The Breitbart President Is Raging at Delusional Fantasies

We are in so much trouble
Politics • Views: 54,886

The Washington Post’s latest report on Trump’s mental health is not encouraging: Inside Trump’s fury: The president rages at leaks, setbacks and accusations.

Trump, meanwhile, has been feeling besieged, believing that his presidency is being tormented in ways known and unknown by a group of Obama-aligned critics, federal bureaucrats and intelligence figures — not to mention the media, which he has called “the enemy of the American people.”

That angst over what many in the White House call the “deep state” is fermenting daily, fueled by rumors and tidbits picked up by Trump allies within the intelligence community and by unconfirmed allegations that have been made by right-wing commentators. The “deep state” is a phrase popular on the right for describing entrenched networks hostile to Trump.

[…]

The president has been seething as he watches round-the-clock cable news coverage. Trump recently vented to an associate that Carter Page, a onetime Trump campaign adviser, keeps appearing on television even though he and Trump have no significant relationship.

Stories from Breitbart News, the incendiary conservative website, have been circulated at the White House’s highest levels in recent days, including one story where talk-radio host Mark Levin accused the Obama administration of mounting a “silent coup,” according to several officials.

Stephen K. Bannon, the White House chief strategist who once ran Breitbart, has spoken with Trump at length about his view that the “deep state” is a direct threat to his presidency.

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445 comments
1
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 5, 2017 • 7:54:50pm
2
Major Tom  Mar 5, 2017 • 7:56:12pm

Anyone else getting a sneaking suspicion Scarborough is going to run in 2020?

3
mmmirele  Mar 5, 2017 • 7:59:46pm

re: #2 Major Tom

Maybe we’ll finally get an answer about the dead intern found in his office.

4
Major Tom  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:00:40pm

re: #3 mmmirele

Maybe we’ll finally get an answer about the dead intern found in his office.

That feels so humdrum by comparison to the daily news.

5
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:04:57pm

Here’s one of his delusional fantasies:

6
freetoken  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:12:56pm

His supporters are just as delusional, or even more so.

We have a large subset of our society who are swept up into a maelstrom of delusional ideas.

7
Joe Bacon  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:14:38pm
8
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:15:04pm

From the last thread, because this whole thing is a hoot:

re: #453 allegro

My parents had a blast with that. My dad especially. Told everyone at work about the interview and his daughter getting top secret security clearance. They were like “Wow! What does she do?” He sez “Kill mice.” They totally didn’t believe him. To this day I think they believe I was an undercover agent or something.

It could be they were some sort of secret Area 51 project mice.

9
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:21:55pm

re: #8 Anymouse

From the last thread, because this whole thing is a hoot:

It could be they were some sort of secret Area 51 project mice.

So do you wanna hear about the raccoons at the Space Center? (We got a lot of calls from there. Ducks too.)

10
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:23:05pm

Conservatives are still on about that edited picture (taken from a different time during Mr. Trump’s address to Congress) claiming Democratic women did not stand for CPO Owens’s widow:

11
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:25:02pm
12
Pawn of the Oppressor  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:26:22pm

In terms of technique, being President isn’t hard. Just listen to people, be quietly decisive, and don’t be an actual, factual dick. (Playing one for effect is OK sometimes). Sometimes I don’t understand these socially broken lunkheads like Trump, who keep smashing their face against every wall they find, and then bitch when their nose starts bleeding.

IT’S NOT HARD.

If he’s so fucking stressed out, he can step aside and I’ll do it for a while. I’ve been working in a law office for two months now, and that’s way more relevant legal experience than he has. I’ll step in and do my patriotic duty.

13
Odie Hugh Manatee  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:30:09pm

One thing about this story that really cheers me is that the levels of stress Hair Furor is putting himself under may be shortening the raging asshole’s life. I normally wouldn’t even consider a thought like that except for the fact that these aren’t normal times, he isn’t a normal person and I absolutely detest the little dick who thinks he has what it takes to get the job done, but doesn’t. So if he is creating and feeding the messes that lead to mounting stresses that shortens his life, that’s on him.

I’m just cheering him on. :)

14
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:30:57pm

I am getting so tired of conservatives using us as props.

15
FormerDirtDart  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:32:23pm

I’m not sure, but I believe I just watched the Dalai Lama appoint John Oliver as the new demon antagonist of the Chinese communist leadership…

16
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:32:42pm

re: #13 Odie Hugh Manatee

One thing about this story that really cheers me is that the levels of stress Hair Furor is putting himself under may be shortening the raging asshole’s life. I normally wouldn’t even consider a thought like that except for the fact that these aren’t normal times, he isn’t a normal person and I absolutely detest the little dick who thinks he has what it takes to get the job done, but doesn’t. So if he is creating and feeding the messes that lead to mounting stresses that shortens his life, that’s on him.

I’m just cheering him on. :)

Oh much preferable to a shortened life due to stress would be his abject humiliation, driven from office in shame, the loss of his businesses due to bankruptcy, and a very long life to live with that.

17
Moebym  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:36:34pm

re: #16 Anymouse

Oh much preferable to a shortened life due to stress would be his abject humiliation, driven from office in shame, the loss of his businesses due to bankruptcy, and a very long life to live with that.

I recall seeing it written somewhere that longevity runs in Trump’s family. I hope that what you described will come to pass, because it’s a fitting punishment.

18
calochortus  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:36:45pm

re: #16 Anymouse

Oh much preferable to a shortened life due to stress would be his abject humiliation, driven from office in shame, the loss of his businesses due to bankruptcy, and a very long life to live with that.

Oh yes!

19
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:36:55pm

re: #13 Odie Hugh Manatee

I hear ya. However, I would much prefer to see him and the entire GOP who are supporting him entirely thoroughly discredited. His death by stroke won’t cut it.

20
FormerDirtDart  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:38:01pm
21
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:38:58pm

Someone needs to put these wingnuts in place.
dailymail.co.uk (American Muslims who died on active duty since 9/11)

22
Sherlock Hound  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:40:31pm

re: #14 Anymouse

It’s not that people use their fathers or husband’s as props for their own patriotism or anything. Not that this non-veteran disabled person minds being a non-patriot for not serving.

////// (Implied, no offense taken!)

23
retired cynic  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:40:33pm

re: #21 Anymouse

Someone needs to put these wingnuts in place.
dailymail.co.uk (American Muslims who died on active duty since 9/11)

[Embedded content]

OMG, how disgusting!!

24
majii  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:43:25pm

re: #16 Anymouse

Trump & Co. and his supporters seemed to have been really, really sure that our government could be run like a business. They’re learning the hard way that it can’t. I truly believe Trump is overwhelmed by the job. When Trump was running his businesses, anything he said/did wasn’t questioned, or challenged, and his orders were acted on quickly. He’s finding it hard to deal with the fact that others in America have a constitutionally-guaranteed right to criticize him. I remember his mouth-piece, Stephen Miller, saying on national TV a couple weeks ago that Trump is never to be challenged and that this American president can do whatever he pleases and we can’t do anything about it. Trump & Co. and his supporters could benefit from taking a course in American political science, but they won’t because, they really believe that when a GOPer is in the WH, he should be worshiped like a demi-god and his words/actions are to never be questioned. Someone should inform them that the concept of the divine right of kings/leaders ended long ago.

25
retired cynic  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:44:51pm

re: #23 retired cynic

That’s the same sort of people who would harass the Sandy Hook parents and tell them they really hadn’t had a child. I cannot imagine a sociopath that evil.

26
retired cynic  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:45:39pm

re: #24 majii

I don’t think DT could have run anything but a family owned business, and at that, he had to be bailed out how many times?

27
majii  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:48:10pm

re: #26 retired cynic

None of those bankruptcies ever happened, and if they did, they just indicate how smart he is as a business-owner. Ask any of his supporters and this will be their response.

28
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:48:44pm

re: #22 Sherlock Hound

It’s not that people use their fathers or husband’s as props for their own patriotism or anything. Not that this non-veteran disabled person minds being a non-patriot for not serving.

////// (Implied, no offense taken!)

Patriotism is far more than being in the military. People like the abolitionists, suffragettes, astronauts, Peace Corps workers, or the guy who owns a gas station and pays his taxes are all patriots.

29
stpaulbear  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:51:07pm

re: #23 retired cynic

Some people are just going to insist that they live their lives as clueless assholes.

30
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:53:32pm

re: #29 stpaulbear

Some people are just going to insist that they live their lives as clueless assholes.

Yup. Muslims have been in the military in every war including the Revolution, but some folk have their mind’s made up that can’t be so.

31
GlutenFreeJesus  Mar 5, 2017 • 8:56:09pm

10 years from now, my hope is that Trump is the old gym teacher from Seinfeld who abused George… and became destitute, forced to live on steps of the public library.

32
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:02:14pm

Wow …

33
Eclectic Cyborg  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:02:30pm

re: #31 GlutenFreeJesus

“Cantstandya!”

34
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:06:11pm

9Up2d3/8QBosQaQ4H763hyyaEqnQr89zTpZDwCL8i2fmOx1qNl93C4mI3KVPD0wLZ+o/7/FWUN87fjRaF2C607EZ+cGDWHVLtiRc3VXubwYOQUPX3CmT06e6QhdIgphTZPDiDybEHoM+Z7PXARXp7z8RH7ZXVNQcTWAO0cM/FG0LBiUKyJcxvxInDfmCQ9jcU4XAn3T44R/eTJP5OOZuqA==

35
Joe Bacon  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:08:40pm

Sure is amazing to see all these brainwashed marks lapping up every last bit of disinformation pumped out by the 24/7 GOP Bullshit Machine!

36
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:14:13pm

re: #35 Joe Bacon

Sure is amazing to see all these brainwashed marks lapping up every last bit of disinformation pumped out by the 24/7 GOP Bullshit Machine!

Not to mention alleged Sanders supporters.

37
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:20:37pm

Ate a turantula? That is so wrong on so many different levels. They freak me out cuz spiders just do that to me but they are furry, tranquil creatures and just… no.

38
Odie Hugh Manatee  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:21:14pm

re: #16 Anymouse

Add him being hauled off in a wraparound jacket by two guys in whites and I’m in. :)

39
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:23:58pm

Not all Hitlers are bad:
en.wikipedia.org

40
Sherlock Hound  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:24:00pm

re: #34 Anymouse

41
Sherlock Hound  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:25:12pm

re: #34 Anymouse

IirE44QREXRE+U9/eo4+sQ==

42
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:31:36pm

re: #37 allegro

Ate a turantula? That is so wrong on so many different levels. They freak me out cuz spiders just do that to me but they are furry, tranquil creatures and just… no.

Well, maybe if it was chocolate-covered … (still no).

43
Dave In Austin  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:32:05pm
44
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:37:15pm

re: #42 Anymouse

Well, maybe if it was chocolate-covered … (still no).

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

45
JordanRules  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:37:40pm
46
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:39:45pm

re: #44 allegro

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

How about candy-coated then?

This is novel:

47
retired cynic  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:40:27pm

re: #46 Anymouse

How about candy-coated then?

This is novel:

[Embedded content]

Yes!!

48
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:42:05pm

re: #47 retired cynic

Yes!!

Are you yessing the Norwegian broadcaster, or candy-coated tarantulas? (::

Or all of them, Katie?

49
retired cynic  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:44:24pm

re: #48 Anymouse

Definitely not spiders. I have a thing about spiders, but I know people who have kept tarantulas as pets, and chomping down on one doesn’t seem like a good thing, from any direction. The Norwegian experiment: yes! But you knew that.

50
FormerDirtDart  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:47:31pm
51
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:48:33pm

re: #46 Anymouse

How about candy-coated then?

This is novel:

[Embedded content]

I’m okay with candy-coated quizzes. I am feeling an affection for taratulas (EEEEK) right now though.

52
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:52:33pm

re: #49 retired cynic

Definitely not spiders. I have a thing about spiders, but I know people who have kept tarantulas as pets, and chomping down on one doesn’t seem like a good thing, from any direction. The Norwegian experiment: yes! But you knew that.

I was just being silly, of course.

There are people who eat guinea pigs as well (not candy-coated or chocolate-covered though), but I couldn’t (because they’re pets to me).

53
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:53:35pm

re: #52 Anymouse

I was just being silly, of course.

There are people who eat guinea pigs as well (not candy-coated or chocolate-covered though), but I couldn’t (because they’re pets to me).

[Embedded content]

Oh fuck no.

54
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 9:55:32pm

re: #53 allegro

Oh fuck no.

I guess it’s a combination of culture (this isn’t Peru) and cute.

I have no trouble eating beef or chicken because I don’t find either cute.

56
austin_blue  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:03:04pm

As far as the concept of Alex Jones/Bill Hicks being twins separated at birth, I would suggest this short little listen:

Deficit Jesse Helms

57
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:10:12pm

Louie Gohmert, Drama Queen:
rightwingwatch.org

Glenn Beck interviewed Rep. Louie Gohmert on his radio program today [March 3], where he kicked off the interview by gently ribbing the Texas Republican for “practically licking the president’s face” during President Trump’s entrance before his address to Congress earlier this week.

Gohmert defended himself by saying that he is just relieved by Trump’s election victory because if Hillary Clinton had won, he would have wound up in prison.

“That night of the election, I’d already come to grips,” Gohmert said, “the U.S Commission on Civil Rights says that Christians are the biggest hate group threat in America, in essence. And you had Hillary, who wants to make it a crime to say anything negative about radical Islam, and Loretta Lynch [who] were in favor of [making it] a crime to question man-made global warming.”

More dreck about Gohmert at Right Wing Watch

58
JordanRules  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:16:21pm

re: #55 Anymouse

Fabulous hair.

59
austin_blue  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:17:37pm

re: #53 allegro

Oh fuck no.

Oh, sure. Remember when Roger and Me came out and Moore visited the house with the “Rabbits- Pets or Food” sign out in front of the house?

My dad told me about how rabbits were routinely sold as chickens in the early thirties (after being beheaded and dressed) in Denver because they were cheap protein and readily available. In Lima, guinea pigs are just roof rabbits, available in numerous restaurants in town and farmer’s markets.

Baby goats (cabrito) are normal daily fare in Mexico.

And if you’ve got more than three dogs in China, you’re a rancher.

Oh, and squirrel brains in milk are still commercially available n the US.

To be honest, brains and eggs with a side of slab bacon is a fine fry up for a weekend breakfast.

60
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:20:40pm

It’s late and just no reason but a wildlife story from my distant past…

I was a young woman, college graduate and a Yankee… three terminal strikes against me as a FWS biologist in Texas. I had major odds against me with the trappers I needed on my side to do my job but I had one thing on my side: I wasn’t afraid of snakes. For whatever reason I have always had an affection for the critters and have a sense for when they’re nearby. That made me a great “sweeper”. So one day I went out to clear the area while the trappers waited and watched and suddenly I shot straight into the air like a cat. They were like, OMG is she bit?! They had never seen me freak like that. Turns out I stepped on a piece of garden hose, one of those scaly looking hoses.re: #59 austin_blue

Oh, sure. Remember when Roger and Me came out and Moore visited the house with the “Rabbits- Pets or Food” sign out in front of the house?

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
My dad told me about how rabbits were routinely sold as chickens in the early thirties (after being beheaded and dressed) in Denver because they were cheap protein and readily available. In Lima, guinea pigs are just roof rabbits, available in numerous restaurants in town and farmer’s markets.

Baby goats (cabrito) are normal daily fare in Mexico.

And if you’ve got more than three dogs in China, you’re a rancher.

Oh, and squirrel brains in milk are still commercially available n the US.

To be honest, brains and eggs with a side of slab bacon is a fine fry up for a weekend breakfast.

Never lived that one down.

61
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:25:06pm

Well that all went wrong and I am unable to fix it.

62
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:29:13pm
63
Kragar  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:43:31pm
64
wheat-dogg  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:48:55pm
65
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:49:35pm

re: #63 Kragar

Some of those would likely die in committee.

A good example would be the voucher bill. This is a case where rural politicians would oppose it over urban ones.

Folk around here are just about universally opposed to the idea of a statewide voucher programme (which is going to get killed by the Unicameral). The reason is a voucher programme would take money from all the schools and funnel it into private schools in the cities.

There ain’t no private schools around here for many many miles.

66
Scout  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:50:19pm

A little piece of trivial fluff: The media here are reporting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told some of his fellow lawmakers that Trump twice hit into a pond when they played golf together a few weeks ago in Florida.

67
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:52:07pm

re: #64 wheat-dogg

That and a buck will get me a cup of coffee. /s

Seriously though, maths is cool.

