Thursday Morning Links

Thursday, baby!  The Thiccness is on its way, don’t worry.  Now, let’s see if I can keep you amused for the first part of the day.

Rand is finding his voice again.
Mick and Keith are finding their friends.

Here’s the last decent song the Rolling Stones put out. (Don’t say “Hang Fire”. That was a good one too, but this was the final track on that album so it counts as “last”)

Last thing: I’ll be putting together a college basketball tourney pick em for the Glibs and for any of our old friends that haven’t joined us but participated in the years I used to do it over there.  I know I failed to put one together last year, but I’m climbing back in the saddle again this year and will have it up shortly so you guys can get registered.  It’ll be a Yahoo! deal, just to give you a heads-up.

 

Comments

440 responses to “Thursday Morning Links”

  1. UnCivilServant

    I keep forgetting that this site is on central time, I was looking for links starting at seven Eastern.

    1. Well, you eventually found them.

    2. PieInTheSKy

      They should be put on Central European Time occasionally just to mix things up

    3. bacon-magic

      Central time is the correct time.

      1. Jimbo

        ^ Check out this guy ^
        Is there actually anything in Central time? I thought it was just a moat to make it harder for people to move to Pacific time.

        1. Mike Schmidt

          Hey bacon, I think you and I can dispatch this left coaster pretty easily.

          1. Jimbo

            *runs away from crazy man with bat*

      2. Mountain Standard or GTFO

        1. Jimbo

          Is that the hill you’ve chosen to die on?

          1. I’d rather die on a hill in the Last Best Place than anywhere else, so… yeah

  2. Juvenile Bluster

    Of course you people post links just as I’m going out for the next 3 hours for an out of the office meeting.

    I hate out of the office meetings.

    1. UnCivilServant

      To avoid paying travel for peons, New York pays for WebEx instead.

    2. SugarFree

      Clutch your stomach, groan and start walking out. Cry out, “Muh period!” before you leave the room. No one will question you later.

      1. That…that is brilliant! HR would be tied in knots for weeks trying to figure out how to respond.

    3. RBS

      I hate out of office meetings, in office meetings, conference calls and phone calls of all types.

    4. Not an Economist

      I had an out of office meeting yesterday. I nearly got killed twice leaving the meeting by people running or nearly running a red light. It was a fun ride home.

  3. Just a thought not a sermon

    7) Let’s do generation generalities! I read several years ago that Millennials were going to be a “moral corrective” generation, that in American history there’s typically a couple generations that push the envelope for freedom, followed by a retrenching generation, and the millennials were it. The author seemed to think that would be a positive thing.

    I don’t think he’s wrong about millennials—I notice a strong puritanical streak among my youngest coworkers and colleagues. What I didn’t realize is A) how annoying this would be, B) how irrelevant to real life their moral concerns would seem, and C) how moral is not the same as ethical.

    At my weekly writers’ group, for instance, there’s a young lady—a great writer, actually—but she drives us all crazy with her constant curating of our characters’ sexual mores. Why does this male character not get affirmative consent before a sexual advance—doesn’t he know he’s practically raping that female? (The romance writer at our table especially loves this.)

    And if it’s not sexuality, it’s food. Not eating the correct organic/ health /local-sourced /whatever draws disapproving comments from a couple younger coworkers.

    I suppose not all millennials seem to be moral scolds (just like you’ll occasionally come across a Boomer who’s not astoundingly self-absorbed), but the tendency is definitely, definitely there.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The country got what it nurtured into being.

      1. Slammer

        Neutered into being

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      Hm. Sounds like this chick needs to be told the old ‘fuck off you nag’ line.

      1. Microaggressor

        Gendered language. 10 yard penalty.

    3. straffinrun

      She sounds like she’s giving you fantastic feedback. Just expand on whatever she tells you to cut and delete what she praises.

    4. John Titor

      she drives us all crazy with her constant curating of our characters’ sexual mores.

      See, I’ve kind of noticed two trends with Millennials and sex – either they’re obsessed with the dynamics of it, as you mention, or they’re so overexposed that it’s become trite and boring to them.

      The romance writer at our table especially loves this.

      Is this sarcasm or does the romance writer just write really boring sex?

      I suppose not all millennials seem to be moral scolds (just like you’ll occasionally come across a Boomer who’s not astoundingly self-absorbed)

      Meh, do whatever you want.

      1. Just a thought not a sermon

        The romance writer at our table especially loves this.

        Is this sarcasm or does the romance writer just write really boring sex?

        This is sarcasm. You can judge the sex scenes for yourself:
        https://www.amazon.com/Captains-Orders-Kara-Keen-ebook/dp/B00VF53JDO/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489066173&sr=1-4&keywords=kara+keen

        1. straffinrun

          Cole Carleton. Tania Shevchenko. Nice character names. They die of untreated syphilis, right?

        2. John Titor

          There’s definitely a market for a parody of boring Millennial sex etiquette.

          1. Brett L

            Its called Girls.

          2. John Titor

            I watched an episode and a half before I realized the whole show wasn’t a parody of vapid, self-centered Millennials and their issues. It becomes significantly worse when you realize it’s sincere.

          3. Count Potato

            How the hell did you watch an episode and a half? Were you hopped up on some CAF superdrug? I got PTSD just from accidentally seeing a commercial for that show.

          4. John Titor

            It’s amazing what you’ll tolerate when you think it’s mocking itself, rather than playing it straight.

            I got a (very mild) Californication vibe, where it criticizes and mocks the hell out of shitty Californian entertainment culture, but it’s subtle. It didn’t take me long to figure out Girls was sincere in its stupidity.

          5. Agent Cooper

            It’s a satire on Sex and the City. It might still be sincere, but it was Dunham looking at S&TC and realizing how incredibly unrealistic it was. The only real reason to watch Girls is Adam Driver. And Zosia Mamet has a nice body.

        3. Rufus the Monocled

          Is it always up to me to ask? Sigh….

          These women.

          Are they hot?

          1. John Titor

            Amazon page has the romance author’s picture.

            I’m going to say no.

          2. Rufus the Monocled

            Welllll…..

          3. John Titor

            Is this one of those times where I have to adjust my standards to someone two decades older than me?

          4. Jimbo

            I’m with you, Rufus. She’s doable.
            Looks like she has a business suit on, so imagine taking her on the executive board room table. I am a little concerned that I can’t see anything below her chest, but I am a man who likes to take risks.

          5. She looks like an aged admin assistant – one who never got married and lives with three dogs.

          6. Rufus the Monocled

            …AND YOUR POINT?

            As you age, standards shift.

            It’s an axiom. Or something.

          7. Suthenboy

            Well, who do you think writes romance novels?

          8. Bobarian LMD

            Who do you think reads romance novels?

          9. Number.6

            *Blush*

          10. Agent Cooper

            Dogs = potentially attractive older woman
            Cats = harridan to avoid at all costs

          11. R C Dean

            Damn, Humungus. I clicked through, and that is just uncanny.

          12. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            She’s toward the tail end of the two sigma envelope.

    5. PieInTheSKy

      so does 1984 make one a millennial?

      1. Not unless they think its an instruction manual for how to run a country.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Not for nothing, but the next generation (Zee? or iGen?) is hitting the streets now. 21 for the oldest of the new bunch.

          And of course, it is all mostly bullshit.

          1. trshmnstr

            21 for the oldest of the new bunch.

            That would make millennials the shortest generation ever. 10 years isn’t a generation. 18 years is.

            Baby Boomer: 1945-1963
            Gen X: 1964-1982
            Millennial: 1983-2001
            Gen Z: 2002-2020

          2. trshmnstr

            19*

          3. Bobarian LMD

            The stuff I typically see has a 15 yr life. X -65 to 80 Mill – 81-95 Z -96-10

            this reflects a 10 year generation cohort.

            The Atlantic recognizes some sloppy definitions.

            I sat in a marketing briefing two weeks ago that said the earliest ‘Z’s were born in 95.

            But mostly I think it’s bullshit to define a generation by a fixed timeframe. A generation is really set by the events that define it during the important development stages. Which could mean a very short or long window for a real cohort.

      2. Haybob

        I hate that I’m considered a millennial. I think they need to adjust the generation and cut out the older millennials. I am nothing like the typical millennial and neither were most of my peers in college. Though looking back I did notice this behavior was slowly creeping in to my school.

        1. Banjos

          There’s two groups of Millennial: the ones born in the early 80s to mid 80s who grew up with the internet but not with social media or cell phones and the rest who were raised with social media and cell phones. Social media and cell phone use amongst the general populace didn’t really start until I was in college and afterwards. So on one hand, I can relate to growing up with little technology and at the same time I am familiar with modern technology. There needs to be a special name given to people born in the early to mid 80s as they can relate to both worlds.

          1. R C Dean

            I like how “no social media or cell phones [really, smart phones]” = “little technology” these days. I had already been fired by my first law firm before PCs really were a thing on every desk and in homes.

            *shakes cane, ties onion to belt

          2. straffinrun

            30 years old when I got my first cell phone. My 8 year old has one already, but she can only call me or mom. She wants to look cool so she calls me all the time, trying to impress her friends. Hell, I’ll take it because I’m sure she’s a year or two away finding me a disgusting creature.

          3. Jimbo

            Look on the bright side, all of us here already know what a disgusting creature you are.

