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Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Peven Stan posted:

I think a wapo comment just broke my brain:


Frank Luntz has truly created a monster, no wonder he went into hiding. When the bad people who I don't like spend their money accuse them of being on the moral equivalent of public assistance

US Politics: Those $20 bills are yuppie food stamps.

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Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

zoux posted:

I think it's really cool that in America, literally children ask tougher and more relevant questions than the entire professional newsmedia.

Children's networks don't get blacklisted by political parties for asking tough questions, nor do they get fired by their boss for making a friend uncomfortable.

Media in this country is so thoroughly hosed and useless that it's not going to change barring a miracle.

Fried Chicken posted:

Oh poo poo this is huge!

Senate just voted to release the torture report they have been sitting on. Until now the senate report and CIA response have been classified. Now that the senate is releasing its report, the CIA needs to release its report of its torture activities as well. Rights activists have been pushing for this for a long time.

Guess it turning out the Bush CIA was spying on congress was the last straw

http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/n...cb08_story.html

Won't the CIA just redact the whole thing like they've done in the past?

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

JT Jag posted:

I really wish one of the Conservatives on the bench would just die already.

Only one? If they all died in a fiery car crash on their way to CPAC I'd probably drink myself in to a coma from excessive celebration.

Fried Chicken posted:

I don't know what a "phylactery" is, is it like a horcrux?

Goddamn kids and their Harry Potter/lack of Dungeons & Dragons. :argh:

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.
There are republican politicians that understand social media. They're the ones that avoid using it as much as possible.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

FAUXTON posted:

Goons immediately jumping to the conclusion that household income is a single earner. Who'd have thought.

It's less annoying than when I tell someone I make less than 40k a year and they think I'm poor because I make less than the average 2 adult household, having less bills to deal with (and no kids). :shrug:

Your location means a lot too though. A family of 4 living in New York off of 100k a year is going to have a drastically different comfort level and cost of living than if that family was in Atlanta or Portland.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.
Congrats on moving out of the dilapidated trailer you had in Tennessee and buying a nice, but smaller, place in Boston?

e: If you're paying 2900 a month for a place in Boston it had better be top notch or you're a huge sucker.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Parallel Paraplegic posted:

Aren't private schools allowed to basically kick out any coloreds under-performing students they don't like though?

They can also teach whatever bullshit they want, which is why Creationism's on the rise and the people behind it should be publicly flogged, right after the anti-vaxers are shipped to the nearest 3rd world country suffering from a preventable disease.

Obama's a big fan of poo poo like charter schools too and if either candidate in 2016 is against them I'll be loving stunned. Clinton would be pretty much guaranteed to double down on them.

comes along bort posted:

Out of all those only Christie was a potential establishment pick for 2016, and therefore actually stood a chance at becoming president. Which was my point- Jeb's Plan B because the one guy they'd pinned their hopes on done hosed up.


e: If you really want a hearty laugh and/or develop an ulcer guess who else they're floating?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/05/romney-returns-to-public-life-stoke-speculation-about-potential-2016-run/

Nixon lost an election then came back and won one, and let's be perfectly clear here: The GOP will absolutely hold this as a favorable comparison because Watergate is nothing compared to :freep: :gop: :freep: BENGHAZI OMBAMACARE GUN STEALING MUSLIM SOCIALISTS BANNING JESUS :freep: :gop: :freep:

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

JT Jag posted:

As someone who also came of age in Bush's Florida, he really doesn't look that bad compared to Rick Scott.

Jeb and Christie are the only two Republican candidates who I think are a threat in the general. Jeb because he can win Florida and that alone makes it a race, and Christie because he's a good speaker and not crazy. Christie can't win a primary though.

Winning Florida while still losing Virgina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, among others, does not make it a race. Jeb might win Florida thanks to Florida being America's Taint, but if Romney couldn't win a bunch of battleground states the only way Jeb will is through some next level voter fraud.

zoux posted:

Ughhhh We are so going to have open carry in this state soon. I watched a bit of this hearing, these people are loving nuts. I don't get how goddamn gunrights are peoples' #1 political issue, and they are completely ignorant of economic, education and other huge issues that affect their day to day lives more than the fantasy that some dude is going to kick down their suburban door in the middle of the night to murder their families for no reason.

