¿El Jueves por la Noche? ¡Enlaces Mexicanos!

What’s that time? It’s time for news south of the border!

First up.  Apparently the secret to never having to face a revolution is by starving your constituents, as Venezuela swears in Maduro for a second term.

So you are saying there ARE in FACT terrorists?

When Trump says, “Mexico is going to pay for the wall,”  I guess that really  means, “I never said they’d write a check.”

Factcheck:  Yes, there were indeed terrorists apprehended at the border.  Six of them between October and March  of last year.   Which is a low number, to be sure, but then again how many guys does is really take to put on a bomb vest and blow themselves up outside a synagogue?

I guess it is news people steal gas in Mexico.  Who knew?

Brazilian Trump withdraws from a UN agreement on migration.  In other news, since his election my investment in a Brazilian bank stock has gone up 33%!  I love this guy.

A judge ordered Tijuana’s mayor to stop talking smack about migrants.  His response, “No quiero.”

I caught this on Joe Rogan.  It is chapter 2 of John Stuart Mills, On Liberty, presented as a graphic novel of sorts.  So if you have orphans in need of training, it’s means for orphans.  Available free for download.

I’m feeling a little Alice in Chains today.

 

 

 

Comments

272 responses to “¿El Jueves por la Noche? ¡Enlaces Mexicanos!”

  1. Rufus the Monocled

    DON’T ANY OF YOU WORK?!

    1. Tonio

      Not anymore, sucka!

    2. DEG

      Yes. I work.

    3. Not much work got done today. My wife sprung a dr appointment on me last minute, and while the toddler was having a meltdown, we had a bit of an urgent situation come up at work. As a result, I’ve been quite unproductive the rest of the day.

    4. ZARDOZ

      ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN MUPPET ONE. YES, ZARDOZ’S TOIL NEVER CEASES. TUNE IN TONIGHT AT 1900 HOURS TO SEE. ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

      1. HIS CHOSEN MUPPET ONE.

        Guess that makes me chopped liver.

        *kicks pebble*

        1. Rufus the Monocled

          You’re a green muppet. An inferior breed.

          1. Chafed

            Congratulations on your appearance on the Flip Wilson Show.

          2. C. Anacreon

            The devil made him do it.

          3. Spudalicious

            At least he’s not a gay muppet.

          4. There’s another kind?

          5. Spudalicious

            SHUT YOUR DIRTY WHORE MOUTH!!! BERT AND ERNIE ARE JUST FRIENDS!!!

      2. Chafed

        Oh mighty ZARDOZ, my wife asked for an expensive ring for our 20th anniversary. In return I asked for nearly as expensive a gun. I thought I’d skip Dear Abby and go right to the source to see if I did the right thing.

        1. Tundra

          Lol. That’s how I got my Spitfire!

          1. Mad Scientist

            Hmmmm, I have an anniversary coming up….

        2. Not Adahn

          THE GUN IS GOOD. THE RING CAN BE USED TO PREVENT PENIC ERECTIONS WHICH IS ALSO GOOD.

    5. Drake

      My employer had a not so good 2018. Today they told us no merit increases for managers and above (which includes me). When they asked for questions, I helpfully pointed out that the job market is really strong right now – phrasing it as a question on turnover.

      1. Private Chipperbot

        Does my resume look better on white or off white paper?

    6. bacon-magic

      You work on Sesame Street. On the corner. For Canadian quarters.

      1. Old Man With Candy

        He’s not gay, but 25 cents is 25 cents.

  2. Juvenile Bluster

    Factcheck: Yes, there were indeed terrorists apprehended at the border. Six of them between October and March of last year. Which is a low number, to be sure, but then again how many guys does is really take to put on a bomb vest and blow themselves up outside a synagogue?

    Agreed, but I just want to put a reminder that the “terrorism database” is bullshit, that people can be put on there for any reason or no reason, and there’s no oversight as to people getting on or due process to get off it (because fytw).

    1. Rhywun

      Nevertheless, I can’t be the only one amused that Team Other thinks this is a winning argument:

      Only six immigrants in terrorism database stopped by CBP at southern border from October to March

      1. Not Adahn

        “How does this compare to the number of terrorists stopped by the TSA at airports?”

    2. mexican sharpshooter

      I just want to put a reminder that the “terrorism database” is bullshit

      Agreed.

  3. DEG

    But an overreliance on oil – it accounts for about 95% of its export earnings – left the country vulnerable when prices dropped in 2014.

    As a result, the cost of imported goods like food and medicine has risen, and currency inflation has skyrocketed.

    See? It’s not socialism that fucked up Venezuela, it was falling oil prices! Says so right there on the label.

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      Just look at how the same thing happened to all the middle eastern OPEC nations when oil prices fell!

      (what?)

      1. DEG

        I think the all-purpose “THAT’S DIFFERENT !!11!11!1” is called for here.

      2. And in Norway, they have resorted to cannibalism, yes?

        1. Bobarian LMD

          That’s why they kidnapped this starving woman.

          1. Spudalicious

            Big pot of stewed hen?

  4. When Trump says, “Mexico is going to pay for the wall,” I guess that really means, “I never said they’d write a check.”

    People still write checks?

    1. It’s Mexico, dude.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        In which case, Western Union would seem more appropriate.

    2. mexican sharpshooter

      Game. Set. Match

    3. grrizzly

      And how else would I pay my Brazilian cleaning ladies?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        How many ladies does it take to give a grizzly a brazilian?

        1. Jarflax

          Ladies don’t do that.

      2. How many is a Brazilian?

        1. Creosote Achilles

          Zero.

    4. Tonio

      Yes Ted, they do. Old people in the supermarket. People who should be banished to the “Checks, Coupons, EBT, Other Special Needs” line.