          4. Banjos

            “I had already been fired by my first law firm before PCs really were a thing on every desk and in homes.”

            Were you caught stealing abacuses?

          5. Mike Schmidt

            I need an abacus to keep track of your squirrel posts.

          6. Mike Schmidt

            It would be nice if you also deleted my email so I don’t look insane

          7. Mike Schmidt

            email. *sigh* maybe I am insane

          8. Banjos

            Culturally, social media makes a world of difference. Imagine going through your most embarrassing and formative years on social media.

          9. Tundra

            *waves from prison*

          10. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            Caught up in the churn.

        2. TripodKat

          Most of us are not like that. You just see a very, very vocal and loud minority.

        3. Jimbo

          At Javelin Strategy & Research, my employer, we have Gen Y1 and Gen Y2, since there are big differences. One being many of the older Millennials (Gen Y) are married and have kids while the younger ones are still college age.

          1. trshmnstr

            One being many of the older Millennials (Gen Y) are married and have kids while the younger ones are still college age.

            Isn’t that just a symptom of the age of the cohort? These generations seem to run about 18 years, so you’re gonna have the earliest starting college when the latest are just being born.

          2. Jimbo

            I should have been more clear. There’s always going to be an issue when you have so many years encompassing one group. Gen X is about 15 years, so less of an issue, but still there. IMO, we need to have smaller groups, especially with the way technology is changing so quickly.

          3. trshmnstr

            I would think that 5 years would probably best encompass cultural/technological/social trends, but I would guess that would get unwieldy really fast

    6. leonadasiv

      Being in the middle of the millennial generation, there are definitely aspects of this that I can see. At the same time, I don’t encounter it very often in my daily life. Part of it is because I work in a fairly free environment, and part of it is I’ve never been much of a socializer. For example, I never saw anything like what is going on at campuses now when I was in college only two years back. But that may be because I avoided a lot of politics. Also my school was a big commuter school and I think that has a ‘maturity’ bias. Most people at school we just trying to finish it up.

      1. John Titor

        When people talk about ‘Millennial’ culture, what they actually mean is ’19-30 university and urbanite middle/upper class culture’. Go to the ghetto or the boonies and suddenly the stereotypes wash away.

        1. trshmnstr

          ^^ This.

    7. robc

      Moral, ethical and legal are 3 different things with some overlap.

    8. Mr Lizard

      This female mammal you speak of is simply making an overly complicated plea for the cock.

      If you mammals would properly service your mates with the correct daily dose of Act Right. Then you would not suffer the constant maddening utterances you are currently subjected too

      1. Jimbo

        That is hot! You should write novels or something.

      2. Vhyrus

        I agree with the monitor. Give her the D.

    9. thom

      It’s when a self-absorbed boomer and a self-righteous millennial agree with each other and team up that things get unbearable.

  4. Commissioner blames ‘those damn chicken nuggets’ for drunk driving arrest

    A Montcalm County commissioner was arrested in December for driving with a blood-alcohol content almost twice the legal limit.

    Jeremy Miller, 40, was stopped for speeding and later arrested for operating while intoxicated after a breathalyzer test indicated he had a BAC of 0.14 percent.

    Asked if he understood why he was being arrested, Miller told the arresting Greenville Public Safety officer it was “because I was being stupid, those damn chicken nuggets,” according to a police report.

    1. Slammer

      If he’s referring to McDonald’s, their nuggets really are the best. No one else comes close. Chik-fil-A are actually the best nuggets, but that’s real chicken, so I don’t count them.
      Also, smiling mug shots make me smile too

    2. Count Potato

      Later Miller was arrested for prostitution, because of those “damn Krispy Kreme donuts”.

    3. ANCHOR: Now we go to our network’s legal expert. What do you think of this “chicken nugget defense?”

      EXPERT: Ah, yes, the chicken nugget defense. This is rarely invoked, so there aren’t a good many precedents for it. The closest case I could find was a guy in Michigan who said he killed and ate people because they “tasted like chicken.”

      ANCHOR: So, how successful do you think the chicken nugget defense will be in this particular case?

      EXPERT: Only time will tell.

    4. Idle Hands

      Not that it matters but I found this chart that tracks the total number of alcoho lrelated fatalities as a percentage of total traffic fatalities. for all the money spent on DUI enforcement, education, literature and increasing stringent defintions on what “drunk driving” is, the percentage has remained at or around 40% from 2001-2010. And I would wager its still the same.

      1. Count Potato

        They lowered the BAC so much, there are all these PSA’s on TV, “Buzzed driving is drunk driving”.

      2. Lachowsky

        The chart is skewed. An accident when a totally sober driver runs over a drunk who walled in in front of his vehicle is counted as an alcohol related incident. If a sober driver runs over a sober individual and a drunk person is a passenger in the vehicle , then it is counted as an alcohol related incident.

    5. leonadasiv

      LEROYYYY JENKINS!!

  5. UnCivilServant

    Meanwhile, on the mainland, illegal immigration has taken a precipitous fall since the immigration laws that have been on the books for quite some time started being marginally more strictly enforced but started receiving considerably more coverage.

    something, something, more of what you incentivize, something, something, less of what you punish.*

    *Though there is a point of diminishing returns, see: Prohibition.

    1. Just a thought not a sermon

      Prohibition was dumb. It’s goal wasn’t to reduce drinking, it was to eliminate it. An impossible goal, unless your willing to resort to truly monstrous measures.

      I don’t think anybody believes or wants to eliminate illegal immigration down to the last person. If we reduce it by XX%, I think most people will be happy enough.

      1. SugarFree

        If we just got rid of the English/Spanish option on ATMs, 90% of the grousing about immigration would evaporate.

        1. ¡Ay, dios mio!

        2. Old Man With Candy

          Around here, Polish is the other option.

        3. Jimbo

          *Press 1 for English*

      2. Viking1865

        I mean, call me a bad libertarian, but I really don’t see how rounding up and deporting all the dudes with MS13 tats is The Death of Liberty.

        1. UnCivilServant

          Because it sets the awful precedent of a country getting to decide who comes into its boundaries, or something.

        2. You know who else discriminated against people with certain tattoos…?

          1. Mike Schmidt

            God

          2. Nearly every human resources manager involved in an interview process?

          3. Tundra

            Me.

          4. UnCivilServant

            The Japanese?

          5. F. Stupidity Jr.

            People who refused to vacation on Fantasy Island?

          6. Agent Cooper

            Billy Harrow?

            (a tad obscure)

          7. bacon-magic

            Victoria’s Secret?

          8. Number.6

            Me, when I’m hiring a hooker!

        3. As someone who lives about 30 minutes south of Montgomery County, Maryland, I couldn’t agree more.

    1. straffinrun

      At least thye gave us roads. Muddy, but roads.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        And hospitals. Government gave us hospitals.

        1. Dr. Fronkensteen

          All right… all right… but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and
          irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order… what has the government done for us?

    2. Rufus the Monocled

      ‘With government. Civilization: Needs honesty and efficiency’.

      Outstanding.

      Just because it was 1948 doesn’t mean it was classical genius as this putz seems to think. For all we know it’s socialist propaganda.

      1. Back in those days, the education system had a slight leftward bias. This has been corrected.

      2. WTF

        They offered the world ORDER!

    3. Bobarian LMD

      I wonder what they’d think of the American History book that sat right next to that one on the shelf in 1948?

      “Where are all the people of color?”

  6. straffinrun

    In news totally unrelated to min wage laws

    Dubbed “Flippy,” the robotic kitchen assistant is the creation of Miso Robotics, an engineering firm specializing in “adaptable robotics” for commercial kitchens. The goal is to develop technology that can handle hazardous, tedious and time-sensitive aspects of cooking, from flipping burgers to frying chicken, cutting vegetables or final plating, according to press materials.

    1. Brett L

      Next on their list a robotic trumpet player… the Miso Horny.

      1. John Titor

        Fisto, the pleasure bot.

        “Please assume the position.”

      2. Just a thought not a sermon

        The only time my wife has ever given me the silent treatment was once when we went to a Japanese restaurant. When the soup came, I made the bowls say, “Oh, miso soupy! Miso soupy!”

        Didn’t get an acknowledgement of my existence for the rest of the evening.

        1. Brett L

          Isn’t it nice to eat a meal in silence once in a while?

          1. Agent Cooper

            A Dinner Without A Woman

        2. Pretty sure the kitchen staff acknowledged you by adding a few ingredients to the rest of your order. They just didn’t bother making that acknowledgement vocal.

        3. TripodKat

          You deserved to be shunned.

        4. bacon-magic

          For that you need sake right in your eye.

        5. JaimeRoberto

          Because udon wrong.

  7. Brett L

    Noooo. Houston is going to fuck up and “win” Tony Romo and have a fucking stable of overpayed, overhyped QBs who have the best physical qualities and worst ability to throw the fucking ball where the other team can’t intercept it.

    **prepares ritual seppuku arrangement**

    1. *hands over sake, rice paper and knife*

      Denver may rescue you yet… Aged Quarterback II, Superbowl Boogaloo or so they think.

      1. Brett L

        Football, the unrequited love of Houstonians. When I get to hell, I’m killing Bud Adams again. Goodbye cruel world.

        1. “Again”?

          *quietly steps back a few paces*

    2. Viking1865

      I’m a Redskins fan.

