"I'm tired of this back-slapping "isn't humanity neat" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes." - Bill Hicks

"Conservative is a word created for the purpose of identity persuasion. Nothing more... What is a progressive? Same argument applies."

Identity politics trump everything/everyone's desperate for a tribe.  

The Conservative Con (Master Persuader Series) | Scott Adams Blog: "My best guess is that I’m in the top 20% of informed citizens. Yet I don’t know the political definition of conservative. Neither do you, in all likelihood.  Under the 2D filter of life, conservatives are united by a common ideology that is supported by reason. But under the Master Persuader filter, conservative is a word created for the purpose of identity persuasion. Nothing more. 

According to my filter, conservative has no logical or coherent reason for existing. While I assume it once had a noble birth, at this point it is just a hodgepodge of ideas that disagree with Democrats. Some of the individual ideas have merit, but they don’t belong together in the same bag for any reason that is obvious to me...

In 2016, the word conservative can be seen as a tool of influence – a shaming tool – used by the party elites to bring people together under their handpicked puppet. Conservative doesn’t have a normal definition that is useful and widely understood. That’s why it works so well for persuasion. 

If it had a rigid definition, lots of people could find a reason to disagree. But by leaving the definition of conservative in ambiguity, people see nothing with which they can disagree. That is classic persuasion. Trump uses the same form of strategic ambiguity. It’s a thing. 

Some of you will write coherent definitions of conservatism in the comments. I’m sure that definition exists. 

But if you walk out on the street and ask random Republicans to define what conservative means, they will probably say something about “small government” before voting for whoever is likely to increase its size, such as any of the Republican candidates still in the race...

Conservative is a word used by con men to maintain their power. So, Is Marco Rubio correct that Trump is a “con man”? Yes, Rubio is 100% right. Trump is a con man in a party of con people running against another party of con people.  He’s just better at it. 

P.S. - What is a progressive? I have no idea what that is either. Same argument applies. It is a word of persuasion, not reason."

"...time to evolve."

"Slipping into madness..."

Sure, why not?  Judge convicted of planting meth on woman who reported him for harassment - Boing Boing: "Bryant Cochran was chief judge of Murray County Magistrate Court when a woman reported him for hitting on her while she entered his chambers to take out assault warrants following an attack on her. The judge later conspired to plant meth on the woman. He will be sentenced in February."

White People, Relax.  We're gonna be okay.  The Silly Panic Over a Minority White Nation Update - Hit & Run : Reason.com: "A couple of years ago, I went through the exercise of calculating the percentage of the current American population descended from folks who were not regarded as being "white" when they immigrated back in the 19th and early 20th centuries. What sort of folks? Why the Italians, the Jews, the Irish, the Slavs, and the Greeks, along with native-born African-Americans. In my article, "The Silly Panic Over a Minority White Nation," I pointed out: Shortly after the turn of the last century, many nativists feared that mass immigration was overwhelming the white “races” that had historically contributed the most to populating the nation...

 Instead of becoming worthless and good-for-nothing, the descendants of those immigrant hordes became, well, Americans."

  

Survey Finds Teen Pot Smoking Fell This Year Despite the Message Supposedly Sent by Legalization - Hit & Run : Reason.com: ""There has been more public dialogue about marijuana over the past year than any 12-month period in history," says Mason Tvert, communications director at the Marijuana Policy Project. "States around the country are making marijuana legal for adults, establishing medical marijuana programs, and decriminalizing marijuana possession, and the sky is not falling. The debate is not resulting in more marijuana use among young people, but it is resulting in more sensible marijuana laws.""

Genius. 

Happy Belated Birthday to the late, great Bill Hicks.  "The world is like a ride in an amusement park...."

"Show Me."

What Texting Does to the Spine - The Atlantic: "Sixty pounds is roughly the weight of four adult-sized bowling balls. Or six plastic grocery bags worth of food. Or an 8-year-old. It is also, according to a new calculation published in the journal Surgical Technology International, the amount of force exerted on the head of an adult human who is looking down at her phone...