68
Dave In Austin  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:54:03pm
69
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:55:50pm

bbc.com

A rather long article on how capitalism killed the dream of antibiotics.

Pretty much boils down to “the tragedy of the commons.”

One proposed solution if a company or individual comes up with a new antibiotic that will overcome currently-resistant bacteria would be to simply pay them not to market it (thus keeping it for true emergencies).

My cynical nature toward corporations is that one of them would take the money and market the stuff anyway.

70
Nyet  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:57:13pm

re: #5 Anymouse

Well, as far as Obama actually saying that, that’s a fact, not a fantasy. The unwritten implications are of course bullshit.

71
wheat-dogg  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:58:28pm

re: #66 Scout

A little piece of trivial fluff: The media here are reporting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told some of his fellow lawmakers that Trump twice hit into a pond when they played golf together a few weeks ago in Florida.

Fits with other reports about Trump cheating at golf.

I’m not a golfer, but there’s one pic of Trump with a driver (a wood, IIRC) and his follow-through looks awful — both elbows are bent. I’ll bet he’s ignored every bit of advice from pros and just plays golf HIS way because his brain knows golf better then they do.

72
austin_blue  Mar 5, 2017 • 10:58:43pm

re: #60 allegro

It’s late and just no reason but a wildlife story from my distant past…

I was a young woman, college graduate and a Yankee… three terminal strikes against me as a FWS biologist in Texas. I had major odds against me with the trappers I needed on my side to do my job but I had one thing on my side: I wasn’t afraid of snakes. For whatever reason I have always had an affection for the critters and have a sense for when they’re nearby. That made me a great “sweeper”. So one day I went out to clear the area while the trappers waited and watched and suddenly I shot straight into the air like a cat. They were like, OMG is she bit?! They had never seen me freak like that. Turns out I stepped on a piece of garden hose, one of those scaly looking hoses.

Never lived that one down.

I was a snake guy myself (Northern Virginia Herpetology Club!) in my early teens and we went to the old barge canal north of the Potomac in Maryland, late fall, to collect snakes. Leaves were falling, cool weather, expecting lethargic reptiles based on the forecast, and we arrived around noon to a much warmer day than expected.

Long and short of it, I stepped on a Copperhead that I didn’t see in the leaves.

If you haven’t been snakebit, it’s a surreal experience. I was wearing 5” hiking books and the bastard bitch hit me in my left calf an inch above it. Imagine being initiated to The Pain Of The World without an introduction- being injected with a shot of Drano and fuming nitric acid.

So I stomped the snake with my right foot, screaming my lungs out, and fell over backwards doing the chicken. I was helped back to the parking area and got an ambulance call out from the phone there, and I got a ride to Bethesda, where they gave me a shot of antivenin and kept me overnight.

The bite of a Copperhead is a vanishingly rare fatality event, but boy howdy it makes you feel sick for a while. When I woke up the next morning it looked like the inside of my arms and legs were lined with yellow highlighters- that was my lymph system carrying dead blood cells to my gut.

It took two years for the lost muscle (a chunk about 3” X 1.5” and 1” deep) in my calf to regenerate.

73
retired cynic  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:01:45pm

re: #72 austin_blue

We have lots of copperheads around here. I don’t know anyone who has been bit (except you, now!), but folks are darned careful!

74
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:01:53pm

re: #72 austin_blue

Yikes.

A story like that will ensure I keep my wits about me here (we have rattlesnakes and I live a long way from a doctor).

I’d really rather not get bit by anything at all.

75
wheat-dogg  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:02:35pm

re: #72 austin_blue

Kentucky has copperheads. I’m grateful I’ve only encountered garter snakes.

There are snakes on the hillside where I live in China. Occasionally one gets lost and ends up on the concrete surrounding our apartment complex and get stymied by the retaining walls.

76
austin_blue  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:06:31pm

re: #73 retired cynic

We have lots of copperheads around here. I don’t know anyone who has been bit (except you, now!), but folks are darned careful!

Pro tip: (from experience)

Wear eight inch boots and watch where you step!

77
retired cynic  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:06:31pm

re: #74 Anymouse

Yes, we have rattlesnakes, too. I have been bit by a baby hognose snake, pretending it was venomous by puffing out its cheeks. And we did have a next nest of baby copperheads under our house in the crawlspace once. Some came up into the house, and one bit a cat, and one bit our collie. Both were sick, but survived the experience. Did you know you can lose a baby copperhead on an oriental rug? I learned that.

78
Dave In Austin  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:07:27pm

re: #72 austin_blue

I’ve yet to see one around here. My neighbors all think the rat snakes they see are copperheads. I’ve had to do some training. I think I have them pretty much trained at this point and to come get me if they see something that they don’t know about.
Coral snakes…. I got lots of coral snakes around my place.

79
wheat-dogg  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:08:19pm

re: #65 Anymouse

Some of those would likely die in committee.

A good example would be the voucher bill. This is a case where rural politicians would oppose it over urban ones.

Folk around here are just about universally opposed to the idea of a statewide voucher programme (which is going to get killed by the Unicameral). The reason is a voucher programme would take money from all the schools and funnel it into private schools in the cities.

There ain’t no private schools around here for many many miles.

That’s a feature of public schooling almost no one brings up. State governments are required by law to provide schooling for every child in the state. For-profit and charter schools (often the same thing, in some cases) are not bound by the same laws. So, does anyone really think a charter school will open a branch in East Nowhere, America, where 100 school-age kids live, spread out over hundreds of square miles? They sure won’t, because there’s not enough money in it, even with vouchers and the state helping out.

A close analogy would be the TVA. Without incentives from the federal government, folks living in the hill country would probably still be without electricity.

Vouchers are just a sly way to ensure segregation for those people able to afford making up the difference in tuition.

80
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:11:51pm

Going off on a tangent …

I am not sure I would want to live as long as Emma Morano.
en.wikipedia.org

My mother’s maternal grandmother almost made it from the XIX to the XXI Century (she died in 1993). Ms. Morano was born in 1899 and is still alive today (she is the only known person still alive from the XIX Century). She is 117 years old; her 118th birthday is in November.

81
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:14:08pm

re: #72 austin_blue

I was a snake guy myself (Northern Virginia Herpetology Club!) in my early teens and we went to the old barge canal north of the Potomac in Maryland, late fall, to collect snakes. Leaves were falling, cool weather, expecting lethargic reptiles based on the forecast, and we arrived around noon to a much warmer day than expected.

Long and short of it, I stepped on a Copperhead that I didn’t see in the leaves.

If you haven’t been snakebit, it’s a surreal experience. I was wearing 5” hiking books and the bastard bitch hit me in my left calf an inch above it. Imagine being initiated to The Pain Of The World without an introduction- being injected with a shot of Drano and fuming nitric acid.

So I stomped the snake with my right foot, screaming my lungs out, and fell over backwards doing the chicken. I was helped back to the parking area and got an ambulance call out from the phone there, and I got a ride to Bethesda, where they gave me a shot of antivenin and kept me overnight.

The bite of a Copperhead is a vanishingly rare fatality event, but boy howdy it makes you feel sick for a while. When I woke up the next morning it looked like the inside of my arms and legs were lined with yellow highlighters- that was my lymph system carrying dead blood cells to my gut.

It took two years for the lost muscle (a chunk about 3” X 1.5” and 1” deep) in my calf to regenerate.

I was bit by a copperhead as a kid. Dumbass that I was I brought it home with me and watched as the color drained from my dad’s face and he grabbed it from me and slammed it against the house to kill it. Scooped me up and rushed me to the emergency room. I was a sick little kid for a while… okay real sick but I never really blamed the snake.

82
austin_blue  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:14:56pm

re: #74 Anymouse

Yikes.

A story like that will ensure I keep my wits about me here (we have rattlesnakes and I live a long way from a doctor).

I’d really rather not get bit by anything at all.

Your rattlesnake is the Western Diamondback (crotalus atrox). It is generally not a mean snake. Given the chance to run, they will. Rattlesnakes den up during the winter, thus congregating in small spaces in the spring before spreading out to establish their ranges.

Just leave them the fuck alone, and you will be fine. You will appreciate the significant decrease in the tree rat population.

83
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:18:37pm

re: #82 austin_blue

Your rattlesnake is the Western Diamondback (crotalus atrox). It is generally not a mean snake. Given the chance to run, they will. Rattlesnakes den up during the winter, thus congregating in small spaces in the spring before spreading out to establish their ranges.

Just leave them the fuck alone, and you will be fine. You will appreciate the significant decrease in the tree rat population.

Yup. I am not interested in bothering either our local rattlesnakes nor the turkey vultures. (Actually, it is a crime to harm a turkey vulture.)

84
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:25:54pm

Well, now you have me reading up about rattlesnakes in Nebraska. That ought to help me sleep.

According to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, we have four varieties of rattlesnakes including copperheads and Michigan rattlers.

Now I want to hermetically seal my house in a mayonnaise jar and put it on Funk and Wagnells porch at noon… .

85
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:27:56pm

re: #83 Anymouse

Yup. I am not interested in bothering either our local rattlesnakes nor the turkey vultures. (Actually, it is a crime to harm a turkey vulture.)

All birds are protected in the US except pigeons, European starlings, and sparrows. Illegal even to annoy them.

86
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:30:10pm

re: #84 Anymouse

Well, now you have me reading up about rattlesnakes in Nebraska. That ought to help me sleep.

According to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, we have four varieties of rattlesnakes including copperheads and Michigan rattlers.

Now I want to hermetically seal my house in a mayonnaise jar and put it on Funk and Wagnells porch at noon… .

Don’t. None of them are particularly lethal to adults. Most deaths after a snakebite in the US are fear related, like having a heart attack. If that helps.

87
austin_blue  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:39:17pm

re: #78 Dave In Austin

I’ve yet to see one around here. My neighbors all think the rat snakes they see are copperheads. I’ve had to do some training. I think I have them pretty much trained at this point and to come get me if they see something that they don’t know about.
Coral snakes…. I got lots of coral snakes around my place.

Unfortunately, the Texas Rat Snake is just a mean son of a bitch.

The Genus (Elaphe Obsoleta, although there’s a lot of discussion about fiddling with the name) includes the Black Rat Snake and the Florida Rat Snake.

Both of those snakes are initially aggressive, but once handled, gentle. I used to wear (granted, this was 1974) a Black Rat named Fang under my shirt when I went to high school. Occasionally, he would pop a head up, causing a raucous. Passing the snake around to the class shut down all hoo-hoo. The Principal once wore him as a necklace once during an all-student assembly.

Good snake. Sweet. Gentle.

Texas Rat’s don’t gentle. At least, I haven’t seen it.

Lord knows I’ve tried. They’re biters. Feed them mice, they’ll bite you. Give them nice strokes, they’ll bite you.

This doesn’t make them bad snakes, necessarily. If you’ve got rodents in your barn, they are your heaven sent heroes. They aren’t called rat snakes for nothing.

88
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:40:07pm

re: #86 allegro

Just thought I’d try to work in the old Johnny Carson joke.

re: #85 allegro

While pretty much all birds are protected by law in some way, turkey vultures are protected under a treaty between Mexico, Canada, and the United States (the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918).

Big fines for killing birds on that treaty (unless they are birds that hunting is allowed - defined game birds including Canada geese and ducks).

Strictly speaking it is against that treaty to take a canned air horn outside to scare off turkey vultures trying to make a home in trees around town for example. (Turkey vulture poo is corrosive to cars and kills vegetation below trees, so in town there isn’t a whole lot of love for them when they show up.)

Some wingnut is firing a gun on the river at 12:30 AM - hunting isn’t allowed in the middle of the night (and I’m pretty sure firing a shotgun at night is not exactly safe). That might require a call to the sheriff if it continues.

89
Cheechako  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:41:30pm

There is research in Wyoming that shows rattlesnakes will migrate 30-40 miles from summer ranges to winter habitat. I heard about it at a U WYO lecture.

My rattlesnake story. I was watching a logger build a logging road in eastern Oregon in February one year. There was a very rocky section that required blasting large boulders out of the right of way. After one blast, a ball of rattlesnakes larger than a basket-ball was dislodged and started rolling down the hill flinging off snakes in every direction. Fortunately it was very cold and the snakes could hardly move back to any hole in the ground. Still didn’t stop everyone from running away.

90
wheat-dogg  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:44:02pm

re: #89 Cheechako

There is research in Wyoming that shows rattlesnakes will migrate 30-40 miles from summer ranges to winter habitat. I heard about it at a U WYO lecture.

My rattlesnake story. I was watching a logger build a logging road in eastern Oregon in February one year. There was a very rocky section that required blasting large boulders out of the right of way. After one blast, a ball of rattlesnakes larger than a basket-ball was dislodged and started rolling down the hill flinging off snakes in every direction. Fortunately it was very cold and the snakes could hardly move back to any hole in the ground. Still didn’t stop everyone from running away.

Snake-nado

91
Anymouse  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:47:12pm

re: #90 wheat-dogg

Snake-nado

Now you have me worried about tornado season.

Bad enough that my house might get blown across the state, but having a bunch of rattlesnakes thrown at me too… .

92
allegro  Mar 5, 2017 • 11:55:39pm

re: #88 Anymouse

Just thought I’d try to work in the old Johnny Carson joke.

While pretty much all birds are protected by law in some way, turkey vultures are protected under a treaty between Mexico, Canada, and the United States (the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918).

Big fines for killing birds on that treaty (unless they are birds that hunting is allowed - defined game birds including Canada geese and ducks).

Strictly speaking it is against that treaty to take a canned air horn outside to scare off turkey vultures trying to make a home in trees around town for example. (Turkey vulture poo is corrosive to cars and kills vegetation below trees, so in town there isn’t a whole lot of love for them when they show up.)

Some wingnut is firing a gun on the river at 12:30 AM - hunting isn’t allowed in the middle of the night (and I’m pretty sure firing a shotgun at night is not exactly safe). That might require a call to the sheriff if it continues.

Seriously ALL birds are protected except for the 3 species I named. Some are game birds, allowed to be killed by specific means during specific times, like some geese and ducks, but don’t be bothering others, even in the presence of the non-protected. You don’t want to face the fines.

93
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:00:05am

re: #89 Cheechako

There is research in Wyoming that shows rattlesnakes will migrate 30-40 miles from summer ranges to winter habitat. I heard about it at a U WYO lecture.

My rattlesnake story. I was watching a logger build a logging road in eastern Oregon in February one year. There was a very rocky section that required blasting large boulders out of the right of way. After one blast, a ball of rattlesnakes larger than a basket-ball was dislodged and started rolling down the hill flinging off snakes in every direction. Fortunately it was very cold and the snakes could hardly move back to any hole in the ground. Still didn’t stop everyone from running away.

Here in Texas, a rattlesnake will rarely move more than three or four miles from where it is born. The only exception is when they are caught up in flash floods and flushed downstream for an extended ride. Which explains why a six and one half foot Western Diamondback ended up dead in front of my house one morning.

But that’s another story.

94
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:02:20am

re: #92 allegro

Seriously ALL birds are protected except for the 3 species I named. Some are game birds, allowed to be killed by specific means during specific times, like some geese and ducks, but don’t be bothering others, even in the presence of the non-protected. You don’t want to face the fines.

Pretty much. I’m not interested in killing anything anyway.

The former mayor of my town likes to hunt geese, but doesn’t like cleaning them and doesn’t want to kill them simply for the sake of killing geese. He made a deal with my wife however (who’d never eaten geese) that if she cleaned ‘em he would shoot ‘em.

Next day BLAM BLAM at the river at dawn, and about an hour later he was at our back door with a couple of geese. After we cleaned them she made up a couple meals for him from them (he is a widower and pretty much only eats pre-confabulated store-bought meals).

So now every time it’s Canada goose hunting season around here we can expect to have him deliver a couple geese to our door … that’s fine with me because I hate the idea of sitting in a half-frozen river waiting to shoot geese. (I could do it if I had to, but COLD and RIVER are kind of a turn off.)

95
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:08:14am

Every time traditionalist Abrahamic apologists try to prove that their god is not a moral monster they end up proving the opposite.

infidels.org

96
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:11:58am

re: #95 Nyet

Every time traditionalist Abrahamic apologists try to prove that their god is not a moral monster they end up proving the opposite.

infidels.org

“If God created everything why does he give cancer to infants” is my go-to.