Get a lot of black and hispanic people to open carry around courthouses and state buildings. Assuming the police don't just open fire because a minority has a gun, the GOP will twist every which way to fix the 'problem' like Reagan did in California. Alternately, wait and pray for some dumbass to carry a loaded rifle/shotgun on their back, bump something, and have it go off in a very public place along with half of their head.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Monkey Fracas posted:

Is this the one where they also did not even try to hide the fact that they were increasing defense spending?

Decades of the same ol' bullshit.


Yeah there is no way Late Nite Colbert is going to be anywhere near as entertaining as Fake Conservative Blowhard Colbert.

Late Night with Fake Conservative Blowhard Colbert (Report) should be a given though? I mean if CBS is hiring him but don't want him bringing along the persona that's made him popular in the first place then CBS has a terminal case of the stupids.

greatn posted:

Won't that make her reelection more difficult with lower enthusiasm? What if a Republican won in 2016, extremely narrowly, enough that people could remember how lovely they are while Dems still manage to hold the senate til 2020 as a safety measure.

If the GOP holds the House and White House you know full well enough Dems will bend knee to get the GOP votes when they want to pass something, and if the GOP gets the senate then they will immediately go full nuclear if the Democrats don't agree to do as they're told.

anonumos posted:

Why Sylvia Burwell. I'm not knocking her; I'm looking for what ya'll think of her nomination.

"Burwell, 48, was confirmed to her current Cabinet-rank position in April 2013. She came to the White House from her spot atop the Walmart Foundation."

Sounds legit. I know when I think of HHS leadership I think of Walmart! :buddy:

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

GlyphGryph posted:

Here's the thing about the Rancher guy - I am worried it will end up like another Waco, because the feds are playing this just as loving pants-on-head-retarded now as they did then.

The guy is breaking the law and refusing to follow court orders. Why the hell didn't they just arrest the bastard when they started? Why did they wait 20 years to start taking action against him? Why establish "free speech zones" and bring down the anger of the state gov, who was until that point letting them handle it? Why such an insane response, and why isn't it over yet?

I swear, the Feds end up getting this urge every so often to whip out their dick and wave it around, and drat the consequences, and if this goes south it's going to be entirely their fault for being super-incompetent. Again.

Innocents dying in Waco was bad but if it'd just been a few hundred militiamen, especially the white power neo-confederates that make up most groups these days, I'd have been perfectly ok with :commissar: Reno approach. We'd end up with a few more McVeighs though and the last thing we need is more white home grown terrorists angry patriots.

greatn posted:

Obama's pretty dumb asking for Sebellius resignation at this time. Now every headline is "Sebellius resigns over Obamacare troubles and website woes" when the website is working loving fine and they surpassed their sign up goals by over half a million and lowered the god drat uninsurance rate a ton.

But nope, media is back to "Obamacare had a bad website in October. Is failure." Weird how they remember back that far for healthcare.gov but forgot the government being shut down by Republican assholes for literally no god drat reason.

It's almost as if the GOP is better when it comes to controlling the narrative in the media. Who would've thought that largely passive and ineffectual democrats would lose in this matchup? :aaa:

BUSH 2112 posted:

Being extremely generous, I can imagine he's talking about people who choose to gently caress their cousins, and then want to get an abortion if they end up with a fetus that has genetic disorders. But, really he's likely just a horrible rear end in a top hat.

More states allow cousins of the opposite sex to marry one another than unrelated people of the same sex. Also consider just how many people in the GOP likely grew up as Dukes of Hazzard fans.


I'd be amazed if the NSA and other intelligence groups didn't know about Heartbleed. Something like that is a godsend to spy agencies.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Stew Man Chew posted:

My fiancée is currently the only person trying to stop this from making it to law. It's a horrible combination of classic progressive problems:

She's a state level organization so six weeks ago when this bill first became a thing, she reached out to ALL of her national partners for assistance because their specialty is teen pregnancy and they have little grounding in gun rights. Not one of her partners, domestic violence groups, the NAACP, minority outreach no one, got back to her. Because here in gosh darn South Carolina we just don't matter on a national stage.

