Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

This fight is for everything.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

It’s a doggy dog world.

No Justins, No Peace

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

I was promised a recession.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    Gregory

    Rand Paul doesn’t actually have many libertarian views and is actually just another teabagging wingnut with a melange of corporatist and paleocon ideals

    You don’t say.

  2. 2.

    FormerSwingVoter

    Wait – bombing the fuck out of everything isn’t a libertarian ideal?

    …Have you spoken with a self-proclaimed “Libertarian” lately?

  7. 7.

    TomG

    LOL. I respect you greatly John, but the libertarians I read didn’t “just notice”, they called out his father 2 years ago.
    Rand has been viewed with skepticism pretty much from the moment he won the GOP nomination – before the Rachel Maddow interview. The official Libertarian Party is late to the game (and itself is viewed with much skepticism, thanks to Bob Barr and especially Wayne Root).

  8. 8.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    Well good luck with that Libertarians. Since the Tea Partiers don’t particularly have a libertarian bent when it comes to abortion or war, I bet your new candidate gets all of five votes. I’m feeling pretty good about Jack Conway right now.

    John Cole, you have to tell us what happened post-mojito. No fair to just tease and run.

  10. 10.

    bemused

    The Wapo article stated this was a “surprising development”. Huh? I’m surprised that anyone would be surprised.

  13. 13.

    Ed Drone

    @bemused:

    I’m surprised that anyone would be surprised.

    Then it IS “surprising,” isn’t it?

    Simple, really.

    Ed

  14. 14.

    Teri

    He absorbed his philosphy from his father.

    So…..what’s your favorite hangover cure? I would chew 4 asprin and drink about a quart of oj.

    Bets have been made, sides taken.

    Lucky in love or punch in the face?

  15. 15.

    asiangrrlMN

    Well, considering that he doesn’t even consider himself a Libertarian….I do wonder what he actually considers himself, however.

    And, come on, Cole. We want the deets from last night. I particularly like the idea that you got a Tunch tattoo.

  18. 18.

    Brian J

    If, or maybe I should say when, he loses the race, we’re going to be treated to endless whining that he was persecuted for his beliefs. Of course, this will require a redefinition of the word persecution to mean being rejected by voters for views which they do not hold in a democratic election, rather than the unfair, potentially violent treatment of ideas which an oppressor does not like. But the Republicans wouldn’t alter reality to fit what’s going on inside their heads, would they?

  19. 19.

    John Cole

    John Cole, you have to tell us what happened post-mojito. No fair to just tease and run.

    Nothing much, really. Friends came over and we just went to this dive bar for a couple hours. Some pretty horrible karaoke went on the whole time. I did not sing.

    Then we came home and I went to bed.

  20. 20.

    Randy P

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I particularly like the idea that you got a Tunch tattoo.

    When did tattoos make the transition from something sailors got when drunk, to something my daughters perfectly respectable young girls got?

    /old fart

  22. 22.

    bloodstar

    Boo Hiss John!

    There’s some of us out here who felt that Rand Paul is about as libertarian as Sarah Palin; and have felt that way for a while. Just because someone want to try to claim the label doesn’t make it so.

    Personally I hope the LP does run a candidate against Rand Paul. If nothing else, it’ll improve the odds for Conway.

    I may be libertarian, but I can promise you this: I may not like Democrat policy at times, but I absolutely despise the Republicans as they exist today.

  24. 24.

    ThatPirateGuy

    @Randy P:

    I’m not sure but my dad sure seemed upset when I told him about the surprisingly meta for this conversation Pirate ship tattoo.

    I for one hope perfectly respectable women and men keep getting tattoos.

  26. 26.

    Brian J

    @James K. Polk, Esq.:

    Some of they, at least. I’m sure there are strict Libertarians who, with few to no exceptions, are against most government interference. The thing is, a lot of modern “Libertarians” seem to shop for particular beliefs without abandon. They qualify their beliefs to fit their own particular worldview to a significant enough degree that they still end up on the right, but don’t really fit in with the Libertarian camp any longer. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t make them ideologically pure.