97
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:17:29am

re: #95 Nyet

Every time traditionalist Abrahamic apologists try to prove that their god is not a moral monster they end up proving the opposite.

infidels.org

Why can’t we all agree to be Deists? If we all agreed to that, we would all live in peace.

Really. We would all live in peace.

98
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:19:54am

Oh, and goodnight, dear friends. Sweet scaly dreams.

99
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:20:27am

re: #97 austin_blue

Why can’t we all agree to be Deists? If we all agreed to that, we would all live in peace.

Really. We would all live in peace.

Well, we could all agree to be atheists as well.

Or Baptists.

Or Methodists.

Or Muslims.

&c

100
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:23:14am

Okay one more wildlife story. Had a problem back when at the Bush brewery in Houston. Starlings roosted in the trees at the site, in the thousands as they do. Trees were black with them in the evenings and the songs deafening. The Health Dept. said the birds have to go or we’re closing the brewery. The birds aren’t protected but… they aren’t the only ones in the area. If poison is placed for those birds others that are protected will also be affected. I was glad for that actually since I am not into poisoning birds or any species. But I had a problem.

I had to figure out a way to deal with the problem legally. Moreso, I had to do it within my ethics, which did not include killing thousands of birds. I had to make them go away and roost elsewhere which means I had to make those trees unappealing to them. And I had to do that without harassing a mocking bird, heaven forbid. As it was, I passed a store every day on my way to my office that had fishing nets in the window. Sitting at a stop light at that corner I looked at the window and the nets and went hmmmm. What if we draped those trees with fishing nets? Doesn’t hurt the trees and it would maybe keep the birds from roosting there?

Presented that to Bush and they gave me the budget to try it on a few trees. It worked.

101
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:24:22am

re: #97 austin_blue

Because deism is based on as much blind faith as theism?

102
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:27:37am

re: #100 allegro

That’s thinking outside the tree.

If my elm tree wasn’t so huge, that might be a solution for the turkey vultures when they come along in Spring. (I would need one of those mile-long things they use on a trawler to cover that tree up.)

103
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:29:14am

re: #99 Anymouse

Well, we could all agree to be atheists as well.

Or Baptists.

Or Methodists.

Or Muslims.

&c

Atheism requires no less faith than any other rigid orthadoxy.

Sad.

104
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:30:24am

re: #103 austin_blue

Atheism is absence of faith, so nope.

105
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:30:56am

re: #102 Anymouse

That’s thinking outside the tree.

If my elm tree wasn’t so huge, that might be a solution for the turkey vultures when they come along in Spring. (I would need one of those mile-long things they use on a trawler to cover that tree up.)

The net doesn’t cost much. It’s the lift you need to get it on there that costs.

106
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:31:09am

Alex Oronov (latest dead Russian) bought real estate from Mar-a-Lago members …

palmerreport.com

Not sure about whether this Website is little-known news reporting sometimes found on the Web, or something that’s made up, conspiracy theory, or otherwise untrustworthy.

107
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:31:44am

re: #103 austin_blue

Atheism requires no less faith than any other rigid orthadoxy.

Sad.

huh?

108
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:33:51am

re: #103 austin_blue

Atheism requires no less faith than any other rigid orthadoxy.

Sad.

Atheism is the lack of belief in any geographic location’s gods without proof, or simply not being introduced to the concept of gods. Doesn’t require faith.

In the instant someone can present me with credible evidence of Thor or Kali, I’ll quit being an atheist.

For the most part, religious people are atheists about every other god except their own particular flavour.

Sometimes they’ll even tell you: I don’t believe in Krishna or Odin because there is no evidence for them (or use the term “false gods,” which kind of means the same thing).

109
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:34:27am

re: #107 allegro

AB and I have had this convo 2 times already. They are ignorant of what atheism is and simply repeat their claim when proven wrong.

110
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:35:49am

re: #109 Nyet

AB and I have had this convo 2 times already. They are ignorant of what atheism is and simply repeat their claim when proven wrong.

Well, I’m tired and my cat is beating me up for an insulin shot. I’m gonna stay away from the religion thing (and I have to call the sheriff because the gunfire is still going on - that seems like poaching in the middle of the night, which is illegal on a number of levels).

111
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:42:03am

re: #10 Anymouse

Conservatives are still on about that edited picture (taken from a different time during Mr. Trump’s address to Congress) claiming Democratic women did not stand for CPO Owens’s widow:

That was a real gem: take a photo of any Democrat(s) sitting, post it with caption “taken during Gold Star tribute” and voila - instant outrage!!!

112
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:43:10am

re: #109 Nyet

AB and I have had this convo 2 times already. They are ignorant of what atheism is and simply repeat their claim when proven wrong.

I kinda figured but still WTF.

113
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:43:56am

re: #24 majii

Trump & Co. and his supporters seemed to have been really, really sure that our government could be run like a business…

The part that upsets him the most is that he cannot force all government employees to sign lifetime NDAs.

114
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:45:33am

re: #101 Nyet

Because deism is based on as much blind faith as theism?

No. Deism is based on

“I don’t know, but maybe, just maybe, at the begining of the universe, some *thing* established the strong force, the weak force, the speed of light, and the gravitational constant and plugged it into the singularity that became our cosmos.”

And then buggered off. The *thing* doesn’t give give a fuck about our cosmos, despite having created it, doesn’t listen to our prayers, and doesn’t have any opinion in how our world is proceeding.

The *thing* created evolution and is a voyeur, at best. Not an active player.

There. Deism.

115
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:47:02am

re: #104 Nyet

Atheism is absence of faith, so nope.

But it isn’t, is it?

116
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:47:06am

re: #112 allegro

I kinda figured but still WTF.

I’m kind of stuck on the “orthodoxy of atheism” bit. I wasn’t aware we had a rule book like the Bible or the Qur’an.

I guess I am going to have to check at Amazon for that.

117
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:47:11am

re: #52 Anymouse

There are people who eat guinea pigs as well (not candy-coated or chocolate-covered though), but I couldn’t (because they’re pets to me).

That was one of my favorite lines from “The Croods”.

What is a “pet”?
-A pet is, well, sort of an animal that you don’t eat!
We have those, we call them “children”.

118
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:48:03am

re: #108 Anymouse

Atheism is the lack of belief in any geographic location’s gods without proof, or simply not being introduced to the concept of gods. Doesn’t require faith.

In the instant someone can present me with credible evidence of Thor or Kali, I’ll quit being an atheist.

For the most part, religious people are atheists about every other god except their own particular flavour.

Sometimes they’ll even tell you: I don’t believe in Krishna or Odin because there is no evidence for them (or use the term “false gods,” which kind of means the same thing).

That takes a tremendous amount of faith.

119
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:50:19am

re: #117 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

That was one of my favorite lines from “The Croods”.

What is a “pet”?
-A pet is, well, sort of an animal that you don’t eat!
We have those, we call them “children”.

Hmmm, and I got this in my secret atheistic conclave:

120
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:51:25am

re: #86 allegro

Don’t. None of them are particularly lethal to adults. Most deaths after a snakebite in the US are fear related, like having a heart attack. If that helps.

Or from exposure/dehydration if it happens out in the wilderness.

121
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:52:29am

re: #118 austin_blue

That takes a tremendous amount of faith.

What does? Not believing in Kali or Odin?

I understand that Zeus is a very jealous god, at least according to his publicists, yet do you have a tremendous amount of faith in not believing in the Reality of Zeus? Heretic! /s

122
Single-handed sailor  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:52:42am

I put no effort or faith into my lack of faith. Could be a god, but I’ve seen no evidence to support that conjecture.

123
JordanRules  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:52:49am

re: #118 austin_blue

Interesting. That’s not how I understand faith.

124
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:53:30am

re: #115 austin_blue

But it isn’t, is it?

But it isn’t.. what? WTF?

Atheism, the only word I have as a descriptive, means no belief in a higher power. That’s it. No faith involved. Faith rejected, in fact.

125
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:57:10am

re: #120 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Or from exposure/dehydration if it happens out in the wilderness.

Don’t need a snake bite to die from that. :)

126
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:57:51am

re: #108 Anymouse

Atheism is the lack of belief in any geographic location’s gods without proof, or simply not being introduced to the concept of gods. Doesn’t require faith.

evidence for them (or use the term “false gods,” which kind of means the same thing).

There was a quote from George Harrison on his Krishna faith, namely that it if you are going to believe in God, then it should be a god you can see and feel and experience personally, and just not some big bearded guy in the sky that people tell you to worship, out of fear of eternal damnation.

127
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 12:59:42am

re: #125 allegro

Don’t need a snake bite to die from that. :)

I once woke up with a dead scorpion in my sleeping bag. Right at chest level. If I had not gotten him first, I might well have not made it out, we were at least eight miles from the trailhead in the Mazatzal wilderness south of Tucson.

That was the last time that I slept under a tent of stars…

128
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:00:01am

re: #124 allegro

But it isn’t.. what? WTF?

Atheism, the only word I have as a descriptive, means no belief in a higher power. That’s it. No faith involved. Faith rejected, in fact.

The whole line of argument seems strange to me, but I run into it a lot.

“Atheism is a religion and requires faith just like my religion X does.”

I’m not a big fan of Bill Maher (except for his appearance in Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death but I digress), but he pretty much summed it up as “atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position.” (He also noted that as of yet no atheist has come forth and said they saw the silhouette of Christopher Hitchens in a tree stump.)

129
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:04:41am

re: #127 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I once woke up with a dead scorpion in my sleeping bag. Right at chest level. If I had not gotten him first, I might well have not made it out, we were at least eight miles from the trailhead in the Mazatzal wilderness south of Tucson.

That was the last time that I slept under a tent of stars…

Yikes. I much prefer sleeping in hotel rooms. Fewer scorpions.

130
Patricia Kayden  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:10:56am

re: #68 Dave In Austin

[Embedded content]

Because the current Occupant of the White House is a fanasist and liar. He should be called out on his lies each and every day. He’s dangerous.

131
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:10:56am

re: #126 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

There was a quote from George Harrison on his Krishna faith, namely that it if you are going to believe in God, then it should be a god you can see and feel and experience personally, and just not some big bearded guy in the sky that people tell you to worship, out of fear of eternal damnation.

The way I see spirituality, which others see god I presume (since I do not connect to the precept, so I can only presume) is through the emotion of awe. Where I find awe is in nature. I find unity with critters, what I know now in biological terms as common origin, we are all of the same and therefore connected and in need of another, no matter how small or seemingly different. We all have a necessary place in the whole to ensure the survival of the whole.

132
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:12:38am

re: #127 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I once woke up with a dead scorpion in my sleeping bag. Right at chest level. If I had not gotten him first, I might well have not made it out, we were at least eight miles from the trailhead in the Mazatzal wilderness south of Tucson.

That was the last time that I slept under a tent of stars…

Well there’s my nightmare for tonight. =O

133
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:15:12am

More at CNN:

(CNN)Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Sunday that the intelligence agencies he supervised did not wiretap Donald Trump last year nor did the FBI obtain a court order through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor Trump’s phones.

“For the part of the national security apparatus that I oversaw as DNI, there was no such wiretap activity mounted against the President-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign,” Clapper said Sunday morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Asked whether he could confirm or deny whether the FBI could have tapped Trump’s phones under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Clapper said, “I can deny it,” adding that, to his knowledge, there was no court order to monitor any phones at Trump Tower.

cnn.com

134
Lupin  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:17:57am

re: #118 austin_blue

That takes a tremendous amount of faith.

No it doesn’t, none whatsoever.

Faith is a belief. Atheism is the opposite of belief. The opposite of belief is not another belief.

You’re very bad at this, aren’t you?

135
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:20:16am

texastribune.org

Uh, oh, someone told Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller that Texas relies on migrant labour.

He also threw shade on Donald Trump.

Miller went one step further, saying the president also benefits from immigrant labor and that he believed the current system needed to be reworked to allow for low-skilled labor to work in the country legally.

“I don’t want to cut off all migrant workers. It’s just not going to work for agriculture,” he said. “It’s part of our workforce, and Donald Trump uses the same workforce in his businesses. He has groundskeepers and landscapers and custodians and maids in his hotels and cooks and dishwashers — a lot of those are migrant workers.”

136
Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Kodos  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:23:22am

Just getting caught up on today’s news. One thing that I noticed about today’s statement by James Comey regarding Donald Trump’s charges that Barack Obama ordered wiretapping is the specific wording used in that denial.

The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones, senior American officials said on Sunday. Mr. Comey has argued that the highly charged claim is false and must be corrected, they said, but the department has not released any such statement.

What Comey is saying is that he wants to make it clear that President Obama was not behind any wiretap efforts. What was not denied in his statement was that there was a wiretap ordered - one of which would have been approved by a FISA court and since this is a domestic target, requested by… The FBI.

137
austin_blue  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:23:53am

re: #124 allegro

But it isn’t.. what? WTF?

Atheism, the only word I have as a descriptive, means no belief in a higher power. That’s it. No faith involved. Faith rejected, in fact.

Look, even Richard Dawkins has backed off his believe as an Atheist, accepting the possibility of Deism/agnosticism.

The fact is, I don’t know, you don’t know, none of us really *know* what got us here.

But here we are.

The weak force, the strong force, the speed of light, and the gravitation constant has, in this galaxy, resulted in our existence. It allowed us, on this planet, to evolve into us.

Was there a primal force that setup the rules of the big bang that allowed that to happen?

I entertain the idea, like Dawkins, that it may have been so.

138
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:25:33am

re: #134 Lupin

No it doesn’t, none whatsoever.

Faith is a belief. Atheism is the opposite of belief. The opposite of belief is not another belief.

You’re very bad at this, aren’t you?

I would define faith as belief in the absence of evidence. Atheism is reality.

139
Lupin  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:27:03am

I”ll add that IMHO there’s nothing wrong with a belief, it’s intolerance towards others’ beliefs that is a problem.

When we can make a movie about Jesus the way we make movies about Thor, we’ll have matured as a civilization.

(Who’s stronger, Jesus or The Hulk?)

140
Lupin  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:29:27am

re: #138 allegro

I would define faith as belief in the absence of evidence. Atheism is reality.

Semantically speaking, belief doesn’t need evidence; on the contrary, when you have evidence, it’s no longer a belief. Even though we’ll use the word in a common usage. You don’t “believe” in gravity for example.

141
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:29:44am

re: #137 austin_blue

Well, Prof. Dawkins put forth his scale of belief in a god, which goes from 1 (absolute certainty) to 7 (certainly not). He puts himself at 6.

Such a position would be intellectual honesty. As far as I am aware, he never said anything the equivalent to “there is absolutely no chance one or more gods exist now or ever existed.”

There are very few atheists that hold that position (anti-theism). Tough to prove a negative.

That said, a god as described in the Bible or the Qur’an or the Vedas I am pretty sure cannot exist.

The argument presented (a god named God set all the laws of physics in motion) goes back to the argument of “well, who set God in motion then.” The answer to that can be only “it’s turtles all the way down.”

142
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:30:32am

re: #139 Lupin

I”ll add that IMHO there’s nothing wrong with a belief, it’s intolerance towards others’ beliefs that is a problem.

When we can make a movie about Jesus the way we make movies about Thor, we’ll have matured as a civilization.

There are Christian (and other religious) denominations that simply see their religion as one of many paths to God, the one that was revealed to us as a people, and no more or less valid than other revealed paths.

And there are other denominations that say you will rot in hell if you do do not follow their rules to the letter.

143
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:37:16am

re: #142 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

There are Christian (and other religious) denominations that simply see their religion as one of many paths to God, the one that was revealed to us as a person, and no more or less valid than other revealed paths.

And there are other denominations that say you will rot in hell if you do do not follow their rules to the letter.

Well, in my experience, even so-called liberal or mainline Christians feel pretty much the same way. It doesn’t matter whether a person is a Pentecostal or a Methodist, they pretty much seem all to think atheists are going to hell (however they define hell).

I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten the “I’ll pray for you” line when someone finds out (gasp) I don’t believe in (insert Protestant or Catholic version of God here) and I gently reject the assertion without evidence.

(I’m not mean enough to ask a question like “do you believe your New Testament where it says you only need the faith of a mustard seed or do you go to the doctor when you are sick?” And while a doctor might also be religious, a doctor does not earn that degree through seminaries and prayer: They learn how to be a doctor through years of gruelling medical school, internship, and practice. It works the same whether they are any flavour of Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu, or an atheist. Almost like religion has no part in healing.)

144
Kragar  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:38:05am
145
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:38:28am
146
allegro  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:40:47am

re: #137 austin_blue

Look, even Richard Dawkins has backed off his believe as an Atheist, accepting the possibility of Deism/agnosticism.

