Private prisons filled with recreational marijuana users is a hell of a vision for America. pic.twitter.com/rLcKYNGHtF
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 23, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General Jeff Sessions signals support for private prisons, rescinds memo meant to phase out their use
— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) February 23, 2017
The Sessions memo says the Obama policy "impaired the Bureau's ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system."
— Carrie Johnson (@johnson_carrie) February 23, 2017
"Future needs of the correctional system" is an ominous phrase https://t.co/ui711L10zQ
— Kelsey D. Atherton (@AthertonKD) February 23, 2017
AG Sessions, poison flower of Southern ‘manhood’, sees no reason why his cronies shouldn’t make a buck off those uppity… lawbreakers.
Sharp spikes in the stock prices of Core Civic and GEO Group, the biggest American prison corporations, following the Jeff Sessions memo: pic.twitter.com/ukJ1YyAYJa
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) February 23, 2017
@joshledermanAP @maggieNYT Guess who was a big contributor to Trump campaign. You got it…private prisons.
— Andrew From RI (@uhatremblay) February 23, 2017
*extremely cillizza voice* could these two events be connected or even intentional? no one can say. but many heartland voters love buildings https://t.co/ecrbDlPZio
— Big Sharia Jeb Malmö (@Mobute) February 23, 2017
What's the point of imprisoning people like Jeffrey Skilling & Bernie Madoff & a bunch of desperate drug mules & nobody profiting from it? https://t.co/gtc6f0ZOyv
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 23, 2017
And there are even worse legislators at the state level…
The United States is hell on Earth. https://t.co/lV6z2ECtRe pic.twitter.com/Hw7G8Bxtzo
— Michael Oman-Reagan (@OmanReagan) February 23, 2017
HELL YEAH WE PRIVATIZED IT *starts running in a big circle doing the arsenio fist thing* WUH WUH WUH WUH WUH WUH https://t.co/2cVrzQPU79
— Big Sharia Jeb Malmö (@Mobute) February 23, 2017
amk
Guess decades of gopee asskissing and spouting their lies didn’t help eh, morons?
John
Sort of like how the Chinese make the prisoner’s family pay for the bullet used to execute him, only worse. “Want a painless execution? Better pony up, convict.”
? Martin
Alabama has been working this slavery loophole for quite a while. Private prisons are an industry well suited to the skillset of the Alabama workforce.
? Martin
@John: Actually, it’s more of an admissions that they can’t get the drugs any longer. They’re hoping the convicts attorneys have better connections and can help drag the state’s inventory out a bit further.
debit
Open thread? Guys, I kept finding various stuffed animals on the floor and in a flattened condition. I thought maybe one of the dogs was dragging them down to use a pillow, but no. No. Tonight, I found out who and why. It was Oliver. My cat is having sex with stuffed animals. Proof. Today the Ikea elephant. Yesterday it was the a shark. Tomorrow, who knows?
SiubhanDuinne
Jesus on a 78° Day in February in the Northern Hemisphere Christ, ain’t that the ever-loving blue-eyed truth!?!?!
amygdala
@? Martin: It’s an interesting issue, though. They’re supposed to require a prescription, yet the reason there have been so many botched lethal injections is ethical concerns forbid physicians from participating in executions, except for the pronouncement of death. So how are the lawyers, or whoever, getting the drugs?
jl
@debit: We need to ban cats until we figure out what the hell is going on with them. Right folks? Really need to crack down on the cats. Some bad cats out there. They’re not sending their best, lemme tell you.
Adam L Silverman
@debit: This blog is not zoned for that kind of video. We do not have a cabaret license. Please comment accordingly in the future.
Thank you,
The Management
amk
@Adam L Silverman: effing cats. they ruin it for everybody.
Mike in NC
North Carolina still uses ‘chain gangs’ of prisoners to pick up litter along state highways. No actual chains, or striped pajamas, but does it really matter when you’re closely supervised by guards toting shotguns?