  27. 27.

    MikeJ

    Libertarians have decided to not claim Paul since people think he’s a racist fruitcake. They were perfectly content to get more publicity for their cult and ride on the coattails of the teabaggers.

    What they don’t point out is that many of Paul’s most loathsome views are orthodox libertarianism. Particularly the very thing that made people think less of him, the Civil Rights Act.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    We fogys still draw a line in the sand, though– “too many tattoos” gets over 100,000 Google hits.

  30. 30.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Hmmm… purrhaps, he got too drunk to drive. Called Tunch who had to come and bring him home. Once home, Tunch punched him in the face, while Lilly wept at his sorry state. Finally, Cole passed out.

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  31. 31.

    TomG

    yeah, bloodstar (@22) pretty much echoes my own sentiments.
    I’m not certain about Rand but his father tends to use the term Constitutionalist a lot – and also endorsed Chuck Baldwin from the Constitution Party.

  32. 32.

    gwangung

    @TomG:

    LOL. I respect you greatly John, but the libertarians I read didn’t “just notice”, they called out his father 2 years ago.
    Rand has been viewed with skepticism pretty much from the moment he won the GOP nomination – before the Rachel Maddow interview. The official Libertarian Party is late to the game (and itself is viewed with much skepticism, thanks to Bob Barr and especially Wayne Root).

    LOL, indeed. Given the laughable message focus, the looseness of what exactly is “libertarianism” and the lack of political wallop, why should we take you as any more indicative of libertarianism than any other joe schmoe? Or Rand Paul?

  34. 34.

    Chinn Romney

    The Libertarians are doomed. It’s okay if their candidates don’t speak particularly well, or grasp the issues, but down south you damn well better have your coiffure in order. It starts with a good hairnet and the right pomade. Uncle Mitt did well down there, he’s a Dapper Dan man. Looks like Rand is too.

  37. 37.

    Citizen_X

    Some pretty horrible karaoke went on the whole time.

    Song list, please. Don’t we deserve at least that much?

    I did not sing.

    And so the lying begins.

  39. 39.

    danimal

    On a bit of a tangent, here’s a question:

    Is the Libertarian Party purposefully inept, or is their factionalism and intra-party chaos a function of being an association of free-thinking individualists, most of whom are a$$holes?

  40. 40.

    frankdawg

    @Randy P:

    My son came home from being in Afghanistan & we were at the beach. He was wearing a shirt & I asked him why he didn;t take it off. He ignored me for awhile Then finally gave in & revealed he had tattoos on both biceps & his chest.

    Here he was, a combat vet afraid of his useless old mans reaction! But I think its his generations thing – every generation try’s to be outrageous in some way to offend the previous one. Lard only know what his kids are going to have to do to one up them.

  42. 42.

    frankdawg

    possible good news?

    There are reports that the top kill has stopped the shit storm & the live feed seems to be just looking around at the equipment – probably checking for damage or small leaks.

    Its against my nature to hope that this works & we have stopped the increase in damage but damn its hard not to be hopeful at this moment.

    I just saw something swim by the camera – that was interesting.

  44. 44.

    Corner Stone

    @Citizen_X:

    Song list, please. Don’t we deserve at least that much?

    IMO, there is one – and only one – acceptable song for mixed company karaoke.
    “Chocolate Salty Balls” by Chef from South Park.

  45. 45.

    Fergus Wooster

    @Cat Lady:

    That thing on his head is a coiffure? I thought it was a rodent.

    I’m reminded of ‘Shit My Dad Says’: “Doesn’t anyone your age know how to comb their fucking hair? It looks like two squirrels crawled on their head and started fucking.”

  46. 46.

    Zifnab

    Libertarians are just noticing that Rand Paul doesn’t actually have many libertarian views…

    First clue? He actually won an election. True libertarians never actually win elections.

  47. 47.

    El Cid

    Radly Balko has done some more good work, recently he & CATO doing this:

    Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America
    __
    by Radley Balko
    __
    Americans have long maintained that a man’s home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.
    __
    These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers.
    __
    These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

    It even comes with a clickable interactive map of the horrific consequences of so many of these raids.