According to Nielsen, Americans spend about an hour on their smartphones each day. Unless you train yourself to stare straight ahead into your iPhone screen, you could be continually stressing your spine. "These stresses," Hansraj writes, "may lead to early wear, tear, degeneration, and possibly surgeries." Of course, physical therapists have been howling about the scourge of "Text Neck" for years. But it's certainly eyebrow-raising to learn that looking at Twitter in the supermarket checkout line is the equivalent of giving an aardvark a piggy-back ride."

R2 gets it. 

A Letter to My Future Wif—, Er, Girlfrie—, Er, Fuckbuddy: "...we’re not calling you creepy because you wrote a letter to your future husband. We’re calling you creepy because that letter is filled with remarks like this: Or after berating you for years to get rid of your favorite ratty t-shirt I’ll steal it from where you finally relented and threw it in the trash so I can have it framed for above your desk or made into a pillow for our bed. What’s more, you apparently think this makes you cute and/or endearing, instead of sending men screaming for the nearest exit. You could have just saved some time and copypasted “I’m a stalker with borderline personality disorder” a few dozen times and it would have had the same effect...  If I need to explain why prioritizing anything over the actual people in your life is wrong...

On the plus side, if you ask me I what I think of what you’re wearing, I’ll always give you an honest answer..."

The country really has progressed to nuttily-insane political caricatures in my lifetime.  This was the height of conservative-ness 30 years ago.  In Texas.  It's almost as if the politicians and media know that polarizing the citizenry over what's essentially meaningless will keep them all distracted and keep the coffers flowing.  Nah, that can't be it.  Friday A/V Club: Ronald Reagan Says 'Open the Border Both Ways' - Hit & Run : Reason.com: "AUDIENCE QUESTION: Do you think the children of illegal aliens should be allowed to attend Texas public schools free, or do you think that their parents should pay for their education? [...] BUSH: Look, I'd like to see something done about the illegal alien problem that would be so sensitive and so understanding about labor needs and human needs that that problem wouldn't come up. But today, if those people are here, I would reluctantly say I think they would get whatever it is [that] society is giving to their neighbors. But it has— the problem has to be solved. The problem has to be solved. Because as we have kind of made illegal some kinds of labor that I'd like to see legal, we're doing two things, we're creating a whole society of really honorable, decent, family-loving people that are in violation of the law, and secondly we’re exacerbating relations with Mexico. The answer to your question is much more fundamental than whether they attend Houston schools, it seems to me. If they're living here, I don't want to see...six- and eight-year-old kids being made, one, totally uneducated, and made to feel like they're living outside the law. Let's address ourselves ot the fundamentals. These are good people, strong people. Part of my family is Mexican.

REAGAN: Could I add to that? I think the time has come that the United States, and our neighbors, particularly our neighbor to the south, should have a better understanding and a better relationship than we've ever had. And I think that we haven't been sensitive enough to our size and our power. They have a problem of 40 to 50 percent unemployment. Now this cannot continue without the possibility arising—with regard to that other country that we talked about, of Cuba and what it is stirring up—of the possibility of trouble below the border. And we could have a very hostile and strange neighbor on our border. Rather than talking about putting up a fence, why don't we work out some recognition of our mutual problems? Make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit, and then, while they're working and earning here, they'd pay taxes here. And when they want to go back, they can go back. They can cross. Open the borders both ways."

» Kill Uncomfortable Whitey - Unleash The Beef: "“…but I gotta tell you man, I felt uncomfortable as a white guy to see you even print the n-word, nevermind post a video of someone saying it…” And I gotta tell you, man, how uncomfortable I feel as a human being knowing that: a) Words typed by people that have no association with you can make you uncomfortable b) You would express this to another person as though there exists some chance that person would give a fuck c) You don’t feel uncomfortable actually using phrases like “n-word” and “I felt uncomfortable.” You’re an adult male. Finding a grizzly bear in your home should make you uncomfortable – not words on the internet...