      1. TripodKat

        I feel your pain.

    3. Certified Public Asshat

      I’m no Tony Romo fan, but jeez, he is certainly a lot more talented than Osweiler.

      1. Brett L

        Neither one is getting us a realistic shot at winning a playoff game without a defensive miracle. Romo is exactly what Osweiler will be if he grows up. A guy with all the physical skills who can’t put the ball in a car-tire sized hole when it matters. Do not want some broken ass version of Osweiler.

        1. F. Stupidity Jr.

          I don’t see that. At the same age and experience level, Romo was way better that Brock. Ostweiler would have to improve substantially to be as good as Romo in one of his lesser seasons.

          I’m a professed Cowboy hater, but the idea that Romo is some kind of bedshitting loser at QB is categorically false. He has always been among the best QBs after guys like Peyton, Brady, and Rodgers; he’s even been at their level for a season or two.

          1. R C Dean

            Romo is one of those QBs with fab stats, and few to no wins in big games.

            I was talking to a friend who coaches football in TX back when Romo was still pretty new to the Cowboys. He said “He’s a good QB, but he doesn’t have what it takes to win big games.” Turned out he was right.

          2. F. Stupidity Jr.

            Doesn’t the quality of the team around the QB matter at all? And the year they lost to Green Bay, when Dez Bryant had that catch-that-wasn’t-really-a-catch, was that Romo’s fault? He put the ball in the only place you can put it.

            “Doesn’t have what it takes” is superstitious nonsense. John Elway once got blown out in three Super Bowls, and I’m certain people said the same thing about him until, surprise surprise, the team around him got good enough to win.

          3. Old Man With Candy

            The best examples I can think of are the ’85 Bears (Jim McMahon was a slightly better QB than my grandma) and the ’00 Ravens (Trent Dilfer was a game manager, not an offensive threat).

          4. WTF

            And not that Tom Brady isn’t great, but the Patriots went 3-1 last year with their second and third string backups. The team has a hell of a lot to do with it.

          5. F. Stupidity Jr.

            OMWC, ditto Brad Johnson with Tampa, although he was better than McMahon or Dilfer. Phil Simms was the best game manager-type to win a SB.

          6. F. Stupidity Jr.

            WTF: If you ask me, Tom Brady is both overrated and a first-ballot HOFer. If I was drafting a QB and every QB who ever lived was 22 years old, I’d take Aaron Rodgers.

          7. WTF

            If you ask me, Tom Brady is both overrated and a first-ballot HOFer. If I was drafting a QB and every QB who ever lived was 22 years old, I’d take Aaron Rodgers.

            Agree.

          8. Old Man With Candy

            Hmmm. 22 years old? If I could get a year of headroom, the 23-24 year old Joe Montana. And maybe it would have been fine at 22 except for DeBerg in the way.

            Montana is still the best I’ve ever seen, and I grew up watching Unitas.

          9. R C Dean

            The quality of the team definitely matters, and the Cowboys as a whole have had their definite shortcomings. Romo was just a particularly enthusiastic participant in the ritual Cowboy December Collapse.

            When somebody says “Doesn’t have what it takes”, and turns out to be predictive, I’m reluctant to write it off as nonsense.

          10. trshmnstr

            Romo was just a particularly enthusiastic participant in the ritual Cowboy December Collapse.

            Romo is the poor man’s Manning. He was never particularly athletic, and never had the arm strength to outthrow coverage. He had to outthink the defense. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the singular football mind that Manning had, so he was pretty regularly exposed.

          11. robc

            Romo needs a closer.

            Just like it took a while for starting pitchers to accept coming out for a fresh arm, QBs like Romo will have trouble accepting it, but they need to. If you are behind in the 4th, I want Romo in. If you get a 1 TD+ lead in the 4th, yank him and put in a game manager QB who won’t screw it up.

        2. Certified Public Asshat

          I think you are safe anyway, Texans don’t have that much cap space to throw money at Romo.

          I think he might surprise and go with the 49ers or Browns, who can just bury him in cash.

          1. Agent Cooper

            Unless he wants a shot at winning (in the playoffs) which he really never did with Dallas.

          2. Certified Public Asshat

            Or take lots of money with no expectations in Cleveland. He’s a hero if he wins 8 games.

        3. Old Man With Candy

          Look on the bright side. Cutler.

          1. Jerms

            Or look at the Jets who are looking at Brian Hoyer to save them.

          2. Slammer

            I heard Hoyer went to the 49ers

          3. Certified Public Asshat

            Yes, Jets are now back to…Geno Smith for their saving.

  8. Trump admin quietly made asylum more difficult in the US

    The move came without the fanfare of Trump’s executive orders and implementation guidance, tucked away in arcane guidance for asylum officers distributed by US Citizenship and Immigration Services to officers and immigration lawyers.

    But despite the changes being widely unnoticed, experts say they have major implications for how would-be asylum seekers’ cases are handled. Taken with the rest of Trump’s actions to crack down on illegal immigration and tighten border security, the changes could further restrict the flow of immigrants into the US without needing to change any laws.

    “Clearly a signal is being given to the field here: We want to be stricter,” said former USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez, who served in the role for the last two-and-a-half years of the Obama administration and is now an attorney. “I think the intent of it will absolutely be understood by the officers.”

    1. Protip: don’t pass laws with enforcement mechanisms or execution left up to those implementing it. When you do, its subject to change from admin to admin. The better plan is to write an entire law, including enforcement and execution written into it.

      Of course, that would mean the legislature being responsible for the laws they pass. And they can’t have that.

    2. So basically, certain people are normally subject to instant, do-not-pass-go deportation (or “removal” or whatever it’s called nowadays) because they’re so obviously violating the immigration laws. Eg, stowaways.

      But if they claim they face torture or persecution in their home countries, then an immigration official has to decide if there’s enough evidence to justify a full-on immigration hearing. If yes, then a hearing is scheduled and the person is either locked up or “paroled” into the US while waiting the hearing. If no, then they’re deported right away and don’t pass Go.

      So this new document trains immigration officials on how to do these preliminary screenings, deciding if the person should get instant deportation or whether a hearing should be scheduled on their claim of torture/persecution.

      Supposedly, certain language has been modified so that trainees will be encouraged not to grant as many hearings as they used to – under Obama 80% of these cases had hearings scheduled.

      1. Basically, it has to do with a quickie decision about the person’s credibility.

        My guess: Eventually, someone’s going to reject a bona fide asylum application and it will be all over the news when they’re deported and then persecuted.

        1. I can’t think of a truly scientific way to screen out the plausible claims from among the mountains of fake claims. At least not on the basis of just a quick interview. Maybe I’m just not being scientific enough.

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder

            I think a D&D solution would suffice. ICE rolls for deport, applicant gets to try to save.

          2. ChipsnSalsa

            Modifiers for visible scars?

  9. Just a thought not a sermon

    “Remember Rand Paul and his Obamacare replacement? ”

    It’s so clear to me how far I am from other people when I see things like this. When I saw Rand Paul’s plan, I thought, “Of course, who wouldn’t vote for this to replace Obamacare?”

    Only to see that the general opinion is that Rand’s plan is radioactive crazy, while Obamacare Lite makes perfect sense.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The GOP is stocked with spineless cunts.

      1. trshmnstr

        At some point we can’t call them spineless anymore. Spineless implies that they actually want small government. They’re just gradualist statists.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          They’re afraid that in actually attempting to do the right thing that there will be a political cost. They’re terrified that the Democrats will trot out the anecdotal tragedy that resulted from their actions because they don’t have the intellectual heft to argue against that. They live and die by the anecdote themselves.

      2. John Titor

        I wonder why Republicans suddenly rallied behind a brash, opinionated boor who doesn’t give a shit?

      3. straffinrun

        TBH, that’s how I prefer my cunts.

      4. Agent Cooper

        Amazing that Ryan picked up the useless fuckwad gavel the Boehner left behind.

        1. Agent Cooper

          ‘The Boehner”

          oops.

    2. Drake

      Remember when people like Ryan, McCain, and Graham were campaigning against Trump because he wasn’t “conservative” like them? It made me laugh then and still does.

      1. Just Say’n

        Paul Ryan is dead inside and I don’t think Mike Pence sees his reflection in the mirror anymore. Anyways, that was my takeaway from the President’s address to Congress

    3. Certified Public Asshat

      Well if you read the link (I know, I know) it is suggesting there is actually not a lot of support for Paul Ryan’s plan in the House.

      1. F. Stupidity Jr.

        I’m slingin’ pizza pies for extra money in the evenings right now, and I was listening to Michael Medved last night while doing so. He was driving me up the wall with his support for Obamacare Lite. One of his callers nailed it by saying that Obama won because the Republicans are going along with the premise that the government should be involved with people’s healthcare; he added the question, “Why can’t we simply repeal Obamacare and do nothing else?” Medved’s reply was that this would leave people without coverage.
        .
        .
        .
        .
        Maybe…perhaps…just maybe THEY SHOULD TAKE CARE OF THAT THEMSELVES??!!!??

        1. Agent Cooper

          Medved’s reply was that this would leave people without coverage.

          I don’t understand why medical insurance can’t be closer to car insurance. Geico/Progressive/etc. all competing for my business with lower rates and better services/coverages.

          Liberty Mutual advertises accident forgiveness — I don’t recall that being government mandated.