  49. 49.

    Zifnab

    @danimal: Purposefully inept? You’re going to have to throw out a motive here. I’m not seeing the big pay off in “Run for state office and lose miserably”. I’ll have to go with option 2.

  50. 50.

    LGRooney

    But… but… his name is Rand. Are you telling me I need to think more deeply about a candidate than that? Time to go Galt on democracy if it is going to be this much work.

  52. 52.

    Michael

    Anti-gubmint, Party of No conservatard Mike Pence wants Barack Obama to play Big Daddy.

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2522307/posts

    Here is video of GOP Rep. Mike Pence on “Morning Joe” today where he said it is time for President Obama to say “the buck stops here” when it comes to the Gulf Oil Crisis.” Pence said Obama has failed to take the lead in this crisis.

    Of course, Mike Pence would be among the first ones screaming about the tyranny of “that uppity ni55er” were Obama to do that.

    Mendacious turd, isn’t he.

  53. 53.

    Shalimar

    @Corner Stone: I’m pretty sure it isn’t really karaoke until some idiot gets up and sings “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” by Jimmy Buffett.

  54. 54.

    Ed Drone

    @frankdawg:

    My son hasn’t been in the Army or even school (long story there, but he’s getting his head together and his GED as well) but has three tattoos — one of which he found the artwork for and the tattoo artist has incorporated it in his set of offerings, he liked it so much. It’s a bat, based on my son’s clan at a rehab/treatment village where he lived for a while.

    So I can’t complain about the tats, but have so far been successful in preventing any piercings. Wish me luck.

    Ed

  56. 56.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    Oh goody, more purity tests! Although I suspect Paul II is being cast out of the kool kids klub not for what he thinks, but for what he said out loud.

    I just saw something swim by the camera – that was interesting.

    It’s the kraken. And the kraken is not amused.

  57. 57.

    El Cid

    @flukebucket: If we’re lucky, it will be a very, very slow reversal, and likely only to begin reversing once we move to a decriminalization & treatment approach to illegal drug use, us being the cause of this hemisphere’s narco-trafficking chaos (including the near collapse of the Mexican state) due to our own consumer market, which we completely fantasize as being controllable through shoot-em-up and lucrative imprisonment.

  61. 61.

    RSA

    Dated January 1, 2010 (though I came across it a couple of weeks ago), at the LPKY blog:

    LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF KENTUCKY REITERATES: RAND PAUL IS NOT A LIBERTARIAN

    I thought this was funny, at the time, because I thought Rand was closer to libertarians than the average politician. Later stuff proved me wrong, at least a bit.

  62. 62.

    Michael D.

    OT, but I am looking at live pics from the oil well and it looks like the gushing is completely stopped. For now.

    Some good news – at least for now.

  63. 63.

    azlib

    Not surprising. I once knew a guy who used to hang around on libertarian discussion lists. He said the favorite sport among libertarians was who could out libertarian the rest of them. He said the escalation of the rhetoric and the name calling got so bad, he just simply gave up on libertarianism as a viable political philosophy.

  64. 64.

    gypsy howell

    In other news, Todd and his buddies built a 14-foot high fence last night to protect the Wasilla Hillbillies from the press. I guess Wasilla has pretty lax zoning laws and building codes.

  65. 65.

    frankdawg

    @Ed Drone:

    My daughter got her tongue pierced & it bugs the hell out of me. Not much I can do (she is 21 now) so as long as no permanent damage is done (think face tats) I just grin & bear it.

    Hold out hope for your boy. My younger son was out of school for a bit & graduated from an alternative school. He is now going to be a college senior, is on the deans list & inducted into the Phi Alpha Theta, the national honor society for history majors. He wants to go to law school so hes not perfect :) but sometimes your biggest cares provide the greatest joys.

  68. 68.

