once in a while.

That’s what always gets me about the gold bugs who portray buying up a shitload of coins as “insurance” against the collapse of the economy or of civilization. Gold has a value based upon what others put on it, which means if the fellow sitting on a stockpile of fresh water things your gold isn’t worth a thimble full of water, then that’s the value he’s put on it. Holding out a bag of gold coins and demanding he give you its worth in water is not going to accomplish a damned thing.

60 Shiplord Kirel  Jul 14, 2014 6:29:37pm

The dumbest gold bugs are the survival/prepper types who somehow think the stuff is a good hedge against a general economic and social collapse. In fact, in such a situation, gold would have no value at all.

61 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 6:30:33pm

re: #59 Targetpractice

I’m going to rely on my barrel of tulip bulbs.

62 RealityBasedSteve  Jul 14, 2014 6:30:39pm

re: #54 Rightwingconspirator

147.3 million ounces of gold at Ft Knox. Eight thousand billions of dollars. (M2 money supply from wiki)
I make that to be about $54,000 dollars per troy ounce. A one ounce 14kt mans wedding ring would be worth $31,000

The gold at Ft Knox has been replaced with tungsten bars with a thin gold shell. The money has gone to China as part of a secret agreement /true_fact

63 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 6:30:47pm

re: #60 Shiplord Kirel

The dumbest gold bugs are the survival/prepper types who somehow think the stuff is somehow a good hedge against a general economic and social collapse. In fact, in such a situation, gold would have no value at all.

I’LL GIVE YOU ALL THIS GOLD FOR A PIE!!!!!
Pie-onist: Nope. No pie for you!

64 CuriousLurker  Jul 14, 2014 6:31:33pm

Okay, I’m out. Later, lizards.

65 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 6:31:44pm

re: #60 Shiplord Kirel

The dumbest gold bugs are the survival/prepper types who somehow think the stuff is a good hedge against a general economic and social collapse. In fact, in such a situation, gold would have no value at all.

Soft, dense, low melting temp. Makes a good musket ball if you can find some chlorate.

66 Belafon  Jul 14, 2014 6:31:54pm

re: #54 Rightwingconspirator

So, about half of a year of US GDP.

67 Lancelot Link  Jul 14, 2014 6:32:22pm
If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.

-William Jennings Bryan

68 Targetpractice  Jul 14, 2014 6:32:56pm

Hell, I’d sooner expect an post-collapse economy based upon bottle caps than I would gold coins. Gold can be melted down and molded into new coins. The technology and know-how to make more bottle caps is likely to die out within a generation, if not sooner.

69 RealityBasedSteve  Jul 14, 2014 6:33:09pm

re: #63 Pie-onist Overlord

I’LL GIVE YOU ALL THIS GOLD FOR A PIE!!!!!
Pie-onist: Nope. No pie for you!

To paraphrase the great philosopher Freewheelin’ Franklin: “Pie will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no pie.”

70 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 6:34:08pm

re: #69 RealityBasedSteve

To paraphrase the great philosopher Freewheelin’ Franklin: “Pie will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no pie.”

The Pie Standard!

71 Lidane  Jul 14, 2014 6:34:14pm

re: #60 Shiplord Kirel

The dumbest gold bugs are the survival/prepper types who somehow think the stuff is somehow a good hedge against a general economic and social collapse. In fact, in such a situation, gold would have no value at all.

Seriously. No one is going to give a shit about gold if there’s a complete societal collapse.

Don’t these people watch any of the apocalypse shows on TV? Money is useless when the world goes to shit. Weapons, ammo, shelter, food, etc. mean a lot more when society falls apart than some shiny metals.

72 dog philosopher  Jul 14, 2014 6:35:17pm

the most amusing thing to me is that these people think gold has some ‘inherent’ value

73 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 6:35:47pm

re: #72 dog philosopher

the most amusing thing to me is that these people think gold has some ‘inherent’ value

It’s SHINY!

74 RealityBasedSteve  Jul 14, 2014 6:36:21pm

re: #71 Lidane

Seriously. No one is going to give a shit about gold if there’s a complete societal collapse.

Don’t these people watch any of the apocalypse shows on TV? Money is useless when the world goes to shit. Weapons, ammo, shelter, food, etc. mean a lot more when society falls apart than some shiny metals.

and don’t forget women in chain mail bikini tops with swords. That’s the part I’m looking forward to.

RBS

75 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 6:36:45pm

Mr. T is gonna be so set.

76 Decatur Deb  Jul 14, 2014 6:37:46pm

re: #74 RealityBasedSteve

and don’t forget women in chain mail bikini tops with swords. That’s the part I’m looking forward to.

RBS

Boudica? Ya wouldn’t want to meet up with her in a dark forest.

77 Zamb  Jul 14, 2014 6:37:53pm

re: #72 dog philosopher

the most amusing thing to me is that these people think gold has some ‘inherent’ value

It’s magic. Why do you think they always use in fantasy novels?

78 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 6:37:59pm

re: #74 RealityBasedSteve

and don’t forget women in chain mail bikini tops with swords. That’s the part I’m looking forward to.

RBS

Nothing like a suit of armor that screams STAB ME IN THE BELLY!

79 Targetpractice  Jul 14, 2014 6:40:08pm

re: #78 Pie-onist Overlord

Nothing like a suit of armor that screams STAB ME IN THE BELLY!

There’s a special law in fiction that governs such armor. With women, the level of protection is inversely proportional to the amount of flesh covered up. Which is why a metal bikini is the best armor available in fantasy RPGs.

80 Amory Blaine  Jul 14, 2014 6:42:06pm

You stoopid libtards!,,, You can touch and feel teh bitcoins!,,

81 Amory Blaine  Jul 14, 2014 6:44:06pm

re: #61 jaunte

I’m going to rely on my barrel of tulip bulbs.

At least you’ll have a colorful spring.

82 jamesfirecat  Jul 14, 2014 6:45:02pm

re: #79 Targetpractice

There’s a special law in fiction that governs such armor. With women, the level of protection is inversely proportional to the amount of flesh covered up. Which is why a metal bikini is the best armor available in fantasy RPGs.

There was a great comic with one guy noticing this fact and his wife/girlfriend revealing to him how the uterus creates a special protective sheild so long as the midriff is left bare.

Saddly I can not find it because my first few google attempts just end up getting either dry technical stuff or porn.

83 RealityBasedSteve  Jul 14, 2014 6:46:13pm

re: #82 jamesfirecat

There was a great comic with one guy noticing this fact and his wife/girlfriend revealing to him how the uterus creates a special protective sheild so long as the midriff is left bare.

Saddly I can not find it because my first few google attempts just end up getting either dry technical stuff or porn.

Let us know when you find the dry technical porn.

RBS

84 The Ghost of a Flea  Jul 14, 2014 6:47:33pm

re: #74 RealityBasedSteve

and don’t forget women in chain mail bikini tops with swords. That’s the part I’m looking forward to.

RBS

Chafing.

Oof.

85 kirkspencer  Jul 14, 2014 6:48:11pm

re: #79 Targetpractice

There’s a special law in fiction that governs such armor. With women, the level of protection is inversely proportional to the amount of flesh covered up. Which is why a metal bikini is the best armor available in fantasy RPGs.

This one, perchance?

86 Amory Blaine  Jul 14, 2014 6:48:18pm

Much fabulous.
So furry.

87 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 6:48:52pm

re: #79 Targetpractice

There’s a special law in fiction that governs such armor. With women, the level of protection is inversely proportional to the amount of flesh covered up. Which is why a metal bikini is the best armor available in fantasy RPGs.

Why “boob-plate” armor can actually kill you.

88 Romantic Heretic  Jul 14, 2014 6:49:16pm

re: #83 RealityBasedSteve

Let us know when you find the dry technical porn.

RBS

Sadly, that describes most of it. “Putting Tab A into Slot B,” as we put it in the industry.

89 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 14, 2014 6:52:46pm

re: #82 jamesfirecat

There was a great comic with one guy noticing this fact and his wife/girlfriend revealing to him how the uterus creates a special protective sheild so long as the midriff is left bare.

Saddly I can not find it because my first few google attempts just end up getting either dry technical stuff or porn.

Here ya go.

90 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 6:54:01pm

re: #65 Decatur Deb

Soft, dense, low melting temp. Makes a good musket ball if you can find some chlorate.

There was a scene in James Mitchner’s door stop on Colorado of a native american using a gold nugget as his last musket ball…

91 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 6:55:46pm
92 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 6:57:00pm

re: #67 Lancelot Link

-William Jennings Bryan

Only because the farmers wanted silver. Since there was lots of silver in the US you could “grow” the economy on a silver base without inflation. Whereas with gold there just wasn’t enough even for the economy in 1900.

Still the world stumbled on with a gold standard till WWI broke out and that’s when gold really broke the world…

93 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 7:01:04pm
94 Jocko's Rocket Ship  Jul 14, 2014 7:03:14pm

Gold? Really? It makes no sense to anyone with any understanding of how modern economies work. Beyond nuts.

But it is typical of the modern conservative movement, this tendency to just want to go backwards.

95 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 7:05:55pm

re: #93 Charles Johnson

Before scrolling down all the way I thought that was a picture of Cheney goosing Bush.

96 jamesfirecat  Jul 14, 2014 7:07:06pm

re: #85 kirkspencer

This one, perchance?

Yep that is the one!

97 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 7:07:15pm

re: #95 jaunte

Before scrolling down all the way I thought that was a picture of Cheney goosing Bush.

Nope - it’s Frank groping Dean.

Everybody loves somebody sometime.

98 Kafitrar  Jul 14, 2014 7:17:24pm

re: #62 RealityBasedSteve

The gold at Ft Knox has been replaced with tungsten bars with a thin gold shell. The money has gone to China as part of a secret agreement /true_fact

re: #62 RealityBasedSteve
So that’s why the government banned incandescent light bulbs.
//

99 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 14, 2014 7:18:19pm

The sheer lunacy of this perhaps is best understood by those who understand one of two things. The big one already well covered is economics. The other is the supply side of gold. refiners, manufacturers, etc. Of course I speak to my colleagues in the biz a lot. And outside of economists I don’t think you will find a room more filled with pointing and laughing at this foolishness than in the gold business. The miners, the refiners, the makers of any and all things that need some gold. Jewelry, electronics, chemistry, nano tech or computing.

Any of you read The Mote In Gods Eye? The gold standard is crazy eddy.