          1. Lachowsky

            It is government mandated because car insurance is governmenot mandated. the forgiveness is just companies competing within a mandated system.

      2. R C Dean

        The GOP is useless, spineless, and shortsighted. They are about to accomplish the absolute political miracle of taking the biggest political disaster of a generation and going to great lengths to make it their own. I love the Obamacare Jr. name for what they have proposed. Their idiocy is going to set them on the same path to electoral decimation that the Dems took with Obamacare Classic.

        The sad thing is, the coming decimation of the idiot GOP will just put the idiot Dems back in charge. We truly are ruled by Bourbons “They have forgotten nothing, and learned nothing.”

    4. @JATNAS: I heard a choir of angels when I first saw the Rand Paul announcement and read some of the details. I thought to myself, “Now, I know the one thing the Republicans love more than fucking up a good plan is demonstrating just how unprincipled they can be, but SURELY this is a gimme. It’s exactly–EXACTLY–what they said they wanted, it eliminates Obamacare, and anyone who votes for it will get re-elected. What could possibly go wrong?”

      And now I’m stocking up on ammo and canned goods for when I pack up the fam and relocate to a deserted island away from all this shit.

    5. wdalasio

      This whole thing follow exactly the course I thought it would.

      First we get told, “We couldn’t stop Obamacare because the Democrats had all of Congress and the White House. Give us the House and bygummit we’ll get right to work on putting a stop to that thing.”.

      So the GOP gets handed the House. Then, all of a sudden, it’s “We couldn’t do anything about Obamacare because the Democrats still have the the Senate. Give us that and bygummit we’ll make Obama repeal that thing.”.

      So the GOP gets handed the Senate. Then it’s “Well, Congress is all well and good. But, there’s only so much we can do. Obama is still President. Give us a Republican president and bygummit Obamacare will be gone before you know it”.

      So, they got handed every elected branch the government has. Anything anyone could have possibly given them is theirs’. Now what we hear is “But,…but,…if we repeal Obamacare, it might lose control of the government!!!”.

      Predictable.

  10. Just a thought not a sermon

    “Here’s the last decent song the Rolling Stones put out. ”

    You’ll Never Make a Saint of me was quite a decent song, and that was, what, 1998? I felt like it was kind of an old-age answer to Sympathy For the Devil.

    1. Slammer

      An argument can be made the Stones haven’t been great ever since Mick Taylor left.

      1. Tundra

        This.

        Let It Bleed is exquisite. Particularly because of this.

        1. Slammer

          It’s hard to use the word “under-rated” in reference to the Stones, but Jagger’s lyrics fit. Under-rated and amazing.

        2. Count Potato

          That is one of their best albums. Sticky Fingers is another. I don’t particularly any of their albums after Some Girls.

  11. American woman in wedding dress offers US citizenship to highest bidder at Shanghai Marriage Market

    It’s not clear how serious the woman was about finding a deep-pocketed suitor. A photo of her surrounded by a sea of parents desperately searching for a suitable spouse for their son or daughter was posted onto Weibo on Saturday night where it was picked up by Timeout Shanghai.

    In the middle of the crowd, the woman holds up a sign in English and Chinese, reading: “USA Citizenship through marriage to the highest bidder,” while also flashing her American passport to apparently prove the veracity of her claims.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      Wait is is just the citizenship or the full package?

    2. Slammer

      How do you say “Nice tits” in Chinese?

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        I find xie xie suffices.

      2. Drake

        Some Chinese parents may have just made their son very happy! Until he wants a meal cooked, house cleaned, supportive loyal wife, etc….

        1. Hey, my wife does two out of those three things every single day.

          But I do the cooking.

          1. Drake

            Me too.

    3. straffinrun

      “fuck off,” added another.

      Why (I lol’ed) would they include that in the article?

    4. John Titor

      a suitable spouse for their son or daughter

      Uh, if it’s Chinese marriage it’s going to be son only.

    5. R C Dean

      A photo of her surrounded by a sea of parents desperately searching for a suitable spouse for their son or daughter

      Why do I doubt that the Chinese parents were looking to gay-marry their daughter to an American woman?

  12. ‘Nevertheless, she persisted’: U.S. women ink battle cry with tattoos

    When U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to silence colleague Elizabeth Warren as she gave a speech last month, complaining that “nevertheless, she persisted,” few expected his words to become a battle cry for women.

    But amid worries about the impact of Donald Trump’s presidency on women’s rights, “nevertheless, she persisted” is showing up on t-shirts, protest signs, social media and at a small tattoo parlor in Minneapolis, where hundreds of women are getting the phrase etched onto their skin.

    The tattoo has proven so popular that the Brass Knuckle Tattoo Studio is booked for the month and temporarily ceased taking new appointments.

    1. Slammer

      No ragrets.

    2. Count Potato

      how bout dah?

    3. WTF

      “nevertheless, she persisted…

      …in being a self-absorbed self-righteous narcissistic harpy.

    4. Agent Cooper

      It’s stupid, but McConnell should’ve just let her drone on and picked a better battle. Hindsight I know.

      1. bacon-magic

        Disagree. Stand your ground.

    5. R C Dean

      Somebody should put that slogan under a picture of Kelly Conaway, perhaps one taken at the Trump victory party.

  13. Rufus the Monocled

    “Here’s the last decent song the Rolling Stones put out. ”

    Song? Heck, album.

    The Stones peaked right around Exile and put up some strong albums after that but it ended pretty much at Tattoo You.

  14. Brett L

    Gentlemen (and you few ladies), the final hurdle to Mars exploration has been cleared. We have a source of alcohol!

    CubeSat indicator experiments prove potatoes can grow on Mars. The findings show potatoes can also grow under extreme conditions on Earth.

    1. WTF

      Millions of Irishmen sign up for Mars expedition….

    2. In what I am sure is a completely unrelated story, the Irish government has established an exploratory committee to build a spacecraft that can travel to Mars within the next 2 years.

    3. Max Coins

      You need a sufficient quantity of Matt Damon waste to get a full crop yield.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Start sending up copies of Elysium, Invictus, and The Great Wall right now!

    4. Vhyrus

      Um, I thought Mark Wahlberg already proved this… he even won a golden globe for it!

  15. Believers to convene for SF’s first-ever Bigfoot conference

    San Francisco resident Kai Wada Roath wasn’t always a believer in Bigfoot. In fact, his fascination with the mythical ape-like creature was sparked by curiosity not with Bigfoot itself, but with those who pulled off Bigfoot hoaxes.

    But as Wada Roath interviewed purported Bigfoot witnesses, he said his skepticism gave way to belief.

    Wada Roath’s largest investigation was conducted in 2000, when he led an expedition to remote areas of Nepal, collecting local lore related to the Yeti, or “abominable snowman.”

    Americans like to imagine Bigfoot as a benign creature, Wada Roath said, but folks in Nepal have a different view of the hypothetical hominids.

    “In Nepal, it’s considered very bad if you see a Yeti,” Wada Roath noted. “And if they see you, it’s almost like a death omen.”

    1. Brett L

      STEVE SMITH NOT LIKE TO RAPE IN SAN FRANCISCO. TOO MANY DIRTY BUMS.

    2. John Titor

      STEVE SMITH NO BAD OMEN, STEVE SMITH MESSENGER OF LOVE.

      1. Dammit. Now you can tell I am honest with edit powers…you done beat me to it. And I am leaving your superior speed on display. 🙁

        1. John Titor

          Unlike some people, Ability to Edit has not driven you mad with power Swiss.

          1. Give it time…power corrupts, aye?

            *eyebrow twitches*

    3. Slammer

      STEVE SMITH BUILT THIS CITY ON RAPE AND ROLL

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        damn you for unleashing that ear worm

      2. Brett L

        **Bows to the master**

    4. YES, BAD OMEN FOR YOU IF YOU SEE STEVE SMITH COMING.

    5. Mike Schmidt

      IF STEVE SMITH GOING TO RAPE SAN FRANCISCO
      HE BE SURE TO WEAR SOME FLOWERS IN HIS HAIR

    6. Rhywun

      STEVE SMITH HEED CALL GO WEST, SOUND LIKE GOOD TIME

    7. Shout out to LH for the link.

      Kudos to all of you for the STEVE SMITH snark.

      I really do like our little site we have going here.

  16. Spartan Dad

    This would never happen but I would love to see healthcare (not just insurance) completely deregulated and allow people the freedom to choose their own healthcare. The cost of healthcare would drop through the floor and no one would need anything but catastrophic coverage. Let people buy their own meds without a prescription and see whoever they want for whatever reason. Buyer beware man. If I was having a serious operation, I would seek out a well respected MD FACS and pay the price. That’s not necessary for countless other ailments that pack the urgent cares. It’s fucking ridiculous to have to see a doctor to get an antibiotic or do the whole song and dance hero worship to get some relief when you’re in serious pain.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s been said many times before but if we have government provided healthcare, we should also have government provided legal care. I would love to hear the wails of protestation form the ABA.

      1. Spartan Dad

        Somewhat related to government provided legal care, but I believe that the budget for the Public Defender’s Office should be exactly the same as that of the Prosecutor down to the dollar. Hopefully this would have the effect of reigning in out of control laws and keeping both budgets as low as possible. Also, being a prosecutor would automatically exempt one from becoming a judge and withholding evidence to the defense would merit life in prison. I’ve come to the budget conclusion after seeing several acquaintances, who are decent and hard-working but poor, get ass-raped by the local courts with jail time and ever-growing fines for such petty offenses that anyone with the money for even the least-competent lawyer would get immediately dismissed.