EBT
@? Martin: The state inventory is currently 0, this happened after the feds seized their online order.
Adam L Silverman
@amk:
– well played.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: And my comment was meant for @debit, not @amygdala.
Though, just to quibble, if this family blog is suitable for naked moping and Cole food pics, why is not fit for cat on stuffed animal sex?
debit
@Adam L Silverman: Sorry! I was under the impression it was a naked mopping dog shit aficionado type blog, and assumed non consensual cat on stuffed animal sex would be okay. My bad!
debit
@jl: We are as one.
Roger Moore
@debit:
That looks more like classic kneading behavior rather than actual sex.
Elmo
@jl: We’ll have no naked moping here, pal. If you’re going to be naked, you had better damn well be cheerful about it!
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Fixed it for you. I have no idea what you’re talking about in regard to naked moping (was someone both undressed and upset?) – and I don’t want to know. As for Cole’s food pics, I’m not sure why that would require a cabaret license.
Barbara
@amygdala: They should refuse on the grounds of federal drug laws.
debit
@Roger Moore: Oh, he’s doing more than kneading. Also, he had a cigarette after. And the elephant did the walk of shame all the way to the washing machine.
debit
@Adam L Silverman: Cole had a naked mopping incident. We don’t talk about it.
Okay, actually we talk about it all the time.
Edit, hah, yes, I see now. Moping. I’m sure he’s also moped while naked. I mean, haven’t we all?
Baud
@Roger Moore: That’s what she said.
Mike J
Arizona’s lege today passed a bill allowing for a racketeering arrest of anybody who helps organize a protest.
lamh36
Son of a bitch!
Muhammad Ali Jr. detained by immigration at Fla. airport
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2017/02/24/muhammad-ali-jr-detained-immigration-fla-airport/98376180/
Sloane Ranger
@EBT: If they don’t have the drugs that presumably means they can’t conduct executions so why would any convict oblige?
Timurid
Fuck these guys. Really. Fuck them with a rusty pipe wrench.
Baud
@Mike J: The lawsuit gets files tomorrow.
? Martin
Orange County, CA, supposed bastion of conservatism, home of the ambulatory cream cheese sculpture, has 4 Republican House members, and all 4 are in districts that voted for Clinton over Trump. Issa, Royce, Walters, Rohrbacher. None of them are speaking to constituents. Orange County is looking to send all 4 of them packing in 2018. That’s 4 of the 24 seats Dems need to flip the House.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debit:
Left shark or right shark?
scuffletuffle
@debit: was there a “happy ending?”
Baud
@lamh36:
@Timurid:
Yep. US citizens. I hope this blows up big time in their faces.
enif
who needs fema camps when we have the privata prison industry
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: And then there’s Baud!
Baud
@? Martin: I hope so.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I did not have sexual relations with that stuffed animal.
amk
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
Sure, and you’re the guy who posts cheesecake pics.
? Martin
@amygdala: The drug makers will sell them, but not to organizations that will use them for executions. So the state can’t get them. That’s why Oklahoma went through some shady pharmacy to get around that. The lawyer probably does have a better shot at getting access to the drugs than the AZ dept of corrections does.
MomSense
@debit:
Ha!! My friend’s pug does the nasty with a giant stuffed bear. I keep telling her she could make a fortune on YouTube subscriptions if she posted the videos. The bear is at least three times the size of the poor pug.
scav
@amygdala: Outsourcing the illegality of their preferred method of offing people (Damn those international corporations making moral decisions that the death-friendly executioners don’t approve of — Corporate Religious Freedom is for corporations to discriminate against homosexuals and refuse health care to wimminz with!). But, there’s also a class issue, much as the rich formerly had silken nooses or were executed by beheading, etc. I’m sure this last is the icing that lingers deliciously on their lips, despite the cake being backed for other reasons.
Plus, I swear these private prisons are suddenly going to be sitting on the new labor force for picking crops.