      1. Private Chipperbot

        Remembers back to the day before Thanksgiving where I was behind a nice old lady in the self check line who was trying to push a check into the money slot.

      2. I use the self-checkout express whenever possible.

        And express doesn’t mean a whole week’s worth of groceries, bitches.

    5. Florida Man

      I pay the people I employ in checks so they don’t have processing fees.

      1. Jarflax

        Good man! I have a number of clients who always want to paypal me. For the love of god write me a check, the 30 seconds it takes beat the hell out of me paying 3% for the ‘convenience’, especially if the amount invoiced includes recording fees etc. “Oh it’s just 3%”, @#$%^& yeah so on $1400 bucks, I am out $52 so you can avoid the horrible inconvenience of bringing a checkbook to the appointment.

        1. Jarflax

          $42 I swear I can do math.

        2. I have never had a client try and pay me with anything other than a check or cash. I imagine it’s just a matter of time til some hipster or millennial wants to taps phones or whatever the cool kids are doing nowadays but it hasn’t happened yet.

        3. Florida Man

          It actually hurts me not to use a credit card because I don’t get the points, but it’s a bigger hit to them than it is a help to me, so I do it.

    6. Enough About Palin

      I write five each year. Federal income taxes, Minnesota Income taxes, Hennepin County property taxes (x2) and my safe deposit box fee. With the exception of the last one, I wait until the due-date to put them in the mail. Fuck those leeches.

    7. Rhywun

      Some of us rent, shitlord.

      1. Count Potato

        Or buy things like gas, water, electricity, phone, internet, etc.

        1. Rhywun

          Well yeah, but rent is the only one of those that generally requires a check. (Although two landlords ago, they actually sent over a different relative every month – cash only. Assholes.)

          1. but rent is the only one of those that generally requires a check.

            I would’ve thought they’d have moved en masse to Square or Venmo or something. My last apartment I rented had an online ACH option.

          2. Rhywun

            My current landlord operates an office that looks like it hasn’t changed since the 70s. And that’s the most advanced I’ve seen. My previous landlord was just some old guy who lived down the street – I would leave him a check in my mailbox every month. I bet there are fancier operations but they’re probably way outside my price range.

          3. Jarflax

            Adding 3-5% to your outlays when your money come in in a small number of large dollar payments from a limited customer base is a significant expense.

  5. commodious spittoon

    A judge ordered Tijuana’s mayor to stop talking smack about migrants. His response, “No quiero.”

    Ninth Circuit?

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      Worse. A Mexican judge.

      1. Rhywun

        Surprisingly, he gave the same response when someone asked if he wanted Taco Bell.

  6. Since you mentioned the border wall… Dim Acosta is helping Trump get his wall.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cnns-jim-acosta-mocked-for-accidently-proving-that-border-walls-work

    1. kinnath

      Own Goal!

    2. Sean

      That’s awesome.

    3. Chafed

      Holy cow is he obtuse.

      1. Jim Obtusta.

        1. Chafed

          Nice.

    4. wdalasio

      I never knew Jim Acosta was a libertarian. Because with that video, he definitely revealed himself an believer in self-ownership.

      1. Count Potato

        LOL

    5. Soyboy

      I was watching “Conan Without Borders,” and in the episode in Mexico he’s interviewing former Mexican president Vicente Fox. “You make a good point,” Conan O’Brien says, “that historically border walls do not work.”

      “Yes,” Fox says. His supporting example? The Berlin Wall.

      “You’re right, the Berlin Wall famously fell. It didn’t work.”

      Might be one of the worst arguments I’ve ever heard. Then there’s another episode in Israel and Palestine, a segment of which highlights the wall separating the West Bank. Kind of undercuts that argument further.

      Of course, they’re bad analogies for a wall on the southern US border (unless sentinels are going to shoot trespassers), but arguing that “walls don’t work” and then immediately (to anyone with a pulse) falsifying that argument makes you wonder about these guys’ self-awareness.

      1. Rhywun

        When the MSM’s arguments for or against walls depends on which team the current occupant of the White House plays for, you know they’re not arguing in good faith. The recent pivot towards kumbaya and “unite not divide” is no more serious than “we can power the world on wind and solar”.

        1. Mad Scientist

          Which tells you all you need to know about their sincerity on EVERY other story they write/broadcast.

      2. Not an Economist

        Walls work. Engineers can design a wall that will keep out most intruders. Now whether building a wall is the right thing to do or cost effective is another story.

  7. Juvenile Bluster

    https://www.abc17news.com/news/patrol-vehicles-commonly-use-area-where-girl-killed/970056411

    Columbia, Missouri cop hits and kills a 4 year old girl while driving on a sidewalk. It’s totes ok though; cops drive on that sidewalk all the time!

    1. Chafed

      And nothing more will happen. It’s infuriating.

  8. Rufus the Monocled

    NBC and fact checking are mutually exclusive.

    Did Brian Williams do the fact checking?

    Still can’t believe he has his job back.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Hanging off the side of that BBC link is a story about “Our kid wants to sell art to make money because we work for feds and we have been shut down” or something. (It’s noy like I’m going to watch that).

    I say, “Go for it.” Maybe the kid will learn a valuable lesson about voluntary exchange and subjective value.

    1. Mojeaux

      A friend just ripped me a new one on FB because I wasn’t sympathetic enough to the plight of “the little guy” who’s not going to get paid. And this was on a “libertarian” page.

      1. Tundra

        Was your friend there for us when the Big O was ass raping small businesses?

        1. Mojeaux

          Dunno. So far as I know, she’s never had a small business in her life.

          I didn’t engage except to tell her to back off on the personal attacks.

        2. Rufus the Monocled

          Silly Tundra. Small business = big corporation in the eyes of stupid, faux-righteous progressives.