        1. UnCivilServant

          I’d expand that to “Being a lawyer should disqualify a person from being a judge”

        2. robc

          I think they should be the same office. Whether you are prosecutor or defender on case X is a random draw.

          1. R C Dean

            That’s my proposal. There would be some ethical dilemmas to sort out, but I think they could be managed.

          2. robc

            We could go even further with the Cardassian method and just have one lawyer representing both parties.

          3. robc

            Or, I guess, the lawyer would be representing justice herself.

          4. UnCivilServant

            I was under the impression that the verdict in their courts was always “Guilty”, so the procedure at trial was not terribly relevent.

          5. robc

            I was under the impression that the verdict in their courts was always “Guilty”, so the procedure at trial was not terribly relevent.

            Well, yeah, there is that tiny problem with their system.

          6. peachy rex

            Given the conviction rates (and plea bargain rates) the Feds get, I think we already have the Cardassian method.

    2. PieInTheSKy

      Why do you hate women, minorities and children (not necessarily in that order)?

    3. straffinrun

      Yep. Have you ever seen someone go on the MSM and say exactly that? “Ocare will wind up killing more people than an unregulated system would when all is said and done and we know this because free market capitalism has proven repeatedly to be a vastly superior system than any other. That is an empirical and consistently proven fact.” Things you’ll never hear on the alphabet soup networks. “Oh yeah, and it’s immoral anyways.”

      1. Slammer

        You should be able to buy insurance from anyone willing to sell it, even internationally.

        1. straffinrun

          My wife is in insurance, after getting out of finance for years, and I explained to her how preexisting conditions would be covered under the ACA. She tilted her head to the side and after a few moments said, “That isn’t insurance, then.”

          1. WTF

            And that’s the problem. Most people no longer have any understanding of what insurance actually is or what it was originally intended to do.

          2. Spartan Dad

            I’m still working through it but I think there is an argument for including preexisting as part of healthcare “insurance” and that is because it has largely ceased being insurance. With a few rare exceptions, the entire financial foundation of healthcare in this country is priced based upon insurance and you are effectively denied healthcare by not having insurance unless you are on the government’s roll. Yes you can receive healthcare but then you’ll lose your house paying for it. Let people with preexisting conditions purchase drugs, etc. from wherever they please without needing to see a doctor and then let insurance choose whoever the hell they want. Without covering preexisting conditions, we are forcing people without insurance to participate in an insurance mandatory system.

            To solve the preexisting condition dilemma we need transparent healthcare pricing that’s upfront instead of mysterious pricing based on insurance payouts. The companies brought the preexisting condition dilemma onto themselves by becoming involved in virtually every healthcare transaction.

          3. WTF

            Of course the insurance companies became involved in virtually every healthcare transaction because of government mandates. A young single guy can not buy a bare bones policy that doesn’t cover mammograms, or birth control pills, or pre-natal care, or treatments for autism, or various drugs, or dozens of other things he neither needs nor wants, because government has mandated it. So of course insurance companies take whatever steps they can to minimize the costs associated with this, which some see as “interference”. If we get rid of the government mandates, allow cross-state policy sales resulting in much bigger risk pools, and go back to having insurance as a safeguard against unforeseen high-expense events, and de-couple insurance from employment by transferring the tax break from businesses to individuals, most of these problems go away. People who develop costly illnesses without having insurance would then revert to some type of charity care, which is what “insuring” pre-existing conditions really is.

          4. Spartan Dad

            WTF, it won’t let me reply directly to you but insurance was involved in virtually every healthcare transaction occurred long before the Obamacare mandates. All of the things you mentioned should absolutely be done, and will lower the cost of health insurance for certain groups but does nothing to lower the cost of healthcare or disengage it from health insurance which is the real problem.

            The government, in collusion with the insurance industry, has created pricing model for healthcare that is reliant on everyone having insurance. The government forces people to only receive healthcare using this system. As long as people are being forced at figurative gunpoint to only use healthcare that relies on insurance for pricing, I’m not seeing a problem with forcing companies to provide insurance to everyone who chooses to acquire it. Healthcare pricing needs to be detached from health insurance. Let people with preexisting conditions order medications without a scrip from overseas pharmacies. Until open choice in healthcare is legal, forcing people to use an insurance-based healthcare system without being able to obtain insurance is immoral.

          5. R C Dean

            What’s different about healthcare, as opposed to casualty, insurance, is that casualty insurance pays on specific events, while healthcare pays not only for specific events, but chronic conditions. There really isn’t such a thing as a chronic casualty.

            True fact: HIPAA basically says that if you have coverage, you can’t be denied replacement coverage because you have a chronic/preexisting condition. This problem was already mostly solved; for the most part, you were only exposed to medical underwriting if you had a lapse in coverage or had never been covered.

    4. Count Potato

      The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed in 1938. Before that we were all naked cannibals living in complete chaos.

      The Controlled Substance Act was passed in 1970. Before that we all naked hippies hepped up on goofballs.

  17. Is Janet Yellen Trying to Trigger a Recession For Political Purposes?

    The Yellen Fed seems to be even more committed to defining the Fed as nothing more than a leftist establishment mechanism. Back in October when it still looked like Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 Presidential election, Yellen commented that she was considering letting the economy run “hot” meaning allowing inflation to rise without implementing additional rate hikes.

    One month later, Donald Trump won the Presidency and Yellen announced she wanted to hike rates in December with three more additional hikes in 2017.

    Now, 3Q16 growth was supposedly 3.5%. If that had been true, then Yes, the Fed should consider hiking.

    However, since that time GDP growth has collapsed. 4Q16 growth came in at a measly 1.9%. And 1Q17 GDP growth has collapsed from a forecast of 3% in early February to 1.2% today!

    And Yellen is still pushing to hike rates.

    1. Brett L

      It can’t run at zero forever. If they are letting the cost of borrowing rise to something markets actually want, that’s an unalloyed good. I guess considering my feeling that the Fed has almost no ability to actually steer the economy, just create various inefficiencies that are bigger or smaller monetary traps, I’m fine with this.

      1. UnCivilServant

        I’m still amazed that I got a 0% fixed rate loan on my car…

        1. R C Dean

          They just capitalized the interest into your purchase price.

          1. UnCivilServant

            The profit has to exist somewhere.

            The dollar value on the car was acceptable from my end. I find it less obnoxious than interest. Interest causes me to want to dump as much as I can into pre-emptively paying down principle to avoid future costs. This leads to very lean times in the now. (And with a mortgage and student loans already on this payment scheme, being able to say to myself that there’s no benefit to prepaying principle on a 0% loan makes it easier)

  18. Not an Economist

    To be fair to the CBO, they are required to score as the Congressional critters want them to. For example, Obamacare was probably scored with the assumption that all young people would sign up and not get penalized. Or a deficit projection would be scored with 5% annual GDP growth.

    So of course they suck at predictions.

    1. UnCivilServant

      He who pays the piper names the tune.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The CBO is largely useless for this exact reason.

    3. I remember when Obamacare passed and many liberal (and not-so liberal) pundits and commentators were treating the CBO score as holy writ.

  19. Idle Hands

    The Boston Celtics absolutely throttled the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter on the road. And Tony Romo will likely get his walking papers from Dallas today, leading to a mad scramble which most people expect Denver or Houston to win. One thing’s for sure: the Browns won’t go after him.

    I feel like the Wizards actually have a shot at making the roundball conference finals they match up well against the celtics this year, if they can maintain the 3rd seed or move up to the second. Of course they are going to get butt raped by the Cavaliers but it would be nice. There is no way the Redskins don’t try and make a push for Tony Romo.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      It would be quite satisfying for the Cavs not to make the finals. Alas …

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        No kidding.

        Lebron James has become insufferable. Like Popovich.

        Go team with least annoying platform.

    2. Wait….the Redskins tagged Cousins. Why would they want to go after one season of Ancient Romo?

      1. Rufus the Monocled

        I think the Eagles should go after Romo. Wentz seems like a stud and he could use some mentoring.

        The Redskins should hold on to Cousins. QB’s aren’t slim pickings; they’re as rare as libertarian moments.

      2. Slammer

        The media will talk and talk and talk about Romo. They love this right now. A coach wants Romo as a mentor and back-up, and the owner wants to sell tickets and jerseys.
        And it will all be meaningless when he’s crushed by a DE and breaks again.

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          Tony ‘Snap!’ Romo.

        2. Brett L

          I think his back just snaps under the pressure of his arm knowing its going to throw an interception trying to resist the signals from his brain.

      3. Because now that they’ve tagged him again, they’d have to offer him significantly more money next year to take a contract unless he completely poos the bed this season. And if he does that, they wouldn’t want to give him a contract. At this point, their best hope is that he has a great season and they can trade him for some draft picks, grab a quarterback in the draft, and sign some veteran to keep the seat warm until the new guy is ready.

        This pisses me off to no end because this is typical Dan Snyder, and I thought we’d move past this. They’re dicking Cousins around because he was Shanny’s guy and he proved that he’s a much, much better quarterback than Snyder’s guy, RG3. This franchise is a dumpster fire, and it will never get better until Snyder sells or dies.