? Martin
@Baud: Me too. Hopefully we can start lining up behind candidates soon. I’d like to see them invited to stand in at these town halls that our reps refuse to attend.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Mike J:
That description doesn’t come close to capturing the true awfulness of that legislative turd…
“Lawmakers say they’re targeting “paid protesters.”
Paid protesters… of whom no proof of existence is offered…
Here’s the real knife in your back…
That is verbiage right out of the bill… they intend to prosecute PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATORS under RICO… and a demonstration doesn’t have to turn violent to qualify…
Almost beyond belief… but the farkers are SERIOUS…
? Martin
@MomSense:
Don’t body-shame the stuffies.
? Martin
@Thru the Looking Glass…: Bring it. 1st amendment violation of right to assemble. I’ll up my ACLU donation subscription.
Baud
@? Martin: Is there a concern the other way — too many D candidates jumping into the jungle primary?
Mike J
@Thru the Looking Glass…: From what I read, the demonstration doesn’t even have to have happened yet. Organizing==conspiring.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Update on my Cocker Spaniel Nikki: to review, about two weeks ago she wasn’t able to use her back legs at all; we took her to the vet and he put her on prednisolone(2 tabs twice a day for a week, then one a day for two weeks, then one every other day). She’s doing much better, I’d say about 95% normal.
Update on the car search: I sent an email to one seller of a 2011 Prius, will need to setup a time to see it, the wife is pushing for a lease on an new Elantra since I didn’t drive much when I had the Jetta. I’m still leaning towards a used Prius.
Hal
That photo of sessions reminds me of Constable Odo from Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
but, but…. flying coach!
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yay Nikki!
p.a.
That’s gotta make it to The Onion. Randy cat impregnates stuffed animal menagerie
? Martin
@Baud: Not likely here, though who knows now. We’re talking to one candidate who ran in my district a few elections ago. We’ve known her family for a while. I think she’d be a good choice if she’s willing.
p.a.
@Mike J: ACLU will kick their balls up and out through their nostrils on that one.
Chat Noir
@debit: Our cat does that with the blanket on the bed, which I call his girlfriend.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: She’s been into the one tab a day portion for a bit over a week, so I’m optimistic. She’s the happiest dog in the world, her tail is always wagging.
Mnemosyne
@amk:
Remember when the press gaggle not getting to tag along to one of Malia’s soccer games was the Worstest Affront to Freedom EVAH?!?!?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Baud:
Of this, I have no doubt… flies right in the face of the 1st Amendment, no?
The problem here, IMHO, is that even after the courts flush this floater, the monsters who produced it can go around screaming the left wants to protect violent anarchists from their just desserts… more proof we’re the true enemies of the people… in addition to the courts… and the FBI… and the media… anyone else who doesn’t fall into lock step w/ their marching orders…
? Martin
How Citizens United gave Republicans a bonanza of seats in U.S. state legislatures
Democrats should press their states to pass state-level legislation to ban corporate money. State bans have been upheld (for reasons I admit I don’t understand).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Good times.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Mike J: Yup… that’s the way I read it…
Again, this will get destroyed in court AND… they’ve got the gall to even try it…
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Of actual cheesecake. Not WW II pinups!
efgoldman
@? Martin:
And if they don’t?
amk
@? Martin: democrats need to fucking vote to begin with.
MomSense
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
So relieved to hear Niki is improving.
Not touching the car decision!!
amygdala
@? Martin: How is that legal, though? If a scrip is required, it’s required. Sounds like a nice pro bono project for a law professor and some of his or her dogged students.
efgoldman
@debit:
Walter probably wouldn’t lie still long enough
Thru the Looking Glass...
@? Martin: Absolutely… this is shaping up as the fight of our lifetime…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Remember that bomb at the Cheesecake Factory out here in Pasadena? That was only a few feet from where we had a BJ meetup. They’re on to you Silverman.