          They don’t distinguish between the two.

          1. Michael

            They do make the distinction, but only when it’s actual corporate titans that say all the right social-justicey words.

      2. Florida Man

        All government employees are paid through theft, no matter how “little” they are.

        1. DEG

          And don’t forget that all those government employees think they are taxpayers.

          1. Rufus the Monocled

            Not following. Do they not pay taxes?

            Or are they exempt?

          2. Mojeaux

            Not if they get a big refund at the end of their 1040.

          3. No, they pay taxes. But they’re also paid via tax revenue. The argument’s based on the idea that government spending funded via taxation by definition cannot produce wealth, therefore if you use tax money to pay someone to produce something, the best possible scenario you could achieve is that you’ve broken even, and in reality you won’t get close to that.

            So the argument is that a government employee complaining about paying taxes is disingenuous since the money was acquired through coercion to begin with, i.e. it’s not really their money. The thing that gets me is that taxing the income of government employees is…strange. It would be simpler to just not tax them and pay them less, since it amounts to the same thing.

          4. Bobarian LMD

            How would we pad our retirement, then.

            It’s like you don’t even know how to properly bilk.

          5. Come on, son, you’ve got to steal pens and printer paper and stuff! You sell what you can on the black market and then you keep what you need!

          6. DEG

            Shorter version of what Naptown Bill said: They are tax consumers, not tax producers. Therefore, they don’t pay taxes. It’s just theater when they file.

          7. @DEG: Exactly, and succinctly put.

      3. Ed Wuncler

        The best response to that nonsense is: LOL. I no longer entertain their bullshit.

        1. Mojeaux

          I should. I know I should. She’s a friend. Came out of nowhere. Surprised me, is all.

          Here is the only place I can let out my heartless, soulless self.

          1. Rufus the Monocled

            That’s really a shame. I stay clear of this for fear I face something similar.

            My MIL already called me a racist for ranting against the previous Mayor of Montreal – a portly, white middle-aged, bespectacled politician.

            I tell ya. TWILIGHT ZONE should be resurrected.

          2. Mojeaux

            I tell you, the amount of self-censorship I engage in makes me feel like a coward. And yet, who wants the drama? Does it make my life better? Does getting attacked make me rethink my stances? No. It just makes me shut up and go about my business.

          3. Ed Wuncler

            You showed good judgement by not being an asshole. It’s not worth destroying your friendships over politics.

            The progressive friends who are always going on and on about politics, I’ve slowly removed them from of my life. If you want to have that negativity hanging over you that’s fine, but I won’t be apart of it.

          4. Jarflax

            I struggle with this (more form the opposite perspective of not self censoring enough) but the reality is expressing political viewpoints is not some moral imperative like ‘witnessing for your faith”. It is in most settings an empty gesture and is in fact often counter productive. If you cut people out of your life because they are unpleasant to be around that is a valid choice but doing it over disagreements about matters neither of you has any real control over is foolish.

            I try to remind myself (and fail a lot lol) that there s literally no one on earth with whom I always agree, and yet there are people I love, so maybe agreement is not necessary.

          5. Mojeaux

            It is in most settings an empty gesture and is in fact often counter productive.

            I can always see that in hindsight.

            Many’s the time I have found relief in having kept my mouth shut. I can’t think of a time I regretted that.

          6. Nephilium

            Hate to tell you this… but.

          7. Creosote Achilles

            Bets on it being The Woke Zone?

          8. Nephilium

            No bet. Jordan Peele is a producer, and going to be the narrator (and I’ve read several interviews where he sounded like he really didn’t want to do it); regardless, it’s only going to be on the CBS All Access streaming service, so I won’t be seeing it.

            I’ve heard nothing good about the new Trek series, which would be the other draw for me.

          9. Rhywun

            “CBS All Access”. So it might as well not exist.

      4. Mad Scientist

        I’m sympathetic to the plight of all the little guys who have to pay the salaries of those non-essential assholes.

  10. OT: Samizdata linked to this interesting blog post on how the Brexit referendum won. It’s rather long but worth a read. I particularly likes this bit:

    Most of the MPs we dealt with were not highly motivated to win and lacked extreme focus, even those who had been boring everybody about this for decades. They sort of wanted to win but they had other priorities. They were very happy having dinner parties and gossiping. They were very happy coming to meetings with people they thought were important. This wasted enormous amounts of time as we had to create a string of Potemkin committees for people to attend while the core team actually did the campaign, then reinvent them as people became convinced that there were other secret meetings that they were being excluded from.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Psssst- don’t tell anybody, but I think the sidebar got left on.

    1. Tonio

      Squirrels.

    2. mexican sharpshooter

      Oh I’m sorry*.

      Does the side bar offend your delicate senses?
      Is it giving you a headache?
      Are you going to need to see a licensed physician for a prescription for the inevitable headache the side bar caused?

      *I’m not sorry.

  12. Tonio

    Further dismantling of the legacy of the recent former president. With delicious timing and location.

  13. Thot Thursday rolls on!

    http://archive.is/nvQqJ

    Even Dwight Schultz would appreciate this sideboob.

    1. Chafed

      I think he had/has a hot wife so I’m sure he does.

      Once again Q you have delivered the goods https://youtu.be/soNcOfRvOtg

    2. prolefeed

      16 > 12 > 4

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Chaos. Anarchy.

    A coalition of aviation industry groups from the Air Line Pilots Association to the U.S. Travel Association sent a letter to President Trump and congressional leaders Thursday, urging an end to the second longest government shutdown.

    “This partial shutdown has already inflicted real damage to our nation’s aviation system and the impacts will only worsen over time,” the letter says. “We urge you to act quickly to resolve these issues.”