  20. Drake

    Sounds like Harvard is going to crack down hard on freedom of association.

    1. UnCivilServant

      Never hire anyone from an “Ivy League” school.

      1. straffinrun

        Why the scare quotes? Is it weed?

        1. UnCivilServant

          Well, Ivy is a destructive, unwanted plant, so it is A weed. But probably not what you mean by the term.

          1. Drake

            I believe it requires a particular species of ivy and a particular type of brick for them to coexist without damage.

          2. R C Dean

            Ivy doesn’t really tear up brick. It tears up mortar. Trust me on this.

        2. John Titor

          It’s the WASP version of (((that))).

      2. Drake

        My Dad was a Yale grad. When I was young he was so proud of his school – we used to visit for a football game or to play golf a couple times a year. He was disappointed to see how the school had surrendered to political correctness and declined so badly over the last few decades. He made a conscious decision to stop giving them money and didn’t leave them squat.

        After he passed away, I was thumbing through his 50th reunion book with biographies of many of the ’63 grads. Incredible how accomplished they were. Dad majored in Econ alongside Art Laffer that year.

        1. straffinrun

          2007 Laffer: “The Financials are strong. Monetary policy is spectacular”. Hope your dad gave him an atomic wedgie for future idiotic statements.

        2. Rufus the Monocled

          Now people graduate alongside the likes of….Trigglypuff and….

          https://sjwlist.com/Main_Page

          1. UnCivilServant

            For the longest time I couldn’t figure out what Trigglypuff reminded me of.

            Recently I realized that she looks like the live action rendition of the women in the Far Side cartoons.

          2. Needz moar beehive hairdo.

        3. Rufus the Monocled

          After Concordia failed to discipline the Palestinian study body and uprisings back in the day, I vowed never to give a single cent to them – and never did. The university reacted like a bunch of cucks.

          And my wife ain’t giving to McGill. We’re watching them carefully.

          1. John Titor

            What’d McGill do? They seem like a pretty non-political campus filled with boring aspies who actually study and stuff (no offense to your boring aspy wife).

          2. John Titor

            Oh pfft. That’s student societies and student governments in general, they’re always filled with petty little wannabe authoritarian assholes. It’s like expecting student newspapers to not be retarded. Overall the school’s pretty mellow politically (at least it was the last time I was there, in 2014).

          3. Rufus the Monocled

            For some reason there was no ‘reply’ so I’m replying to JT here.

            Yes, and that’s one small example – but there have been a slow drip increase. You know ho these things grow. But you’re right, they’ve avoided Concordia type stuff that’s why I said we’re monitoring.

          4. trshmnstr

            I’d be tempted to give to Purdue. They’re actually furthering the academic mission at a good value. I have a few grand of loans left over from them, but that’s mainly because they’ve been in deferment for the last 3.5 years. I graduated from SMU 3 months ago with 6 figures in debt, and they’re already hounding me for money. Fuck that. My $50k/year tuition was crazy, and their law school is drifting leftward at an alarming pace. They won’t get another cent from me without major changes.

    2. Count Potato

      So let me see if I’m smart enough to understand Harvard: Rape on campus is the biggest problem ever. So we’re against sororities and fraternities being “single-gender”.

    3. WTF

      I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.
      William F. Buckley, Jr.

  21. Gilmore

    If you think the WikiLeaks Vault 7 release has been a big flop, don’t worry. They’ve only released 1% of the documents they acquired.

    yeah, but i think experience shows they try and dump the headline-generating stuff first.

    if there’s rich dirt, it would be the first thing released. i wouldn’t get your hopes up.

    What (mildly) surprises me is that there was this entirely separate dump in Feb about how the CIA meddled in the French elections in 2012 and it was all but entirely ignored by everyone.

    1. Not an Economist

      I actually don’t mind the CIA or the NSA having the capability to do all this stuff. I’m just not sure it will be just be used against foreign or domestic threats (with a proper warrant).

      1. LT_Fish

        Well, technically I know the CIA isn’t authorized to collect against domestic threats (FBI was created for that). Pretty sure NSA’s original purview wasn’t domestic either – stupid non-legal arguments to get around that backstop.

  22. Ken Shultz

    In regards to the precipitous drop in immigration, I doubt it’s the marginal tick upwards in more enforcement. I’d expect it’s the anticipation of more deportations.

    Why sneak into the country and start a new life when you expect to be deported?

    1. Count Potato

      It could also be a lack of jobs.

  23. IS conflict: US sends Marines to support Raqqa assault

    They reportedly arrived in the past few days to establish an outpost from which they will be able to fire artillery at IS positions some 32km (20 miles) away.

    US special forces are already on the ground, advising the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance.

    The alliance is expected to launch an assault on Raqqa in the coming weeks.

    Over the weekend, a separate force of elite US army Rangers was also deployed near a town north-west of Raqqa in heavily armoured vehicles, in an attempt to end clashes between SDF fighters and a Turkish-backed rebel force.

    1. WTF

      Oh, sure, what could possibly go wrong?

    2. Brett L

      So much for Trump the Isolationist.

  24. straffinrun

    I’m going to the convenience store. Anybody need anything?

    1. Rufus the Monocled

      Condoms.

      For a project.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Is this one of those Japanese convenience stores that has panty dispensers?

      *asking for a friend*

        1. I think I would die if I ate that. Oh well… *digs in*

          1. thread fail – jeez.

          2. UnCivilServant

            I just thought you’d taken to cannibalism and were eating the line.

          3. One does get hungry out here in the Wasteland.

          4. straffinrun

            How so?

          5. JD

            But a hilarious thread fail.

    3. Can you stop by the vending machines on your way back and get Sugar Free some fish candy and soiled panties?

      They’re for research.

      1. straffinrun

        Ironically, they are one and the same.

  25. Private Chipperbot

    Michigan Supreme Court worried judges may be held accountable for crappy rulings.

    I have an idea for a weekly feature for the site I’d like to call ‘Too Local’. It would be some links regarding police, judges, city gov’t. Would the beings in charge have any interest?

    1. Are you a Michigander? Or an Ohioan? *suspicious stare*

      1. Private Chipperbot

        Michigan!

        1. Me too. I swear that is a Catholic Central jersey in your avatar but they wear blue (as far a I remember).

          I live over in the east side of Grand Rapids.

          1. This
            Then this is for both of you.

          2. Private Chipperbot

            I actually get warm and fuzzy when block M loses because their fans are insufferable twats.

          3. Private Chipperbot

            Catholic Central jersey

            – you are correct. But the real one, Detroit Catholic Central. I’m on the east side of the state. I dated an EGR girl for a few years in college. Absolute babe who went to GR CC.

          4. My wife went to GR CC – small world, eh?

          5. Private Chipperbot

            If her maiden name is Baker the universe is going to collapse.

    2. Private Chipperbot

      There’s an excellent comment on the story too!

      welcome to our world….do you think we are comfortable standing in your kingdom?

  26. Gilmore

    Reuters drops shocking news-bomb = Aircraft Carriers are Vulnerable to Attack

    This is made worse by the fact Trump likes…. spending on Military stuff. Or something. Its a sign of his lack of foresight. Or …. whatever.

    I personally recall reading the first story about how carriers are vulnerable to missile attacks, oh, sometime around 1982

    1. Number.6

      Hello, President Roosevelt, we just had a call from an “Admiral Yamamoto”.

      He was wondering if we had seen some of his ships. Names were “Soryu”,”Akagi”,”Kaga” and “Hiryu”. Says they were kinda big, but and sounds a bit embarassed that his navy just can’t find them.

      1. Brett L

        Yes, the USS Enterprise also discovered this, although Lady E got better.

      2. Gilmore

        The thing i find stupid about the “problem” is that no one seems to do General Mattis thing, which is to ask =

        “well, THEN what happens?”

        1. Number.6

          I actually stole that idea for a recent Disaster Recovery Planing Meet at our company.

          Paralyzed the DR Team.

          The re-do, with “Extra Planning” is scheduled for April.

        2. Brett L

          I assume the Navy calls the Air Force and B1s or B2s start showing up with cruise missiles targeting the other guy’s navy?

          1. WTF

            Well sure, given the disparity in firepower between the US Navy and Air Force and everyone else, the likely outcome in the event of an actual outbreak of full-scale war would be the other guy’s navy and air force shortly cease to exist.

          2. Gilmore

            he likely outcome in the event of an actual outbreak of full-scale war would be the other guy’s navy and air force shortly cease to exist.

            ^^^ basically this.

          3. Number.6

            I think the USN’s Ticonderoga-class vessels are pretty well capable of dealing with the opposition’s *equally vulnerable* surface assets with their Aegis systems etc.

            But seriously, the USN already knows that carriers are vulnerable. It’s why they put them in the center of battle groups, surrounded by far-more-disposable destroyers and support vessels, but one can’t expect Reuters to know that.

          4. trshmnstr

            One has to wonder how vulnerable the carriers will be in 10 or 15 years once the Navy matures their directed energy program. The ability to vaporize anything that comes within 100 miles would make anything but the largest bombardment futile.

          5. Number.6

            I’m nowhere near clued in on current doctrine, but as I understand it, we’re moving towards the old Battleship Paradox. In order to deploy a platform with real offensive capability in directed energy weapons, you need a serious power source, and consequently a large platform, which in turn makes it a very large target to hit. The historical response to that was screening with smaller, disposable craft.