100 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 7:22:21pm
101 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 14, 2014 7:25:03pm

Standing facts.

102 ComradeDread  Jul 14, 2014 7:28:22pm

I would really like to find these guys a little island or track of land of their own that we could ship them all too where they could set up their own little libertarian paradise.

Provided we build a giant dome surrounding it and don’t let anyone back in when it inevitably implodes.

103 Targetpractice  Jul 14, 2014 7:30:35pm

According to the wingnuts I run into on other boards, Wall Street Journal’s editorial board (i.e. Rupert Murdock’s sounding board) has come out declaring that things haven’t been “this bad” on the global scene since…wait for the shock…Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

104 bratwurst  Jul 14, 2014 7:32:45pm
105 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 7:34:03pm
106 Charles Johnson  Jul 14, 2014 7:37:33pm
107 Belafon  Jul 14, 2014 7:39:41pm

re: #106 Charles Johnson

My last name is Mask. Reinterpret the album title knowing that.

108 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 14, 2014 7:43:36pm

My grandfather refined gold back when it was still controlled and in real currency. He was a jewelry maker of some significant volume. I saw the old fountain pen calligraphy quality ledgers my grandmother wrote up when he refined gold and sent it to the government who would send him a check from the treasury. The assays would vary, The tech of the day meany 99.1 to 99.9 % purity when done.

Granddad bought gold jewelry from the public. Made pawn loans in the depression days.

What a very very different day.

110 Feline Fearless Leader  Jul 14, 2014 7:52:54pm

re: #104 bratwurst

[Embedded content]

A NJ radio station was running a poll on whether Walmart should be held for any responsibility in that accident and it was running 54% “YES” to 43% “NO” (and 3% other) the last time I checked.

111 sagehen  Jul 14, 2014 7:53:13pm

re: #14 Lidane

Hey, don’t forget getting rid of the direct election of Senators and abolishing the vote for women. Those are totally winning positions for the GOP.

Tancredo and Gohmert have both urged repeal of the 14th Amendment.

That’ll totally help with minority outreach.

112 Feline Fearless Leader  Jul 14, 2014 7:54:15pm

re: #111 sagehen

Tancredo and Gohmert have both urged repeal of the 14th Amendment.

That’ll totally help with minority outreach.

And if they get those taken out I’m sure they have a couple of doozy ones they want put in.

113 Romantic Heretic  Jul 14, 2014 8:00:18pm

re: #109 Feline Fearless Leader

Neblewerfer. Nice piece of artillery.

Not as scary as the Katyusha though.

And as long as we’re talking WWII. I discovered a very amusing anime on the weekend: Girls und Panzer.

In it tank combat is a high school sport popular in girl’s high schools. They use WWII era tanks, and did they use some obscure ones. In some ways it struck me as a satire on the roles women are locked into in Japanese society.

Much enjoyed and frequently laughed at.

114 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 8:04:20pm

re: #113 Romantic Heretic

Neblewerfer. Nice piece of artillery.

Not as scary as the Katyusha though.

And as long as we’re talking WWII. I discovered a very amusing anime on the weekend: Girls und Panzer.

In it tank combat is a high school sport popular in girl’s high schools. They use WWII era tanks, and did they use some obscure ones. In some ways it struck me as a satire on the roles women are locked into in Japanese society.

Much enjoyed and frequently laughed at.

Oh, that show is a hoot. How far are you in? Be sure to watch the youtube ones so you can see their version of Katyusha!

Scary part? As a tanker, the tank stuff is extremely accurate. Right down to the stuff carried as tools on the outside or fixing tracks. Strange as bleep to see young girls in Japanese high school uniforms breaking track but then the producers make the them do it correctly…

I’ve heard rumors of a sequel… O_o

115 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 8:06:47pm

Oh heck…

Katyusha.

Youtube Video

116 Feline Fearless Leader  Jul 14, 2014 8:07:20pm

re: #113 Romantic Heretic

Neblewerfer. Nice piece of artillery.

Not as scary as the Katyusha though.

And as long as we’re talking WWII. I discovered a very amusing anime on the weekend: Girls und Panzer.

In it tank combat is a high school sport popular in girl’s high schools. They use WWII era tanks, and did they use some obscure ones. In some ways it struck me as a satire on the roles women are locked into in Japanese society.

Much enjoyed and frequently laughed at.

I mainly remember Nebelwerfer and Katyusha from playing Steel Panthers way back when. If rocket artillery was available for support I tended to pick up a battery. Using HE to create a temporary smoke screen, or at least disrupt the enemy lines if you managed to dump it on the right place.

117 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 8:10:37pm

re: #116 Feline Fearless Leader

I mainly remember Nebelwerfer and Katyusha from playing Steel Panthers way back when. If rocket artillery was available for support I tended to pick up a battery. Using HE to create a temporary smoke screen, or at least disrupt the enemy lines if you managed to dump it on the right place.

I have WINE on my present computer solely so I can play the win32 version of Steel Panthers ;)

118 Varek Raith  Jul 14, 2014 8:11:25pm

Idiot Congressman Sponsors Amendment That Does Nothing

They voted overwhelmingly Thursday to bar the Energy Department from blocking approval of offshore-drilling permits. But there’s just one thing: The Energy Department doesn’t regulate drilling. The Interior Department does.

119 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 8:14:45pm

Ants!

Alex Wild @Myrmecos
Entomologist & Photographer. Blogs at Scientific American.
twitter.com

120 jaunte  Jul 14, 2014 8:16:42pm

Ants of the North American Deserts:
alexanderwild.com

121 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 8:16:50pm

Katyusha rockets got their name from a well loved Russian soldiers song. The lyrics are this:

Apple and pear trees were a-blooming,
Mist (was) creeping on the river.
Katyusha set out on the banks,
On the steep and lofty bank.

She was walking, singing a song
About a grey steppe eagle,
About her true love,
Whose letters she was keeping.

Oh you song! Little song of a maiden,
Head for the bright sun.
And reach for the soldier on the far-away border
Along with greetings from Katyusha.

Let him remember an ordinary girl,
And hear how she sings,
Let him preserve the Motherland,
Same as Katyusha preserves their love.

Date: 1938
Lyrics: M. Isakovsky
Music: M. Blanter
Translation: Igor Koplevsky
Transcription/Markup: Liviu Iacob, 2006
Found at marxists.org

122 sagehen  Jul 14, 2014 8:18:22pm

re: #109 Feline Fearless Leader

ANTS! Stand off a few klicks and make sure you get them!

Nuke ‘em from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.

123 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 8:19:20pm

Hey, RWC? Did you see the picture of my hat (and other bits) that I posted earlier? You might get a kick out of it… ;) littlegreenfootballs.com

124 Romantic Heretic  Jul 14, 2014 8:22:36pm

re: #117 William Barnett-Lewis

I have WINE on my present computer solely so I can play the win32 version of Steel Panthers ;)

I’m currently making another attempt at Company of Heroes. But I keep getting my ass handed to me so badly that I keep dropping it for a time.

125 Varek Raith  Jul 14, 2014 8:23:43pm

Youtube Video

126 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 14, 2014 8:25:36pm

re: #123 William Barnett-Lewis

Hey, RWC? Did you see the picture of my hat (and other bits) that I posted earlier? You might get a kick out of it… ;) littlegreenfootballs.com

Ha ha ha missed it. Thanks.

127 Romantic Heretic  Jul 14, 2014 8:27:07pm

re: #115 William Barnett-Lewis

They had this as one of the related videos to that one. My favourite tanker’s song.

Youtube Video

128 Jocko's Rocket Ship  Jul 14, 2014 8:33:10pm

re: #101 Rightwingconspirator

Standing facts.

[Embedded image]

So you mean we can have a jewelery-based currency? That sounds sound.

129 William Barnett-Lewis  Jul 14, 2014 8:35:15pm

re: #128 Jocko’s Rocket Ship

So you mean we can have a jewelery-based currency? That sounds sound.

If wealth has to be worn to be valid, evolution will be selecting for raw strength really fast…

130 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 14, 2014 8:38:25pm

re: #128 Jocko’s Rocket Ship

So you mean we can have a jewelery-based currency? That sounds sound.

Right now the big government and Obama are gonna take my guns and my wedding ring. ///

There is a “confiscation” subset of gold bugs. The conspiracy spin cycle.

131 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 14, 2014 8:58:27pm

This obsession with a gold standard is another example of magical thinking. Somehow, **GOLD** will solve all our problems, including ones that don’t exist.

Gold bugs usually hate the idea of fractional reserve banking, so they want banks to return to the old and very conservative rule of lending only up to a certain amount of money (gold) as they have their vaults, In other words, if Bob’s Bank has $2 million in reserve, that’s the limit on what Bob can lend others. And Bob can’t “double-lend” — that is, use the same amount of reserves for two different loans.

The world economy has not operated in this fashion for a century or more. Economists will argue, with justification, that fractional reserve banking has enabled the world’s and national economies to grow much faster, providing more benefits to more people, than under the old rules. Returning to the gold standard and eliminating fractional reserve banking would hobble the world’s economy.

But, governments need to regulate the economy to ensure the bankers and Wall Street brokers don’t get too wild and crazy with their reserves (otherwise known as their depositors’ money). The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the subsequent bank failures, and the more recent Great Recession of 2008 are examples of what happens when there is too little regulation and too much wild and crazy behavior by bankers and brokers.

132 Belafon  Jul 14, 2014 9:03:54pm

Almost completely black: A material that reflects only 0.035 of the light that hits it. independent.co.uk

133 austin_blue  Jul 14, 2014 9:08:50pm

re: #131 wheat-dogghazi

This obsession with a gold standard is another example of magical thinking. Somehow, **GOLD** will solve all our problems, including ones that don’t exist.

Gold bugs usually hate the idea of fractional reserve banking, so they want banks to return to the old and very conservative rule of lending only up to a certain amount of money (gold) as they have their vaults, In other words, if Bob’s Bank has $2 million in reserve, that’s the limit on what Bob can lend others. And Bob can’t “double-lend” — that is, use the same amount of reserves for two different loans…..

The fact is, there isn’t enough metal, much less precious metal, to back up the currency of the United States.

((Fuck Gold! Let’s demand a Protactinium Standard! That’ll show ‘em!))

Really. This is just stupidity and should be mocked at every opportunity. These people are, at heart, Luddites, Ninnies, and Feebs. Gold Standard? Math is beyond their ken.