    The letter from 34 associations highlights 11 major areas of concern affecting travel, including:

    Longer airport wait times and possible checkpoint shutdowns: “Nearly all TSA and CBP (Customers and Border Protection) personnel are working without pay, which creates a severe financial hardship for many. Many are warning that several Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) are living paycheck to paycheck and will be forced to find other work, without any means to replace them. We expect workforce capacity issues will increase the longer the government is partially shut down and employees face working without the certainty of a paycheck. This could result in significant operational impacts at airports across the country.”

    Sounds like an argument for privatization.

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      Can we *please* go back to the security we had on 9/10/01? Because it was just as effective as what we have now (maybe more so given TSA failure rates), much cheaper, much faster and I didn’t have to wonder if I was supposed to tip the security agent and/or offer a reacharound after the invasive patdowns

      1. Tundra

        I used Global Entry for the first time last week. I barely slowed down going through the process. I mentioned to the kids that it was the way things used to be and that it was glorious.

        Shut DHS down completely.

        1. Timeloose

          I’m not a conspiracy guy, but I think that there has been a conscious effort to slow down normal security lines at major airports to encourage more Global Entry applications. It seems like a great way to get a large population’s fingerprints on file.

          1. Private Chipperbot

            I just flew out of Miami this morning. H concourse line had 150 or so people in it. Clear was completely empty and they wouldn’t let people through it to get through the process more quickly.

          2. C. Anacreon

            You can sign up for Clear on the spot and cut right through the line immediately afterwards. Signup process takes a total of about five minutes. Best 85 bucks I ever spent, I use it all the time, and my typical time completely through security is always very, very short.

          3. B.P.

            Another satisfied customer here. It needs to be in more airports though.

          4. Timeloose

            EWR recently “streamlined” the security check. They build the stairs to run into the side of a line with no signage of where to go, at the top, put a employee there to yell at people on where to go, then once you get to the front of the line there are two people and signs, telling you contradictory information on what you need to do to screen.

            If I was a non native speaker I would be lost. Most natives were lost. It’s a mess that was designed to operate this way, the security area was redesigned in 2016-17 and opened in 2018.

          5. Gustave Lytton

            Pedant: Global Entry is a CBP program for customs & immigration border that provides an automated kiosk for entering this country rather than waiting in line with a hand filled immigration and customs forms, and is seperate from PreCheck which is run by TSA. GE does give you PreCheck benefits but those are two seperate programs.

            (Until the automated passport kiosks are fully rolled out, as a practical matter, GE is totally worth it if you do more than once in a lifetime international travel. If you’re close to the Canuckian border, Nexus is even better at a lower cost)

          6. grrizzly

            Not so long ago you would just wave a printout from a Global Entry kiosk in order to pass through a border agent. However, the experience has deteriorated lately. All the furriner GE members are using the same line and the agent checks their passports and puts stamps there. It makes it slow. But maybe it’s a local thing: BOS has been experiencing an enormous growth in international flights and the CBP had to make adjustments.

          7. Timeloose

            I understand. I looked into TSA pre and that was what I was referring to. GE looks interesting. The airport I frequent into the US has the automated immigration and customs kiosks and manual checks by humans. So it’s the worst of both.

    2. Chafed

      In fairness, the airlines did support privatization of the FAA when proposed legislation was submitted. Most domestic airlines have had public beefs with TSA. They are stuck with the same system we are.

    3. Rebel Scum

      second longest government shutdown.

      Trump always aims to be number one. Keep it “shutdown”.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Does the side bar offend your delicate senses?

    You’re asking the “reply” refusenik, remember? My comments never appear as a vertical stack of letters, so it’s not a particularly big deal, to me.

    Just trying to help.

  16. Chafed

    About the theft of Mexican gasoline: “López Obrador noted last month that even those kinds of bold tactics still wouldn’t account for the massive amounts of fuel stolen each year. He said corrupt officials are complicit in broader schemes to profit off of stolen government oil.”

    I’m shocked. Shocked I say.

  17. Gadfly

    Brazilian Trump withdraws from a UN agreement on migration.

    FTA:

    More than 700,000 registered immigrants live in Brazil … At least 65,000 Venezuelans have sought asylum in Brazil over the last four years

    I think I may have found one of the reasons. They probably want the power to keep out Chavez voters trying to sneak across the border.

    1. Rhywun

      You know your country has sunk to new levels of Hitlerdom when your policies are aligning with those of Australia.

      1. Raven Nation

        Ya keep that up mate and there’ll be a redback in your shoe one morning.

        1. Rhywun

          I’m sorry, I don’t speak jive.

      2. Spudalicious

        Aligned with a country populated by the descendants of criminals. How far we’ve fallen.

  18. Private Chipperbot

    I saw AiC and Sponge open for Kiss at the first concert ever held at Tiger Stadium. It was the first Kiss concert back in makeup as well. it was insane. We drove to the thing in an old Lincoln with suicide doors and had to pay for two parking spots because the car was so big. The stadium shook when they played Detroit Rock City. I got hammered. Fun night.

    1. Chafed

      Saw AiC at a local casino two years ago. They were great.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    I didn’t RTFA the Mexican gas thievery article. Have any large groups of people immolated themselves like the Nigerians?

    1. Private Chipperbot

      I Brooksed myself!

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Can we *please* go back to the security we had on 9/10/01?

    Back farther. I watched some old tevee show from the ’60s (it might have been an episode of The Man From UNCLE), and they’re on an airplane and this chick opens her purse and starts rooting around for her lipstick or something, and there’s a pistol in there. Looked like a snubby .38. Awesome.