            Until opponents also start relying on directed energy weapons, the USN will need to maintain legacy deterrents such as stand-off systems such as surface-surface surface-air missiles, phalanx arrays, and probably traditional CAP (probably via a mix of meat-directed and cyber-directed air assets), so I’d expect Next-gen naval force projection to be an enhanced version of what we see today, and not something that is fundamentally different.

          6. Bobarian LMD

            This too.

            Effective DEW means owning everything from horizon to horizon.

          7. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            10 to 15 years is relativity predicable as far as weapons systems go. What is the more interesting problem is that CVN-21 has as a requirement, a design lifetime of about 80 years. We went from kitty hawk to the moon in less time.

          8. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            I should add, there are other real issues even with DEW when defending against hypersonic sea skimmers.

  27. Gilmore

    Remember those Marines who put nude photos of themselves on Instagram, then got all OMG SEXIST when they discovered that other Marines were looking at them?

    They’ve found their champion

    yes, its exactly who you expected.

    1. Drake

      What I figured all along since I didn’t read about shower cams or whatever snapping the nude photos. I might have to watch Stripes this weekend.

    2. John Titor

      Well no one said Marines were smart.

      1. Compared to whom?

        1. John Titor

          Everyone?

          “Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential.”

          1. Not touching that one.

          2. John Titor

            I don’t know if you’re aware or not but “Marines R DUM” is a pretty common military joke, right after “Pilots are narcissist assholes” and “the Navy is gay”.

          3. Oh, that’s all right then, carry on.

        2. Drake

          I was in the Marines then the Army – in that comparison Marines are damn geniuses. Marines are very innovative which can be dangerous if they have too much time on their hands. Left alone at an outpost, they will quickly have a still and brewery up and running, open a profitable trading post with the natives, and invent all sorts of recreational activities nobody would approve of. Soldiers will just sit there and bitch.

          1. WTF

            I had some Marines in my old martial arts school (“there’s no such thing as an ex-Marine!”). That sounds exactly right.

          2. UnCivilServant

            They’re wrong.

            I’ve known ex-marines. They shifted as far from the jarhead mentality as was possible once free.

          3. Number.6

            And really, even an ex-Marine is better than a Former Marine.

            If that sounds Starship-Trooper-y, it should.

          4. You obviously weren’t in any of my Army units.

            The Afghans were in awe of our smuggling abilities.

            Shit, did I just type that out loud?

          5. Number.6

            Well, Officer cadre are meant to be a bit more enterprising.

          6. Bobarian LMD

            No, Officers are supposed to pretend they don’t know about the shit going on.

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Correct me if I’m wrong but unless they copyrighted the original photos, they lost all control as soon as they posted them.

      1. Nowadays I think you just have to publish to get copyright, registering isn’t necessary but lets you get more damages from infringers.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Is Instagram considered publishing?

          1. Maybe Allred will help them find out.

          2. Drake

            Sounds like a job for an actual lawyer not a publicity hound.

    4. “The U.S. Code of Military Justice explicitly outlaws distribution of sexually explicit photos of others without their consent as an offense punishable by *court-marital*.” [emphasis added]

      Ouch, amirite, guys?

      1. Drake

        So did they distribute the photos or the original Instagram links?

        1. I dunno, but who wants to explain it to their spouse in a court-marital?

          1. Drake

            These are enlisted Marines – smart ones are single. Dumb ones don’t care what their stripper-wives think.

          2. John Titor

            Mattis is a single Warrior Monk for a reason.

          3. commodious spittoon

            M16 wedding.

          4. R C Dean

            When Marines get married they get an awesome exit from the church afterwards. My parent’s wedding pictures have one of these:

            http://www.chris-melinda.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Marisa+Jacob-388.jpg

            That, plus having the best dress uniforms, hands-down.

      2. WTF

        Wouldn’t voluntarily publishing photos on a public forum used for sharing of images imply consent for the sharing of images?

        1. Look, the important issue here is the amusing typo.

    5. Private Chipperbot

      Is that a penis tattoo on her arm?

      1. Agent Cooper

        DIE REBEL SCUM!

        She’s a stormtrooper!

    6. WTF

      If they voluntarily posted their photos on Instagram, a public forum, how in the fuckity fuck are they victims? Other than of their own stupidity, of course.

      1. PieInTheSKy

        They are victims because of misogynistic comments normalizing sexual harassment. It is in the article.

        1. WTF

          Well, that’s even stupider than I imagined.

          1. Gilmore

            its so incredibly fucking dumb.

            iow, right up Allred’s alley.

  28. Suthenboy

    Do large numbers of immigrants show up in Hawaii? Illegals?

    Well at least we know Hawaii is populated with the right kinds of people.

    1. I’m taking a wild guess and speculating that this case is under the 9th Circuit, which has already shown itself sympathetic to these sorts of suits.

    2. Drake

      I thought Hawaii didn’t want any more non-native people? Or just no more whities?

    3. Count Potato

      They sneak across the Pacific.

      1. WTF

        Hawaii doesn’t have any walls, so it’s easier to sneak in.

        1. dbleagle

          We also have a peak load of derp. Our state leg is 45 Dem 6 GOP and the state senate is 100% Dem. We have a state law mandating 100% renewable energy by 2025. The only place to give a higher % of the vote to HRC was DC and Jill Stein took third place on every island except Oahu where she was nipping at Johnson’s heals.

    1. Let’s see if I can be the first to get in a “sleeps with the fishes” joke.

      1. Gilmore

        i tried. i failed. i posted hoping for better from y’all

    2. PieInTheSKy

      Thank Cod they caught him? Neah, I got nothing …

      1. I took the most obvious joke.

      2. Don’t engage Gilmore. He’s just fishing for replies.

        1. Whenever I get out, they reel me about in…

          1. reel me *back* in

          2. WTF

            Nice try, chum.

    3. Agent Cooper

      Something something sinker.

    4. Vhyrus

      It’s like if Walter White bought a fishing boat instead of an RV. Anyone here know a good fanfic writer?

  29. commodious spittoon

    Meanwhile, the mainstream media will continue to try and ignore it but the people will still keep digging into what has been released.

    Don’t they know that’s a crime for anyone other than Chris Cuomo?

    1. UnCivilServant

      Only in the court of his delusion

    2. straffinrun

      Let’s never forget he said that. Talk about a punchable face moment.

    1. HILLARY: Well, so much for *that* bright idea…Huma, call the doctor and have them cancel my surgery.

    2. WTF

      Given that her message was basically “vote for me, because vagina”, it’s not really surprising.

      1. Worked for Bill.

      2. Agent Cooper

        I love how one of her slogans was “I’m with Her” rather than “She’s with me.”

        1. WTF

          “Fighting for Us” was ridiculous too. Fighting with whom? Over what, exactly? And how exactly is she prosecuting this fight?

          1. Number.6

            Damn women politicians – all they can do is think with their warboners.

    3. R C Dean

      Well, we’re up to at least four postings of that, now.

  30. Meanwhile, the Washington Post covers the *real* news

    “Say goodbye to luxury yoga pants. Fashion wants you to try harder this fall….

    “Mind you, fashion hasn’t turned formal and stuffy. It’s just the opposite. There remains a love for the avant-garde, for youth culture, for the esoteric and the confounding. Fashion has simply pulled back from baroque gestures and conspicuous awkwardness. There were fewer elaborately painted faces, as well as fewer morning-after ones. The industry is making a pitch for barefaced normalcy….

    “This isn’t street style, marked by athletic references and nomadic sensibility. Ghesquière did not produce some glorified version of easy. But these clothes were nonetheless made for urban streets. They’d improve the landscape of downtowns and midtowns.”

    Those models don’t look very happy, by the way. Did their pet poodles all die or something?

    1. Now, if those clothing companies hired *me* as a model, I’d be smiling and waving at the audience, going the extra mile to promote their brand.

      1. UnCivilServant

        They don’t look unhappy, they look dead inside.

        1. I’ve literally encountered DMV clerks who were more cheerful.

        2. Count Potato

          Starvation can do that.

    2. PieInTheSKy

      “Those models don’t look very happy, by the way. Did their pet poodles all die or something?”

      I think that look is called Blue Steel. It is a standard requirement for modeling.

      1. Interesting, there’s so much I don’t know.

        Not that that’s surprising.

      2. UnCivilServant

        What sales “genius” thought that up? It looks awful, and makes the clothes look awful by association. “Miserable attire for miserable people”

        1. Yeah, it totally doesn’t make me want to wear those clothes.

          1. UnCivilServant

            You mock me because you know I’m right.

          2. I have no idea who would want to buy this stuff – I can only assume *someone* does because these fashion shows seem kind of expensive.

      3. PieInTheSKy

        All that being said, still would.

    3. Tundra

      Yeah, I’m sure the execs at Lululemon are terrified.

      Whoever designed those clothes hates women.

      1. John Titor

        Isn’t the woman who runs Lululemon an Objectivist or something? I seem to recall bitching about that…

      2. Brett L

        My wife has essentially given up on wearing anything else. Granted, she is an actual fitness instructor now, and pretty much works out every day, but unless we’re going somewhere without kids in the evening, she will probably wear yoga pants or workout capris or whatever they call them.