"N-word" is the most patronizing term in the entirety of the English tardicon. While I normally rail against the childish stupidity of anyone offended by words, the inherent stupidity of “n-word” is so inhumanely stupid as to be legitimately offensive. Saying “n-word” is like spelling in front of your kid so he doesn’t know what you’re saying – “Honey, don’t go p-o-t-t-y quite yet, I want you to s-h-i-t on my c-h-e-s-t tonight” – only your kid is 30 years old and a former Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. Why is he rolling his eyes? Because he hates you. Because he’s smarter than you. Because he resents having been treated like his intellect is on par with that of Mr. Potato Head for the past 30 years. Because you say things like “n-word.” Say the fucking words! There is no discussion regarding usage, context, intent, or interpretation."

This is awesome.  The Last Starfighter Re-Cut Into A Modern Trailer Is Totally Badass: "What if The Last Starfighter came out today? Well the trailer would probably recut from its awesome '80s glory into this re-cut badassery. Watch a trailer for The Last Starfighter, retooled for modern times."

Vulnerability |: "In an era when men are raised from birth to be “in touch with their feminine sides”, and in touch with their emotions, we get generations of men trying to ‘out-emote’ each other as a mating strategy... What they don’t understand is that the voluntary exposing of ones most vulnerable elements isn’t the sign of strength...  A reflexive exposing of vulnerability is an act of submission, surrender and a capitulation to an evident superior. Dogs will roll over almost immediately when they acknowledge the superior status of another dog. Vulnerability is not something to be brandished or proud of. While I do believe the insight and acknowledgement of your personal vulnerabilities is a necessary part of understanding oneself (particularly when it comes to unplugging oneself), it is not the source of attraction...

From the comfort of the internet and polite company women will consider the ‘sounds-right’ appeal of male vulnerability with regard to what they’re supposed to be attracted to, but on an instinctual, subconscious level, women make a connection with the weakness that vulnerability represents...

To explain this second problem it’s important to grasp how men are expected to define their own masculine identities within a social order...  For the greater part of men’s upbringing and socialization they are taught that a conventional masculine identity is in fact a fundamentally male weakness that only women have a unique ‘cure’ for. 

...over the past 60 or so years, conventional masculinity has become a point of ridicule, an anachronism, and every media form from then to now has made a concerted effort to parody and disqualify that masculinity. Men are portrayed as buffoons for attempting to accomplish female-specific roles, but also as “ridiculous men” for playing the conventional ‘macho’ role of masculinity. In both instances, the problems their inadequate maleness creates are only solved by the application of uniquely female talents and intuition...

At some point in any long term relationship you will show your vulnerable side, and there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong is the overt attempt to parlay that vulnerability into a strength or virtue that you expect that woman to appreciate, feel endearment over or reciprocate with displays of her own vulnerability for."

#It'sAllConnected. 

  

#Winning.

Perspective.

LA Cop “Justified in His Actions” For Ramming and Shooting at Innocent Man During Hunt For Chris Dorn | The Free Thought Project

Sure, but I'm up on the roof with a flashlight every night, and nothing.  Aliens are targeting Welsh people, claims 'abduction victim' - Wales Online: 

"Telepathic aliens are targeting Wales in a bid to harvest our superior genetic material – that’s according to “abduction victim” Hilary Porter. While Hilary’s stories may sound outlandish or unbelievable, she dismisses those who scoff for being closed minded."

Okay, that was pretty funny.

"Conspiracy Theorists Are Crazy..."

Schneier on Security: The Continuing Public/Private Surveillance Partnership: 

"Yes, it may seem like the the public/private surveillance partnership has frayed -- but, unfortunately, it is alive and well. The main focus of massive Internet companies and government agencies both still largely align: to keep us all under constant surveillance. When they bicker, it's mostly role-playing designed to keep us blasé about what's really going on.

The U.S. intelligence community is still playing word games with us. The NSA collects our data based on four different legal authorities: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, Executive Order 12333 of 1981 and modified in 2004 and 2008, Section 215 of the Patriot Act of 2001, and Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008. Be careful when someone from the intelligence community uses the caveat "not under this program" or "not under this authority"; almost certainly it means that whatever it is they're denying is done under some other program or authority...