Baud
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
Who the fuck cares?
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Excellent.
debit
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That is awesome news. Any idea what caused the initial problem?
efgoldman
@amygdala:
On the street corner, like real Americans do.
Mnemosyne
@debit:
It’s so common that my vet knew what I was talking about when I broached the subject. It can sometimes be more of a dominance move (as it is with dogs), which is why you’ll see female cats doing the same thing.
But, yes, just because the gonads are gone doesn’t mean the urges completely disappear.
schrodingers_cat
@debit: My male kitty does that maneuver with my orange female cat. Sometimes she is game at other times she will slap him with her claws out. They are both fixed. Peculiar kittehs is peculiar.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debit: Vet says it’s a disc problem, she’s had this problem on occasion for several years. This was the most severe, so we had the vet take x-rays which didn’t show any bone problems, just soft tissue.
Steve in the ATL
@amygdala:
Is there a public high school nearby?
efgoldman
@jl:
Waitaminnit! I’ve been hanging around here a long time, and I’ve never seen a pic of Cole moping, naked or otherwise.
He does whine a lot, though.
Mnemosyne
@? Martin:
Well, that can’t be possible, because a troll has assured me numerous times that Democratic losses in those states are solely the responsibility of the Democratic Party losing touch with the white working class. You don’t think that troll could be wrong, do you?
lamh36
Sharing a little bit of Mardi Gras with ya’ll
LIVE video from local newstation of parades rolling in NOLA.
https://www.facebook.com/WWLTV/videos/10154517153219926/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Glad to read she’s doing better.
debit
@efgoldman: I don’t even speculate about what they get up to when I’m not home.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman:
Usually about missing mustard or the car in the farmer’s field. Then again he was a Republican, and the whining may take more time to wear off.
lamh36
efgoldman
@Mike J:
They just loves them some lawsuits, doesn’t they?
Do they make a separate appropriation for the court costs and damages?
amygdala
@efgoldman: It’s already happened. Because pentobarb and other preferred agents for the sedative part of the 3-drug protocol became increasingly unavailable (the drug companies refused to sell them to the executioners), they started substituting other drugs. Midazolam was one of them. It’s a benzodiazepine, like Valium or Ativan. It’s actually fairly hard to OD on that class of drugs without another sedative on board (and the other drugs are not sedatives).
So they were giving paralytics, which you never give without adequate sedation because it makes people feel like they’re suffocating (which they are) and then potassium IV push, which hurts like hell.
Now IANAL, but I seem to remember cruel and unusual punishment is supposed to be a no-no.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I do. You should have seen the emails between TaMara and myself on that one.
debit
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thank goodness for that! Poor pup must have been really scared.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debit: I have cameras, no need to speculate.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
The Cuban bakery near my apartment makes King Cakes. We’ve been getting them every year since The Princess and the Frog came out.
amygdala
@Steve in the ATL: Pentobarb isn’t much of a street drug.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
@debit:
@Baud:
@MomSense: Thanks much.
? Martin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: We got my daughter a used 2013 Prius C. I let my wife take point on the decision since she was excited about it, while I was a bit meh, but it’s a pretty nice car. I like it a lot. We got it for $11K from a private sale in the color she wanted and the higher trim level. She made a good call.
My argument against a new car is that the electric transition will happen surprisingly quickly based on the pace at which battery prices are dropping. I think the resale value of ICE vehicles is going to drop very quickly after 2020. Lithium ion battery prices have dropped 70% in the last 2 years and are expected to get down to $100/kWh by 2020. I think they’ll be lower than that. At $100, a Tesla Model s85 battery pack would cost $8500. A Bolt’s would be $6K. That’s getting down the aggregate cost of building and installing a convention drivetrain.
Tenar Arha
@lamh36: #headdesk #headdesk #headdesk These CBP assholes deserve all the labelling as monstrous, as well as the shit details from their shitty bosses they’re going to get from giving the game away.