    Dee Loralei

    Karaoke huh? I had you on mojito #3 serenading Lily to the song “All by Myself” like the opening scene to Bridget Jones 1 with Tunch scowling at you both. And later you falling asleep on the couch with Lily and awaking in a puddle of your own drool. So your night was not nearly as sad and funny as I imagined.

  70. 70.

    danimal

    Zifnab–An organized, motivated Libertarian Party that sought to actually compete in elections could attract a significant number of voters (20%? 25%? 30?). There are a lot of self-identified libertarians and a lot of them are rich, with the ability to fund campaigns as a hobby. But they always fall in line with the GOP instead of the LP.

    The motive is that the Libertarian Party has the potential to split the right in the same way that the Green Party (or Ralph Nader) can split the left. It’s why I wonder if their ineptitude is purposeful. (EXAMPLE: Kind of like how Pat Buchanan taking over the Reform Party was effectively a way to kill off the Perotista movement).

  71. 71.

    Morbo

    @danimal: I also wonder if the ineptitude is intentional. After all, if libertarians were to be elected then they would have actual responsibilities.

  74. 74.

    MikeJ

    @Jenny: The raised part in the middle of that fence: did they use the blocks that the car in the front yard had been sitting on?

  77. 77.

    Gregory

    @Brian J:

    Of course, this will require a redefinition of the word persecution to mean being rejected by voters for views which they do not hold in a democratic election

    …even as the so-called “liberal media” runs with the narrative that the loss of a single Democratic seat in a normally Republican district represents a repudiation of Obama and the Democrats.

  78. 78.

    Gregory

    @bloodstar: Just because someone want to try to claim the label doesn’t make it so.

    cf. Republicans as “fiscal conservatives.”

  79. 79.

    jayjaybear

    Sister Machine Gun:

    Hmmm… purrhaps, he got too drunk to drive. Called Tunch who had to come and bring him home. Once home, Tunch punched him in the face, while Lilly wept at his sorry state. Finally, Cole passed out.

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

    That’s just crazy talk!

    Tunch could never fit behind the wheel…

  80. 80.

    John Bird

    You might want to make a major correction to your story, here:

    Libertarians still oppose the title of the Civil Rights Act that applies to public accomodations on principle, using the same reasoning as Rand Paul.

    Can we stop carrying water for libertarians as though they were anything other than deluded, bratty children? Their philosophy is racist in practice and, well, impossible to actually put into practice.

  82. 82.

    Midnight Marauder

    @danimal:

    An organized, motivated Libertarian Party that sought to actually compete in elections could attract a significant number of voters (20%? 25%? 30?).

    No.

  84. 84.

    Halteclere

    Tattoos, in my opinion, are, for many people, the acceptable way to rebel. (This is coming from someone who shocked my parents when I came home from college in 1990 with an earring.I stopped wearing it a decade later when elementary school kids started showing up with earrings.)

    There are some very rebelously ways to cast aside what is considered proper, and to challange conventional wisdom, ideas, etc. Then there are rebelous ways that are “safe” because they are society’s approved (and trendy) rebelousness. See Harley Davidson motorcycles and gotee facial hair for examples.

    Tattoos can fall into both categories. What is today’s tattoo that, tomorrow will become today’s japanese characters down the back of the neck, that will become yesterday’s whale-tale tattoo on the lower back, that will become the day before that’s barbed wire tattoo around the bicep?

    I remember a girl in college that had a beautiful tattoo of the world on her back. We need more of that then the next spiderweb on the elbow.

    (Now get off my lawn!)

  85. 85.

    YellowJournalism

    @Jenny: No way that fence is up to code. Can’t wait to hear about how it had to be taken down because of that and the lack of permits. What’s up with the gap at the bottom? It makes the fence look like something Tood did after having a 12-pack of animal beer with his buddies.

    I really think that McGinniss sounds like a grade-A jerk, but any sympathy for Palin goes out the window after reading her Facebook post yesterday and hearing all her supporters cry “pervert” and “stalker” in response.

  87. 87.