Let the word go forth on the Interwebs!

134 Jocko's Rocket Ship  Jul 14, 2014 9:38:58pm

re: #133 austin_blue

The fact is, there isn’t enough metal, much less precious metal, to back up the currency of the United States.

((Fuck Gold! Let’s demand a Protactinium Standard! That’ll show ‘em!))

Really. This is just stupidity and should be mocked at every opportunity. These people are, at heart, Luddites, Ninnies, and Feebs. Gold Standard? Math is beyond their ken.

Let the word go forth on the Interwebs!

Yeah. The world bank via google says Japan has 3x more gold than we do. Russia has more, Switzerland too. China almost 10x more. So yeah let’s peg our currency to the stupid metal. Even if the stats are wrong, it’s dumb to base a currency on perception of a value beyond your control vs. perception (fiat) you can control.

135 Kragar  Jul 14, 2014 11:27:56pm

re: #134 Jocko’s Rocket Ship

Yeah. The world bank via google says Japan has 3x more gold than we do. Russia has more, Switzerland too. China almost 10x more. So yeah let’s peg our currency to the stupid metal. Even if the stats are wrong, it’s dumb to base a currency on perception of a value beyond your control vs. perception (fiat) you can control.

Gold, like every other commodity, is only worth something because we assign it a value. If the party you want to buy from thinks its worthless or doesn’t want it, it doesn’t matter how much of it you have.

136 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 1:47:47am

137 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 2:28:49am

For those Lizards awake and online, you can watch livestream coverage of the German World Cup champions triumphant return to Germany here

Youtube Video

This is from the ‘Fanmile’ at the Brandenburg Gate.

138 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 2:54:06am

There’s been a major accident on the Moscow Metro, with ten dead and scores more injured after one of the subway trains apparently derailed.

Ten people died and scores were taken to hospital after a train derailed in Moscow’s packed metro during rush hour on Tuesday, city authorities said.

The accident is believed to be the most serious in the eight-decade history of the city’s metro system, the world’s busiest.

Russian national television described scenes of chaos on the packed underground system, saying passengers fell like dominoes when the train braked abruptly.

“Right now 10 people (are dead),” the city’s deputy mayor Pyotr Biryukov told journalists at the scene as the rescue operation continued, with about five people still believed to be trapped underground.

That’s bad. That’s also the first time I can recall hearing of a major accident in the Metro, which is generally well-regarded and has a very good safety record, to the best of my knowledge.

hurriyetdailynews.com

139 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 2:54:54am

re: #138 Dr Lizardo

Fuck.

140 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 2:56:55am

re: #139 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Fuck.

Yeah, that’s really bad and like I said, I can’t recall hearing of a major accident like that before (not counting terrorist acts) on the Metro.

The Prague Metro was built by the Soviets back in the day, and it’s regarded as very safe as well.

141 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 2:59:03am
142 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 2:59:49am

re: #141 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Oh shit, that looks worse that I could’ve imagined.

143 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:00:25am
144 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Jul 15, 2014 3:00:55am

Lived in Moscow in ‘92 and ‘93, rode the Metro nearly every day…

145 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 3:03:48am

Here’s some further info;

12 people have been killed and over 160 injured as several subway cars derailed on the Moscow Metro on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya dark blue Metro line on Tuesday morning.

“There are so far 12 [dead],” Vladimir Puchkov, the head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry (Emercom) told journalists.

“One hundred and twenty people have sought medical help, 106 were taken to hospital. About a half of them are seriously injured,” Golukhov told ITAR-TASS.

The driver of the train is among those dead, according to a source in the Moscow Metro.

The accident happened during the morning rush hour when the train was packed with passengers.

rt.com

146 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 3:07:28am

A little more from the above story;

Moscow’s emergencies agency press service says the train derailed because it had to brake too suddenly.

“At 8:39am Moscow time [04:39 GMT] on a stretch between stations of Park Pobedy [Victory Park] and Slavyansky Bulvar there was abrupt deceleration of a train,” a press service employee told RT.

rt.com

If the driver suddenly braked, was there some obstruction on the line or something, or was the train perhaps going too fast for a curve?

147 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:13:53am

re: #146 Dr Lizardo

Acc. to an informed source it’s likely that the driver braked already after he understood that the train is going off the rails (due to a defective fastening unit between the passenger car and the wheel bogie).

148 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 3:16:05am

re: #147 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Acc. to an informed source it’s likely that the driver braked already after he understood that the train is going off the rails (due to a defective fastening unit between the passenger car and the wheel bogie).

Oh, damn……sounds like a maintenance issue.

149 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:18:33am

re: #148 Dr Lizardo

It is, one way or another. Emergency braking is not supposed to lead to such consequences anyway. It’s a “normal” mode of operation, so to say.

150 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 3:20:01am

re: #149 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

It is, one way or another. Emergency braking is not supposed to lead to such consequences anyway. It’s a “normal” mode of operation, so to say.

Certainly; those trains are designed to take emergency braking into account. Horrible accident, and I imagine there’s gonna be a full-on investigation.

151 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:21:53am

re: #150 Dr Lizardo

Certainly; those trains are designed to take emergency braking into account. Horrible accident, and I imagine there’s gonna be a full-on investigation.

Yes, but. The blame game begins.

152 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:27:57am

In Stalin’s time this would be immediately blamed on “the wreckers”. Seeing how this blaming practice slowly returns… I hope this tragedy won’t be used for political purposes.

153 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:31:57am

A guy who was in one of the cars wrote this post.

154 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 3:34:44am

re: #152 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

In Stalin’s time this would be immediately blamed on “the wreckers”. Seeing how this blaming practice slowly returns… I hope this tragedy won’t be used for political purposes.

I quite agree.

155 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Jul 15, 2014 3:36:08am

re: #152 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

In Stalin’s time this would be immediately blamed on “the wreckers”. Seeing how this blaming practice slowly returns… I hope this tragedy won’t be used for political purposes.

It is unfortunately quite the exception when an investigation like this serves its true purpose, which is to prevent things like this from occurring again.

156 Dr Lizardo  Jul 15, 2014 3:40:36am

The train driver, who was reported earlier as having died at the scene of the accident, is apparently now being reported as alive and in hospital.

157 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 3:42:16am

re: #152 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Were any almost-man-sized black cats seen in the area, or single-fanged men in bowler hats?

I hope that a real investigation takes place and any systemic problems are properly addressed to prevent future tragedies. This kind of thing gets me right in the liver: I worry a lot about accidents, not happening to me but to those I love. They’re just so damn random, and we put our trust in these highly complex systems every day, and they depend on so many people’s competencies.

158 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:44:21am

re: #153 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

A guy who was in one of the cars wrote this post.

Interestingly, just yesterday he posted this quote:

tvguide.com

We walk around thinking that things are going to last forever and we’re not going to die. And then sometimes we’re smacked into the reality that we’re only here for a short time and everybody that we love is so precious because we don’t know what’s going to happen.

159 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:50:20am

Meanwhile elsewhere in Russia:

Youtube Video

160 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 3:51:53am

re: #159 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Meanwhile elsewhere in Russia:

[Embedded content]

Video

THIS guy needs one of those!!
chron.com
Police: Heights serial pooper could be back

161 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:52:09am

re: #159 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

The green color around the hole is forest. Yeah, it’s giant.

162 Lidane  Jul 15, 2014 3:53:04am

And the GOP Latino outreach continues:

My surprise, etc.

163 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 3:55:57am

re: #161 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

The green color around the hole is forest. Yeah, it’s giant.

Where is it?

164 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 3:57:14am

re: #161 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

1st few frames looks as if there’s a body of water (a lake, perhaps) at the far left of the screen

165 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:57:49am

re: #163 sattv4u2

Yamal.

166 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 3:59:19am

re: #164 sattv4u2

Anyway, around 100 m in diameter, acc. to a news article. Some hypothesize meteoritic activity.

167 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 4:01:33am

re: #165 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Yamal.

Ah. So could be up near the Karal (sp?) sea. Not sure what caused all the debris around the hole (a meteor hit maybe) but if it’s that close to a big body of water the underground there could be liike a cistern to start with, explaining the depth

168 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 4:03:00am

re: #166 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Anyway, around 100 m in diameter, acc. to a news article. Some hypothesize meteoritic activity.

I hypothesize a giant space slug.

169 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 4:04:41am

re: #168 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

I hypothesize a giant space slug.

Nahh

A slug would have left a ring of slime, not dirt!

170 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 4:06:34am

re: #169 sattv4u2

The slime has dried out.

171 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 4:08:08am

re: #170 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

The slime has dried out.

space slime NEVER dries out!!!

172 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 4:09:27am

re: #166 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Anyway, around 100 m in diameter, acc. to a news article. Some hypothesize meteoritic activity.

Some others say some gas collected there and blew off the top layers of earth and ice.

Meteorism either way. //

173 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 4:20:50am

Allegedly: tools.wmflabs.org

174 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 4:23:27am

re: #173 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Allegedly: tools.wmflabs.org

I’m assuming the red dot is the impact area

175 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 4:24:50am

re: #174 sattv4u2

It’s just a dot specifying the coordinates which I’ve entered into that website. The coordinates I got from elsewhere, which is why allegedly.

176 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 4:25:41am

Hopefully, an end to the Israeli/ Gaza conflict is close

cbsnews.com

Israel’s cabinet on Tuesday accepted in principle an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire to end a week of conflict between the Jewish state’s military and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip

177 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 4:25:47am

re: #175 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

It’s just a dot specifying the coordinates which I’ve entered into that site. The coordinates I got from elsewhere, which is why allegedly.

K

Thanks

178 Rev_Arthur_Belling  Jul 15, 2014 4:27:48am

re: #176 sattv4u2

I read somewhere that Hamas had said no.

Hopefully, an end to the Israeli/ Gaza conflict is close

The latest shelling perhaps. Long-term prospects are still grim.

179 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 4:29:08am

re: #178 Rev_Arthur_Belling

I read somewhere that Hamas had said no.

The latest shelling perhaps. Long-term prospects are still grim.

Yeah. There was one inflammatory quote in that article
a statement from Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said it hadn’t even been presented with the Egyptian proposal but that, “it is not worth the ink that wrote it.”

“Our battle with the enemy is to be continued and we’ll be loyal to the blood of the martyrs,” said the al-Qassam statement.