    1. kinnath

      Someone posted a link the other day to a clip showing Archie Bunker explaining how to deal with hijacking — give all the passengers guns, they can turn them back in at the end of the flight.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        One guy stands up with a gun and says we’re going to Cuba, and 65 other passengers with guns want to go to Miami, guess where they end up.

      2. mikey

        I’ve always thought every seat back pocket should have a snub-nosed .38 in it. They would be in a special holster that would set off a flashing red light over the seat when the gun is removed.

        “Something, something Snackbar!!!” and red lights go off all over the cabin.

    2. Juvenile Bluster

      There was zero security until the early 1970s. At some point planes were being hijacked (usually to Cuba) on a near monthly basis, which is what caused the original security.

      https://aviation-safety.net/database/events/dblist.php?Event=SEH (see 1969 and 1970 especially).

      Should be a choice though. If you want to run your airline with no security, go ahead. Otherwise it’s private security like we used to have.

    3. Raven Nation

      There’s a scene in The Parallax View where Warren Beatty decides to get on board an airplane to try and stop a bomb going off. He runs across the tarmac, up the stairs and finds a seat. When the stewardess comes along, she asks him where he’s going then he pays cash for a ticket.

    4. In the John Wayne movie The High and the Mighty, one of the passengers loses his cool, takes out his gun, and shoots through the fuselage before everyone else can wrest the gun away from the him. When the passenger calms down, they give him back the gun.

    5. Suthenboy

      I have a baby Browning in .25 auto. My father bought it back in the ’60s to keep in his pocket when he was flying.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    I Brooksed myself!

    Felt good, didn’t it?

    1. Private Chipperbot

      There was a tingle, yes.

  22. Chilly? This’ll get your blood boiling.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46823793

    Home education is banned in Germany but the Wunderlich family, from Darmstadt, who are Christian, wished to educate their children in this way.

    Their four children were taken into care for three weeks in 2013.

    Afterwards the parents took their case to the ECHR in Strasbourg,

    They claimed their right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been breached.

    But the court has now ruled that taking the children into care was justified.

    The ECHR said officials in Darmstadt, near Frankfurt, were reasonable in assuming the parents had “endangered their children by not sending them to school”.

    “Based on the information available at the time, the domestic authorities had reasonably assumed that the children were isolated, had had no contact with anyone outside of the family, and that a risk to their physical integrity had existed,” the court added.

    In a statement released through the religious advocacy group ADF International, the father, Dirk Wunderlich, described the court’s ruling as “disheartening”.

    “After years of legal struggles, this is extremely frustrating for us and our children,” he said. “It is upsetting that the European Court of Human Rights has not recognised the injustices we have suffered at the hands of the German authorities.”

    The family are now considering appealing the decision, by taking their case to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR….

    For a little more background….

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9239417/European-Court-of-Human-Rights-blocks-more-deportations-from-UK-than-any-other-country.html

    1. Your children are the property of the state, don’t you know.

    2. Certified Public Asshat

      Authorities claimed the children were growing up in a “parallel world”, and that they would struggle to become part of the community and learn crucial social skills, such as tolerance.

      You know who else…

      1. Gadfly

        … they would struggle to become part of the community and learn crucial social skills, such as tolerance.

        Tolerance is clearly not something they teach in German schools, if the actions of the German authorities in this case are any indication.

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      The Germans aren’t known for their love of the individual. They’re a nation of cattle.

    4. Michael

      Their four children were taken into care for three weeks in 2013.

      Man, that is an industrial strength euphemism.

  23. Rufus the Monocled

    Late Night with Seth Meyers

    @LateNightSeth
    Is this Oval Office: SVU?

    His jokey take on the claim 4000 people were murdered by illegals.

    He’s a peach.

  24. Count Potato

    “EXCLUSIVE: ‘I killed JonBenét Ramsey!’ Convicted pedophile Gary Oliva has confessed to the murder of six-year-old pageant princess in prison letters to his friend – claiming it was ‘an accident’”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6555009/Pedophile-Gary-Oliva-confesses-killing-JonBen-t-Ramsey-accident.html

    In other news, child pageants are still creepy af.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Yes they are.

      1. C. Anacreon

        +1 Honey Boo Boo

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Ryan Cooper is an envious, loathesome thieving scumbag

    But let’s first agree on this: It is flatly preposterous for such incomprehensible sums of wealth to go this way or that according to the personal foibles of one person. Think of the command of material resources $66 billion implies: It is $200 in the hands of every single person in the United States. It would buy 2.8 million Honda Accords. It’s enough to build a decent high-speed rail system in the Northeast corridor four times over (if we paid reasonable prices for it).

    However, the salacious gossip angle should not lead us to conclude that it is only a problem when tens of billions of dollars are disposed of because one faintly pathetic rich guy allegedly couldn’t stop himself cheating on his wife with the former host of So You Think You Can Dance. It’s still a problem to let any one person — with no democratic accountability and little oversight — to command that much wealth. Indeed, if anything it’s worse when it’s not flings and divorces driving events.

    ———–

    As Matt Yglesias points out, there are lots of excellent economic studies arguing for very stiff taxation at the top. One paper says the optimal point in terms of tax revenue is about 73 percent. Another says it would slash inequality by reducing the incentive of top executives to bargain for enormous salary packages. Another says it would discourage talented people from pursuing careers in banking, law, or business, and instead push them into research, teaching, or other more socially valuable jobs. (Better to have the smartest people cooking up vaccines instead of new subprime mortgage-backed securities.)

    Guess what, sonny- deserve‘s got nothing to do with it.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Face the facts Ryan, you’re an ignorant, incompetent twat who will never accumulate any wealth because you are simply incapable of it. What makes your unsatisfactory little mind deserving enough to get to say what Bezos does with his billions?

    2. Ed Wuncler

      The Tyranny of the Mediocre.