The fact is, I don’t know, you don’t know, none of us really *know* what got us here.

But here we are.

The weak force, the strong force, the speed of light, and the gravitation constant has, in this galaxy, resulted in our existence. It allowed us, on this planet, to evolve into us.

Was there a primal force that setup the rules of the big bang that allowed that to happen?

I entertain the idea, like Dawkins, that it may have been so.

I “know” what I know. I know the life force as it is, whatever it is. I understand Nature, predator and prey, flood and drought, light and dark. I know awe and joy, I know beauty and love, I have seen evil and hate though I reject it. I see no superior force in any of it.

And fuck Dawkins that misogynist ass.

147
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:43:01am

re: #146 allegro

Also, “atheist” is not capitalised, as it is not a religious position.

148
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:47:56am

re: #143 Anymouse

Well, in my experience, even so-called liberal or mainline Christians feel pretty much the same way. It doesn’t matter whether a person is a Pentecostal or a Methodist, they pretty much seem all to think atheists are going to hell (however they define hell).

I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten the “I’ll pray for you” line when someone finds out (gasp) I don’t believe in (insert Protestant or Catholic version of God here) and I gently reject the assertion without evidence.

I grew up Catholic and was overloaded with Campus Crusade Christians in college, which all put me off the religion, and religion in general for a long time.

Now some of the Anglicans I have met at the local Church of Christ the King (not an Elvis cult) are among the first practicing I can relate to and understand, and they all seem to believe that they are simply attending church for the sense of fellowship while following their paths to God.

I can deal with that even if it does not lead me to be a believer.

149
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 1:54:40am

re: #148 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

(cut)

Now some of the Anglicans I have met at the local Church of Christ the King (not an Elvis cult) - (cut).

Snork.

150
EPR-radar  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:00:11am

re: #137 austin_blue

Look, even Richard Dawkins has backed off his believe as an Atheist, accepting the possibility of Deism/agnosticism.

The fact is, I don’t know, you don’t know, none of us really *know* what got us here.

But here we are.

The weak force, the strong force, the speed of light, and the gravitation constant has, in this galaxy, resulted in our existence. It allowed us, on this planet, to evolve into us.

Was there a primal force that setup the rules of the big bang that allowed that to happen?

I entertain the idea, like Dawkins, that it may have been so.

Sure there’s a philosophical question about the first cause. The discovery of the big bang in cosmology has even allowed the questions to be put precisely: what came before the Big Bang and what caused it?

But religious speculation along these lines is pretty much irrelevant to theism vs. atheism in US public policy. Nobody has a hard-on to get on the local school board to push or oppose deism/agnosticism, however defined. The issue for school boards is creationism, and the driver for that is the large and politically active fraction of US Christians who profess a literal interpretation of the bible.

So here’s my answer to this nonsense upthread that my atheism somehow involves faith: I view the bible and Christianity as a whole as purely human constructs because I personally see no evidence for the supernatural in any of it. I feel free to commend the good parts of Christianity and condemn the bad parts of Christianity without the slightest consideration of whether or not some tenet is supposedly the ‘word of God’.

My attitude toward Islam is precisely the same.

Where’s the faith in that?

151
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:10:43am

re: #150 EPR-radar

I’m somewhat off-put by claims “well scientific theory X” proves some religious tenet (both Christians and Muslims do this).

My understanding is that religious belief is primarily founded on faith.

Say you could prove or demonstrate that one or more gods exist with science.

In the instant you do that, that religious belief becomes science and faith becomes irrelevant to believing in that god or gods.

So it would seem those trying to use science to demonstrate the truth of their religion are really out to destroy the concept of religious faith.

152
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:18:17am

Gigglesnort:

153
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:21:53am

Turns out when I type “dinosaurs we” into Google search, that picture above (dinosaurs were invented by the CIA to discourage time travel) shows up as the top item in my search.

I apparently need a new hobby.

154
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:21:58am

re: #149 Anymouse

Now some of the Anglicans I have met at the local Church of Christ the King (not an Elvis cult)

I honest-to-God met some people who had just moved to Frankfurt and were looking for an English-speaking church and found the Church of Christ the King but were somewhat put off as they thought it might be a cult.

155
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:26:14am

re: #154 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I honest-to-God met some people who had just moved to Frankfurt and were looking for an English-speaking church and found the Church of Christ the King but were somewhat put off as they thought it might be a cult.

Well, they could be, Mabel. This “Anglican” thing seems unusual. Can’t be too careful.

156
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:30:16am

re: #154 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I don’t know … “Slave to the Waffle LIght” sounds pretty cultish to me (backing away slowly)

157
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:30:41am

re: #155 Anymouse

Well, they could be, Mabel. This “Anglican” thing seems unusual. Can’t be too careful.

It is a happy little church and I have gone along on a couple of occasions, and if I were to join a church, it would be one like that.

But I will take my chances on eternal damnation before I get in the habit of leaving the house before noon on a Sunday…

158
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:34:42am

re: #157 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

It is a happy little church and I have gone along on a couple of occasions, and if I were to join a church, it would be one like that.

But I will take my chances on eternal damnation before I get in the habit of leaving the house before noon on a Sunday…

Well, Mark 16:16 pretty much has me on the naughty list.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

I suppose that depends on the definition of “condemned” but it doesn’t sound good.

159
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:38:01am

re: #158 Anymouse

Well, Mark 16:16 pretty much has me on the naughty list.

He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

I suppose that depends on the definition of “condemned” but it doesn’t sound good.

But I think there is a special place of “condemnation” for those who do not believe but are baptized anyway…

160
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:41:04am

re: #159 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

But I think there is a special place of “condemnation” for those who do not believe but are baptized anyway…

The Republican Party?

161
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 2:56:45am

Thread on authoritarianism:

162
Anymouse  Mar 6, 2017 • 3:15:08am

I’m really off to bed now. Sun will be up soon and I will burst into flames …

163
Lupin  Mar 6, 2017 • 4:18:19am

re: #137 austin_blue

Look, even Richard Dawkins has backed off his believe as an Atheist, accepting the possibility of Deism/agnosticism.

The notion that, for example, some other-dimensional scientist named Fredd may have been responsible for the creation of our universe is not “religion” or “deism”.

“Religion” would be starting the Church of Fredd and saying that Fredd will punish all those who eat blue food and reward all those who wear suspenders backwards.

“Deism” would be assuming Fredd is an all-powerful, all-knowing entity when he was just trying to get his grant renewed and his wife Mabell is cheating on him with the frizzman.

Just because one may entertain the notion that our universe may have been “created” (as opposed to happening naturally) doesn’t automatically imply that one is a “deist” or believes in a religion.

164
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 4:23:04am

re: #139 Lupin

I”ll add that IMHO there’s nothing wrong with a belief, it’s intolerance towards others’ beliefs that is a problem.

When we can make a movie about Jesus the way we make movies about Thor, we’ll have matured as a civilization.

(Who’s stronger, Jesus or The Hulk?)

Many years ago, National Lampoon carried a comic called Son of God, with a very muscular Jesus in a superhero costume flying around doing miracles. I’m not sure how that would play in the typical American movie theater, though. People get touchy even if you suggest Jesus might have bonked Mary Magdalene.

165
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 4:28:18am

re: #164 wheat-dogg

Many years ago, National Lampoon carried a comic called Son of God, with a very muscular Jesus in a superhero costume flying around doing miracles. I’m not sure how that would play in the typical American movie theater, though. People get touchy even if you suggest Jesus might have bonked Mary Magdalene.

Son O’God Comics!

The covers alone were hilarious - the Dylan one in particular.

166
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 4:29:29am

re: #140 Lupin

Semantically speaking, belief doesn’t need evidence; on the contrary, when you have evidence, it’s no longer a belief. Even though we’ll use the word in a common usage. You don’t “believe” in gravity for example.

I’ve had this kind of discussion with creationists, who liken accepting the theory of evolution to belief in the theory of evolution. Even when I tell such people there is ample evidence supporting evolution, and one does not technically believe in facts, they don’t get it. Or they refuse to get it. When debating creationists, you have to remember they believe the Bible to be factual (alternate facts, if you will), so first you have to explain how words written in a book 2,500 years ago are somehow not quite the same as the fossil record, radioactive dating, geologic stratification, DNA and genetics, the cosmological red shift, …

You see the problem.

167
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 4:38:02am

re: #151 Anymouse

So it would seem those trying to use science to demonstrate the truth of their religion are really out to destroy the concept of religious faith.

In fact, Christian theologians have found this attempt to be one of the major flaws of Intelligent Design and Creation “Science” from a religious standpoint. ID and CS people are trying to prove the existence of God (aka the Designer*) using cockeyed empirical methods. Mainstream religions long ago gave up that pursuit as impossible. One believes there is a God/Allah/etc. as an article of faith, which should not require empirical evidence. To insist on proof suggests you have no faith.

* Who as far as I am concerned must have flunked out of the Universe Creation Academy, because some organisms’ designs are just screwed up.

168
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 4:40:23am

re: #157 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

It is a happy little church and I have gone along on a couple of occasions, and if I were to join a church, it would be one like that.

But I will take my chances on eternal damnation before I get in the habit of leaving the house before noon on a Sunday…

Same here. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was lazy.

169
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 4:41:55am

re: #158 Anymouse

Well, Mark 16:16 pretty much has me on the naughty list.

I suppose that depends on the definition of “condemned” but it doesn’t sound good.

Also depends on the definition of “baptized,” too.

170
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:01:37am

re: #165 makeitstop

Son O’God Comics!

The covers alone were hilarious - the Dylan one in particular.

That’s the one! And I remember all those covers.

In many ways, 20th century superheroes are not far removed from ancient tales of heroes and demigods like Samson and Hercules, and gods (and sons-o-gods) like YHWH and Jesus. So, putting Jesus in a superhero costume makes sense, though of course it would offend tons of people.

Here’s a story from my youth. My father was a very conservative guy, while my mom was more liberal and tolerant. When I was 13 or so, my older cousin bought me a subscription to National Lampoon for my birthday. First issue arrived, but it was weeks before I saw it. My old man got the mail first, found the magazine and started leafing through it, and went ballistic (apparently) when he came across Foto Funnies, which usually featured some bare-breasted woman with a fully clothed man. Well, he raised hell with my mom and with my cousin (who’s female, btw) but after he calmed down, a few weeks later I got to see the magazine and every one thereafter. My mom, I presume, was rather persuasive.

(Honestly, no one should have picked a fight with her. Five foot tall and full of spit and vinegar.)

I remember the Foto Funnies in question vividly, but I can’t find it online. Man and woman are on the couch. She’s naked, he’s not. He asks her a series of questions about what to do: go out to eat, order in, go to a movie, — all non-sexual activities. She says no to each one. Finally, he asks, “Do want to screw?” Her reply, as she covers her boobs, is “Beast! Is that all you ever think about?”

171
I cannot.  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:07:35am

THREAD:

172
BigPapa  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:29:15am

The purge/putsch talk is firing up:

This is really happening.

173
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:31:29am

re: #170 wheat-dogg

That’s the one! And I remember all those covers.

In many ways, 20th century superheroes are not far removed from ancient tales of heroes and demigods like Samson and Hercules, and gods (and sons-o-gods) like YHWH and Jesus. So, putting Jesus in a superhero costume makes sense, though of course it would offend tons of people.

Here’s a story from my youth. My father was a very conservative guy, while my mom was more liberal and tolerant. When I was 13 or so, my older cousin bought me a subscription to National Lampoon for my birthday. First issue arrived, but it was weeks before I saw it. My old man got the mail first, found the magazine and started leafing through it, and went ballistic (apparently) when he came across Foto Funnies, which usually featured some bare-breasted woman with a fully clothed man. Well, he raised hell with my mom and with my cousin (who’s female, btw) but after he calmed down, a few weeks later I got to see the magazine and every one thereafter. My mom, I presume, was rather persuasive.

(Honestly, no one should have picked a fight with her. Five foot tall and full of spit and vinegar.)

I remember the Foto Funnies in question vividly, but I can’t find it online. Man and woman are on the couch. She’s naked, he’s not. He asks her a series of questions about what to do: go out to eat, order in, go to a movie, — all non-sexual activities. She says no to each one. Finally, he asks, “Do want to screw?” Her reply, as she covers her boobs, is “Beast! Is that all you ever think about?”

NatLamp was a great magazine for its day. Michael O’Donohue went on to write briefly for SNL, but his skits were deemed too out there even for the free-wheeling first season. His Star Trek parody was one of the best bits written for Belushi.

And Lampoon set off widespread outrage with their famous ‘dog’ cover. I’ve still got this issue somewhere.

174
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:36:20am

In the gerrymandering trial against VA (DK link) that went to the SCOTUS, Thomas actually wrote in favor of forcing all districts to be reviewed, and wrote this:

Despite my sympathy for the State, I cannot ignore the Constitution’s clear prohibition on state-sponsored race discrimination. “The Constitution abhors classifications based on race, not only because those classifications can harm favored races or are based on illegitimate motives, but also because every time the government places citizens on racial registers … , it demeans us all.”

175
I Would Prefer Not To  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:39:40am

Google Doodle

Today’s Doodle.

Links to Komodo National Park. Are they trying to tell us something?

176
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:40:05am

re: #173 makeitstop

NatLamp was a great magazine for its day. Michael O’Donohue went on to write briefly for SNL, but his skits were deemed too out there even for the free-wheeling first season. His Star Trek parody was one of the best bits written for Belushi.

And Lampoon set off widespread outrage with their famous ‘dog’ cover. I’ve still got this issue somewhere.

[Embedded content]

This is a memorable one, but perhaps NSFW so spoilerizing it.

National Lampoon 1975

Flyleaf:

The High School Yearbook is a classic, too.

177
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:44:35am

re: #175 I Would Prefer Not To

Maybe related to this:

sciencedaily.com

178
jeffreyw  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:48:22am

Imgur
Good morning!

179
Sherlock Hound  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:49:10am

re: #173 makeitstop

You can get NatLamp on a DVD as PDF files. They recycled the dog cover (“Buy this DVD or…”)

My favorites were the comic strips, particularly Trots and Bonnie.

180
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:51:51am

Meanwhile, over in my neck of the woods, China is not happy with South Korea because SK wants to build a missile base as defense against their crazy uncle Kim. So, Chinese authorities have closed all 23 Lotte supermarkets for “fire inspections.” Lotte is a South Korean supermarket chain.

shanghaiist.com

I assume sales of Samsung phones will be unaffected, or there will be blood in the streets. /

181
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 5:56:46am

re: #172 BigPapa

The purge/putsch talk is firing up:

[Embedded content]

This is really happening.

182
Sir John Barron  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:02:31am

So nothing happened this weekend, right, DT continued his pivot to serious, honest president?

////

183
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:05:50am

re: #172 BigPapa

The purge/putsch talk is firing up:

This is really happening.

Newt has less power than the lizards he’s named after.

184
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:06:22am

re: #182 Sir John Barron

So nothing happened this weekend, right, DT continued his pivot to serious, honest president?

////

It seems that you spent your weekend doing some pretty serious drugs. :)

185
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:06:46am

Speaking of purges, Malaysia has declared NK’s ambassador persona non grata and he has left the country.

businessinsider.com

North Korea wants the body of Kim Jong-nam repatriated immediately, but they won’t admit it’s the body of Kim Jong-nam. NK says the Not-corpse-of-Kim-Jong-nam died of a heart attack because Kim Jong-nam was overweight and had high blood pressure, and so did the dead guy, who is not Kim Jong-nam (maybe). They dispute the Malaysian autopsy results, which show he was poisoned with VX toxin. Also, no North Koreans were involved in the murder of this unfortunate man, who is not Kim Jong-nam (maybe).

186
Sir John Barron  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:08:50am

re: #183 Belafon

Newt has less power than the lizards he’s named after.

Got up Saturday morning, turned on the Twitter. Saw latest DT insanity. Turned off Twitter.

187
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:12:42am

re: #14 Anymouse

I am getting so tired of conservatives using us as props.

[Embedded content]

The GOP continues using the troops as disposable heroes. What has the GOP done so far in 2017?

Let’s see. They cut child care aid to military families (because they half-assed implementation of a freeze on hiring like everything else).

They are seeking to deport a decorated (Purple Heart) service member because he isn’t a US citizen.

Gerardo Armijo was locked up at the Port Isabel Detention Center. He was being held there while authorities sought to get him deported to Mexico for several drug-related convictions.