    Cat Lady

    @Jenny:

    Those two are the Jon and Kate of politics, which makes them catnip for Fox and the Villagers. I just don’t agree with Sully that she could possibly be the gooper nominee. They’re too thin skinned and vindictive, and bullying isn’t an attractive trait to witness all day every day. Obama’s electoral success was directly attributable to his calm even equanimity under enormous pressure. Palin is whatever the opposite of that is.

  88. 88.

    YellowJournalism

    @Joel:

    Rand Paul looks like Jerry Lee Lewis.

    And just like Jerry Lee Lewis, Rand Paul probably believes it’s his right to marry his underage cousin, too. True libertarians and all…

  89. 89.

    flukebucket

    @Michael:

    I know this is saying one hell of a lot but of all Republicans out there Mike Pence disgusts me the most.

    It started when Obama made an absolute ass of him in Baltimore and has just steadily gone downhill from there.

    I cannot stand to even look at that man much less listen to anything he has to say.

    @El Cid:

    We can always hope.

  92. 92.

    b-psycho

    Maybe if enough Randroid corporatists & pot-smoking paleos keep claiming “libertarian” then “anarchist” will edge it out in approval…

  94. 94.

    flukebucket

    @Jenny:

    When you look at that fence it is hard to believe that those people are multi-millionaires. That just looks shitty as hell. If my neighbor built a fence like that it would piss me off. That thing will devalue the property.

    Are there no real fence builders in all of Alaska that they could have hired to do a decent job?

  95. 95.

    Jenny

    @Cat Lady: she’s also too lazy. She couldn’t take the grind of a presidential campaign, especially when she would have to constantly commute from a remote area to NH, et. al.

  96. 96.

    drkrick

    An organized, motivated Libertarian Party that sought to actually compete in elections could attract a significant number of voters (20%? 25%? 30?).

    An organized, motivated Libertarian Party that tried to put together an actual platform (or ran a candidate with specific positions) would immediately repel about 80% of its “supporters.” A lot of people who vaguely think of themselves as libertarians don’t realize that people use that label for about a dozen different sets of more-or-less mutally exclusive principles.

  98. 98.

    Mumphrey

    Maybe what I think about libertarians isn’t fair, but I don’t give a shit. I get the feeling that the only rights they care about is the right to make as much money as they can while screwing everybody else. I hear them screaming about taxes and government regulation, but I don’t hear them saying all that much about wiretapping or the death penalty or abortion.

    Maybe I just don’t read enough (or any at all, really) of the real, authentic libertarian sites, whatever they might be–and I’m not about to begin–but libertarians all just seem to be greedy assholes who only care about their rights, not those of anybody else.

    As far as hangovers go, I read the other day that coconut water is the best thing for soothing hanglovers…

  100. 100.

    ruemara

    @Michael:

    Mentally, I’m screaming.

    @b-psycho:

    No. In fact, I would swear this was a failblog pic and someone was calling the Wasilla hilbillies, um, hillbillies.

  102. 102.

    Cat Lady

    @Jenny:

    She’s not too lazy if she could get her hands back on the NRC’s expense account for a while. Did she ever give her clothes back?

  105. 105.

    The Other Chuck

    So Palin walls herself off, and Beck is now censoring himself with respect to any mention of Random House books.

    Keep it up and maybe they’ll drop completely out of sight and shut up about everything. Whatever we’re doing, we’re doing it right.

  106. 106.

    flukebucket

    @elmo:

    As I understand it, there ARE no codes or permit requirements in Wasilla.

    That fence is a visual argument against libertarianism.

    @Jenny:

    The Clampetts were millionaires, too.

    True. But at least they had enough common sense to let somebody who knew what in the hell they were doing build the cement pond.

  107. 107.

    John Bird

    Yeah, just gonna say this again:

    Libertarians may not want to claim Rand Paul but they oppose the same part of the Civil Rights Act as Rand Paul, for the same reasons.

    Don’t let them whitewash their idiocy.

  108. 108.

    Teri

    @Mumphrey: er..hanglovers isn’t that something a republican does in the privacy of his “emergency fema shelter” when the census comes to the door?