      Something I’ve learned is that the ones who goes on and on about the rich being too rich and view economics as a zero sum game, are mediocre people in their private and professional lives. They also have this over inflated sense of intelligence and worth and wonder why a brilliant person such as themselves are struggling. Instead of looking at themselves and making some sort of improvement, they try to drag down those who work harder and are willing to make sacrifices to have the life they desire.

      1. Soyboy

        “They also have this over inflated sense of intelligence and worth”

        That’s the crux. I’m perfectly content being mediocre. It’s the combination that’s deadly.

    3. mikey

      Another believer in the Scrooge McDuck Theory of Economics.
      IOW rich people keep and their wealth (same thing as money) in giant indoor swimming pools.

    4. Gadfly

      (Better to have the smartest people cooking up vaccines instead of new subprime mortgage-backed securities.)

      And how many people would be doing that without the profit incentive? Not to mention that “smart” isn’t a one-size-fits-all standard, only a small fraction of the “smart” people would be capable of inventive biology or even science of any sort. Allowing smart people to do what they want and earn an honest reward for it gives us not only new vaccines but also new was to shop and have stuff delivered right to our doorstep.

      The only credit I will give this author is that he didn’t put “law” in the category of socially valuable jobs.

    5. Michael

      As Matt Yglesias points out…

      Aaaaaannnnddd we’re done here.

    6. Akira

      Another says it would discourage talented people from pursuing careers in banking, law, or business, and instead push them into research, teaching, or other more socially valuable jobs.

      Good god, I don’t know where to fucking start with this one.

      I guess I can zero in on the point that people in the business field (as if that’s one big monolithic thing) are not useless slugs who merely leech off the working people and inventors. They figure out ways to make products into something financially viable, decide how and where to manufacture it, work out the distribution that will actually put it on the shelves, and make consumers aware of it through advertising and marketing. You can invent the greatest thing in the world, but if it’s completely unaffordable, unavailable, and unknown, nobody will ever buy it and it won’t improve anyone’s life. It will just sit on a fucking shelf forever.

      Why is banking a bad career? Banking is crucial for businesses to operate. They need to store and transfer their money and get loans.

      And law? Well, someone has to find out how to protect your company from the neverending parade of jackbooted regulators, right?

  26. Count Potato

    “REVEALED: The shirtless selfies, a photo of his genitals and lusty texts Jeff Bezos sent his married mistress – as it emerges the pair hooked up in hotels, private jets and BOTH their marital homes for months before he announced his divorce”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6577797/Jeff-Bezos-gushing-text-messages-TV-anchor-having-affair-with.html

    “From morning news anchor and reality TV host to girlfriend of the world’s richest man: How Lauren Sanchez launched a Hollywood career, was a single mother and then tied the knot in front of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck before falling for the Amazon CEO”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6578631/How-Lauren-Sanchez-went-morning-news-host-Jeff-Bezos-girlfriend.html

    I ain’t saying she a gold digger.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      You would Jeff could do better than that, she’s skeezy.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        You would think….

      2. Bobarian LMD

        You say skeezy like it’s a bad thing.

        Maybe Jeff like them women that you can just grab by the pussy, and they like it?

        I heard that billionaires get that kind of action.

    2. She looks a little bit like a dude. She must have had a ton of work done, because she looks swole. In the face.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        There are better looking gold diggers out there.

    3. Certified Public Asshat

      She seems to pass the Q test.

      1. Tundra

        Mentor Worldwide says “you’re welcome!”

    4. Ed Wuncler

      I think MacKenzie Bezos is better looking than his mistress.

      1. Tundra

        Definitely, although she’s come a long way since the early days.

      2. Suthenboy

        Sometimes it aint so much about looks.

        1. Bobarian LMD

          Chrome off a trailer hitch?

          A golf ball thru 100 feet of garden hose?

          A three-pointer? Where only your heels and the back of your head are touching the bed, and you got to untuck 3 feet of sheet from your ass when it’s done?

      3. Maybe he’s leaving her because she has a last name for a first name.

        1. Jarflax

          +2 Strange Brews

    5. Gadfly

      I ain’t saying she a gold digger.

      But she ain’t messing with no broke…

    6. Rufus the Monocled

      I normally don’t chime in with these things but the wife is more natural. The other one tries too hard. Fake boobs. Ew.

      I was always more of a Bailey Quarters over Jennifer Marlowe sort of guy.

      1. AlmightyJB

        She was cute before the botox. Still would though. Wife too.

      2. MikeS

        I’m with you on that one, Rufus. Laura Holt was an early crush of mine, too.

      3. Spudalicious

        Mmmmm, Bailey Quarters…

    7. MikeS

      So, the picture with Afleck has a nip slip, and that second bikini picture; is that a slip in a different area or what am I looking at?

    8. Hyperion

      Well, I like to be quick to confess when I’m wrong. I knew there was a gold digger involved. I mean what else do you assume when this many billions are involved. But it isn’t the wifey. It’s the Latin floozy. Jeffy, Jeffy, one would have to believe you smarter than this. I first worried when I saw you at the McCain funeral? WTF? I just assumed, poor guy is a cuck. But the Latin Floozy? Dude, you could have 1000 of those, all better looking and less scheming. I’m afraid that you and all your recorder wealth are soon to be parted. We’ll soon see Hobo pics of Bezos somewhere near the docs in Seattle. Sad indeed. Hate to say, you have it coming, dummy.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    The very fact of someone being millions of times richer than the median household makes a hash of foundational American principles. The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed[.]” A nation which pays rapt attention to the divorce mechanics of its wealthiest inhabitants, for the logical reason that it probably matters more than the decisions of any representative, senator, and all but a few governors, is not really a republic. It is an oligarchy.