Armijo’s parents and aunt said they wanted see the veteran released from jail, while he fought his immigration deportation case.

Carlos Garcia, Armijo’s attorney, said, “This is an American hero. He shouldn’t be locked up in detention. He should be able to fight his case,” he said. “He’s not a flight risk. He’s not a danger to the community. They should use their discretion and allow him to pursue his immigration relief while he’s not detained.”

Garcia said Armijo holds a permanent resident status and is in the country legally. But he is facing deportation to Mexico because of several drug convictions.

The law states if a resident alien is convicted of one possession of cocaine charge or possessing a certain amount of marijuana, that person can be deported. So legally the government has the right.

The family said Armijo started getting into trouble after returning home for his last tour in Iraq.

Armijo was injured in Iraq, when his tank blew up by a couple of mines. He received a Purple Heart and was honorably discharged.

Tell me again how that’s supporting the troops?

188
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:13:19am

re: #170 wheat-dogg

That’s the one! And I remember all those covers.

In many ways, 20th century superheroes are not far removed from ancient tales of heroes and demigods like Samson and Hercules, and gods (and sons-o-gods) like YHWH and Jesus. So, putting Jesus in a superhero costume makes sense, though of course it would offend tons of people.

Here’s a story from my youth. My father was a very conservative guy, while my mom was more liberal and tolerant. When I was 13 or so, my older cousin bought me a subscription to National Lampoon for my birthday. First issue arrived, but it was weeks before I saw it. My old man got the mail first, found the magazine and started leafing through it, and went ballistic (apparently) when he came across Foto Funnies, which usually featured some bare-breasted woman with a fully clothed man. Well, he raised hell with my mom and with my cousin (who’s female, btw) but after he calmed down, a few weeks later I got to see the magazine and every one thereafter. My mom, I presume, was rather persuasive.

Yes, I had to hide my National Lampoons from my mom. They did a lot (along with the National Lampoon radio show) to shape my sense of humor, and many more of their alumni went on to found SNL.

And “Animal House” and all the Chevy Chase “Family Vacation” movies are based on short stories that originally appeared in the National Lampoon.

189
darthstar  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:16:38am

I only wish there was a deep state…at least I’d know there was someone in government with a plan.

190
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:18:42am

re: #188 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Yes, I had to hide my National Lampoons from my mom. They did a lot (along with the National Lampoon radio show) to shape my sense of humor, and many more of their alumni went on to found SNL.

And “Animal House” and all the Chevy Chase “Family Vacation” movies are based on short stories that originally appeared in the National Lampoon.

They were funny, and “edgy” as the youngsters call it today. NL and Firesign Theater together shaped my sense of humor, and then later Monty Python.

191
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:20:26am

re: #189 darthstar

I only wish there was a deep state…at least I’d know there was someone in government with a plan.

Basically the “Deep State” is a propaganda term now in fashion with the RWNJs to refer to those people who work for the US government and the US people, not for the President.

People who expect to be still doing their jobs even after the current President has finished his/her term of office, and ones who think in terms of the long-term good of the nation and not the short-term benefit of one President’s party.

And I am sure that DT was most upset when he found out that he could not force all government employees to sign lifetime NDAs…

192
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:21:23am

re: #190 wheat-dogg

They were funny, and “edgy” as the youngsters call it today. NL and Firesign Theater together shaped my sense of humor, and then later Monty Python.

Remember the Vietnamese Baby Album? That was some of the most damning anti Vietnam-War propaganda I have ever encountered

193
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:21:48am

Follow this thread, as the writer live-tweets her review of “7 Ways to Discipline Your Wife.”

194
Romantic Heretic  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:22:14am

re: #101 Nyet

Because deism is based on as much blind faith as theism?

This is why I refer to myself as an agnostic. I don’t know anything about the existence or non-existence of God, Allah to Zeus, take your pick. And I lack the faith to believe one way or another.

I’m pretty certain though that arguing about it is a distraction from important matters, or too often rationalizing being a dick like that state senator who claims Jesus doesn’t want poor people to have healthcare.

195
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:27:36am

re: #192 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Remember the Vietnamese Baby Album? That was some of the most damning anti Vietnam-War propaganda I have ever encountered

Yup. They were not afraid to step on toes. I wish that kind of mag was around now.

196
darthstar  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:30:59am

Since it’s Lent, here’s a biblical bunny for you all to enjoy…ridin’ the Lamb…bareback.

197
Teukka  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:31:04am

Latest on the incidents in Sweden…
Russian TV team offered youths money to riot

198
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:32:05am

re: #197 Teukka

Latest on the incidents in Sweden…
Russian TV team offered youths money to riot

Honest to God paid protesters?

By the Russians no less.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *falling on the floor and getting a breath or two in* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

199
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:33:44am

re: #195 wheat-dogg

Yup. They were not afraid to step on toes. I wish that kind of mag was around now.

no, they were not…

200
jeffreyw  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:34:14am

re: #16 Anymouse

Oh much preferable to a shortened life due to stress would be his abject humiliation, driven from office in shame, the loss of his businesses due to bankruptcy, and a very long life to live with that.

…and the wailing of his women!

201
darthstar  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:38:14am
202
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:40:36am

re: #201 darthstar

Can you put up what the agile tweet is in response to? I can’t do twitter at work, but that tweet is funny and I need a little context.

203
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:41:05am

re: #201 darthstar

[Embedded content]

There would be few thing funnier than seeing Rinsed shown the door. You would see the GOP leadership immediately go ballistic that their man on the inside was removed, especially if his replacement was a Trump or Bannon ally who would just continue to feed into the insanity.

204
darthstar  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:41:27am
205
freetoken  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:42:31am

re: #203 Targetpractice

Alex Jones would make a good Chief of Staff…

206
Major Tom  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:43:22am

re: #193 wheat-dogg

Follow this thread, as the writer live-tweets her review of “7 Ways to Discipline Your Wife.”

[Embedded content]

Holy. Wow.

Best Response to that thread:

207
darthstar  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:45:08am

re: #202 Belafon

Can you put up what the agile tweet is in response to? I can’t do twitter at work, but that tweet is funny and I need a little context.

Lack of management, lack of strategy. And Reince getting the heat. It really is like some of the worst agile development environments I’ve worked in…

The finger-pointing further complicates life in an already turmoil-filled West Wing, one that has been hobbled by dueling power centers and unclear lines of command.

“There’s a real frustration among many — including from the president — that things aren’t going as smoothly as one had hoped,” said one senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “Reince, fairly or not, is likely to take the blame and take the fault for that.”

“It’s sheer incompetence,” said another White House official. “There’s a lack of management, and a lack of strategy.”

politico.com

208
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:45:31am

re: #204 darthstar

[Embedded content]

So things are playing out pretty much as I expected: The wingnut backbenchers and their lobbyist buddies will not entertain anything but full repeal bloodletting followed by a prolonged argument over just how badly they want to screw millions of people.

Welcome to Hell, Paul. Your suite over the Lake of Fire is ready.

209
darthstar  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:47:35am

Even Chaffetz is backing away from Trump. Jesus, this is bad.

210
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:49:29am

re: #209 darthstar

Even Chaffetz is backing away from Trump. Jesus, this is bad.

PI+YFkNnXtmZVJLMP1TrsN/C1UgBX8rRtmFU7MlbLDkdEK0jjT2nCumI4UWMZHzUMl+YVePFl47B9zrkrb2T9c+JuBxsTPCjR2Saaa/wtSbofYf7MjsyVNFVbtPOurB0Zzc75N9ynwak7pTP0X1aIMt9S5Z6c8qvFH//5p834ufvPu76g+iPvxDEIwCrl4Ey7QKwSpLpTJ/sbMPVMtiJhIruHonDuHDkXO0Yrg7qjigDOGOAp7sCOA==

211
GlutenFreeJesus  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:51:36am

Fine-tuned machine!

212
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:51:44am

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is handing a transgender teen’s case back to a lower court without reaching a decision.

The justices said Monday they have opted not to decide whether federal anti-discrimination law gives high school senior Gavin Grimm the right to use the boys’ bathroom in his Virginia school.

The case had been scheduled for argument in late March.(28th - FDD) Instead, a lower court in Virginia will be tasked with evaluating the federal law known as title IX and the extent to which it applies to transgender students.

The high court action follows the Trump administration’s recent decision to withdraw a directive issued during Barack Obama’s presidency that advised schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their chosen gender, not biological birth

213
HappyWarrior  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:52:23am

While admin is one giant mess.

214
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:52:31am

Worst case scenario right now for Ryan? He introduces GOP replacement bill, Democrats totally reject it, and enough of the “Freedom” nutters join them to scuttle it. At that point, he’s left with two extremely unsavory (for the GOP) choices: Put up a full-repeal bill and hope to God they can get some sort of replacement bill before next year OR call up Nancy and begin talking terms of surrender.

215
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:52:49am

re: #207 darthstar

Why would anyone thing any of this would go smoothly now Trump’s in office? There was absolutely no evidence he had a smooth running operation during the campaign. It was constant chaos.

Now, that constant chaos and turmoil is entirely self-inflicted. Trump doesn’t have any intention of changing. This is what got him here. Chaos and making promises he has no intention of keeping (like making sure Obamacare replacement will be better than what Obamacare did). The GOP certainly has no intention of doing that - and they can barely agree on anything beyond repeal, and even that is suspect now that the GOP realizes that they too have made promises that they can’t keep because Obamacare was actually far more successful than any of them could ever admit despite 8 years of GOP obstructionism, refusal to expand Medicaid, and flat out sabotage of the program.

This past weekend was a microcosm of everything wrong with Trump. Flying off the rails at Bannon and Priebus over the inability to push Trump’s agenda, which is itself hobbled because Trump doesn’t have an agenda beyond destroying everything they lay their eyes on. That it isn’t going fast enough is pissing Trump off, and Congress is under GOP control, so that makes him even more infuriated.

Trump bitches about his confirmations being held up by Democrats - when the Senate is under GOP control. He then jets off to Emoluments Violation golf club for the weekend to shoot a few rounds of golf, run some pre-8am tweets about Obama and setting his entire team afire with his nonsense, who then run around like chickens without a head.

Spicer yesterday said that the admin wouldn’t comment further - only to see Spicer comment minutes later, and Conway is commenting about all the wiretapping nonsense this morning.

So, what’s the admin to do? That’s right, they’ll go with Muslim ban v.2.0.

216
Major Tom  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:53:27am

Could you ever conceive of an administration that could be this much of a paper tiger? Full of sound and fury, like an unstable bubble inflating into a cartoonish size, only to implode in on itself in a matter of weeks - after they win the race and assume power.

This is the sequel to The Candidate.

What Do We Do Now? — The Candidate, 1972, closing line

217
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:53:50am

Keeping Donny away from the press and cameras

218
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:54:26am

re: #217 FormerDirtDart

Keeping Donny away from the press and cameras

[Embedded content]

Have we ever figured out why DHS employees were told to work from home today?

219
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:55:01am

re: #206 Major Tom

Holy. Wow.

Best Response to that thread:

[Embedded content]

I assume the writer of that article is associated with the Quiverfull movement, or some similar ultra-patriarchal Xian sect. Also, he’s batshit crazy.

220
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:55:15am

Only people impressed were the pundits

221
Major Tom  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:55:43am

re: #218 Timothy Watson

Probably so people could rifle through their offices.

222
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:56:53am

re: #218 Timothy Watson

Have we ever figured out why DHS employees were told to work from home today?

Can’t answer questions if you’re not in the office…
Also, all them important folks won’t be taking questions…

223
Sir John Barron  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:57:06am

re: #220 FormerDirtDart

Only people impressed were the pundits

45% sounds high.

224
Sir John Barron  Mar 6, 2017 • 6:57:59am

re: #218 Timothy Watson

Have we ever figured out why DHS employees were told to work from home today?

????

Hadn’t heard this.

225
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:00:25am
226
freetoken  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:01:08am

re: #218 Timothy Watson

Have we ever figured out why DHS employees were told to work from home today?

Maybe Bannon’s going to change all the combinations on the locks and come Tuesday only those employees he trusts will get the entrance codes?

227
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:01:29am

re: #222 FormerDirtDart

Can’t answer questions if you’re not in the office…
Also, all them important folks won’t be taking questions…

[Embedded content]

Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.

Haha, just kidding. I’ll still lie no matter what you do.

228
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:02:33am

re: #224 Sir John Barron

????

Hadn’t heard this.

Trump is expected to sign the new order at the Department of Homeland Security, according to Politico, which reported that DHS employees were instructed to work from home that morning.

thehill.com

229
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:02:51am

re: #225 FormerDirtDart

So, it’s Muslim Ban ME, just like the last version but even more buggy. I doubt the courts will be impressed.

230
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:02:51am

OK, NBC must be getting a kick out of all the negative tweets with this hashtag…

231
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:03:32am

re: #228 Timothy Watson

thehill.com

Trump’s probably afraid that the employees will call him “Tiny Hands” or something.

232
freetoken  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:03:47am

re: #230 FormerDirtDart

NBC is desperate, I think, if they have to go click-baiting like this.

233
HappyWarrior  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:04:29am

re: #225 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

Sigh.

234
(alpuz)  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:09:10am

For the National Lampoon fans, there’s a really cool doc on netflix.

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon

235
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:09:59am

re: #225 FormerDirtDart

About the only good thing about this is that it won’t cause people with Visas issues. But it still violates existing law, especially by targeting specific countries.

236
Sir John Barron  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:10:08am

re: #204 darthstar

The GOP’s plan to repeal Obamacare is under siege from within the party

The GOP is sabotaging…the GOP itself, right Rush?

237
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:12:26am

re: #197 Teukka

Latest on the incidents in Sweden…
Russian TV team offered youths money to riot

Gateway Pundit is tweeting migrant students rioted at a school in Hallsberg. Have you heard anything about this?

238
Teukka  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:15:16am

re: #237 wheat-dogg

Gateway Pundit is tweeting migrant students rioted at a school in Hallsberg. Have you heard anything about this?

Not migrant students, according to the headmistress at the school, it wasn’t students at the school who rioted, rather people external to the school, and it appears to be a continuation of some sort of altercation from Friday. 11 detained.

239
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:16:12am

We’re beginning to reach critical mass here. One of the constant remarks whenever the subject of Trump’s approval ratings have come up is “Conservatives still back him!” Well they also want a special prosecutor. How do you square that circle?

240
Teukka  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:16:33am

re: #238 Teukka

Not migrant students, according to the headmistress at the school, it wasn’t students at the school who rioted, rather people external to the school, and it appears to be a continuation of some sort of altercation from Friday. 11 detained.

Sauce: sverigesradio.se

241
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:16:47am

re: #238 Teukka

Not migrant students, according to the headmistress at the school, it wasn’t students at the school who rioted, rather people external to the school, and it appears to be a continuation of some sort of altercation from Friday. 11 detained.

So, as usual, Dim Jim got it wrong.

242
Teukka  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:17:33am

re: #241 wheat-dogg

So, as usual, Dim Jim got it wrong.

He isn’t dubbed SMOTI for nothing….

243
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:18:12am

re: #239 Targetpractice

[Embedded content]

We’re beginning to reach critical mass here. One of the constant remarks whenever the subject of Trump’s approval ratings have come up is “Conservatives still back him!” Well they also want a special prosecutor. How do you square that circle?

It’s who they want the special prosecutor to target. Democrats/Liberals/Moderates/Independents want the focus on Trump and his cabal of cronies.

Republicans/Conservatives think the focus must be on Obama, Clinton, and the leakers.

244
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:18:58am
245
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:19:25am

re: #244 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Does Israel have a deep state too?

///////

246
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:19:31am

re: #239 Targetpractice

We’re beginning to reach critical mass here. One of the constant remarks whenever the subject of Trump’s approval ratings have come up is “Conservatives still back him!” Well they also want a special prosecutor. How do you square that circle?

They may be wanting an investigation to prove there’s nothing wrong. They would get to prove there’s a witch hunt if that were the case.

247
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:19:58am

re: #218 Timothy Watson

Have we ever figured out why DHS employees were told to work from home today?

What? For real?

What the hell could that be about?

248
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:20:09am

re: #240 Teukka

Sauce: sverigesradio.se

Sadly, my grandparents did not pass on the ability to understand Swedish. Google translate tends to mangle the syntax, as well, but I got the gist of the story.

I understand that Swedish police as a rule do not identify the ethnicity of suspects. Is that true? Then how would Dim Jim know they were migrants, aside from pulling facts from his ass?