        1. Certified Public Asshat

          I’ll take a pony-tail, tank top, and yoga pants any day over whatever the hell those models are wearing in the link.

  31. straffinrun

    Will WikiLeaks Work With Tech Firms to Defeat CIA Hacking?

    If that sharing should take place, the unusual cooperation would give companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and others an opportunity to identify and repair any flaws in their software and devices that were being exploited by US spy agencies and some foreign allies, as described in nearly 9,000 pages of secret CIA files WikiLeaks published on Tuesday.

  32. Desk Jockey

    OT:

    Lurked on the Other Site starting just before you all left. Timing never my strong suit. After a couple days I made my way here been lurking ever since. Much better and enjoy the comment section to get me through the day riding a keyboard.

    For a completely self serving reason I wanted to post a general question. Looking to get into building and renting out tiny houses in not really upstate NY. Although I am 23, I don’t really fall into the Millennial love of small houses (they don’t even have garages like barbarians,) it just seems like a decent market being around 2 1/2 hours north of NYC. Anyone have any advice on how regulations are in the area or anywhere? Any experience with them? Bueller?

    1. What’s the occupancy rate of apartments in your area?
      How does the average rent compare to the price point you expect to charge?
      What is the foreclosure rate like there?
      What’s the SF of the average home there?
      What % of people there are 18-25? Total # of those people?

      1. Desk Jockey

        Still in the very early stages of planning, these are all things I’ll have to look into. It would be a vacation/weekend rental property so not sure what applies. Demo’s would be based on NYC/suburbs, with a target of college grad, young professionals.

        Appreciate the advice on research I will definitely have to do. Recognize I have posted for advice preemptively when I can’t answer these questions.

        1. Then replace apartment with hotel in the first question. And stick to weekend occupancy levels and average room rate in peak and off-peak seasons.

    2. Number.6

      Tip #1. Recognize that you already know that timing is never your strong suit.

      Note. I am not an investment professional, and do not consider this to constitute investment advice

      Interest rates are about to rise. Expect existing buy-to-rent ‘businesspeople’ to start dumping properties, because any empty inventory they’re holding is suddenly going to hit their pockets far harder. Many got into this “investment” using a cash flow predicated on low interest rates and relatively easy money, and all the signs are that this is due to stop. Possibly very soon,

      So, there will be some potential bargains popping up in existing properties being added to inventory , which will depress demand for the new inventory you seem to be talking about. From what I know of property in the Albany-Queensbury corridor up the I-87, the real determinant of success will be how the job market develops up there – which is a whole different ball of wax.

      1. Desk Jockey

        I will definitely keep this in mind. I am looking on the other side at the moment, up rt 17 towards Roscoe. The area has seen an increase in tourism and a few B&B’s seem to be having some success. Although none of this is backed up by numbers, just observation. Hopefully the weekenders from NYC will continue to head this way.

        Thanks for the ideas.

        1. OneOut

          if you primary desire is to make money rather than specifically renting small houses look at lifestylesunlimited.com

          It is a rental property investment club that will take the guesswork and learning curve out of this for you.

          I’m a member and highly reccomend it.

    3. R C Dean

      Niche market. Nothing wrong with that, but just know that going in.

      My first question is “How much experience do you have building houses?” Do not start a business doing something you don’t have significant experience with.

      Second question is “Why do you want to do this?”. If the main answer is “to make money”, you will probably fail. Successful small business owners are doing something they like, not just something to make money.

      1. Desk Jockey

        1) My experience is mostly with repairs and home improvement, never took on a full build project. It would be taken on with my brother, who has a construction management degree and much more experience in the construction industry, although he hasn’t done a tiny house project either.

        2) Although I don’t have a serious affinity for tiny houses themselves, I do enjoy building and finish work and I would like to transition into working in that field in the future. For now it would be a side business to gain experience and test the market. I have a decent paying main job in marketing that can sustain me so its a money hobby I would guess (although money hobbies normally turn out to be just hobbies from what I’ve heard)

        Thanks for the insight.

  33. Hammercorps

    I’ll just add to the comment count, nothing insightful to say. Lurker at the Other Site, found out all the cool kids moved here, decided to tag along.

    1. Cool kids? Where?

      *looks behind self*

    2. To be a real cool kid, you have to go on a week long hike while staying out of the clutches of STEVE SMITH. It’s a cat-and-mouse game with world’s most deadly (well second most deadly) anal predator.

      or a poetry slam with Agile Cyborg.

      1. John Titor

        No one ever stays out of the clutches of STEVE SMITH, even if you manage to survive the week with an intact anus he’d now picked up your scent. It might be a month, or a year, or a decade, but he will find you.

      2. UnCivilServant

        So the wasteland is safer than being a Cool Kid?

      3. Hammercorps

        What is the STEVE SMITH story? Must be something that happened before my time.

        1. The STEVE SMITH story started from a commentator who liked to type in all upper-case. He had a blog with his photo – where the resemblance to a shaved Sasquatch was uncanny. Over time it morphed into a meme.

          That and Warty’s dungeon.

      4. commodious spittoon

        I’ll take STEVE SMITH. My running game is definitely better.

        1. Hammercorps

          Does self-defense against STEVE SMITH count against your initiation into the cool kids? Or is it just a lost cause on it’s own?

          1. John Titor

            Struggling just turns him on more.

          2. Hammercorps

            Damn. Well I’ll take it anyway, I can’t write poetry. He’s probably easier to handle than Snooki, at least.

          3. Number.6

            You’ll just have to lie back and think of the Pacific Northwest.

          4. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

            +1 Resistance

    1. Max Coins

      Oh that is awesome. Reminds me of this.

    2. Rhywun

      I get “The following media may contain sensitive material.”

      ?

      1. Zero Sum Game

        It’s classified.

  34. Dr. Fronkensteen

    As I see it there are 4 issues that need to be dealt with if you are crafting health care policy. One, the regulatory ruling that made health insurance payments not invoice and therefore gave us our company store insurance system. Two, Lowering health care costs by expanding nurse practitioner duties and ending certificates of need to name only two. Three, dealing with chronic diseases. The health insurance industry has done a bad job at this. Insurance is great for things like a broken bone or other acute emergencies even cancer. It doesn’t seem to be able to deal with long term care like genetic diseases, diabetes, arthritis etc. other than kicking people off their insurance who cost too much. Four, and there seems to be some movement on this with living wills but end of days care is still often a heroic and expensive proposition that is better dealt with by just letting a person go. /musings

    1. commodious spittoon

      A big part of our problems with chronic care related to diabetes and obesity can be laid at the feet of the nutrition industry and regulators who botched it so badly and for decades advised consumers that only fat content counts. Sure, they told us that sugar is an “empty calorie,” but as long as you’re keeping your calorie count down, you’re fine, right? Well, no, that appears not to be the case after all. Sucrose and fructose have effects on the body outside the simplistic “calories in, calories” out model. It’s not a passive bystander, neither helping nor hurting; it’s actually driving weight gain through insulin resistance. The diabetes connection is a no-brainer, but we’re only just now coming to grips with the effect of chronically elevated insulin levels on adiposity, after spending decades vilifying fats instead. Insurance is great for covering cancers. They are unpredictable predators. Even smoking only raises one’s risk, so insurers charge smokers a higher premium to offset their greater exposure. But insurance cannot cover something so routine and inevitable as insulin resistance in an environment that not only tolerates but encourages replacing fats with sugars and has done much to minimize the connection between sugar and obesity. Once again, government has thoroughly fucked over the trusting American public.

      1. trshmnstr

        Sucrose and fructose have effects on the body outside the simplistic “calories in, calories” out model.

        I think it’s amazing how much sugar is in completely unrelated food products. I had a breakfast sandwich this morning, and there was some form of sweetener in the bread, the sausage, and the cheese. The only thing without sweetener in it was the egg.

        I’m not one of those crunchy hippie types, but I think there’s something to the fresh/homemade/natural movement. My sausage patty should be ground pork and a few herbs. My croissant should be butter, enriched flour and salt. My cheese should be milk.

        1. commodious spittoon

          Same and same. I’m no granola type, I eat my fair share of crap (like the burger and fries in tucking into for lunch, to wash down any class I may have inadvertently swallowed when I visited the city art museum earlier). But it’s ludicrous the volume of sugar water and sweets most people routinely consume, largely in my opinion on the premise that they’re filler calories that won’t give you heart disease like hamburger meat. When sugar is more widely recognized as a metabolic instigator and not just empty calories, I think we’ll see the needless sweeteners replaced with tasty fats. The crusade against fats is what drove producers to use sugar as a flavorant.

  35. Tulip0Hare

    It seems to be the fashionable thing for lurkers on TSTSNBN to come out of the shadows here, so…hi! I had to work through my trauma and fear of the libertarian patriarchy, but I’ve found the courage to comment. Maybe I’ll be a civilizing influence for you degenerates (lets hope not).

    1. Welcome to the party!

      Maybe I’ll be a civilizing influence for you degenerates (lets hope not).

      Go ahead and give it your best try

      1. Tulip0Hare

        Thanks! Obviously I’ll have to up my GIF game if I hope to have a chance…

  36. Mike Schmidt

    O’Reilly Auto Parts has the gift for the person that has everything. Flux Capacitor

    1. {|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>

      Disappointing they don’t have it for sale, would be a neat prop.