ETA I’d like to believe they’d get fired with black marks and no references, but I don’t believe that will happen.
Shana
@schrodingers_cat: in re: fixed kitties, my father always referred to them as “consultants.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@? Martin: I’ve been impressed with what I’ve been reading about the lack of service needed on the Prius, but the wife has a point about my current(and that will change) amount of diving.
The problem with the transition to non ICE vehicles is non-home owners. There’s no place to plug them in. Until that time, people in upper income brackets will convert, others can’t until infrastructure at or near their residences are available.
danielx
“The (Obama administration) memorandum changed long-standing policy and practice, and impaired the bureau’s ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system. Therefore, I direct the bureau to return to its previous approach,” Sessions said in a letter dated Tuesday to Thomas Kane, acting director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Oh, now why do I not like the sound of that?
Because that little fuck Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III can’t wait to find pretexts to lock up as many people as possible.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Baud: Who the fuck cares?
Ummm… the clowns that follow them?
I think it would be dangerous to underestimate them and what their end game might be…
This is beginning to look like the political equivalent of a smash and grab moment… ‘we’ll throw so much shit at them at once they won’t know what to do…’
danielx
@Mike J:
Won’t pass constitutional muster, but…..those miserable fascist bastards.
scav
That AZ bill also has the crack cocaine for current PDs, essentially civil forfeiture, no? That should get Trump’s 100% backing too, he could ruin a few more careers over it.
There are a lot of them in the pipes ( Republican lawmakers introduce bills to curb protesting in at least 18 states. I notice the one in MO makes it illegal to wear “masks, robes or other disguises” only if the protests are judged illegal. Otherwise the Klan and Tea Party get-togethers might run into complications.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@scav:
Probably the same folks riding buses from state to state, voting over and over and over again…
Seriously… 18 states? You could almost think they had this planned and coordinated ahead of time… I wonder if ALEC has anything to do w/ this?
Smash and grab…
Mike J
@p.a.:
Not until somebody spends the night in jail.
efgoldman
@scav:
I hope they have little tiny cells to put all the six year olds on Halloween.
J R in WV
@lamh36:
Nazis in action – no reason to hold that guy, son of a national treasure, arrested for being Muslim.
NO mistaking what we’re seeing now – the intended end times of democratic freedom, and the attempted re-establishment of Southern Feudalism at the hands of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.
But we have the Constitution with US:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Mike J:
I was wondering about… someone needs to be arrested first?
W/out that, no one has standing? (Cause to file? I’m not a lawyer but I like to pretend…)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
Did you stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@?BillinGlendaleCA: No… SAD!
Mike J
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
You need to have an “actual dispute.” Until somebody is arrested, nobody has a reason to be in court. Before you rush out to get arrested, consult with an actual attorney first, ’cause I ain’t one.
danielx
If you want to know what serious wingnuts are all about these days….and by serious, I mean people who have guns and know what the fuck they’re doing. These folks are serious, and this is the way they perceive things.
I would not recommend commenting on this guy’s blog. It’s informative, but I wouldn’t comment.
Skull-Stomping Sacred Cows: Reality Isn’t Nice. It’s a 2×4 to the Teeth.
ETA: On the other hand, there are some areas where I can agree.
“The root causes of our problems are still present (and if the choice of THREE career Goldman Sachs bankers to cabinet positions doesn’t tell you that, I hope you have someone nearby trained in CPR, to clear your airway, after they pull your head out of the sand).”
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Mike J:
Well, that’s what I was getting at… that, and you must have some reason (show damages?) to be a party to the dispute?
I ain’t no laywer either…
jl
The very idea of naked moping and stepping in pet poop is far worse than any pics. That is all.
Glad we now have a ruthless strongman, um… I mean ever helpful president… who will soon clear all of it for us.
scav
@efgoldman: Trick or Treat. Clearly extortion with threat of violence. Plus the little monsters are running around in the streets! Clearly drivers need protection so that they can run them down without fear.