But that was followed by
Other senior members of the Hamas group, however, told CBS News and other news organizations that they were still looking over the Egyptian proposal an no official decision had been taken.

180 lawhawk  Jul 15, 2014 5:55:16am

re: #178 Rev_Arthur_Belling

I read somewhere that Hamas had said no.

The latest shelling perhaps. Long-term prospects are still grim.

Hamas is refusing to accept the Egyptian proposal for the ceasefire. Israel unilaterally accepted, but said that if they take fire, they will resume retaliatory strikes against Hamas in Gaza.

The ceasefire proposal is essentially the same as every other ceasefire brokered between Israel and Hamas since the 1990s. Both sides would refrain from attacking the other, and other issues would be addressed at a later date. That means that all the other issues, whether it is opening up border crossings, allowing materials to enter or leave Gaza, etc. all get pushed.

Egypt (or any other country for that matter) could keep a stock ceasefire agreement on hand, since they’re all essentially the same. That Hamas refuses to accept the ceasefire should signal to everyone that they are the ones who are hoping for casualties. They’re the ones who want to inflict damage (on Israel mostly, but also don’t care that Gazans get hit when Israel responds to Hamas attacks).

Some of that has to do with Hamas needing to show that they’re resilient against Israeli airstrikes - to prop up their prestige against even more extreme groups that see even ceasefires as a cop-out in the struggle to defeat Israel.

But the whole situation reminds me of the scene in Dune where Paul is teaching the Fremen the weirding way - they’ve got a monolith of stone that is extremely hard. The Fremen yell at it. Kicks it. Tries to cut it.

They do no damage.

They’re hoping that they can find the one thing that can destroy Israel, and they are now even more impotent than ever, especially since Iron Dome is picking up potential threats. In fact, Israel is set to deploy additional systems, meaning even more of Israel will be protected by the systems.

So, what does that leave Hamas to do? Kick and scream. Abbas can look askance with smug satisfaction that it isn’t his faction Fatah that is getting hit. He stands to benefit from Hamas losing a round (though it will inevitably run in Palestinian media that Hamas won by holding out as long as they did).

181 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 6:06:16am

re: #180 lawhawk

The pressure should he squarely focused on Abbas. As the titular head of the gov’t there it’s incumbent upon him to publicly accept or reject any cease fire.
If he accepts then he takes the focus off the Palestinian people as the ones battling Israel and puts the onus right on Hamas

Even though “we” all know it IS Hamas the symbolic gesture of Abbas doing that would be significant

If he does NOT accept the Egyptian brokered deal, then he is on record as casting the Palestinian peoples fate

182 lawhawk  Jul 15, 2014 6:07:38am

The GOP is focused like a laser on jobs, jobs, jobs.

Did I say they were focused on creating them? Nope. They’re focused on getting rid of a guy holding THE job (The Presidency) while holding on to their own jobs in Congress. That’s despite a roaring stock market, a jobs market that has recovered and is growing (albeit slowly), corporate profits are growing, the real estate market has stabilized, and the deficit is growing at a slower pace due to higher economic growth and reduced spending.

183 lawhawk  Jul 15, 2014 6:09:30am

re: #181 sattv4u2

Abbas has no control over Hamas in Gaza. He’s got nominal control over the West Bank, and Hamas doesn’t answer to him. That’s the way it’s been since 2006. Despite the nature of the Palestinian Authority and so-called reconciliation that allows new elections to be held, Hamas is operating autonomously in Gaza.

Abbas could accept the deal, but it is a meaningless gesture; for him it’s better to let Hamas dig their own graves.

184 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 6:09:39am

From the Atlantic link:

The gold standard is a solution in search of a problem. Actually, it’s worse than that. It’s a problem in search of a problem. Prices would have to fall a great deal if we adopted the gold standard today. In other words, it would turn the imagined problem of price stability into a real problem of price stability. And, of course, this ensuing deflation would send the economy into a death spiral due to still high levels of household debt.

Hurr hurr HYPERINFLATION, END THE FED!!!!11

185 Rev_Arthur_Belling  Jul 15, 2014 6:14:17am

re: #182 lawhawk

The GOP is focused like a laser on jobs, jobs, jobs.

[Embedded content]

Did I say they were focused on creating them? Nope. They’re focused on getting rid of a guy holding THE job (The Presidency) while holding on to their own jobs in Congress. That’s despite a roaring stock market, a jobs market that has recovered and is growing (albeit slowly), corporate profits are growing, the real estate market has stabilized, and the deficit is growing at a slower pace due to higher economic growth and reduced spending.

Vox has basically become useless click bait like Buzzfeed.

186 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 6:14:53am

re: #183 lawhawk

Abbas has no control over Hamas in Gaza. He’s got nominal control over the West Bank, and Hamas doesn’t answer to him. That’s the way it’s been since 2006. Despite the nature of the Palestinian Authority and so-called reconciliation that allows new elections to be held, Hamas is operating autonomously in Gaza.

Abbas could accept the deal, but it is a meaningless gesture; for him it’s better to let Hamas dig their own graves.

I understand that, but again he takes the focus off the Palestinian people as the ones battling Israel and puts the onus right on Hamas
He should be on record one way or the other

Without that, he can just sit back and reap the rewards (the continued attacks on Israel) with no consequences as the leader of an aspiring state

187 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:25:21am

re: #180 lawhawk

Egypt (or any other country for that matter) could keep a stock ceasefire agreement on hand, since they’re all essentially the same. That Hamas refuses to accept the ceasefire should signal to everyone that they are the ones who are hoping for casualties. They’re the ones who want to inflict damage (on Israel mostly, but also don’t care that Gazans get hit when Israel responds to Hamas attacks).

It’s pretty obvious that Israel also wants to inflict damage on Hamas, and that a side effect of this is also damage to ordinary Gazans. Israel may ‘care’ about this, but the dead remain just as dead.

I don’t think there are any signs that Netanyahu—not Israel, but Bibi and his party—actually wants a working ceasefire before they do a lot more damage (or what they perceive as damage) to Hamas.

There is absolutely no excuse for Hamas’s rocket attacks, but this entire thing started as a response to the kidnap and murder of three people before any real information about whether it was sanctioned by Hamas or not. The mass arrests were not a sensible response to that.

The good news is that Netanyahu’s government is looking more and more shaky and elections may be coming soon.

188 Romantic Heretic  Jul 15, 2014 6:32:47am

re: #131 wheat-dogghazi

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the subsequent bank failures, and the more recent Great Recession of 2008 are examples of what happens when there is too little regulation and too much wild and crazy behavior by bankers and brokers.

Which, oddly enough, the lack of regulation plus the wild and crazy was caused by the fellow travellers of the goldbugs.

189 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 15, 2014 6:34:00am

re: #187 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

It’s pretty obvious that Israel also wants to inflict damage on Hamas, and that a side effect of this is also damage to ordinary Gazans. Israel may ‘care’ about this, but the dead remain just as dead.

Why is care in quotes? I can’t think of another military that strives any harder than Israel to avoid civilian casualties. It’s good police policy and an expression of the average Israeli’s compassion for families in homes non combatants.

190 NJDhockeyfan  Jul 15, 2014 6:37:36am

After 50+ rockets fired at them during the cease fire israel goes after Hamas rocket launchers again.

191 ObserverArt  Jul 15, 2014 6:38:48am

re: #180 lawhawk

- cut -

Some of that has to do with Hamas needing to show that they’re resilient against Israeli airstrikes - to prop up their prestige against even more extreme groups that see even ceasefires as a cop-out in the struggle to defeat Israel.

But the whole situation reminds me of the scene in Dune where Paul is teaching the Fremen the weirding way - they’ve got a monolith of stone that is extremely hard. The Fremen yell at it. Kicks it. Tries to cut it.

They do no damage.

- cut -

This part of your comment gets to the heart of the matter for me and the two words that stand out are “show” and “struggle” which hint at a performance that comes to no conclusion. A play with no ending.

But apparently the show needs to go on to demonstrate that the struggle is still alive. It is almost like performance art in a strange way. It is sad that real people have to get caught up in the performance and lose lives and homes.

It is too bad all this couldn’t be put into a real show. Maybe something like Greek tragedy or Shakespeare at the Globe theater where people of the region could view the performance art and take away all of the details of the struggle without resorting to actual violence.

But then chances are that would never work. Maybe the violence and blood are needed. Talk about the futility of man. Humans must really need their conflicts which really seems to be the case, because peace has been unobtainable. You cannot have what you don’t want.

(Deep sigh)

192 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 6:39:38am

re: #190 NJDhockeyfan

after Hamas violated cease-fire

Small edit

Hamas never agreed to the cease fire, so technically they didn’t “violate” it

193 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:39:44am

re: #189 Rightwingconspirator

Why is care in quotes? I can’t think of another military that strives any harder than Israel to avoid civilian casualties.

There are very few militaries to compare Israel to that are engaging in anything similar. What I’m saying is that on one hand, Hamas doesn’t care about civilian casualties but, because of their impotence, winds up causing very few casualties. Israel, while trying to minimize civilian casualties, nonetheless accepts a high number of civilian casualties while attacking Hamas. This is mostly just a factor of the incredible denseness of Gaza, and how Hamas is intermingled, but it still does mean that Israel winds up killing far more Palestinian civilians than Hamas kills Israeli civilians.

It’s good police policy and an expression of the average Israeli’s compassion for families in homes non combatants

I don’t think that Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Hamas is good policy. I don’t think it achieves anything in the end. The only thing that has ever significantly reduced attacks on Israel has been periods of ceasefire. That should always be the goal.

I do think that Israel takes a lot of care when making these attacks—more than, say, the US and others did in the action in Bosnia—but the decision to attack in the first place has to be factored in, too.

194 Rev_Arthur_Belling  Jul 15, 2014 6:40:16am

re: #190 NJDhockeyfan

After 50+ rockets fired at them during the cease fire israel goes after Hamas rocket launchers again.

[Embedded content]

A tweet from @johnggalt? Really?

195 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:41:15am

re: #194 Rev_Arthur_Belling

A tweet from @johnggalt? Really?

Man look at that asshole:

196 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 6:43:29am

re: #194 Rev_Arthur_Belling

A tweet from @johnggalt? Really?

There are a bunch of tcot dumbasses who use some form of “John Galt” handle.

197 darthstar  Jul 15, 2014 6:44:15am
198 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 6:44:27am

[deleted tweet]

199 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:44:51am

re: #196 Pie-onist Overlord

There are a bunch of tcot dumbasses who use some form of “John Galt” handle.

