Today we have something that is both cute and punny.
Via imgur.com
I was hesitant to do a Google image search for “beaver,” let alone “cute beaver,” but I’m pretty sure Google knows more about what I’m looking for than I do at this point, so either that is already an entirely SFW search, or it took the liberty of filtering out the Urban Dictionary-approved results (you know what I mean.) So anyway, here are some more cute beavers: Continue reading
If you think, as this guy apparently does, that our society “panders to women’s every whim,” and if you express that view in public, you might get burned for it, as happened here:
Click to embiggen.
Sometimes a reasoned debate just isn’t in the cards. That applies to about 98% of what MRA’s say, as far as I’m concerned. (The remaining 2% mostly relate to food and other necessities of daily survival.) I’ll just let Liz Lemon close this out:
Several states with Republican-led legislatures have passed laws in recent months that purport to expand the range of things people in those states can do while pretending that it’s due to their religion. This is presumably because the Republican base has reached a point of no return, and it is only a matter of time before they are clamoring for the actual flesh of those they deem unworthy.
The good news is that the Republican Party is still also the party of rich people, and money still talks. This led Kansas and Arizona to kill their bills.
Pun Dog may be the greatest meme in the history of the internet of at least the last few days.
Via BuzzFeed/Imgur
That is all.
You know that thing in south Texas that people think is a chupacabra?
It’s a raccoon with a hair-loss problem.
If you don’t believe me, take a look at this beast:
Via Huffington Post
That’s not the chupacabra’s dad, nor is it any other mysterious or mythical creature. That’s what a bear looks like under all that fur.
!["Lounging spectacled bear" by Tambako the Jaguar [CC BY-ND 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/)], via Flickr](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/3614093778_4d98309aec_z.jpg "\"Lounging spectacled bear\" by Tambako the Jaguar [CC BY-ND 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/)], via Flickr")
A raccoon looks just about as unfamiliar without all the hair. Or fur. I’m not sure which mammals have what. Continue reading
![By Djembayz (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/450px-Godwins_law_t-shirt_at_Rally_to_restore_sanity_2010-225x300.jpg "By Djembayz (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
If You Criticize Wealthy Donors, You’re Basically Hitler, David Weigel, Slate, April 3, 2014
The Charles Koch standard is problematic if you think (like I think) that campaign donations should be uncapped but totally disclosed. That, according to the donors (though not McCutcheon himself), leads to character assassination. Donors have a First Amendment right to give money, but their opponents flout that right when they criticize them. Why? That’s an excellent question.
Self-Regulation Means No Regulation: Five Lessons We Should Have Learned from Agent Orange, PR Newswire, April 2, 2014
Economic crises. Foodborne disease outbreaks. Oil and chemical spills. According to Peter Sills, each is the natural result of the widespread demonization of a tool our government should wield more often. Regulation.
***
Many politicians and industries push for self-regulation, and Sills says that might actually work in a perfect world. But in the real world, he insists, it won’t—and here are five reasons why:
If a hard, unpleasant task is optional, then most companies won’t do it (especially if it will cost them money). Consider Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ refusal to change the label requirements on Phenergan even though it knew the method suggested could lead to infection and amputation. Wyeth finally made the change after being sued by a patient who had lost most of her arm.
“Sometimes, for the safety of the public, it is necessary for the government to force companies into performing unpleasant tasks,” says Sills.
Photo credit: By Djembayz (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
I’m at the State Bar of Texas Animal Law Institute today.
Without a doubt, this is the only event for Texas lawyers where, by 3:00 p.m., the vegan lasagna is all gone, and the beef & sausage lasagna is the only leftover.
All for me…..
![By jodylehigh [Public domain, CC0 1.0], via Pixabay](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/prison-fence-219264_640-300x225.jpg "By jodylehigh [Public domain, CC0 1.0], via Pixabay")
An appellate court recently ruled in favor of a prison inmate who was denied early parole, effectively speaking, for being an atheist:
Atheist Randall Jackson had been serving time in the Western Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in St. Joseph, Missouri when he learned about an opportunity to get early release on parole — all he had to do was attend the center’s “Offenders Under Treatment Program.”
Just one problem: The program was faith-based, requiring him to both pray and acknowledge the existence of God. (Another treatment program promoted Alcoholics Anonymous which is also religious in nature.)
He explained his misgivings to prison staff, and was allegedly told to pretend that “God” stood for “good orderly direction.” I think I’ve heard that one before.
This prison inmate, however, had some scruples.
Jackson eventually asked to be transferred to a secular treatment program — but his request was denied. Instead of lying and playing the game, he chose not to enroll in OUTP… and was later denied an early release.
(Emphasis added.)
This seems pretty self-evidently unconstitutional. Here we have a benefit offered to inmates, early release, conditioned on completion of a program that is pretty explicitly religious. (It’s probably safe to assume that it is Christian in nature.) The inmate in question here is an atheist, but one could substitute any non-Christian religion—or even different flavors of Christianity—and the problem presents itself even more clearly.
Jackson sued, but lost in the trial court. He appealed to the Eight Circuit: Continue reading
![Ricardo Thomas [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/President_Ford_and_Queen_Elizabeth_dance_-_NARA_-_6923701.jpg "Ricardo Thomas [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons")
– I hope you had enough cake for the guards: A couple invited the Queen of England to their wedding “as a joke.” She showed up.
This really ups the stakes for all the people who try to invite porn stars to their prom & stuff.
– That would be quite a warning label: A prison inmate (described by Vice as a “pimp”), who is serving time in part for “kicking the shit” out of someone, is suing Nike under a theory of products liability for failing to warn that his shoes could be used as weapons.
– And don’t. do. drugs: According to this almost-certainly-fake Australian PSA, skipping school and slacking is dangerous, because land mines. (Just think of it as a not-quite-two-minute slasher film.)
– Don’t click this link, seriously: Also from Vice, the story of a man with no butt crack. It’s not a congenital conditional or anything. A doctor had to sew it shut. Ouch.
Photo credit: Ricardo Thomas [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
![Chris Piascik (chrispiascik.com) [CC BY-ND 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/)], via Flickr](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/6279261654_505fcfd7cc_z-268x300.jpg "Chris Piascik (chrispiascik.com) [CC BY-ND 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/)], via Flickr")
Sorry, Folks, Rich People Actually Don’t ‘Create The Jobs’, Henry Blodget, Business Insider, November 29, 2013
Entrepreneurs and investors like me actually don’t create the jobs — not sustainable ones, anyway.
Yes, we can create jobs temporarily, by starting companies and funding losses for a while. And, yes, we are a necessary part of the economy’s job-creation engine. But to suggest that we alone are responsible for the jobs that sustain the other 300 million Americans is the height of self-importance and delusion.
So, if rich people do not create the jobs, what does?
A healthy economic ecosystem — one in which most participants (especially the middle class) have plenty of money to spend.
The Bitters Tears of the American Christian Supermajority, Chase Madar, Al-Jazeera America, March 30, 2014 Continue reading