Now that she's invoked the "Stand Your Ground" verbiage (literally, that's all this is about, the words), every one of these organizations is making GBS threads on her for various reasons. She's been accused of being a white woman co opting the black community's struggle. They started the campaign today and already they're taking flak, but frankly, nobody helped her out a month ago, and she couldn't just not try something, so this is what she came up with. I think it's fine, and she's gotten crazy support from our local advocates and such, so I'm pretty proud of the attention it's gotten (FINALLY).

Been a helluva legislative session here in the second worst state in the union. Thanks Mississippi, you've always got our back.

I think your girlfriend is going to grow up to be an angry conservative woman one day after she is driven insane and tells all those groups to go gently caress themselves for being dumb as hell.

Shageletic posted:

In case you missed it the New Yorker did a follow-up on that little bit of business in West Virginia that might have possibly poisoned more than three hundred thousand people over there, that little brouhaha. First a bit of background.


And what's been the response?


This behavior is hardly unique.



To read more about a state where income inequality and a panicked, politically focused, and well monied elite have gained power, leading to almost no streams free of contaminants and near misses that would have eclipsed the Bhopal disaster (and the amazing fact that the original owner of Freedom Industries is an actual honest to god convicted coke dealer), go here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/07/140407fa_fact_osnos?currentPage=all

West Virgina being owned by coal companies would be funny if it wasn't just a window in to the future for the rest of the country.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

VitalSigns posted:

That's what did it for me. Watching the ultra-rich beg for billions in bailouts, pay themselves huge bonuses for tanking the economy, then turn around and excoriate those who lost their jobs and homes, calling them moochers without any irony finally made me question my Objectivist beliefs about who the makers and the takers really are.

And all the while nobody did anything but cry a little when the rich did this, ensuring it'll happen again.

Joementum posted:

The Feds are rather obviously just waiting for the Ron Paul / Alex Jones / Joe Walsh crowd to vacate and they'll continue to prosecute the rancher. It's good that they seem to have learned from the 90s that forcing a show of authority isn't always the best solution to these issues.

I don't know where you get this optimism from. The feds just saying to hell with it and going home instead of arresting the guy or seizing his poo poo like they should seems entirely plausible. Hopefully they're just waiting for things to die down and plan to grab his rear end off the street in a few days, in between the guy's likely appearances on Fox News as the Patriot Defying Obama's America or something.


That inflated swimming pool, holy gently caress on a stick. :stare:

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Craptacular! posted:

So, I made a reference to Congress in another forum here, and it just dawned on me... Why doesn't the GOP split up Texas?

It seems like you could split Texas up into a number of states, at least three if you turned Houston and Dallas into new capitals. Creating new GOP-controlled states out of one big GOP-controlled state would give you more GOP Senators, which would make it further difficult for Democrats to have any control in Congress. There's not exactly any real equal for the Democrats, as California's liberals are all centralized in two regions and I'm not sure New York is that much better.

I'm probably an idiot. I don't know much about the state economically , and I suppose it's very likely that the state's great expanses of nothing survive off the money made at the ports on the coast. The other issue is that such a proposal can be easily countered by a marketing campaign invoking the popular phrase, "Dont Mess With Texas", which is sort of a sure hit with low information voters.

Making several mini-states out of Texas will mean the GOP concedes the Presidency barring some world-shattering event, like them figuring out the right wedge issue to use on black and hispanic voters to suddenly peel a large amount of those demographics to their side. They might manage to steal the senate for awhile but without the presidency they're going to need super majorities in both houses so they can override vetoes, or pray that the democrats elect some center-right, pro-business person they can count on to pass the poo poo that matters to them even if the president vetoes stuff like defunding the ACA or an abortion ban. You know, someone like Hilary Clinton.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Old James posted:

The tax preparation companies are required to provide you an option to file for free (there are probably other I am not aware of). They just throw a bunch of ads at you encouraging you to buy extra services.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do-Your-Federal-Taxes-for-Free

H&R Block used to auto-fill your previous year's information for free. This year their free version excluded it (and probably other stuff) so their free version is just manually entering a bunch of info and even then you're still going to be charged to file any state return with them. That these companies fought against the IRS making free and simple online filing is all the more reason they should've been told to gently caress off and provide a better service if they want to stick around.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

The Warszawa posted:

Hillary is Cersei, Janet Reno is Brienne because she's a stone cold badass. Rahm Emanuel is Littlefinger.