This one is an amazingly racist shitbird:

200 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:45:52am

re: #190 NJDhockeyfan

How’d you come across that tweet? Any particular reason you’re putting up tweets from nutjob conspiracy theory racists?

201 Rev_Arthur_Belling  Jul 15, 2014 6:45:57am

re: #196 Pie-onist Overlord

There are a bunch of tcot dumbasses who use some form of “John Galt” handle.

Yeah. True. i was just wondering why NJDHockeyfan was using it as a source for the post, instead of a reputable news reporter?

202 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:48:18am

re: #201 Rev_Arthur_Belling

Yeah. True. i was just wondering why NJDHockeyfan was using it as a source for the post, instead of a reputable news reporter?

Or, say, the IDF itself:

203 Rightwingconspirator  Jul 15, 2014 6:49:20am

re: #193 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

I think one simply must understand the raw casualty numbers are artifacts of technology and circumstance and in no way reflect intent by the fighting parties.

Given the skewed nature of the raw number, it’s useless to evaluate policy.

204 NJDhockeyfan  Jul 15, 2014 6:49:55am

re: #200 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

How’d you come across that tweet? Any particular reason you’re putting up tweets from nutjob conspiracy theory racists?

I just saw the tweet among many and posted it. I didn’t see who posted it. Sorry about that.

205 lawhawk  Jul 15, 2014 6:51:07am

re: #187 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

I don’t see any evidence that Netenyahu’s government is shaky. The coalition is holding so far, and there haven’t been any calls for a vote of no confidence, which would signal the need to hold new elections sooner.

There had been numerous rocket attacks even before the kidnappings. But Hamas began firing more salvos once Israel began its operation against Hamas operatives in the West Bank after the June 12 kidnapping of the three Israeli teens.

Note too all of those attacks earlier in the year. Some of those were fired by PIJ, but most of the rest were fired by Hamas. It’s not like Hamas was holding to the 2012 ceasefire, which was the last time there was a significant skirmish in the ongoing fight between Hamas and Israel.

I would also disagree with your contention that Netenyahu doesn’t want a working ceasefire. Calling up 30,000 reservists takes a toll on the Israeli economy, and while it’s far more resilient than most would give it credit for, the economy will still take a hit and the economy has long been a sore spot for the government. The pressure is on for Netenyahu to send the reservists back home before the economy suffers more directly.

That’s while some of his coalition want even more time to go after Hamas in Gaza. They’ve tried that before (during Cast Lead) and it led to only momentary gains (relative quiet for a couple of years until they began firing on Israel again in 2012 that resulted in Operation Pillar of Defense and the subsequent ceasefire).

And the right would have a point - even with the ceasefires, Hamas has repeatedly fired on Israel. Since the 2012 ceasefire, there’s been only one month that has gone by without attempts to hit Israel with rocket or mortar fire. If you’re the IDF commanders trying to protect your country, you’re not going to want to let that stand because sooner or later, the luck will run out and Israelis will get killed by those attacks.

206 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:52:55am

re: #203 Rightwingconspirator

I think one simply must understand the raw casualty numbers are artifacts of technology and circumstance and in no way reflect intent by the fighting parties.

Sure. But that only goes so far. The US has a far better attitude towards civilians than Saddam Hussein did, but we still wound up killing and being responsible for the deaths of a lot of Iraqi citizens in the Iraq War.

That civilian casualties are inevitable in an attack means that it raises the bar for whether or not that attack is actually good policy, whether it will actually achieve something.

Given the skewed nature of the raw number, it’s useless to evaluate policy.

I’m not using it to evaluate policy.

207 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:53:46am

re: #204 NJDhockeyfan

I just saw the tweet among many and posted it. I didn’t see who posted it. Sorry about that.

You can look through your twitter history and find out, you know.

This is like the umpteenth million time you’ve reposted something from a jingoistic racist or otherwise nutty asshole. You really fucking suck at vetting your sources in the least. You’re worse than the mainstream media.

208 lawhawk  Jul 15, 2014 6:57:06am

re: #193 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

What I’m saying is that on one hand, Hamas doesn’t care about civilian casualties but, because of their impotence, winds up causing very few casualties. Israel, while trying to minimize civilian casualties, nonetheless accepts a high number of civilian casualties while attacking Hamas. This is mostly just a factor of the incredible denseness of Gaza, and how Hamas is intermingled, but it still does mean that Israel winds up killing far more Palestinian civilians than Hamas kills Israeli civilians.

Israel does not accept high numbers of casualties among Gazans. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid casualties. They investigate matters where large numbers of civilians are hit by their airstrikes or counter battery fire.

Yes, there are higher numbers of civilian casualties from Israeli retaliatory fire, you’re implying that they’re accepting those high number of civilians.

Israel has repeatedly shown itself willing to not hit major leaders within Hamas because of the civilian casualties that might result. Hamas knows this. Israeli knows this. Hamas surrounds itself with civilians, knowing that this provides some measure of protection but Israel is within its rights to protect its own citizens by going after Hamas.

The lack of Hamas killing or maiming Israeli citizens is not for lack of trying. It’s luck and technology combined to make it harder for Israelis to get killed by the nearly incessant attacks.

209 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 6:57:45am

re: #205 lawhawk

I don’t see any evidence that Netenyahu’s government is shaky. The coalition is holding so far, and there haven’t been any calls for a vote of no confidence, which would signal the need to hold new elections sooner.T

Livni has made it very clear the only reason to be in coalition is to engage in an actual peace process.

I would also disagree with your contention that Netenyahu doesn’t want a working ceasefire. Calling up 30,000 reservists takes a toll on the Israeli economy, and while it’s far more resilient than most would give it credit for, the economy will still take a hit and the economy has long been a sore spot for the government. The pressure is on for Netenyahu to send the reservists back home before the economy suffers more directly.

I said he didn’t want a working ceasefire before doing more damage to Hamas. Do you actually disagree with that?

And the right would have a point - even with the ceasefires, Hamas has repeatedly fired on Israel. Since the 2012 ceasefire, there’s been only one month that has gone by without attempts to hit Israel with rocket or mortar fire. If you’re the IDF commanders trying to protect your country, you’re not going to want to let that stand because sooner or later, the luck will run out and Israelis will get killed by those attacks.

So what is the end game? It’s been a little bit lost in the shuffle, but Netanyahu recently basically said that a two-state solution is impossible, that Israel cannot give up security of the West Bank, that pulling out there would create 20 more Gazas. How is that not basically a rejection of the peace process, if he is absolutely ruling out Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank?

Edit: Not just Palestinian sovereignty, but even any situation where another party takes over security of the West Bank to ensure Palestinian demilitarization.

210 sattv4u2  Jul 15, 2014 7:00:23am

and on that note, the long quiet drive home beckons

211 NJDhockeyfan  Jul 15, 2014 7:01:22am

The reason there aren’t any casualties in Israel is because of Iron Dome. If Israel didn’t shoot down most of the rockets that were headed to densely populated areas Israel’s response would be much different. Hamas is trying to kill civilians. Israel is trying avoid them.

Yes, Israel does ‘care’ about them.

Youtube Video

212 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 7:02:43am

re: #208 lawhawk

Israel does not accept high numbers of casualties among Gazans. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid casualties. They investigate matters where large numbers of civilians are hit by their airstrikes or counter battery fire..

This hangs on what you consider ‘large’. Israel knows that in the current conflict, the Hamas leaders have mostly gone to ground. They are hitting weapons and arms stores, and in the process, killing more civilians.

Yes, there are higher numbers of civilian casualties from Israeli retaliatory fire, you’re implying that they’re accepting those high number of civilians.

I’m not sure what you’re saying. Israel is accepting that the civilians they’re killing in their current attacks are an acceptable number to achieve their goals. That’s not really arguable. It’s also completely in line with the rules of war, as long as they have good intelligence that they’re acting on.

Israel has repeatedly shown itself willing to not hit major leaders within Hamas because of the civilian casualties that might result. Hamas knows this. Israeli knows this. Hamas surrounds itself with civilians, knowing that this provides some measure of protection but Israel is within its rights to protect its own citizens by going after Hamas.

If ‘going after Hamas’ actually protects their citizens in the long term, which I don’t think it does.

The lack of Hamas killing or maiming Israeli citizens is not for lack of trying. It’s luck and technology combined to make it harder for Israelis to get killed by the nearly incessant attacks.

I already said that. There is no moral comparison between Israel and Hamas, just like there’s no moral comparison between the US and Saddam. That doesn’t mean that every policy and action taken by the US towards Saddam was automatically right or the best thing to do, nor does it mean that every action taken by Israel towards Hamas is right or the best thing to do.

213 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 7:06:22am

re: #188 Romantic Heretic

Which, oddly enough, the lack of regulation plus the wild and crazy was caused by the fellow travellers of the goldbugs.

Quite so.

214 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 7:09:12am

I don’t think Israel is acting immorally or ‘wrongly’ in attacking Hamas. Hamas is attacking them. Israel is hitting them back, and they’re targeting weapons. This is completely in line with the rules of war.

I just don’t think it will, in the end, achieve anything good for Israel. I think it may be harming Israel, both in making the peace process more remote and lowering sympathy for Israel because of the disproportionate casualties sustained by each side during this.

215 Franklin Brewsevelt  Jul 15, 2014 7:15:16am
216 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 7:30:04am

LOL

217 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 7:34:05am

IT’S A DERPSPLOSION!!!!

218 Fairly Sure I'm Still Obdicut  Jul 15, 2014 7:34:18am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

Mom really, really wants grandkids I guess.

219 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 7:35:05am

re: #218 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

Mom really, really wants grandkids I guess.

Passive-Aggression in action.

220 Romantic Heretic  Jul 15, 2014 7:35:16am

re: #191 ObserverArt

This part of your comment gets to the heart of the matter for me and the two words that stand out are “show” and “struggle” which hint at a performance that comes to no conclusion. A play with no ending.

But apparently the show needs to go on to demonstrate that the struggle is still alive. It is almost like performance art in a strange way. It is sad that real people have to get caught up in the performance and lose lives and homes.

It is too bad all this couldn’t be put into a real show. Maybe something like Greek tragedy or Shakespeare at the Globe theater where people of the region could view the performance art and take away all of the details of the struggle without resorting to actual violence.