Google's recent actions, and similar actions of many Internet companies, will definitely improve its users' security against surreptitious government collection programs -- both the NSA's and other governments' -- but their assurances deliberately ignores the massive security vulnerability built into its services by design. Google, and by extension, the U.S. government, still has access to your communications on Google's servers. Google could change that. It could encrypt your e-mail so only you could decrypt and read it. It could provide for secure voice and video so no one outside the conversations could eavesdrop. It doesn't. And neither does Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, or any of the others...

The biggest Internet companies don't offer real security because the U.S. government won't permit it. This isn't paranoia. We know that the U.S. government ordered the secure e-mail provider Lavabit to turn over its master keys and compromise every one of its users. We know that the U.S. government convinced Microsoft -- either through bribery, coercion, threat, or legal compulsion -- to make changes in how Skype operates, to make eavesdropping easier. We don't know what sort of pressure the U.S. government has put on Google and the others. We don't know what secret agreements those companies have reached with the NSA. We do know the NSA's BULLRUN program to subvert Internet cryptography was successful against many common protocols. Did the NSA demand Google's keys, as it did with Lavabit? Did its Tailored Access Operations group break into to Google's servers and steal the keys? We just don't know."

What the ungodly fuck?/Why people hate cops. Real American Hero AZ Cop Demolishes Unsuspecting Female Student During ‘Riot’ | Mediaite: 

"“These girls had been trying to get to their car. The girl is on her phone not paying attention and this cop came out of nowhere and just leveled her,” Landolt told the Daily Star. “After that everyone just started yelling and she started crying.” Watch below:"

James Lovelock: environmentalism has become a religion | Environment | The Guardian:
"Environmentalism has "become a religion" and does not pay enough attention to facts, according to James Lovelock. The 94 year-old scientist, famous for his Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a self-regulating, single organism, also said that he had been too certain about the rate of global warming in his past book, that "it’s just as silly to be a [climate] denier as it is to be a believer” and that fracking and nuclear power should power the UK, not renewable sources such as windfarms.

Speaking to the Guardian for an interview ahead of a landmark UN climate science report on Monday on the impacts of climate change, Lovelock said of the warnings of climate catastrophe in his 2006 book, Revenge of Gaia: "I was a little too certain in that book. You just can’t tell what’s going to happen." “It [the impact from climate change] could be terrible within a few years, though that’s very unlikely, or it could be hundreds of years before the climate becomes unbearable," he said. Lovelock's comments appear to be at odds with dire forecasts from a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday, which leaked versions show will warn that even small temperature rises will bring "abrupt and irreversible changes" to natural systems, including Arctic sea ice and coral reefs."

The drug war exception to the Fourth Amendment: 

"The drug war has eviscerated the Fourth Amendment. And because of asset forfeiture policies that allow police to seize cash and other valuable they find on motorists that they can even remotely suggest are connected to some sort of drug activity, usually with the proceeds going back to the police department, nowhere is this more apparent than in the reasons cops have given (and in many cases that courts have accepted) to justify traffic stops based on suspicions of drug activity...

Officer Klitch claimed to have smelled pot coming from Roseen’s truck. There was no pot. But at least Klitch waited until he had actually stopped Roseen to make that claim. In May 2012, Dominic Fornal, a deputy in Sarasota, Fla., claimed he could smell pot coming from the car traveling in front of him at 35 mph, even though that car’s windows were up. This wasn’t pot smoke. It was the pot itself. After four searches of the car by several deputies came up empty, Fornal turned off the lapel microphone from his dashboard camera and somehow managed to find a joint in the trunk that all the other cops and two drug dogs had missed. A spokesman for the sheriff’s department said Fornal ”operated entirely within department policy.”

Fornal isn’t alone. In 2012, a stop of two women in Irving, Tex., made national news. The women were stopped for allegedly tossing cigarette butts out a car window. But because the officer claimed to have smelled marijuana coming from the car, the women were subjected to a thorough search of their car, and then a humiliating roadside cavity search. There was no pot...

In Virginia, a judge recently upheld the stop and search of a car in which an officer claimed he could smell pot coming from a car he was following, even though the windows in the suspect’s car and the police car were rolled up, and even though a subsequent search turned up no pot.  Last October, another judge in the same state threw out a search in which an officer made a similar claim. "