249
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:22:06am

re: #247 makeitstop

What? For real?

What the hell could that be about?

It seems the announcement of Muslim Ban ME would be from the DHS HQ, so they wanted all personnel out of the way. Maybe afraid someone would jinx the announcement somehow.

250
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:22:12am

re: #243 lawhawk

It’s who they want the special prosecutor to target. Democrats/Liberals/Moderates/Independents want the focus on Trump and his cabal of cronies.

Republicans/Conservatives think the focus must be on Obama, Clinton, and the leakers.

True enough. What they fail to realize is a special prosecutor goes where the evidence takes him. Once you set him loose, whatever he turns up is going to be part of the public record. Hence all the resistance to appointing one by the White House.

251
Jay C  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:22:27am

re: #248 wheat-dogg

Sadly, my grandparents did not pass on the ability to understand Swedish. Google translate tends to mangle the syntax, as well, but I got the gist of the story.

I understand that Swedish police as a rule do not identify the ethnicity of suspects. Is that true? Then how would Dim Jim know they were migrants, aside from pulling facts from his ass?

Simple: it’s Sweden, there’s crime, ergo Muslim immigrants.

Like I said, simple (like Jim Hoft)….

252
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:23:01am

re: #235 Belafon

About the only good thing about this is that it won’t cause people with Visas issues. But it still violates existing law, especially by targeting specific countries.

I don’t believe that people with visas will get away trouble-free.

That’s the problem with administrations that lie - after a while, you don’t believe a thing they say.

253
freetoken  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:24:11am

re: #243 lawhawk

Republicans/Conservatives think the focus must be on Obama, Clinton, and the leakers.

Concur.

That’s why these sort of polls are so meaningless. These polls are designed to be used anyway that can generate headlines, regardless of how nebulous the actual data is.

254
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:24:52am

re: #245 Timothy Watson

Does Israel have a deep state too?

///////

Obama is behind it…

255
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:24:57am

re: #249 wheat-dogg

It seems the announcement of Muslim Ban ME would be from the DHS HQ, so they wanted all personnel out of the way. Maybe afraid someone would jinx the announcement somehow.

Or Trump just doesn’t want to breathe the same air as the hoi polloi who work at DHS.

256
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:25:49am
257
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:28:18am

re: #256 FormerDirtDart

Despite the specific wording of the last Muslim Ban EO, CBP was hassling people from many other countries, including France, Canada and Australia. I don’t see that changing under the new EO.

258
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:29:23am

re: #257 wheat-dogg

In other words, even if the EO as written seems to be constitutional, it is unconstitutional as applied because of the arbitrary and capricious nature of the CPB/ICE enforcement.

259
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:34:51am

re: #258 lawhawk

In other words, even if the EO as written seems to be constitutional, it is unconstitutional as applied because of the arbitrary and capricious nature of the CPB/ICE enforcement.

And monitoring every single airport and border crossing for EO infractions will wear out the opposition, i.e., people who understand the law.

260
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:36:57am

re: #257 wheat-dogg

Despite the specific wording of the last Muslim Ban EO, CBP was hassling people from many other countries, including France, Canada and Australia. I don’t see that changing under the new EO.

No, I don’t either, it’ll likely increase

261
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:38:29am
262
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:42:25am

re: #261 lawhawk

Australia’s equivalent of CIA director endures the full treatment at US border. So much for allies

and when word of such antics spreads, it is only going to damage the US tourist industry…

263
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:43:06am

re: #261 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Neo-isolationism mixed with turning America into a police state. Yeah, I can’t imagine how that will hurt us in the long run.

///////

264
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:43:34am

Would Chaffetz dare do this?

More pointedly - would Trump be stupid enough to order him to do it?

I’m pretty sure Obama would come to kick ass and chew bubblegum…Chaffetz wold get his ass handed to him.

265
wheat-dogg  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:43:54am

re: #261 lawhawk

Foreign students are a cash cow for a lot of US universities and colleges, because they’re full-pay students. Now, I expect many would-be students will choose Canada or the other Commonwealth countries.

A student here stopped me on the way to the supermarket to show me his brand-spanking-new short-term work-study visa to the USA. He’ll be going this summer, and I hope he doesn’t get hassled by border agents on his way in. He was ecstatic today, and I’d hate to see all that positive energy sucked out of him.

266
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:44:48am

re: #262 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

It already is. NYC is expecting to see a slowdown in foreign visits, which means slower business; and other foreign travel destinations would likely see slowdowns too (Orlando, LA, etc.). The EU is looking at requiring US travelers obtain visas, which would slow foreign trips by US citizens too - and that’d also hit travel industry hard - airlines especially.

It’d be a ripple effect.

267
Donkey With No Name  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:45:07am

re: #135 Anymouse

texastribune.org

Uh, oh, someone told Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller that Texas relies on migrant labour.

He also threw shade on Donald Trump.

Wow, I agree with Sid Miller on something. I’m scared now.

268
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:51:45am

re: #267 Donkey With No Name

The Texas GOP understands that a border wall along the Mexico-Texas border is a shit show of posturing. Any wall would essentially cede land to Mexico, since the border runs along the middle of the Rio Grande channel. It would mean taking private lands, cutting through a Native American reservation, and cut through Big Bend National Park.

Of course, there’s 300 businesses who have expressed interest in building a wall. Those businesses see dollar signs and don’t care about feasibility or even necessity. They just see an opportunity to make money on a project that isn’t even going to accomplish anything more than fulfill a talking point during a campaign.

What Trump nuts actively ignore is that Trump stated explicitly how easy it would be to circumvent the wall - a ladder or rope. And it ignores that the many of those who are here illegally are overstaying their visas.

269
Donkey With No Name  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:53:24am

re: #163 Lupin

The notion that, for example, some other-dimensional scientist named Fredd may have been responsible for the creation of our universe is not “religion” or “deism”.

“Religion” would be starting the Church of Fredd and saying that Fredd will punish all those who eat blue food and reward all those who wear suspenders backwards.

“Deism” would be assuming Fredd is an all-powerful, all-knowing entity when he was just trying to get his grant renewed and his wife Mabell is cheating on him with the frizzman.

Just because one may entertain the notion that our universe may have been “created” (as opposed to happening naturally) doesn’t automatically imply that one is a “deist” or believes in a religion.

My personal notion has long been that the universe was a harried grad student’s B project (prof’s comment: “amenable to life, but entirely too many physical parameters are fine tuned to have any kind of elegance”)

270
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:54:04am

re: #268 lawhawk

But the wall will be so yuge that no rope or ladder will get to the top!!1!

There’s a Tower of Babel analogy that I’m too lazy to articulate in there somewhere.

271
The Vicious Babushka  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:55:40am

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

272
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:56:17am

re: #163 Lupin

The notion that, for example, some other-dimensional scientist named Fredd may have been responsible for the creation of our universe is not “religion” or “deism”.

“Religion” would be starting the Church of Fredd and saying that Fredd will punish all those who eat blue food and reward all those who wear suspenders backwards.

“Deism” would be assuming Fredd is an all-powerful, all-knowing entity when he was just trying to get his grant renewed and his wife Mabell is cheating on him with the frizzman.

Just because one may entertain the notion that our universe may have been “created” (as opposed to happening naturally) doesn’t automatically imply that one is a “deist” or believes in a religion.

I’m pretty sure his name was Rick, not Fredd.

273
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:56:51am

re: #272 Belafon

I’m pretty sure his name was Rick, not Fredd.

Bob Dobbs

274
ipsos  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:57:30am

re: #271 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

YI646pducx8grJTEJiem2QtwPYF3W0qbmDbZEgNjIFddkajmBDqHADDXFUd70yOM1QX+Xa5Dvm/Pxl1vZOCoCHrt78NemjF7dHpSn9PeYt5UFFd0raTw8u3sKgKqhbd9A+lnsaOCS82uZT0uIeUenA==

275
MsJ  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:57:48am

re: #69 Anymouse

bbc.com

A rather long article on how capitalism killed the dream of antibiotics.

Pretty much boils down to “the tragedy of the commons.”

One proposed solution if a company or individual comes up with a new antibiotic that will overcome currently-resistant bacteria would be to simply pay them not to market it (thus keeping it for true emergencies).

My cynical nature toward corporations is that one of them would take the money and market the stuff anyway.

Or release it at a time of true emergency - at $100,000 a pop.

276
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:58:05am

re: #264 makeitstop

Would Chaffetz dare do this?

More pointedly - would Trump be stupid enough to order him to do it?

I’m pretty sure Obama would come to kick ass and chew bubblegum…Chaffetz wold get his ass handed to him.

[Embedded content]

One day, Jason’s all “There’s no evidence to support this.”

Next day, “Yeah, we’re totally going to look into it.”

What changed? Jason figured out that going after Obama even when he’s out of office can distract the rubes from how badly the GOP wants to cornhole them.

277
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:59:29am

re: #275 MsJ

Or release it at a time of true emergency - at $100,000 a pop.

Or fabricate a drug, take the money, still sell it at an outrageous price during an emergency, then quietly disappear before federal regulators realize they’ve been had.

278
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 7:59:49am

re: #276 Targetpractice

One day, Jason’s all “There’s no evidence to support this.”

Next day, “Yeah, we’re totally going to look into it.”

What changed? Jason figured out that going after Obama even when he’s out of office can distract the rubes from how badly the GOP wants to cornhole them.

Because even if Trump leaves office under a cloud of shame, his die-hard supporters will see him as a hapless victim of a Deep-state Jewish Obama Soros witch hunt…

279
Teukka  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:08:29am

re: #248 wheat-dogg

Sadly, my grandparents did not pass on the ability to understand Swedish. Google translate tends to mangle the syntax, as well, but I got the gist of the story.

I understand that Swedish police as a rule do not identify the ethnicity of suspects. Is that true? Then how would Dim Jim know they were migrants, aside from pulling facts from his ass?

Probably from having sources working or reading the online rightwing rags such as nordfront, avpixlat, flashback et al. The same sources which when a 9-year old girl is murdered instantly speculate in which ethnic group is responsible, and when it turns out it was an ethnic Swede who killed his own child, they turn on his wife, implying she drove him mad etc. while noting her Thai ethnicity.
When the real story is that she was one of several who was with him at the psychiatric emergency clinic in the county trying to get him admitted because of his mental state…

280
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:09:47am

re: #276 Targetpractice

One day, Jason’s all “There’s no evidence to support this.”

Next day, “Yeah, we’re totally going to look into it.”

What changed? Jason figured out that going after Obama even when he’s out of office can distract the rubes from how badly the GOP wants to cornhole them.

Obama v. Chaffetz would make Clinton v. Gowdy look like Hillz was being unnecessarily kind.

281
Donkey With No Name  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:11:35am

re: #171 I cannot.

Eh, disagree on that somewhat. One of the reasons Trump is despised by the “old money” of New York is that he doesn’t contribute to charitable causes and constantly reneges on obligations. Saying “they’re all rich!” misses actual salient differences.

282
GlutenFreeJesus  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:11:43am

re: #278 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

You know what I’d tell them?

283
Teukka  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:14:51am

re: #279 Teukka

Probably from having sources working or reading the online rightwing rags such as nordfront, avpixlat, flashback et al. The same sources which when a 9-year old girl is murdered instantly speculate in which ethnic group is responsible, and when it turns out it was an ethnic Swede who killed his own child, they turn on his wife, implying she drove him mad etc. while noting her Thai ethnicity.
When the real story is that she was one of several who was with him at the psychiatric emergency clinic in the county trying to get him admitted because of his mental state…

List of dubious swedish “News” sites (click at own risk (and this is not all of them)):
o samtiden.nu
o realisten.se
o d-intl.com (Dispatch International)
o exponerat.net
o nyheteridag.se
o friatider.se
o avpixlat.info
o nyatider.nu

284
Lupin  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:18:00am

re: #272 Belafon

The Heretics shall have their nose hairs pulled one at a time, as per the Gospel of Fredd.

285
Hecuba's daughter  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:21:52am

re: #250 Targetpractice

True enough. What they fail to realize is a special prosecutor goes where the evidence takes him. Once you set him loose, whatever he turns up is going to be part of the public record. Hence all the resistance to appointing one by the White House.

Yep. You hire one to investigate the 1993 Vince Foster suicide and the next thing you know they are looking at a blue dress from 1995.

286
John Hughes  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:24:53am

re: #52 Anymouse

There are people who eat guinea pigs as well

My wife used to raise and eat guinea pigs when she was young. This freaked our kids out when they found out.

287
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:25:02am

Bean sends good morning wishes to Lizard Nation.

288
ObserverArt  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:25:49am

re: #271 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

P9EQZK7kn8pv5xTi2uzN5ikH42yQQL5WObA/YJz9WMRziQlr804Gtq3MX0vo/0NCsurlKeEBll43zlvUFQW2YLHx58j+/prjG89oYlqk/tHIhr8Rd/eG3ihZ6M3TynNZH7N90xQAV/rGyTXUAOqv71i9DLWISdsmxGLrcC5wmm2LHdfRZPRkAJZ5NyRC82LOiQoPf80lmbcPVQXWDdE5Xa4thOU2oA3Z8OuBzgcGfW62zwF3cPF03uRJ+W5y0eo1LQwGn8Kbct4=

289
Sherlock Hound  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:26:04am

re: #271 The Vicious Babushka

8MIT0oWDOm7c2iTOnQH9nTVQgml077md4fzHTwmpgF7l3AJDoiuyf2qtSVW11x9ihlwom/cG5bLq4FBUD+p7U4PYgAInnfCIX6LlwJzZJ9Y=

290
Jay C  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:32:25am

re: #261 lawhawk

And this guy was traveling on diplomatic passport, no less!
Seriously, is this even permissible? (I won’t even bother asking if this is “normal” or “typical” for Australian governmental personnel)
Kind of a shiner for one of the “Five Eyes”….

291
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:32:47am

re: #286 John Hughes

My wife used to raise and eat guinea pigs when she was young. This freaked our kids out when they found out.

By buddy ate them in South America with a peanut-chili sauce. The ears are considered a delicacy, as they get all crispy.

292
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:33:26am

re: #271 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

4Ax+FqvvXcBgBjMiOqTEYuyGg2BTBCc5nBQpodvzIkfVILm4+TNMX2x7Xqo5D4Ya4Wb7eGeFFGNxapKmkJWFeVw+0PH8/bDYyaogFLJ1BHwOaSU9V45jIDExfbxgm535BRj+dUPcToe4Qj/nO8UF4Jx97ntHeFScgThLDf2kzJR2HmGm4W9fk6NKO/gEdfcX

293
MsJ  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:36:43am

re: #152 Anymouse

Gigglesnort:

[Embedded content]

294
Interesting Times  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:37:15am

Paging wrenchwench:

295
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:40:45am

re: #287 makeitstop

Bean sends good morning wishes to Lizard Nation.

[Embedded content]

Schrader is skeptical, finds Bean’s wishes acceptable.

296
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:44:42am

re: #294 Interesting Times

Paging wrenchwench:

[Embedded content]

Looks like an open passenger door-finder.

Cool. Thanks!

297
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:50:04am

So, Trump’s enacted his new EO today - no fanfare of a public signing. It supposedly takes effect 10 days from now (as opposed to the original’s shitstorm of immediate ban).

The new ban, which takes effect March 16, halts travel for 90 days for residents of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The refugee suspension will last 120 days.

Iraq, whose citizens and nationals had been on the original list of banned travelers, was removed after officials there agreed to accept all Iraqi citizens being deported from the U.S., according to a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security who briefed reporters on the latest plan.

That was one of several changes to the order designed to insulate it from court challenges that blocked the first one. The new order also leaves more time for agencies to implement it in hopes of alleviating the confusion that accompanied the original order, which was issued only a week after Trump took office, with little consultation from top agency officials.

The new ban also clarifies that permanent residents and those holding valid visas will be allowed to enter the country or remain here. The order will give the Department of State room for exceptions “on a case-by-case basis when in the national interest of the United States,” according to Homeland Security.

Of course, the DHS has previously stated that national origin is no indicator of terror threat, so the countries included in this version are picked based on something other than actual fact or statistical evidence.

Refugee program is basically being suspended for 120 days, as though that’ll solve things (it wont). Refugees are already vetted more thoroughly than any other person entering the US. Again, the Admin doesn’t care about facts or statistics. They’ve got a ban to impose - and I can’t wait for them to couch the ban as a Muslim ban or as an effort to fulfill the goal of the first EO (which was self-admitted as a Muslim ban). That again puts this on suspect grounds - law as applied being unconstitutional.