  112. 112.

    b-psycho

    @Mumphrey: Just to insert an alternate view for the hell of it, here’s one libertarian airing out another over his plainly unjustified concern for BP over those affected by their royal cock-up.

    I know you don’t care distinctions, and don’t really think there is one. For anyone that does, if I could sum it up it’d be that one camp acknowledges such thing as common property (i.e.: natural resources, land, the environment itself) and the other thinks “common property” is like saying “square circle”.

  113. 113.

    Anya

    Is anyone watching/listening to POTUS press conference. Chuck Todd asked the stupidest question:

    Todd: balablah blah, Katrina
    POTUS:STFUP fool. I am not going to indulge village fantasies.

  114. 114.

    Jay B.

    Reading the “real” Libertarians — versus the merely self-described “libertarian” Paul — here reminds me of this classic Onion piece.

    The kicker:

    “Whenever you have this many Libertarians in one place, there’s going to be some disagreement,” said author and gun-control opponent William McPeters, who will deliver a speech titled, “Why I Abandoned The GOP, And How America’s Drug-Legalization Activists Can Profit From The Coming Economic Devaluation.” “But if America’s Libertarians join together as a strong, unified force, well, there’s just no limit to what 57 people can accomplish.”

  115. 115.

    frankdawg

    oops – went away for lunch, came back & the underwater image is showing mud spewing forth again.

    *SIGH* guess I was right not to get hopeful

  116. 116.

    Uriel

    @frankdawg:

    Lard only know what his kids are going to have to do to one up them.

    They will wear nicely tailored clothing and reasonable haircuts.

    I mean, really- were about to usher in a whole generation of CEO’s sporting sleeves of poorly designed, crappy ink, pierced tongues and three inch plastic disks in their earlobes. There’s just not all that much shock value to even more poking and piercing when grandpa entire body is a goddamn mural dedicated to legacy of Nickleback and mom can’t get withing a mile of an airport without setting off every metal detector in the place.

  117. 117.

    Mumphrey

    @b-psycho:

    I went and read that piece, and it’s pretty good. One might almost think it had been written by an actual human and not a libertarian. Once I waded into the comments, though, I had a hard time believing what I was reading. One guy even said that getting rid of child labor laws would help the poor. I guess anything, however far fetched, can work in an Ayn Rand book, but it’s hard to see how scrapping child labor laws would help poor people in this world. I don’t understand libertarians…

  118. 118.

    Short Bus Bully

    I am laughing my ass off over those fence pics. What bunch of shitheels. Any redneck worth a case of Natty Light can build you a damn fence, especially with all that expensive lumber that went into it.

    So the verdict is in: The Palin’s ARE the Clampetts of modern politics.

    If I keep facepalming myself from the links you guys post about this I’m going to get a bruise.

  119. 119.

    Paul in KY

    @Halteclere: Whenever I see someone with one of those ‘spiderweb on elbow’ things, I treat them as if they were a white supremacist that has murdered a person of color.

    That doesn’t mean I immediately shoot them or something crazy, since most all of the losers who sport one would piss their pants if an actual hardcore anything came up & either started giving them shit (like wearing Hells Angels stuff when you’re not in it) or congratulating them on eliminating an untermenschen & asking about planning the next ‘hunting’ operation.

  120. 120.

    Ken

    @John Bird @80: Their philosophy is … well, impossible to actually put into practice.

    The first hint should probably be that John Galt’s great invention – the one that let him and his cohorts set up their libertarian society – was a perpetual motion machine.

  121. 121.

    b-psycho

    @Mumphrey: I suspect in that case the context he’s thinking of is how in situations like that in some poorer countries if the kids don’t work the whole family could starve. Why he brought it up there, hell if I know…

    Obviously the idea should be for working adults to make enough money so it doesn’t come to that — clearly a job for organized labor. If it comes to children working like that, laws or no laws, then we’ve failed.