Adam L Silverman
@danielx: This is not unusual if you read any firearms website/blog, both front page posts and comments, as well as a number of right wing sites/blogs that aren’t mainstream conservative. They all paint with a very broad brush and they are all talking to each other – so epistemic closure issues. They are completely convinced that everyone that is left of center, from those hugging the axes as center left to liberals to left libertarians (I’m using the term the way it is used when political scientists plot ideological positions on a four quadrant plat with axes, not the common/jargon usage) to the far left to actual radicals are all the same. And that they all want the same thing. That they’re all coordinating, that specific individuals are masterminding this, hence the constant referencing of George Soros. And trying to explain to them that there is as much variation on the left as on the right and that the vast majority of folks just want to be able to live their lives is met, at best, with incredulity.
danielx
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s true. Never mind the fact that until fairly recently, most lefties couldn’t organize an orgy in a brothel, nor yet a drinking party in a brewery. Nor yet do they get the fact that – generally speaking – most people, lefties or not, are not interested in carrying firearms every time they walk out the door. I’ve spent time viewing firearms blogs, and I think what gets me the most is these folks live their lives centered around guns. It’s their main interest in life; they think that anybody who doesn’t carry every time they walk out the door is naive at best and stupid at worst. The terminology tells you much – ‘running’ an AK or AR, like it’s a machine. It is, and a machine designed to inflict death. The word is shooting.
Adam L Silverman
@danielx: That’s why I don’t go anywhere without my gatling gun.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ky6ULsJeJHo/hqdefault.jpg
If it was good enough for Jesse Ventura in Predator, it’s good enough for me!
brettvk
@debit: I once house-sat where the cat I was caring for had loud, illicit relations with a stuffed walrus almost every night. The homeowners did not warn me in advance and refused to discuss it afterwards.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Adam L Silverman:
I’d reckon it’s because that view of ‘the left’ doesn’t fulfill their need to feel put upon… they NEED an enemy to justify their world view… that’s my layman’s take on it… and ‘epistemic closure’… that means they never listen to anyone outside their own little world and they just endlessly reinforce the same values?
Adam L Silverman
@Thru the Looking Glass…: yep
debit
@brettvk: I understand their reluctance. It was hard to accept at first, but I’ve decided to fully support Oliver in his shark/elephant relationships. The heart wants what it wants, man.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Adam L Silverman: I’ve actually seen that dynamic play out in the real world… some serious embezzlers I once worked under… not very pleasant, watching that go down…
Uncle Ebeneezer
@?BillinGlendaleCA: speaking of Pasadena, there’s a march on Monday where Gordo will introduce legislation to make it a Sanctuary City. Word is that this draft could serve as a model for Los Angeles. If any Juicers feel like meeting up at the march let me know. It starts at the job center on Lake and goes to City Hall.
Anne Laurie
@debit: Our rescue dog Zevon has an unbreakable urge to… befoul bedding or pillows. We came to an agreement eventually; he has a variety of (machine-washable) dog beds that he can mold to his nasty purposes, and when he starts assaulting our blankets, yelling “Humpy, Zevon” redirects him to a suitable target.
Since Oliver’s been doing this behind your back, you may need to lock away *your* stuffed toys, before assigning him a “humpy” for himself. (Or just leave out the shark he’s already… christened?)
Anne Laurie
@Adam L Silverman:
Dude, given the age and interests of your average BJ commentor, actual cheesecake can be much more arousing than pictures of pretty young people!
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman: If we ever do get that cabaret license, I am willing to pay upwards of $5 for a pic of you shirtless, in your frilly apron and tiara, because I am “bear-curious”.
EricNNY
This is point positive that we can do nothing until we limit money in politics. This is immoral, barbaric and unfair to labor. Resist!
rikyrah
@debit:
That is hilarious ?????