Throw in the fact that the CBP/ICE not applying the law properly, or stopping/detaining people who otherwise should be allowed entry to the US on the basis of their religion and there remains an ongoing problem with how the Admin is enacting this plan that does nothing to improve national security.

298
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:51:11am

re: #297 lawhawk

If Trump really wanted to implement the order effectively, why order people to work from home?

299
Eclectic Cyborg  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:53:10am

re: #297 lawhawk

Here’s my concern about the refugee program: 120 days becomes 360 days becomes 720 days pretty easily.

This may be a stealth way of eroding these programs.

300
Unshaken Defiance  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:54:26am

re: #271 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

ccNjA4SQ8R/SMWrW3C5Q/6To1UhLIJwP8ZV3h7+cEg8cOX96pOowmsWkXGZy0h9kBdrbzxSd0VZqtWBH5iz4DPhwpEn3vZIZlJTBCOzzCbIumdxjKbkV4r4jY8ELqAT6pv/wfPg8hKs=

301
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:54:32am

re: #299 Eclectic Cyborg

Here’s my concern about the refugee program: 120 days becomes 360 days becomes 720 days pretty easily.

This may be a stealth way of eroding these programs.

That’s entirely the point. These temporary programs can become permanent simply by Sec. State saying they need to conduct further reviews per EO and extend it in perpetuity.

302
Franklin  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:57:12am

re: #299 Eclectic Cyborg

Here’s my concern about the refugee program: 120 days becomes 360 days becomes 720 days pretty easily.

This may be a stealth way of eroding these programs.

Exactly. Imagine this was President Obama signing an EO suspending a Wall Street trading practice/strategy for 120 days. After Republicans awoke after passing out from screaming, they would demand details about what review process was going to be followed during those 120 days.

303
KingKenrod  Mar 6, 2017 • 8:58:38am

Why another 120 days from March 16?

Shouldn’t we be about 40 days closer to EXTREME VETTING by now??? Trump has been president that long.

304
Franklin  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:00:54am

re: #303 KingKenrod

Why another 120 days from March 16?

Shouldn’t we be about 40 days closer to EXTREME VETTING by now??? Trump has been president that long.

Well, it’s likely going to be 120 business days. You know, since we run the government like a business now.

305
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:04:22am
306
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:05:42am
307
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:08:50am

re: #305 FormerDirtDart

300 refugees investigated for terrorism?

That’d seem to be a significant number. For all we know, this 300 is simply investigations that were opened up on the basis of people calling in making claims that they think X, Y, or Z are terrorists, and those investigations turned up no evidence of terrorism and were later closed.

The way this administration is operating, with zero accountability and no transparency, that’s the most likely situation.

Because you’d damn well know for sure if there were 300 investigations into refugees from Muslim countries that turned up actual terrorists/terrorism.

308
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:09:31am

re: #298 Timothy Watson

If Trump really wanted to implement the order effectively, why order people to work from home?

He will offer us some sort of ridiculous answer for that, I am sure…

309
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:10:30am

So a month ago, Iraq was so full of bad hombres that we couldn’t dare let them come into this country with advance notice. Now, a month hence, suddenly the threat of terrorism from Iraq has become so minute that we can take them off the list.

I’m sure it has nothing to do with the shitload of bad press over denying entry to and the arrest of Iraqis who had helped us in the fighting over there…/////

310
John Hughes  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:11:24am

re: #172 BigPapa

The purge/putsch talk is firing up:

[Embedded content]

This is really happening.

Welcome to Turkey.

311
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:13:09am
312
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:14:15am

re: #72 austin_blue

Long and short of it, I stepped on a Copperhead that I didn’t see in the leaves.

If you haven’t been snakebit, it’s a surreal experience. I was wearing 5” hiking books and the bastard bitch hit me in my left calf an inch above it. Imagine being initiated to The Pain Of The World without an introduction- being injected with a shot of Drano and fuming nitric acid.

(snip)

It took two years for the lost muscle (a chunk about 3” X 1.5” and 1” deep) in my calf to regenerate.

Same thing here. Spring, copperhead bite in the left calf.
My leg swelled up and turned black…took months to return to normal.
Some 20+ years later, the scar is still there.

When one of my dogs got a copperhead bite to the face, he went from looking like a rottweiler to looking like a sharpei. He turned into a snake killing machine for the rest of his life.

313
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:14:26am
314
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:14:55am
315
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:16:03am
316
HappyWarrior  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:16:52am

re: #311 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

Uh huh.

317
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:17:09am

re: #311 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

Or, spun the other way, Breitbart is getting fed intel that only Trump supposedly has access to. Given this administration’s amazingly lax view towards national security, it would not surprise me that Bannon’s feeding this shit back to his alma mater.

318
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:17:45am

re: #310 John Hughes

Welcome to Turkey.

Well, Turkey’s President has compared Germany’s government to the Nazis for restricting certain Turkish political campaign events there over security concerns. (Turkey is about to hold a major referendum on its government, and some half a million Turkish citizens live there and are allowed to vote.)

319
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:19:08am

Yeah….Texas….
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

320
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:19:10am

re: #313 FormerDirtDart

Authorities say tombstones at a Jewish cemetery in New York were damaged by environmental causes, not by vandalism

the political environment?

of is the climate itself turning anti-Semitic?

321
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:20:35am

re: #313 FormerDirtDart

Dov Hikind and others in Brooklyn are arguing that that’s not the case. They’re disputing the NYPD investigation; the cemetery is also saying that environmental causes took down some of those grave markers.

I believe that I’ve got some relatives buried in this cemetery, but don’t think any of our markers were involved.

322
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:23:15am

re: #315 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

First they create “VOICE” to create anger towards “illegals,” now they’re creating a list of “honor killings” so as to whip up anger towards Muslims.

Let us consult with Rev. Rock:

That Train Is Never Late

323
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:23:19am
324
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:24:27am

Keeping voting for Trump UAW so your employer moves everything to right-to-work states:

General Motors Co. is laying off 1,100 workers at an assembly plant in Michigan.

GM says it’s ending the third shift at its Lansing Delta Township plant because one of its products — the GMC Acadia SUV — is moving to Spring Hill, Tennessee.

The Lansing plant will still have two shifts building the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs.

Lansing’s last day as a three-shift plant will be May 12.

richmond.com

325
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:25:58am

re: #306 FormerDirtDart

326
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:31:49am

She’s a missile range instrumentation ship, no doubt in area to collect Iranian missile data.

USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24)
327
sagehen  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:32:14am

re: #324 Timothy Watson

Keeping voting for Trump UAW so your employer moves everything to right-to-work states:

richmond.com

Do I remember correctly that shortly after the election union peeps were making a lot of noise about how the Clinton campaign was unresponsive to their requests for appearances/offers of assistance/begging to coordinate?

328
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:33:30am

re: #326 FormerDirtDart

She’s a missile range instrumentation ship, no doubt in area to collect Iranian missile data.

[Embedded content]

Which incident?

329
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:35:03am

re: #327 sagehen

Do I remember correctly that shortly after the election union peeps were making a lot of noise about how the Clinton campaign was unresponsive to their requests for appearances/offers of assistance/begging to coordinate?

I don’t recall the specifics, but I do remember a lot of criticism of the Coordinated Campaign in Michigan.

330
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:35:05am

re: #323 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

Easier to avoid questions if you just avoid the press altogether.

331
Floral Giraffe  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:37:33am

re: #6 freetoken

His supporters are just as delusional, or even more so.

We have a large subset portion of our society who are swept up into a maelstrom of delusional ideas.

FTFY

332
A wild WITHAK appeared!  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:39:16am

Erick, son of Erick has it all figured out:

333
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:39:24am

re: #331 Floral Giraffe

Not really any difference.

334
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:40:17am

re: #332 A wild WITHAK appeared!

Erick, son of Erick has it all figured out:

[Embedded content]

I am old enough to remember when Erick, son of Erick, vehemently opposed Trump.

335
Varek Raith  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:40:19am

re: #331 Floral Giraffe

FTFY

OH HAI.

336
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:42:28am

re: #332 A wild WITHAK appeared!

Erick, son of Erick has it all figured out:

[Embedded content]

337
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:42:58am

NY AG Schneiderman weighs in…

338
Hecuba's daughter  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:45:48am

re: #332 A wild WITHAK appeared!

Erick, son of Erick has it all figured out:

[Embedded content]

Isn’t it possible that there were ongoing criminal investigations that preceded Trump’s run for office? Maybe involving organized crime both here and in Russia and allegations of money laundering. Do the wiretaps have to be from the federal government — could they be from state authorities?

339
A wild WITHAK appeared!  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:48:19am

Here’s to hoping this isn’t just a temporary time-out:

340
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:48:31am

re: #114 austin_blue

No. Deism is based on

“I don’t know, but maybe, just maybe, at the begining of the universe, some *thing* established the strong force, the weak force, the speed of light, and the gravitational constant and plugged it into the singularity that became our cosmos.”

And then buggered off. The *thing* doesn’t give give a fuck about our cosmos, despite having created it, doesn’t listen to our prayers, and doesn’t have any opinion in how our world is proceeding.

The *thing* created evolution and is a voyeur, at best. Not an active player.

There. Deism.

And since there is no evidence for such a creative person-thing, deism is blind faith.

341
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:48:51am

re: #334 Timothy Watson

I am old enough to remember when Erick, son of Erick, vehemently opposed Trump.

Don’t worry, he hedged himself:

I have been skeptical of President Trump and did not support his election. The claim to ties with Russia has worried me. But I think at this point the steady drip of claims has come at politically opportune times to throw the President off his game. If there were substance there, that would not be happening.

At this point, I think it is most likely that any investigation was yielding no substance and now Democrats within the Intelligence Community are using the data for politics to undermine a President they loath. There should be an investigation, but it should be about that.

In other words, Son of Erick is tired of being out in the cold and is beginning his mea culpas.

342
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:48:57am

re: #115 austin_blue

But it isn’t, is it?

But it is.

343
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:50:14am

re: #137 austin_blue

Look, even Richard Dawkins has backed off his believe as an Atheist, accepting the possibility of Deism/agnosticism.

Dawkins has been and is an atheist.

344
Targetpractice  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:53:01am

Erick, Son of Erick is pretty much the vanguard of what we’re now going to see after this past weekend: Fence-sitting conservatives jumping back into Trump’s camp because “OBAMA SPIED ON HIM!” Whether it was Trump’s plan or Bannon’s, the course forward seems to be to blame every single fuck-up by this administration on a shadowy cabal led by the ex-president and use that to finally get payback through an ultra-partisan witch hunt.

345
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:53:13am

re: #324 Timothy Watson

GM also sold their European brands Vauxhall-Opel to Peugeot-Citroen. That deal was announced today. That’s due in part to losses on the European brands, though that was also due to currency issues following the Brexit vote. And going forward, there’s issues with car manufacturing in the UK:

But former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable expressed concerns about jobs because of the government’s “lack of commitment to the customs union and the single market”.

“Car components have to go backwards and forwards across frontiers and they will acquire tariffs and checks.

“And Vauxhall is particularly exposed to this, [as] about 80% of its exports are to the European Union.

“And if you’re a hard-headed car executive looking at the competitiveness of Britain versus German plants, Britain, I’m afraid, is going to slip down the ranking in future.”

346
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:53:25am

re: #328 Belafon

Which incident?

347
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:54:21am

re: #194 Romantic Heretic

This is why I refer to myself as an agnostic. I don’t know anything about the existence or non-existence of God, Allah to Zeus, take your pick. And I lack the faith to believe one way or another.

Here is one thing I know: existence of God is much less probable than her non-existence. Those agnostics who do not accept this are not thinking rationally on this matter. It’s not a 50/50 chance.

348
danarchy  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:54:32am

re: #52 Anymouse

I was just being silly, of course.

There are people who eat guinea pigs as well (not candy-coated or chocolate-covered though), but I couldn’t (because they’re pets to me).

[Embedded content]

Hey, rabbits make great stew and great pets(as long as you don’t mind them chewing everything you own). I don’t see the problem. I’ve never eaten guinea pig, but if I was somewhere they were serving it, I would give it a shot.

349
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:55:11am

When Juan Melendez was on Florida’s death row for a murder conviction, his mother built an altar with a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe surrounded by roses. She said five rosaries a day, asking for a miracle to exonerate him and bring him home safely. She also wrote Melendez a letter saying, “Have faith, put your trust in God and that miracle will happen. One day, you will be free.”

It took 17 years, but the miracle happened. Melendez, 65, now living in Albuquerque, was freed in 2002 after the real killer came forward. Melendez said the letter gave him hope, but he didn’t know then that his mother was saving money to return his body to Puerto Rico after his execution.

“No mother should ever have to go through that,” Melendez said Sunday to a committee of the state House of Representatives that considered a bill to reinstate the death penalty in New Mexico. “I think she suffered more than I did.”

[…]

350
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:55:59am

re: #339 A wild WITHAK appeared!

A couple of years too late, but I’ll take it.

351
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:56:48am

re: #347 Nyet

Here is one thing I know: existence of God is much less probable than her non-existence. Those agnostics who do not accept this are not thinking rationally on this matter. It’s not a 50/50 chance.

352
dharmamark  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:57:13am

re: #347 Nyet

Explain, please.

353
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:57:31am
354
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:57:52am

This Holocaust-denying piece of shit can’t even get the claim he is denying right: nobody claims that 6 million Jews were gassed.

The Holocaust Hoax Exposed - Steven Anderson

355
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 9:58:48am

re: #347 Nyet

Here is one thing I know: existence of God is much less probable than her non-existence. Those agnostics who do not accept this are not thinking rationally on this matter. It’s not a 50/50 chance.

The probably of flipping a coin 5 times and having it come up all heads is a lot smaller than it not, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

356
Varek Raith  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:00:50am

Does one need faith to say there isn’t an invisible pink raptor behind them?

357
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:01:54am

re: #352 dharmamark

There is no evidence of God’s existence. There is nothing that requires God’s existence. There is much evidence that different concepts of God(s) were created by humans throughout history to explain the gaps in their knowledge. Does that prove God’s non-existence? No. Does this indicate that it is more probable that there is no God than that there is one? Yes. The kind of agnosticism that pretends that the probability is the same is irrational.

358
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:02:49am

re: #356 Varek Raith

Does one need faith to say there isn’t an invisible pink raptor behind them?

If it’s invisible, one must take the ‘pink’ on faith.

359
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:03:02am

re: #355 Belafon

The probably of flipping a coin 5 times and having it come up all heads is a lot smaller than it not, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

Sure, but man’s gods are all obviously imaginary. When people talk about the possibility of a god, they’re talking about the possibility of very powerful aliens that we have never interacted with.

If there were supernatural beings who interacted with man, the world would be a very different place. As far as we can tell, the supernatural is entirely imaginary.

Too many people forget that man is a story-telling animal, and start to think that some fiction is a true story, even though it runs counter to our understanding of reality.

360
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:03:05am

re: #355 Belafon

The probably of flipping a coin 5 times and having it come up all heads is a lot smaller than it not, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

2+2=4

361
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:03:48am

re: #351 wrenchwench

[Embedded content]

What is that thing? It looks like an alien from the videogame Stellaris.

362
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:03:55am

re: #358 wrenchwench

If it’s invisible, one must take the ‘pink’ on faith.

The raptor can see herself, and knows that she’s pink.

363
dharmamark  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:04:13am

re: #357 Nyet

Ok, That I think I understand. Thanks. Monday brain in full effect.

364
Floral Giraffe  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:04:21am

re: #335 Varek Raith

Hai back!

365
Mike Lamb  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:04:25am

re: #311 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

FoxNews8…the Ocho.

366
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:04:36am

re: #361 Timothy Watson

What is that thing? It looks like an alien from the videogame Stellaris.

From the URL, I’d say it’s a mud puppy.
en.wikipedia.org

367
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:04:38am

re: #363 dharmamark

No prob.

368
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:05:13am

re: #362 Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters

The raptor can see herself, and knows that she’s pink.

Then she’s not invisible, only invisible to some! ;)

369
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:05:21am

re: #358 wrenchwench

If it’s invisible, one must take the ‘pink’ on faith.

Also the ‘raptor,’ probably.

370
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:05:50am

this is not good:

Tens of thousands of chickens have been destroyed at a Tennessee chicken farm due to a bird flu outbreak, and 30 other farms within a six-mile radius are being quarantined.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 73,500 chickens were destroyed and will not enter the food system. The highly pathogenic H7 avian influenza, or HPAI, can be deadly to chickens and turkeys.