  122. 122.

    maus

    @Uriel:

    I mean, really- were about to usher in a whole generation of CEO’s sporting sleeves of poorly designed, crappy ink, pierced tongues and three inch plastic disks in their earlobes. There’s just not all that much shock value to even more poking and piercing when grandpa entire body is a goddamn mural dedicated to legacy of Nickleback and mom can’t get withing a mile of an airport without setting off every metal detector in the place.

    So? Aside from a small but dedicated group of BMEziners, it’s not getting any more “out there”. The “modern primitive” movement was a lot stronger in the mid-nineties. While there’s still new “innovations” in body mod, people are still by and large getting the same piercings and level of tattoo work, the majority of which you’ll never see, especially in a corporate environment.

    You *will* see more software/electrical/computer engineers with full-sleeves and slightly gauged ears, sure. But by and large you’re not going to have much in the way of visible work on CEOs. Maybe nose studs, but most people don’t even see them.

    <- Works for a large tech company in one of the highest concentrations of tatted people in the US.

  123. 123.

    El Cid

    @Ken: Also that Ayn Rand admired a serial killer and child kidnapper, ransomer, and dismemberer for his indomitable will and hated the public for insulting him, such so that she wanted to base a novel on this psychopathic, murdering hero.

  124. 124.

    Brian J

    @Gregory:

    Correct.

    I’d be really interested to see how the press treats a loss of 20-25 seats. That’s about or a little bit less than the historical average, and if the Democrats made up just half of that in 2012, which shouldn’t be impossible, it’d be a pretty significant solidification of power. Yet, it’s not as nice as losing only, say, five seats, which would be an incredibly good night for the Democrats. Surely there are some who would do the research to put this in perspective, but are there enough of them?

  125. 125.

    Uriel

    @maus:

    So? Aside from a small but dedicated group of BMEziners, it’s not getting any more “out there”.

    So, I don’t think the next generation will turn to body mods to satisfy their teen angst/ rebel w/o a cause needs, and I suspect it will start being perceived as exactly the opposite of “cool” once the initial adopters become more geriatric and begin to define the “main stream.” Let alone once they start entering the “get out of my yard” set.

    Sort of the same thing you’re saying, except that I’m further predicting that in 20 years kids will regard the whole thing in the same way we would regard someone who permanently grafted their parachute pants and don johnson jacket to their bodies.

    That’s all.

    Well, that, and I occasionally like to anonymously make fun of things I perceive as silly on the internet.

    Although, I don’t know about your contention that we won’t be seeing people with visible work in high powered positions. Sure, the pool of people getting them now aren’t CEO’s and such, but eventually the ranks of the upper offices will need to be filled by people drawn from that pool. As that happens, the idea will probably become more normalized, and therefore boring enough to be acceptable. (Heck, I can remember a time when Dennis Rodman was considered dangerously unbalanced, in large part because of all the body mods. Now, that look is practically the official uniform in several sports.)

  126. 126.

    gex

    @danimal: And you describe exactly why the fiscal conservatives got in bed with the neocons, paleocons, social conservatives, etc. 20% – 30% isn’t going to win elections. They had to use the Southern Strategy, because Americans were starting to actually benefit from policies that taxed the wealthiest in order to maintain a viable middle class.

    Frankly, that’s why the CRA is such a big one for libertarians. This was the point where “real” Americans started being convinced that the redistribution was going to help black people at the expense of white people.

    Everything the libertarians complain about in the GOP is the result of what the GOP had to do to get enough votes to enact the economic policies of libertarians. They often vote GOP too, but then have the gall to complain about all the socially conservative bullshit they just endorsed.

    Bah. The point is, I’ve never seen a liberty a libertarian wouldn’t sacrifice for a capital gains or estate tax cut.

  127. 127.

    asiangrrlMN

    Dead broken thread, but I would just like to say that some of us got tats before it was cool to do so (yeah, yeah, yeah) and did not do it as a rebellion. My tats are works of arts, and they are my favorite things about my body. I would be proud to show them to anyone.

  130. 130.

    Ron

    @Mumphrey: Yeah coconut water is great for hangovers. I drink Vita Coco all the time after a harsh night and it makes things so much more bearable

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