    Wait, what?

    This Cooper guy might have some sort of “learning disability”.

    1. nation which pays rapt attention to the divorce mechanics of its wealthiest inhabitants, for the logical reason that it probably matters more than the decisions of any representative, senator, and all but a few governors, is not really a republic. It is an oligarchy.

      Nobody gives a shit about Jeff Bezos getting divorced beyond the petty emotional voyeurism that people engage in from time to time.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        Well….if you are an investor in Amazon, his soon to be ex-wife owning half of his shares might be a small concern.

        1. Hyperion

          I’ll be more concerned when the Latin floozy owns half of the half that is left.

      2. Gadfly

        Nobody gives a shit about Jeff Bezos getting divorced beyond the petty emotional voyeurism that people engage in from time to time.

        Which, given the number of gossip rags I see at the checkout lines, is quite frequently.

    2. wdalasio

      This Cooper guy might have some sort of “learning disability”.

      No. It’s something much worse. He’s a vile excuse for a human being. He’s the sort of shitbag who’d arrogate to himself the right to decide what other people deserve and what they’re worth. You want to look in the face of the sort of human garbage who’d sign off on Stalin’s starvation of millions? Look no further than Ryan Cooper.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    The family are now considering appealing the decision, by taking their case to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR….

    Something something if only Comrade Stalin knew

  29. The Late P Brooks
    1. Rufus the Monocled

      Fun fact: Steve Earle sold more records in Quebec than anywhere else in North America. He used to come to Montreal often.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    The thing that gets me is that taxing the income of government employees is…strange. It would be simpler to just not tax them and pay them less, since it amounts to the same thing.

    Let ’em work for tips, sez I.

    1. Let the tax agencies work for tips and the DMVs work on commission. That right there would solve a lot of your usual “customer service” problems with government.

      1. Mad Scientist

        Except that you have no choice about paying the DMV.

        1. Lackadaisical

          It’d give a damn good reason to provide fast service though.

  31. Tundra

    Sorry about the paywall, but this is interesting:

    Put Down the Kombucha and Pick Up a Crossbow: Hipsters Are the New Hunters

    BOGART, Ga.—A group of veteran hunters set out last month in a forest northeast of Atlanta with apprentices. Among them, a former vegetarian, a Haitian-born grad student and a farmers-market manager. They wore camouflage and carried crossbows.

    They were aiming to kill white-tailed deer. But the real target: new hunters.

    The number of Americans 16 and older who hunt is down 18% from two decades ago, according to federal data. An older generation of hunters is trying to lure recruits to the sport by pitching it as a good way to ensure meat is local, sustainable and probably organic.

    This was my favorite part:

    David Kidd, 67, a retired owner of a landscape company near Athens, signed up to be a mentor because he saw friends and family, including his son, give up hunting. He says he learned that a hunter “doesn’t have to look like me.”

    The program has bagged new hunters like Jennifer DeMoss, 40, who was a vegetarian several years in her 20s. She later concluded humans were omnivores who should eat meat ethically, so she began to eat roadkill meat. The anthropology grad student discovered Field to Fork at the farmers market and figured hunting, too, was ethical.

    Her first kill, with her mentor in 2017, gave her a “familiar, comfortable, exhilarating feeling,” she says, and gratitude the animal gave its life so she could eat. Now she heads to the forest as often as she can. “It’s all I can think about.”

    I think this is a interesting, creative way to try to get people back out in the woods.

    1. Joe Rogan talks about this a lot – I think his 4+ hour podcast with Eric Weinstein included at least a 1/2 hour discussion. Great listen overall.

    2. Tres Cool

      “… gave her a “familiar, comfortable, exhilarating feeling,” she says,…Now she heads to the forest as often as she can. “It’s all I can think about.”

      Its like an episode of Dexter.

    3. Suthenboy

      Worth pointing out that without hunters there would be no wild animals.

    4. Michael

      …pitching it as a good way to ensure meat is local, sustainable and probably organic.

      Huh? As opposed to what?

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Silicon based, obviously.

        1. C. Anacreon

          Silicone based, obviously.

          How’d this conversation swing back to Bezos’ girlfriend?

          1. Jarflax

            Same day delivery via drone?

    5. Florida Man

      I’m going hunting this weekend for boar for the first time.

      1. Spudalicious

        I’m pretty much a bird hunter but I would love to hunt some wild boar.

      2. Hyperion

        You have to hunt it the manly way. Only a knife, no longer than 6″ max blade. The boar must weigh in at least 400 kilos. You have to live stream it. We promise to look away if anything goes wrong.

  32. AlmightyJB

    I would have never thought there would be a gas shortage in Mexico.

    1. Mad Scientist

      “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.”

      1. B.P.

        Saudi Arabia actually did run out of easily accessible sand 10 years ago.

    2. It’s all about the refineries. Same issues in Indonesia…..and periodically the US.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Is there a bean refinery issue?

  33. Suthenboy

    Just saw an ad pushing the Great Wall of Trump. One part of the ad showed a panoramic view of a section of existing wall stretching across the desert. I used to wander around out there (southern AZ) with a pistol and a jug of water, sight seeing, taking pot shots at rattlesnakes and jackelopes just because. You could walk for days out there and never see any sign of other humans. More than a few times we would look around and realized we had wandered into Mexico. “Welp, we better wander back to the States.” No one cared.
    Those days are long gone.

    1. Bobarian LMD

      Somebody check that boy’s green-card, he sounds like an illegal.

      1. Spudalicious

        I smell a mule.

    2. B.P.

      Ever stumble into a briefcase full of cash amidst the ruins of a gang battle?