RFK is Ned Stark, Jimmy Carter is Howland Reed, Reagan is Aerys II, George H.W. Bush is Rhaegar. George W. Bush is Aegon, Cheney is Jon Connington.

Obama is Daenerys - you've got dragons man loving do SOMETHING.

Sotomayor is the Hound, Kagan is Arya Stark, Thurgood Marshall is Jaqen.

HW Bush is Jon Arryn and Bush Jr is Robin Arryn. :colbert:


mdemone posted:

You GoT folks always make me itch to read the books but I'm damned if I'll start another 5000-page fantasy series with all the great stuff that's already piling up on my to-read stack.

You could go read the Riftwar Series. It's going to be more than 5000 pages but it's finished and you won't be left waiting a decade for the last two books.

The Warszawa posted:

Shocking absolutely no one, Ezra Klein is wrong.

On the other hand, like Bush, she gets herself in a mess with no clear way out and causes a shitload of horrible suffering for countless people due to her shortsightedness. Her crusade against slavery pretty much results in established cities being wiped out and the liberated people put in an equal or worse position while everyone else who was ok is now in a much worse off place. Even before the pale rider becomes an issue. So yeah, Dany in Iraq fits.

Nessus posted:

I gather GRRM has provided HBO with an outline for at least a conclusion to the storyline in case he dies, ascends to Wiener Heaven, and HBO is left finishing up the series on their own. So there's that at least.

The guys directing the show have stated (multiple times) that GRRM has told him how he plans to end the series, so they can finish the show even when he doesn't finish the books.

e: Palin is Osha.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Gyges posted:

If an oligarchy controls elections, and those elected decide who sits on the court, then it's only natural that people thought to have beliefs in sync with the oligarchy would be chosen for the bench.

Bring on Justices Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders (replacing Alito and Scalia).

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

computer parts posted:

No, but you see this one point in the 1950s was great for Labor as long as you were a white male and you ignored a third of the country.

Whereas now even being a white male doesn't matter and it's getting progressively worse for everyone. Yay progress!

LOU BEGAS MUSTACHE posted:

I'm gonna guess the VP is whoever the establishment like enough to be president in 8 years.

If Hilary runs again and gets the nod she's going to pick some middle-right pro-business person who mirrors her own views. Her VP pick is going to be an Andrew Cuomo and not an Elizabeth Warren.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

fool_of_sound posted:

No one is going to defend anyone saying friend of the family and keep their job.

Boy are you in for a shock when you visit reddit since you don't appear to have done so yet. :sigh:

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Relentlessboredomm posted:

Crossposting some news from the football forum.


Recently Northwestern has been given the opportunity to vote for a union by the NLRB. The vote was on Friday but before the players voted there was a fairly large union busting push by the alumni, the school, and the athletic department to encourage them to vote properly.

http://deadspin.com/northwestern-goes-union-busting-1567067701

Some of the best bits:


Early indications are that the vote was lopsided against unionizing. On the plus side the recent NLRB ruling has opened the door for other schools to try this.

I especially like how no action of any kind will be taken against the people that engaged in this poo poo because hating labor is a bipartisan feeling. Guessing the former players that tried to talk them down aren't in the NFL? I can't imagine the NFL player's union being cool with any members doing that, unless labor is hosed beyond comprehension.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Fried Chicken posted:

Georgia passed a new gun law, allowing them to be carried drat near anywhere (including airports and churches, the former where the feds frown harshly, the latter where it has been a mortal sin for 800 years)

How is that working out?


http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/man-gun-causes-scare-during-childrens-baseball-gam/nfhJS/



gently caress the idea that a tool is a fashion accessory, a ritual totem, or a way to prove something.

I hope the guy was doing this specifically to be a problem in order to generate backlash against the law because it's the only way any gun laws are ever going to get toned back. This is Georgia though... :shrug:

Not sure how their action wouldn't be considered a public nuisance though.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

effectual posted:

Careful, Nixon lost his first bid but then...

If President Romney resigns under similar circumstances I might be ok with this.