But then chances are that would never work. Maybe the violence and blood are needed. Talk about the futility of man. Humans must really need their conflicts which really seems to be the case, because peace has been unobtainable. You cannot have what you don’t want.

(Deep sigh)

Five Reasons Humanity Desperately Wants Monsters to Be Real.

221 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 7:36:44am

re: #215 Ill Eagle

[Embedded content]

I think it’s because the word “illegal” is French, and we all know how Tru Mericans hate the French.

222 KerFuFFler  Jul 15, 2014 7:43:02am

re: #38 Lidane

It takes a special kind of stupid and some serious, weapons-grade economic illiteracy to think that a gold standard is a good idea in 2014.

Then it sounds like the conservatives will have an easy time selling this turd to their base.

Face it, it does not matter if the idea is a good one. It just has to sound elevating. Consider the words involved, “return to the gold standard”. “Return.” Hmmm, that sounds like a good idea, doing things the way we used to in the good old days. “The gold standard.” Well, that has got to be good because when something is truly top tier we call it the gold standard of whatever…..and besides, “gold” and “standards” are good things, obviously! (Luntz is probably creaming himself thinking about the possibilities.)

Adding to the obvious appeal to conservatives of a return to the gold standard will be the spectacle of a bunch of elite, ivy league, pointy-headed intellectuals decrying it as stupid and then the base will be really excited about it.

To explain why it is a bad idea is complicated and has a bunch of big words, complex concepts and charts. We are doomed unless the financially literate faction of the GOP can find the stones to stand up to this lunacy.

223 RealityBasedSteve  Jul 15, 2014 7:48:13am

re: #222 KerFuFFler

Then it sounds like the conservatives will have an easy time selling this turd to their base.

Face it, it does not matter if the idea is a good one. It just has to sound elevating. Consider the words involved, “return to the gold standard”. “Return.” Hmmm, that sounds like a good idea, doing things the way we used to in the good old days. “The gold standard.” Well, that has got to be good because when something is truly top tier we call it the gold standard of whatever…..and besides, “gold” and “standards” are good things, obviously! (Luntz is probably creaming himself thinking about the possibilities.)

Adding to the obvious appeal to conservatives of a return to the gold standard will be the spectacle of a bunch of elite, ivy league, pointy-headed intellectuals decrying it as stupid and then the base will be really excited about it.

To explain why it is a bad idea is complicated and has a bunch of big words, complex concepts and charts. We are doomed unless the financially literate faction of the GOP can find the stones to stand up to this lunacy.

Short Version: If it takes more than a bumper sticker to explain it, it’s a liberal plot.

224 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 7:52:41am

If the GOP wants to do something about metals they should come up with a policy on pennies. What are we supposed to do with all the pennies?

You can’t put them in the vending machines. I hate having change in my pockets so I don’t want to carry them around. And no I don’t want to roll them up in those penny wrappers.

/

225 Hercules Grytpype-Thynneghazi  Jul 15, 2014 7:55:20am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

LOL

[Embedded content]

Five?

226 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 7:56:07am

re: #225 Hercules Grytpype-Thynneghazi

Five?

Took me 1 second.

227 Hercules Grytpype-Thynneghazi  Jul 15, 2014 7:56:49am

re: #226 Pie-onist Overlord

Took me 1 second.

Me too, but I didn’t want to brag.

228 lawhawk  Jul 15, 2014 7:57:12am

re: #216 Pie-onist Overlord

Mom wants grandkids?

229 Dr. Matt  Jul 15, 2014 7:59:33am
230 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:00:16am

re: #228 lawhawk

Mom wants grandkids?

Mom’s being a passive-aggressive bitch.

231 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:00:46am

re: #229 Dr. Matt

[Embedded content]

You are so hate-retweeted now.

232 Dr. Matt  Jul 15, 2014 8:01:24am

re: #231 Pie-onist Overlord

You are so hate-retweeted now.

*takes a bow*

233 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:10:34am

Speaking of the Gold Standard:

234 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:14:49am

This is off topic, but a few of you commented on how pretty Fenghuang is when I mentioned it several days ago. This is what it looks like today, after three days of heavy rain.

The wooden Fengyu Bridge, built in 2008, has been washed out.
Tuo River floodwaters wash out Fenghuang’s new pedestrian bridge

The Tuo River is now 1.5 meters over normal levels, enough to flood out tjhe second floors of buildings along the river.
Flood waters inundate Fenghuang ancient town in Hunan

Public safety officers began evacuating 110,000 people in the wee hours of the morning here, and power was cut off as a safety precaution around 8 am. No casualties have been reported, but ancient quarter has sustained heavy damage.

For the record, I’m OK where I am.

We’re expecting two more days of rain.

235 Backwoods_Sleuth  Jul 15, 2014 8:18:10am

re: #234 wheat-dogghazi

YIKES!

236 lawhawk  Jul 15, 2014 8:20:00am

re: #234 wheat-dogghazi

That puts all of the flooding in our area in perspective. Nowhere near as bad as that. Stay safe!

237 PhillyPretzel  Jul 15, 2014 8:23:34am

re: #234 wheat-dogghazi

Philly is supposed to get some heavy rain this afternoon into this evening. Stay safe. weather.gov

238 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:24:49am

re: #236 lawhawk

Xinhua news reports at least 500 homes have been washed out across Hunan province, and flooding has affected more than 1.15 million people. Fenghuang’s ancient quarter seems the hardest hit so far.

My campus has only minor flooding. I’m high and dry — flat is on a hill and about level with the 12th floor of one of the classroom buildings below.

But I appreciate the concern!

239 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 8:24:59am

WTFITS

240 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:25:41am

OBAMA IS GIVING TEH ILLEGALS TEH FOOD STAMPZ & DRIVING THEM TO WALMART FOR SHOPPING SPREE!!!!!

241 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:26:01am

re: #239 Timothy Watson

Gretchen Carlson is oppressing my intelligence.

242 PhillyPretzel  Jul 15, 2014 8:27:33am

re: #239 Timothy Watson

The victim card is being abused again.

243 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 8:27:37am

re: #241 wheat-dogghazi

Gretchen Carlson is oppressing my intelligence.

I like to link to this video from The West Wing when I see crap from Gretchen Carlson:
Youtube Video

244 JustMark  Jul 15, 2014 8:29:37am

re: #239 Timothy Watson

WTFITS

[Embedded content]

Wow, it hurt my brain to read that…

245 wrenchwench  Jul 15, 2014 8:30:18am

re: #240 Pie-onist Overlord

OBAMA IS GIVING TEH ILLEGALS TEH FOOD STAMPZ & DRIVING THEM TO WALMART FOR SHOPPING SPREE!!!!!

[Embedded content]

I wonder whether they consider the alternatives for even a second. Cafeterias? Starvation? Let ‘em shop at Whole Foods?

246 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:32:58am

re: #245 wrenchwench

I wonder whether they consider the alternatives for even a second. Cafeterias? Starvation? Let ‘em shop at Whole Foods?

I watched the video, it’s some lady in the Walmart parking lot taking a video on her phone of “illegals” who all have “food stamps”

I don’t know how she knew they were all “illegal” or that they had “food stamps”

247 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 8:33:24am

re: #239 Timothy Watson

Seriously, you just can’t get through the mall after Halloween for all the Festivus poles and people airing their grievances.

248 PhillyPretzel  Jul 15, 2014 8:34:02am

re: #246 Pie-onist Overlord

The lady with the phone taking pictures wants her 15 minutes of fame.

249 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:34:47am

Dim Jim is all HURR HURR TEH RIO GRANDE HAS BODIES FLOATIN’!!!!!!!

Reminds me of that lame song from the ‘60’s “Eve of Destruction” (not linking to it because I don’t want to give you a horrible ear worm.)

250 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Jul 15, 2014 8:36:15am

re: #241 wheat-dogghazi

Gretchen Carlson is oppressing my intelligence.

She is appealing to her constituency’s sense of outrage. That is why they watch her.

251 wrenchwench  Jul 15, 2014 8:36:51am

re: #246 Pie-onist Overlord

I watched the video, it’s some lady in the Walmart parking lot taking a video on her phone of “illegals” who all have “food stamps”

I don’t know how she knew they were all “illegal” or that they had “food stamps”

OH NO BROWN PEOPLE WITH CREDIT CARDS COULDN’T BE

252 BeachDem  Jul 15, 2014 8:36:57am

re: #239 Timothy Watson

WTFITS

[Embedded content]

“As a journalist, I see these stories frequently,” she said…

Gretchen Carlson is a journalist? Who knew?

253 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:36:58am

re: #247 jaunte

Seriously, you just can’t get through the mall after Halloween for all the Festivus poles and people airing their grievances.

Not to mention the hordes of illegals buying shit with their EBT cards.

254 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 8:39:42am

You know, I was under the impression that Fred Thompson wasn’t stupid and wasn’t crazy, was I wrong on those counts or is he just like Gretchen Carlson and playing the part for the paycheck?

255 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 8:42:29am

re: #254 Timothy Watson

Based on all the reverse-mortgage ads he appears in, I’d go with paycheck.

256 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 8:43:27am

re:
#239

Persecution? You ain’t seen nothin yet. You know who they’re honoring at tonight’s MLB All-Star game? That’s right. All teh gays.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. — Glenn Burke was 27 when he walked out on Major League Baseball, his promising career as an outfielder undone mostly by the burden of being a semicloseted gay man. It was 1980, and it was more important, Burke later explained, to be himself than to be a professional baseball player.

“It’s harder to be gay in sports than anywhere else, except maybe president,” Burke said in 1982, when he came out publicly in an Inside Sports magazine article. “Baseball is probably the hardest sport of all.”

More than three decades later, and nearly 20 years after Burke’s death, Major League Baseball still has not had an active player publicly disclose that he is gay. There probably are several gay men currently playing, but the sport awaits its Robbie Rogers, its Jason Collins, its Michael Sam.

In the meantime, Major League Baseball is trying to ease the way for those surely to come. As part of a concerted effort to demonstrate an atmosphere of tolerance and inclusion, the league invited Burke’s family to Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Minneapolis — its first official recognition of Burke’s early role in a movement just now gaining traction across the sports landscape.

“He was a pioneer, and should be recognized,” Pat Courtney, a Major League Baseball spokesman, said.

Hurr hurr isn’t no place safe for America’s kidz??!??!11

Burke started regularly in the outfield for the A’s in 1978, but a pinched nerve in his neck in the 1979 season kept him off the field. He refused to take cortisone shots to get back on the field, and simply left the team. He was 26.