      1. Jarflax

        Careful, as soon as you grab it guys start chasing you down the PCH

  34. AlmightyJB

    Not sure the point of that. All their viewers I’m sure already already hate him. Maybe it was just for personal kicks. No such thing as fake news.

    https://hotair.com/archives/2019/01/10/tv-editor-fired-doctoring-video-trumps-border-speech/

    1. Lackadaisical

      I wondered how long it would take for someone to doctor it.

  35. Suthenboy

    Just spent an hour on the phone with my father. He told me an interesting story I had not heard before. I think y’all can appreciate it.

    My fathers mothers grandfather had a plantation in MS. When the war was over and the emancipation proclamation was passed he went to the slaves and said “Well you are free now. I have treated you like family. You can leave if you want but if you stay I will pay you and treat you well.” They replied “Yes sir, you have treated us well and we do love you. We think of you as family too. We will stay if you pay us.”

    The next morning he woke up and discovered there wasn’t a soul in sight. Every single one of them left in the night.

    Freedom is priceless.

    1. AlmightyJB

      There was a collection of short stories about ex-slaves online I was reading some time ago and a lot of them were in a similar vain to that.

      1. Suthenboy

        I think he was even going to give them a stake in the plantation. I am reminded of this quote: “The happiest day in a man’s life is the day he gets his first divorce.” – either Picasso or Twain, I dont remember which.

        Imagine the exhilaration a person feels after a lifetime of bondage on the day they discover they are free, that their life is their own.

        1. Didn’t work out so well for Brooks Hatlen.

          1. Suthenboy

            You have a point and it is easily seen today in the people that vote for the welfare state. Some people like chains and will do whatever it takes to keep them on. It is a comfort for them I suppose, freedom from responsibility.

    2. Florida Man

      I’m actually surprised they didn’t all stay, just because of inertia and an uncertain future. Then again back then life was more simple, so I can’t really think in the same way.

      1. Suthenboy

        I imagine a lot of them headed west, north or joined the military. You dont see it in cowboy movies but in fact many of the ‘cowboys’ of the old west were blacks who had left the south. Can anyone blame them? Who would want to live amongst their former oppressors? I would walk away too with both middle fingers held high.

    1. straffinrun

      Can we do that to California?

      1. AlmightyJB

        Good idea!

    2. Juvenile Bluster

      You and I have very differing interpretations of the definition of the word “funny”.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Shirley you can’t be serious.

        1. Juvenile Bluster

          I am. And don’t call me Shirley.

      2. AlmightyJB

        Orange you glad I didn’t say banana.

      3. straffinrun

        One man’s funny is another man’s STEVE SMITH.

        1. AlmightyJB

          But STEVE SMITH IS funny.

          1. Juvenile Bluster

            My father-in-law’s name is Steve Smith. Thanks to you chucklefucks I giggle every time his name is mentioned.

            He’s not a sasquatch, as far as I know.

          2. AlmightyJB

            You should get him a T-Shirt!

          3. Juvenile Bluster

            He’s in his 70s and lives in rural North Carolina. I’m not sure he’d get the joke. Or like it.

          4. AlmightyJB

            So a Get Off My Lawn shirt might be more appropriate.

          5. “Rural North Carolina” they don’t have lawns, overgrown yards with rusting cars on concrete blocks, sure, lawns? not so much.

          6. AlmightyJB

            Sounds like paradise!

    3. “Not A Weekly Standard Apologist”

      Would be nice if people cared as much about eminent domain when it’s frequently used in cities to clear ghettos and industry for yuppies, but that only hurts the poors which seem to have dropped off the hierarchy of oppression.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Well it mostly happens in large cities run by Democrats so criticism is off limits.

  36. straffinrun

    Wood or wouldn’t. Battle of the ironclads.

    https://mises.org/library/historical-controversies

    1. AlmightyJB

      Looks like an interesting series.

    2. Gustave Lytton

      Completely OT- found out today that there’s a Tora-san museum:

      http://www.katsushika-kanko.com/tora/sp/index.php

  37. AlmightyJB

    Hey OMWC. Sure you don’t want to move to Columbus. They’re hiring molesters at the airport. I keep hearing about it.

    https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/513391800

    1. Old Man With Candy

      I would have greatly preferred Columbus to Phoenix.

  38. Not an Economist

    INVEST IN POPCORN FUTURES

    1. Rhywun

      “Sources say…”

    2. AlmightyJB

      He should go for broke.

      1. C. Anacreon

        Perfect time for Feinstein’s least favorite Catholic lady judge.

        1. “Not A Weekly Standard Apologist”

          Soon….

        2. AlmightyJB

          Oh God could you imagine.

          1. You’d see the lefty meltdown from space.

    3. “Not A Weekly Standard Apologist”

      I’m loving the masturbatory adulation for RBG from the media recently while, at the same time, criticizing Trump’s attempt to employ imminent domain to build the Great Wall of Broken Campaign Promises. Do….do…they not know about RBG’s ruling in Kelo that most certainly made Trump’s proposed land grab most certainly legal?

    1. AlmightyJB

      “They’ll be sold in pairs and priced at about $5,000-$6,000 for the two”

      Tom Hanks made due with a used volleyball. Much cheaper.

    2. Tundra

      It better come with a pack of razor blades.

      1. MikeS

        Nobody needs more than one razor blade. At least none of the people buying these robots.

    3. AlmightyJB

      That thing doesn’t even have lips.

      1. C. Anacreon

        Seems to be part of Japanese-originated cute products. Note that Hello Kitty has no mouth.

        1. AlmightyJB

          Weird.

    1. AlmightyJB

      She’s kind of a butterface.

    2. Tundra

      What does he do, exactly? Did he have a massive payday at the beginning of his career or something?

      She’s pretty, though.

      1. Spudalicious

        He’s a commentator for the ESPN SEC channel.