The breeder supplies Tyson Foods Inc. The company said that it doesn’t expect its chicken business to be disrupted, but shares of the Springdale, Arkansas, food producer slid 3 percent in early trading Monday.

Tennessee’s Department of Agriculture declined to name the breeder and would only say it is located in the state’s Lincoln County, just west of Chattanooga.

371
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:05:51am

re: #364 Floral Giraffe

No, you hi back!

How have you been?

372
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:06:03am

re: #368 Nyet

Then she’s not invisible, only invisible to some! ;)

It’s one of the great mysteries.

373
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:06:42am

re: #361 Timothy Watson

What is that thing? It looks like an alien from the videogame Stellaris.

The tweeter is the creator.

Ethan Kocak
@Blackmudpuppy

Purveyor of fine science avatars. Also, like a comic or whatever. blackmudpuppy.com paypal.me patreon.com

Get your own!

374
Varek Raith  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:06:44am

re: #361 Timothy Watson

What is that thing? It looks like an alien from the videogame Stellaris.

Guess what I’m playing right now…

375
Mike Lamb  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:06:47am

Also…

Chaffetz: When there’s evidence of Russian connections, we’ll investigate, but I’m not going on a fishing expedition.

Chaffetz: A wholly unsubstantiated rumor that Obama tapped Trump? I’m on it!

376
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:07:41am

re: #372 Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters

It’s one of the great mysteries.

Ramen!

377
Floral Giraffe  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:07:51am

re: #371 Nyet

Awesome! Live aboard a sailboat, in Puerto Rico right now, with internets! Catching up on the politics, etc. I’ve missed.

378
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:08:08am

re: #375 Mike Lamb

Also…

Chaffetz: When there’s evidence of Russian connections, we’ll investigate, but I’m not going on a fishing expedition.

Chaffetz: A wholly unsubstantiated rumor that Obama tapped Trump? I’m on it!

This weasel-face can go fuck himself.

379
Mike Lamb  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:08:17am

re: #370 Backwoods_Sleuth

this is not good:

[Embedded content]

Don’t you worry your pretty little head…in about 6 months we don’t get warnings like this at all. Natural selection and the free market will fix this.

380
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:08:25am

re: #377 Floral Giraffe

Awesome! Live aboard a sailboat, in Puerto Rico right now, with internets! Catching up on the politics, etc. I’ve missed.

Romantic!

381
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:08:29am

re: #370 Backwoods_Sleuth

this is not good:

[Embedded content]

Ugh, I grew to hate chicken during the last avian flu outbreak because of how cheap it was and how much we ate as a result.

382
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:09:10am

re: #377 Floral Giraffe

Awesome! Live aboard a sailboat, in Puerto Rico right now, with internets! Catching up on the politics, etc. I’ve missed.

You may regret the decision to catch up.

Good to see you, at any rate!

383
Varek Raith  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:09:33am

re: #377 Floral Giraffe

Awesome! Live aboard a sailboat, in Puerto Rico right now, with internets! Catching up on the politics, etc. I’ve missed.

Neat.

384
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:09:36am

re: #377 Floral Giraffe

Awesome! Live aboard a sailboat, in Puerto Rico right now, with internets! Catching up on the politics, etc. I’ve missed.

Aw, I’m at a desk, which is not nearly as fun.

385
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:10:48am

re: #384 Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters

At least you can set the desk on fire.

386
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:10:54am

re: #381 Timothy Watson

Ugh, I grew to hate chicken during the last avian flu outbreak because of how cheap it was and how much we ate as a result.

I’d think it would cost more during an outbreak. They kill the animals, then sell the healthy ones?

387
FormerDirtDart  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:11:21am

re: #365 Mike Lamb

FoxNews8…the Ocho.

It’s ESPN 8…the Ocho

ESPN 8 “The Ocho” (longer)

388
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:11:28am

re: #385 Nyet

At least you can set the desk on fire.

It’s against company policy, and I’m earning a pension, so there will be no desk fire.

389
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:11:35am

If I designed a universe that was self-sufficient and meant to create life, would there be any evidence to the creatures inside that I created it?

390
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:12:04am

re: #197 Teukka

Latest on the incidents in Sweden…
Russian TV team offered youths money to riot

Their grandfather Goebbels would have been proud.

391
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:12:32am

re: #389 Belafon

If I designed a universe that was self-sufficient and meant to create life, would there be any evidence to the creatures inside that I created it?

If you chose so.

392
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:12:46am

re: #388 Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters

It’s against company policy, and I’m earning a pension, so there will be no desk fire.

Damn.

393
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:12:49am

re: #386 Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters

I’d think it would cost more during an outbreak. They kill the animals, then sell the healthy ones?

Following an outbreak, no one wants to buy chicken (or pork after the swine flu outbreak) but they’re still killing healthy chickens and pigs.

394
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:14:30am

re: #389 Belafon

If I designed a universe that was self-sufficient and meant to create life, would there be any evidence to the creatures inside that I created it?

No, and you’d move on to your next creation, instead of demanding worship like a common, petty, human and the gods we imagine.

395
Floral Giraffe  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:14:37am

re: #382 makeitstop

Well, we live without internets & TV most of the time, so, I can came close to ODing when we have internet. It’s pretty awesome to not hear or see “news” daily!

396
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:14:58am

re: #392 Nyet

Damn.

Life is full of compromises.

397
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:15:38am

re: #394 Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters

No,

He did not specify that he left no evidence or that he can’t provide evidence to them at any time.

398
Floral Giraffe  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:15:43am

re: #392 Nyet

Good to “see” you! Had to look for your old nic!

399
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:16:30am

re: #398 Floral Giraffe

:D

400
MsJ  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:16:31am

re: #196 darthstar

Since it’s Lent, here’s a biblical bunny for you all to enjoy…ridin’ the Lamb…bareback.

[Embedded content]

Isn’t that hareback?

401
Charles Johnson  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:16:58am
402
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:17:33am

re: #401 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Kellyanne tells us he knows things that the rest of us don’t

403
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:17:35am

re: #385 Nyet

At least you can set the desk on fire.

You could set a desk on fire on a boat, the consequences would just be much more dire.

404
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:19:26am

re: #398 Floral Giraffe

Good to “see” you! Had to look for your old nic!

He’s become so negative!

/+

405
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:20:03am

re: #402 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Kellyanne tells us he knows things that the rest of us don’t

He believes things that people outside the wingnut bubble do not.

406
danarchy  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:20:24am

re: #357 Nyet

There is no evidence of God’s existence. There is nothing that requires God’s existence. There is much evidence that different concepts of God(s) were created by humans throughout history to explain the gaps in their knowledge. Does that prove God’s non-existence? No. Does this indicate that it is more probable that there is no God than that there is one? Yes. The kind of agnosticism that pretends that the probability is the same is irrational.

Depends on your concept of God. Some physicists think it is better than even money that we are living in a simulation. If that is the case then whoever created the simulation and set the parameters would be God.

I stress the some, and I have a hard time believing it, but it isn’t an idea I can dismiss out of hand.

407
Eventual Carrion  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:20:52am

re: #315 FormerDirtDart

[Embedded content]

No public list of children killed released from Satan’s grip by drowning, starvation, exorcism, etc. by christian fanatics?

408
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:22:01am

re: #406 danarchy

Depends on your concept of God. Some physicists think it is better than even money that we are living in a simulation. If that is the case then whoever created the simulation and set the parameters would be God.

I stress the some, and I have a hard time believing it, but it isn’t an idea I can dismiss out of hand.

I read about those theories and I think these folks have too much free time on their hands, to put it politely.

409
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:22:19am
410
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:22:37am

re: #407 Eventual Carrion

No public list of children killed released from Satan’s grip by drowning, starvation, exorcism, etc. by christian fanatics?

Those are isolated acts…lone wolves, etc…

411
jeffreyw  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:22:50am

Imgur
Lunch!

412
jaunte  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:23:04am
413
EPR-radar  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:24:30am

re: #408 Nyet

I read about those theories and I think these folks have too much free time on their hands, to put it politely.

It’s pure speculation, and the more honest members of this club of moonlighting scientists will freely admit there’s no evidence for such speculations.

414
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:25:05am

sigh

415
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:25:14am

re: #408 Nyet

I read about those theories and I think these folks have too much free time on their hands, to put it politely.

PS: since the simulation question is wholly philosophical and cannot be proven through physics, them being physicists or whatever is not relevant.

416
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:27:58am

re: #415 Nyet

PS: since the simulation question is wholly philosophical and cannot be proven through physics, them being physicists or whatever is not relevant.

Where physics does have some relevance to the nature of our “immediate” psychological reality is the Boltzmann brain concept which is pretty mind-bending when you think about the implications.

417
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:29:11am

re: #413 EPR-radar

It’s pure speculation, and the more honest members of this club of moonlighting scientists will freely admit there’s no evidence for such speculations.

I think someone had proposed a method to test the hypothesis. It basically had to do with, as I summarize it, checking to see if the decimal places beyond a certain number of significant digits followed a pattern or were random.

418
freetoken  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:30:00am

re: #414 Backwoods_Sleuth

sigh

[Embedded content]

Never underestimate the political value of fear mongering.

419
lawhawk  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:30:54am

Trump continues fucking with people with visas, legal immigrants, and Gold Star parents.

420
electrotek  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:31:19am

re: #315 FormerDirtDart

Does that mean Yezidis will be off the list? The 10 year anniversary of the brutal honor killing by Du’a Khalil Aswad in Iraq by her own community is fast approaching.

421
jaunte  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:32:29am

re: #419 lawhawk

422
451_Montag  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:34:05am

In the interests of fairness I confess that I ate 2 guinea pigs (Cuy in Spanish) last month. Favorite is Cuy chactado a la piedra. Heat to rocks till salt water evaporates instantly, leaving the salt behind. Squash it between them and leave til crispy…. Nom nom.

Particularly like the intestines, heart etc when squashed until like an offal cookie.

423
danarchy  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:34:28am

re: #415 Nyet

PS: since the simulation question is wholly philosophical and cannot be proven through physics, them being physicists or whatever is not relevant.

That’s not entirely true. There are certain things you would expect in a simulation. Some of the scientists who espouse the theory think it explains a lot of the weirdness seen in quantum mechanics. As long as they can make predictions based on the theory that are or will one day be testable then it is firmly science and not philosophy.

424
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:34:36am

re: #421 jaunte

That seems like pure harassment. Someone should go to prison.
There should also be an investigation whether the sex-predator-in-chief had a hand in this.

425
Charles Johnson  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:35:23am

Hey, Floral G is in the house. Welcome back.

426
Backwoods_Sleuth  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:35:39am
427
Timothy Watson  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:36:47am

re: #426 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

I really hope that toolbag isn’t related to me.

428
Belafon  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:38:04am

re: #419 lawhawk

Trump continues fucking with people with visas, legal immigrants, and Gold Star parents.

I hope he uses this to really go after Trump. I would donate to a GoFundKhan account.

429
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:44:44am

re: #423 danarchy

That’s not entirely true. There are certain things you would expect in a simulation. Some of the scientists who espouse the theory think it explains a lot of the weirdness seen in quantum mechanics. As long as they can make predictions based on the theory that are or will one day be testable then it is firmly science and not philosophy.

I propose that the Universe was created by the Giant Cosmic Horse That Likes Empty Spaces. I propose that the Horse is hiding behind the Horsehead Nebula. This a) explains why there is so much empty space in the Universe, b) will be testable when we reach the Horsehead Nebula. Science!

430
jaunte  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:45:20am
431
Floral Giraffe  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:48:03am

re: #425 Charles Johnson

Happy to be here! I sneak in, when I can! Glad to see all is well here! Hopefully with you too!

432
makeitstop  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:50:09am

re: #419 lawhawk

[Embedded content]

Trump continues fucking with people with visas, legal immigrants, and Gold Star parents.

And those whom with he has a score to settle.

433
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:51:04am

re: #427 Timothy Watson

I really hope that toolbag isn’t related to me.

Hey! Toolbags are good! If you got some tools to carry….

There are many good Watsons, too. One has doubled as a customer and a helpful Doctor for me.

434
danarchy  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:53:44am

re: #429 Nyet

I propose that the Universe was created by the Giant Cosmic Horse That Likes Empty Spaces. I propose that the Horse is hiding behind the Horsehead Nebula. This a) explains why there is so much empty space in the Universe, b) will be testable when we reach the Horsehead Nebula. Science!

Except we know that with enough processing power a simulation is possible. Probably not too far(in the grand scheme of things) into the future we will be capable of simulating a human brain and feeding it simulated stimulus. If we know it is something we are likely to be able to do at some point, can you ignore out of hand that someone or thing with more processing power is already doing it on a larger scale?

Whereas your giant cosmic horse has no basis in any sort of current or predicted science.

435
wrenchwench  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:54:27am

re: #429 Nyet

I propose that the Universe was created by the Giant Cosmic Horse That Likes Empty Spaces. I propose that the Horse is hiding behind the Horsehead Nebula. This a) explains why there is so much empty space in the Universe, b) will be testable when we reach the Horsehead Nebula. Science!

If the Cosmic Horse eats a lot, it would help to explain Dark Matter.

436
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:56:29am

re: #434 danarchy

Except we know that with enough processing power a simulation is possible. Probably not too far(in the grand scheme of things) into the future we will be capable of simulating a human brain and feeding it simulated stimulus. If we know it is something we are likely to be able to do at some point, can you ignore out of hand that someone or thing with more processing power is already doing it on a larger scale?

Whereas your giant cosmic horse has no basis in any sort of current or predicted science.

There is a big disconnect in logic here. Possible is not the same as probable. And it is far from certain that consciousness (the experience of it) can be simulated at all.

The giant cosmic horse is as possible as your giant cosmic simulation.

437
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:57:07am

re: #435 wrenchwench

If the Cosmic Horse eats a lot, it would help to explain Dark Matter.

See, it’s a worthy theory.

438
BadgerB  Mar 6, 2017 • 10:58:57am

re: #202 Belafon
For the article:

Some contended that, in such a free-wheeling atmosphere, Priebus has struggled to provide structure. Several aides expressed unhappiness with the daily 8 a.m. senior staff meeting that he runs out of his office. With three flat-screen TVs usually on, the agenda is sometimes driven by that day’s news programs. The gatherings, which often last only 15 to 20 minutes, are typically organized round-robin style, with department heads giving 30-second updates on whatever it is they’re working on.

If an item someone mentions is important, it will result in a later sidebar conversation among a smaller team of top officials. If it isn’t, it’s often forgotten.

By the book Agile.

439
sagehen  Mar 6, 2017 • 11:00:24am

re: #406 danarchy

Depends on your concept of God. Some physicists think it is better than even money that we are living in a simulation. If that is the case then whoever created the simulation and set the parameters would be God.

I stress the some, and I have a hard time believing it, but it isn’t an idea I can dismiss out of hand.

I have a vague memory of a short story (Bradbury? Asimov? someone else? can’t recall) that a boy with an ant farm somehow got the ants to see him as a god; they built his face in the sand, brought offerings, sacrificed some of their members…

440
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 11:03:28am

re: #439 sagehen

I have a vague memory of a short story (Bradbury? Asimov? someone else? can’t recall) that a boy with an ant farm somehow got the ants to see him as a god; they built his face in the sand, brought offerings, sacrificed some of their members…

That sounds very similar to the plot of Sandkings/The Sandkings, but they were Martian insects.

en.wikipedia.org (Novelette)

en.wikipedia.org (The New Outer Limits)

441
Varek Raith  Mar 6, 2017 • 11:17:21am

There is a white smoke throughout my neighborhood.
Odd. Gonna go for a walk and see what that’s all about.

442
Nyet  Mar 6, 2017 • 11:21:37am

re: #441 Varek Raith

There is a white smoke throughout my neighborhood.
Odd. Gonna go for a walk and see what that’s all about.

New Cosmic Pope has been chosen?

443
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 11:21:40am

re: #441 Varek Raith

There is a white smoke throughout my neighborhood.
Odd. Gonna go for a walk and see what that’s all about.

That means there’s a new Pope.

444
Clearly a Country For Sick Old Haters  Mar 6, 2017 • 11:22:04am

re: #442 Nyet

New Cosmic Pope has been chosen?

Beat me by 3 seconds.

445
Varek Raith  Mar 6, 2017 • 11:48:55am

re: #442 Nyet

New Cosmic Pope has been chosen?

Nah, some utility trucks and what sounds like big fans.


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