“I probably wouldn’t have left if there hadn’t been the other problem, the gay thing,” Burke said in the 1982 Inside Sports article. “But put it all together, and it was too much.”

He returned the next spring. The team’s new manager, Billy Martin, reportedly addressed Burke with homophobic slurs in front of teammates. A knee injury in spring training led Burke to the minor leagues. Living as a gay man in Ogden, Utah, his dream of starring in the major leagues as far away as ever, he walked away.

“The browbeating got to him,” Lutha Burke said last week. “I’m more than sure that being gay cost him his baseball career.”

So in addition to throwing tantrums of all kinds, Billy Martin was kind of an asshole. But remember, it’s Christians who are the real victims here.

The game’s being played in Minnesota, which will no doubt make Michelle Bachmann cry. Hopefully Bryan Fischer won’t learn about this. Or else we’ll be subject to all kinds of derp about anal sex.

nytimes.com

257 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Jul 15, 2014 8:44:16am

re: #255 jaunte

Based on all the reverse-mortgage ads he appears in, I’d go with paycheck.

They know what their listeners want to hear and see, and they want to feel oppressed and feel that their beloved country is being taken from them by a Muslim President and hordes of diseased illegals so they can be OUTRAGED!!!

258 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:44:24am

ASTRAL PROJECTION NUT ALLERGY is their code name for Greenwald, just like RAVING FREAKAZOID NUT SANDWICH is code for Glenn Beck.

259 Mattand  Jul 15, 2014 8:46:23am

re: #190 NJDhockeyfan

After 50+ rockets fired at them during the cease fire israel goes after Hamas rocket launchers again.

[Embedded content]

OH GOODY!

More Gaza war porn.

Yay, LGF comment threads.

260 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 8:46:30am

re: #258 Pie-onist Overlord

ASTRAL PROJECTION NUT ALLERGY is their code name for Greenwald, just like RAVING FREAKAZOID NUT SANDWICH is code for Glenn Beck.

[Embedded content]

Damn Trekkies, it’s PROTON torpedo.

261 BeachDem  Jul 15, 2014 8:46:31am

re: #254 Timothy Watson

“Dumb as hell” - Richard Nixon described Thompson as not able “to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee’s Democratic counsel.”

262 blueraven  Jul 15, 2014 8:47:27am

re: #246 Pie-onist Overlord

I watched the video, it’s some lady in the Walmart parking lot taking a video on her phone of “illegals” who all have “food stamps”

I don’t know how she knew they were all “illegal” or that they had “food stamps”

They are probably migrant workers here legally.

263 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Jul 15, 2014 8:48:39am

re: #262 blueraven

They are probably migrant workers here legally.

If it is not obvious to you who is here illegally and on food stamps, you are probably a Democrat already and beyond help…

264 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:49:12am

More photos of the flooding in Fenghuang.
news.xinhuanet.com

265 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 8:49:35am

This is the guy who took millions in farm subsidies for himself, but wanted to deny food stamps for the poor:

266 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 8:49:46am

re: #262 blueraven

ALIPAC admin:

“Update: A local Tea Party group has confirmed that these are not part of Obama’s illegal immigrant surge being bused in from the border right now. The group contacted a local farmer and found out these are supposed to be H2A migrant workers. Many thanks to everyone that helped us quickly track down the source of this video and dig in to find out the details about what was captured in this film clip! While these are legal immigrants, please remain diligent for Obama’s drop offs of illegals in your communities. Great work team!”alipac.us

Remain diligent! Speak English!

267 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 8:50:53am
From Sara Hoyle:
Regarding the 2 videos of supposed illegal immigrants in Kannapolis/Concord area yesterday at Walmart…

Just got off the phone with a very nice & informative lady with Patterson Farms in China Grove,NC. It is verified the bus belongs to them, and on Sunday, did transport their workers to the Kannapolis Walmart for supplies. All workers are here through a federal government program ,H2A, where the farmer pays the federal government a fee and the workers are issued a temporary green card for the season. When harvest is over, the migrant workers (are supposed to) return to Mexico. This has been the farms practice for @ 20 years. So, these are Not illegal immigrants overflowing into NC from the border crisis.
alipac.us

268 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:52:20am

re: #266 jaunte

ALIPAC admin:

Remain diligent! Speak English!

I have the mental image of Obama driving a bus around the USA, dropping off immigrants at random towns, just to rile up the RWNJs.

Michelle plays the role of Alice.

269 Mattand  Jul 15, 2014 8:52:40am

re: #265 Pie-onist Overlord

This is the guy who took millions in farm subsidies for himself, but wanted to deny food stamps for the poor:

[Embedded content]

I’m sure the odds are good Eisenhower either never said that, or was taken out of context.

270 wrenchwench  Jul 15, 2014 8:54:53am

re: #267 jaunte

No mention of food stamps.

271 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 8:55:29am

re:
#258

Is that you Mo-Dean?
It’s me Mo-Dean
Is that you Mo-Dean?
On a UFO
Is that you Mo-Dean?
It’s me Mo-Dean
The interdimensional outer space being

Is that you Mo-Dean?
It’s me Mo-Dean

Astro projector for the outer space scene
Astral projector
Astral projector
Astral projector
Astral projector
Astral projector
Astral projector

sing365.com

272 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:56:54am

re: #267 jaunte

So, these are Not illegal immigrants overflowing into NC from the border crisis.

A. There is no real “border crisis.”
B. North Carolina is several states removed from the Mexican border.

These people are crazy.

273 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 8:57:17am

“But when large gatherings of obstructionists made it impossible for the decrees of the Court to be carried out, both the law and the national interest demanded that the President take action.” -Dwight Eisenhower

274 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 8:57:23am

re: #270 wrenchwench

If migrant workers have green cards, they’re eligible for SNAP assistance, so that part might be true.

275 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 8:58:43am

re: #272 wheat-dogghazi

They want cheap produce, and a starving low paid workforce.

276 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 8:59:11am

re:
#266

You’d think these hard-working, tax-paying teabag party Americans would be at their jobs working hard rather than stalking people trying to make a living, responding to the needs of others.

277 wheat-dogghazi  Jul 15, 2014 8:59:17am

re: #275 jaunte

They want cheap produce, and a starving low paid workforce.

Feudalism!

278 wrenchwench  Jul 15, 2014 8:59:18am

re: #267 jaunte

It’s a John Tanton-founded racist anti-immigrant (legal and otherwise) organization so there’s probably no point.

(I’m pressed for time ATM.)

279 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 9:01:56am

re: #278 wrenchwench

[Embedded content]

It’s a John Tanton-founded racist anti-immigrant (legal and otherwise) organization so there’s probably no point.

(I’m pressed for time ATM.)

alipac.us

ALIPAC has a horrible website that looks like it hasn’t been updated in this century.

280 blueraven  Jul 15, 2014 9:03:15am

re: #267 jaunte

These people work their ass off, doing work no one else will do for very little money. They sustain our small farms and contribute to the local economy.

insideman.blogs.cnn.com

Morgan Spurlock took 15 minutes to fill a tub of oranges when he should’ve taken 4. He also learned the hard way that orange trees have thorns.

See CNN’s Morgan Spurlock try his hand at a job as a migrant farm worker in Polk County, Florida - a role rarely filled by U.S. citizens

281 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 9:04:55am

re:
#266

“Update: A local Tea Party group has confirmed that these are not part of Obama’s illegal immigrant surge being bused in from the border right now.

…..please remain diligent for Obama’s drop offs of illegals in your communities.

These people are just a special kind of stupid and heartless aren’t they.

282 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 9:04:56am

re: #280 blueraven

These people work their ass off, doing work no one else will do for very little money. They sustain our small farms and contribute to the local economy.

insideman.blogs.cnn.com

PATSY, Queen of the Cotton Field!

283 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 9:06:21am

re: #278 wrenchwench

[Embedded content]

It’s a John Tanton-founded racist anti-immigrant (legal and otherwise) organization so there’s probably no point.

(I’m pressed for time ATM.)

I tweeted the Patterson Farms info to them. We’ll see.

284 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 9:07:49am

re: #281 Bulworth

I think he meant ‘vigilant’ but that’s a native English speaker for you.

285 Dr. Matt  Jul 15, 2014 9:09:57am

Apparently some Marylanders hate Ill Eagles

Vandals deface Maryland immigrant center with misspelled graffiti: ‘No illeagles here’

Poor sick birds. Where will they go?

286 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 9:10:01am

pattersonfarminc.com

287 darthstar  Jul 15, 2014 9:12:55am

Quick rant as I’ve got a busy day at work:

I was fucking livid in my car when I heard her say this not once, but twice.

288 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 9:13:04am

re:
#280

Hurr hurr if they don wanna pick oranges and hurt themselves on thorns they should get education and earn more Hurr hurr!!

289 BeachDem  Jul 15, 2014 9:13:38am

re: #269 Mattand

I’m sure the odds are good Eisenhower either never said that, or was taken out of context.

I see that quote on all kinds of right wing and religious sites, but cannot find it in context or in any verified Eisenhower info. So, I’d agree with you that he either never said it or it is being taken out of context.

290 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 9:14:14am

The Produce Lady Visits Patterson Farm: Producing Safe Food on a North Carolina Gold Star Farm
Youtube Video

36 acres of strawberries, hand-harvested.

291 FemNaziBitch  Jul 15, 2014 9:15:36am

Now, because of Cheechoko’s excellent Pages Post, I am totally jeaous of this bear. Just think how good it feels to have all that pressure of water running around you. Nature’s own whirlpool!

livecam:

Please give updings where updings are due.

292 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 9:16:08am

WTFITS

293 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 9:16:50am

re:
#287

I’m looking forward to having someone from law enforcement make sure these protesters can’t interfere or obstruct with the legal processes designed to provided for these migrants until their cases have been decided or their families here in the U.S. can be contacted.

Not sure why the law enforcement authorities allowed the mob in California to block the buses carrying the immigrants. Would seem easy enough to make sure the bus’s path was cleared. But maybe some officials think only Occupy protesters deserve to be removed from blocking streets, etc.

294 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 9:18:38am

re: #290 jaunte

The Produce Lady Visits Patterson Farm: Producing Safe Food on a North Carolina Gold Star Farm
[Embedded content]

36 acres of strawberries, hand-harvested.