The NRA's low spending is also due to ow effective they are with little to no expenditure. It doesn't cost the NRA very much to have someone call up Republican congressmen and tell them "if you vote for/against X we're going to bury you" at which point the congressman does as the NRA has ordered. If there was a massive nationwide push to reign in gun law insanity they'd be out in force, spending millions and fear-mongering more millions out of their members.

Install Windows posted:

It would not be unconstitutional to raise taxes nationally and eliminate state taxes, where did you get that idea? It would simply be extraordinarily unpopular and in about noone's political interest.

The federal government couldn't just up and decide to get rid of a state's taxes. There's no way in hell the court would uphold that and it'd put state budgets entirely at the mercy of the feds. It'd get shot down by 7-9 of the justices, though likely for different reasons.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Fried Chicken posted:

So I didn't see this coming at all, but the Senate is set to vote on an amendment to reverse the citizens united ruling later this year

http://m.thenation.com/blog/179607-senate-plans-vote-constitutional-amendment-counter-plutocracy-politics

Text of the proposed amendment:


Nice.

And in a 5-4 ruling, the SCOTUS tells Congress to get hosed and that this is still unconstitutional.


Just kidding. This is going to die in the senate to a filibusterer so that the House doesn't have to deal with it. :smith:

Last Buffalo posted:

You can be an expat and come back to America. It's not 1750, you don't have to write off your birth country, even if you are a rich white male.


Do you have a liberal arts BA? Congrats, now you have a ticket to escape the hellhole of modern America by teaching English. China is definitely hiring.

There are very few people I know living in China who would suggest moving there unless you have rather specific tastes or like the culture. Or like wearing a mask outside because you just moved to a major city with apocalyptic-level air pollution.

Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Hedera Helix posted:

Whoever it was that compared Cliven Bundy to a warlord appears to have hit the nail on the head. (via digby)

Again I find myself seeing no problem with the feds just laying waste to every last one of these people, or disappearing them one by one were it not for the fact that we'd end up with more Oklahoma City bombings as a result, while the main instigators would remain on tv/radio and make even more money as result.

Can only imagine what the feds would've done to that Sheriff had he actually gone and tried to disarm federal agents.

pengun101 posted:

ok this poo poo is starting to anger and scare me. I understand the feds are trying to wait these assholes out, but at this rate they will start killing people for being "feds". Its obvious they are worried about disloyalty in the ranks, so i assume some purity tests will start soon, which is kinda of worrisome.

If militias start killing each other due to No True Scotsman that's pretty much the best possible outcome for everyone else. Lets the feds round up the survivors and tack numerous murder charges on to whatever else they've built up during this nonsense.

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Evil Fluffy
Jul 13, 2009

Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

fade5 posted:

What kills me is is that the Air Force respond to the F-35 being a shitheap in a very simple way: service extensions for the F-16s that the F-35 was supposed to replace.

:laugh:
Now let's take a look at the F-16 for a minute:

F-16 cost per plane in 2013 dollars: $20.0-$23.5 million
F-35 cost per plane in 2013 dollars: $153.1-$199.4 million

Still in use today by the US, used by 25 other nations around the globe, and astoundingly cheap in comparison. Now that is a successful fighter jet.:patriot:

Maybe if it and the A-10 wanted to remain in use they'd be deviously setup so that pretty much every state is involved in their production so that it'd be politically untenable to kill them off. :911:

Dr Pepper posted:

It should be noted that people in Utah crunched the numbers and discovered that the cheapest method of solving homelessness, that is literally the method that ends the problem while costing the least amount possible, is to just buy the homeless people an apartment with a social worker to help them (And they keep the apartment no matter what).

Building bigass apartment buildings with units of even 500 square feet and a basic bed (like the cheap lovely things in most dorms), kitchen, and bathroom would help tremendously. Have a handful of staff that work to help them get jobs and/or better education so they can get a job. Let them move out once they're on their feet, or stay if they'd prefer to remain in the recovery unit or w/e you'd call it.

Hell, take a handful of the tenants and train them in various maintenance duties and employ them directly at the complex to help with the upkeep. Give them a home and a path that can help them out and I doubt many would turn it down. Those that would likely need help the most.

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