Based on the visible evidence in that video, the strawberries are harvested by the owner, the extension agent, and one Spanish speaking man.
Thanks for the info, Produce Lady!

295 FemNaziBitch  Jul 15, 2014 9:18:44am

How much pressure do you think the falls are exerting on the bears?—and they are standing there like it’s nothing.

296 FemNaziBitch  Jul 15, 2014 9:19:57am

Humidity is finally down in my part of the world.

you?

297 Dr. Matt  Jul 15, 2014 9:21:13am

re: #296 FemNaziBitch

Humidity is finally down in my part of the world.

you?

Waiting for November…..

298 RealityBasedSteve  Jul 15, 2014 9:21:34am

re: #266 jaunte

ALIPAC admin:
ALIPAC admin:

“Update: A local Tea Party group has confirmed that these are not part of Obama’s illegal immigrant surge being bused in from the border right now. The group contacted a local farmer and found out these are supposed to be H2A migrant workers. Many thanks to everyone that helped us quickly track down the source of this video and dig in to find out the details about what was captured in this film clip! While these are legal immigrants, please remain diligent for Obama’s drop offs of illegals in your communities. Great work team!”alipac.us
Remain diligent! Speak English!

Doesn’t matter in the least that they issued a retraction. This has already spread across the net and the RWNJs KNOW that it happened exactly as their fevered and addlepated brains want it to have occurred.

RBS

299 ObserverArt  Jul 15, 2014 9:23:13am

re: #218 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

Mom really, really wants grandkids I guess.

That was going to be my response. I figured someone would get to it.

300 allegro  Jul 15, 2014 9:23:54am

re: #296 FemNaziBitch

Humidity is finally down in my part of the world.

you?

I have azaleas blooming. In July. Very, very weird.

301 FemNaziBitch  Jul 15, 2014 9:24:51am

re: #219 Pie-onist Overlord

Passive-Aggression in action.

nah, ignorance. seriously.

302 Pie-onist Overlord  Jul 15, 2014 9:24:54am

re: #298 RealityBasedSteve

Doesn’t matter in the least that they issued a retraction. This has already spread across the net and the RWNJs KNOW that it happened exactly as their fevered and addlepated brains want it to have occurred.

RBS

It’s being spammed all over TCOT.

303 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 9:25:34am

THE DERP BURNS, THE DERP BURNS!

304 FemNaziBitch  Jul 15, 2014 9:26:47am

There is hope:
Church of England General Synod approves female bishops
Applause in public gallery greets overwhelming vote in favour of measure that ends 20 years of bitter division over issue

305 Shiplord Kirel  Jul 15, 2014 9:31:08am

Mega-schadenfreude alert:
Looks like the ammo hoarding frenzy is over, with prices and availability largely back to pre-panic levels. Millions of gullible conspiracy dupes, and more than a few well-deserving speculators, have been taken to the cleaners in the meantime.
Ammo prices could well fall further now that the hoarders realize that Obama is not going to impose a $100 per round tax or send his ACORN militia on a door-to-door confiscation-search for their stashes. More than a few of the hoarders are going to have to unload their hoards for whatever they can get, which won’t be much. .223/5.56 (AR-15, etc.) ammo was going for close to a dollar a round at the peak of the fenzy and dupes were buying it in thousand round lots. It is typically about a quarter a round now.

306 FemNaziBitch  Jul 15, 2014 9:31:56am

The Password Is Finally Dying. Here’s Mine-WSJ

307 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 9:32:10am

re:
#303

We’re supposed to honor people who took up arms against the U.S. (in defense of slavery no less)?

Although of course we do so honor them, their names adorning schools, streets, universities (Washington and Lee) and what have you, throughout the South.

308 Eclectic Cyborg  Jul 15, 2014 9:33:24am

re: #268 wheat-dogghazi

I have the mental image of Obama driving a bus around the USA, dropping off immigrants at random towns, just to rile up the RWNJs.

Michelle plays the role of Alice.

I can see that being the basis for a Tarantino movie…with Samuel L Jackson playing the bus driver (who would NOT be the President)

309 Charles Johnson  Jul 15, 2014 9:33:28am
310 piratedan  Jul 15, 2014 9:33:35am

re: #272 wheat-dogghazi

someone over at Balloon Juice (h/t Martin) mentioned that this isn’t so much an immigration problem as it is a refugee problem. The chaos that is Honduras (and many other places in South and Central America) is causing folks to flee the carnage, as such, they’re ending up here. It’s not just Mexicans crossing the border, it’s Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, Colombians too. They’re not coming to get our jobs, because strange as it sounds to us first worlders, it’s safer here (as long as you’re not black and armed with skittles).

311 Feline Fearless Leader  Jul 15, 2014 9:33:36am

re: #285 Dr. Matt

Apparently some Marylanders hate Ill Eagles

Poor sick birds. Where will they go?

Back to Philadelphia.

312 Dr. Matt  Jul 15, 2014 9:34:27am

re: #305 Shiplord Kirel

5.56 was actually going a buck a round!??! If that’s true, I’m so glad the paranoid dipshits got fleeced.

313 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 9:34:46am

re: #305 Shiplord Kirel

Less money in the nuts’ hands. Good. More guns in the nuts’ hands. Bad.

314 PhillyPretzel  Jul 15, 2014 9:35:22am

re: #306 FemNaziBitch

Good article. It is a pity that I had to sign in to The Wall Street Journal to get it. :(

315 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 9:35:46am

Wait, Pat Buchanan is still alive?

316 FemNaziBitch  Jul 15, 2014 9:36:00am
Responsibility to protect the bad guys: A man who devoted his life to preventing atrocities is now defending a government that commits them. FP’s Colum Lynch: “Francis Mading Deng, a South Sudanese diplomat, scholar, and writer, built a reputation over the past 35 years as one of the world’s leading champions of humanity’s most forsaken, a pivotal figure in the modern anti-atrocities movement, and, until three years ago, the United Nations’ point man for the prevention of genocide.

excerpt from daily email round-up from FP.

317 allegro  Jul 15, 2014 9:36:33am

re: #309 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

That kid is rocking the outfit. What a cutie.

318 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Jul 15, 2014 9:37:23am

re: #315 Bulworth

Wait, Pat Buchanan is still alive?

Redonkulous, right? I mean, he’s so old as to have fought with the Confederacy, judging by his articles. /

319 Timothy Watson  Jul 15, 2014 9:39:37am

re: #307 Bulworth

re:
#303

We’re supposed to honor people who took up arms against the U.S. (in defense of slavery no less)?

Although of course we do so honor them, their names adorning schools, streets, universities (Washington and Lee) and what have you, throughout the South.

To be fair, Washington and Lee University was renamed because of Lee’s contributions to the the University while he was the university’s president.

320 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 9:40:59am

re:
#303

We no longer speak the same language, worship the same God, honor the same heroes or share the same holidays. Christmas and Easter have been privatized. Columbus is reviled. Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are out of the pantheon. Cesar Chavez is in.

I see. Freedom through Conformity.

And please do tell why Stonewall and Lee should be considered ‘heroes’? And why shouldn’t Chavez be considered a ‘hero’?

I won’t bother with the derp about not speaking the same language and not celebrating the same holidays or worshipping the same god.

321 Dr. Matt  Jul 15, 2014 9:41:46am

The Confederacy, Nazi Germany, and Empire of Japan are all enemy nations that the USA defeated. There is no honor for any of them.

322 Decatur Deb  Jul 15, 2014 9:41:52am

re: #307 Bulworth

re:
#303

We’re supposed to honor people who took up arms against the U.S. (in defense of slavery no less)?

Although of course we do so honor them, their names adorning schools, streets, universities (Washington and Lee) and what have you, throughout the South.

“Go, Fighting Kluxxers !!!”

en.wikipedia.org

323 jaunte  Jul 15, 2014 9:43:15am
“…Due to demographic changes, the U.S. Social Security system will face financial challenges in the near future. Declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancies are causing the U.S. population to age. Today 12 percent of the total population is aged 65 or older, but by 2080, it will be 23 percent. At the same time, the working-age population is shrinking from 60 percent today to a projected 54 percent in 2080. Consequently, the Social Security system is experiencing a declining worker-to-beneficiary ratio, which will fall from 3.3 in 2005 to 2.1 in 2040 (the year in which the Social Security trust fund is projected to be exhausted). This presents a significant challenge to policymakers.
…………
“Immigration also plays a role in the age structure of the population. Compared with earlier decades, net immigration has increased in recent years (Table 2). Because immigrants tend to be younger and have higher fertility rates than the general population, immigration mitigates the aging of the population. Without immigration the aging trend would be more pronounced.”
ssa.gov
324 Bulworth  Jul 15, 2014 9:58:02am

re:
#319

That’s fine, and I don’t object to Lee or Stonewall’s names being on things, particularly in the South. But I don’t see either of them as being national heros in any way.

Related, I’ve been listening to Shelby Foote’s Civil War narrative, book 1, on audio. Lots of interesting details about generals and battles I hadn’t known of before. Seems like most of the details and stories concern those in the South (Foote was a Southerner); But it’s a part of the story I’d not been as acquainted with before.

325 DobermanBoston  Jul 15, 2014 10:07:11am

re: #21 wrenchwench

Scratch one of these gold bugs and nine times out of ten you’ll find an anti-Semite.

The only gold bug I ever knew IRL was a major cokehead. Which makes sense as that drug is known to promote the kind of clear thinking that keeps one vigilant in the struggle against the Federal Reserve.

326 Archangelus  Jul 15, 2014 10:33:12am

re: #303 Timothy Watson

THE DERP BURNS, THE DERP BURNS!

[Embedded content]

Dear Pat: F**k the Confederacy, long may it be reviled, and f**k its generals.
Also, F**K you, you racist antisemite POS.

327 ObserverArt  Jul 15, 2014 10:55:09am

re: #309 Charles Johnson

[King,a 5 year old Beatles fan, who I took in to meet his idol last night at the @ringostarrmusic show in San Jose ]

I just love the fact there are 5 year old black Beatles fans! Good for you King!


This article has been archived.
Comments are closed.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh
The Pandemic Cost 7 Million Lives, but Talks to Prevent a Repeat Stall In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met - some online, some in-person in Geneva - hoping to forestall a future worldwide ...
Cheechako
4 days ago
Views: 138 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ...
Cheechako
2 weeks ago
Views: 305 • Comments: 0 • Rating: 1