Friday, July 24, 2015

FRIDAY 'ROUND-THE-HORN.


My favorite version. (Explanation.)

   Maybe you saw that story about a drone with a gun on it, and maybe you didn't think that was awesome because you're not 12 or a conservative. But Hot Air's Taylor Millard negs to differ:
Government, others freak after CT teen makes cool flying gun 
The government and others are going nuts over a Connecticut teen’s pretty cool invention: a drone with a gun. Austin Haughwout posted YouTube video on July 10th, showing the drone firing a semiautomatic handgun. 
Cue government outrage. Clinton police are up in arms (pun intended) over Haughwout’s invention, with one officer saying it’s obvious technology is surpassing legislation. They’re now actively trying to figure out if they can charge the teen, even though the gun was fired on private property...
The ACLU of Connecticut, the organization that claims to want the government to stop using drones in surveillance, is now calling on the government to push through comprehensive regulations for drones.
They don't want freelance assassins or the government to shoot people by remote control -- What a bunch of hypocrites!
People need to remember drones are amoral tools. They can all be used for good or evil, depending on how the person operating said tool acts. South Park had a pretty good episode on drones last year....
Yeah, we could stop paying attention right there, but it's Friday, let's give him a minute:
Those wanting to seriously regulate drones, armed or not, are forgetting how they can be used for good. Ranchers can use them to patrol their fields. Hunters could use them on tough to find predators. People who prefer not to go outside at night could use an armed drone to detect prowlers.
Hi, our car broke down, is anybody BLAM!
Plus, there’s always the simplest solution: take a shotgun to the offending drone. Problem solved.
This is what their ideal world looks like: Everyone tiptoeing around locked and loaded, like Elmer Fudd in search of Bugs Bunny. Only with lots of blood.

   Oh yeah, Mytheos Holt:
At the time, my thesis was mocked by liberals, some of whom even thought the article might have been a stealth parody. After Pao’s resignation [from Reddit], I expect these people don’t think this idea is quite so funny.
On the contrary! I mentioned last week the idea that a website owner controlling the content on his own site equals censorship is ridiculous, and it remains so. Holt also says the "Left hates Internet freedom," in defense of which proposition he expands the definition of the Left to include the U.S. Department of Justice and major movie studios, and portrays Gamergate, that rat's nest of harassment and crap writing, as proof that conservatives love internet freedom. (Remember when The Well was the poster child for the power of internet freedom? Sigh, me too. And I don't recall the members driving anyone out of her home, either.) I hope Holt can promote this POV sufficiently that some Republican debate moderator has to make Jeb Bush prove his right-wing bona fides by agreeing Anita Sakeesian had it coming. In closing, here's my favorite paragraph:
Even social conservatives have changed from being smugly self-assured about their own “Silent Majority”-style dominance to an embattled approach personified by Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option,” while blatantly anti-political correctness neoreactionaries like Pax Dickinson and Curtis Yarvin are being cast less as cranks and more like brave, countercultural heroes. One can quarrel with the wisdom of this iconoclastic turn, but no one would ever accuse today’s Right of being defined by its reverence for established pieties.
That'll light a prairie fire, alright. The people will march, just as soon as you explain to them what the hell you're talking about.

306 comments:

  1. coozledad12:55 PM

    People need to remember drones Republicans are amoral tools, and Taylor Millard is doing the best his stubby little fingers can to remind them.

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  2. Helmut Monotreme12:57 PM

    Someone is seriously arguing in favor of arming drones with guns? This right here is exhibit #1 with a bullet in the giant ass museum of reasons we can't have nice things.

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  3. jennofark12:58 PM

    Those wanting to seriously regulate drones, armed or not, are forgetting how they can be used for good. Ranchers can use them to patrol their fields. Hunters could use them on tough to find predators. People who prefer not to go outside at night could use an armed drone to detect prowlers.



    Also, they can be used to capture really cool aerial photographs of wildfires, and get in the way of aerial firefighters trying to put out fires, leading to people's vehicles and homes burning to the ground. Cool!

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  4. StringOnAStick1:03 PM

    You just heard that story from California too, didn't you?
    I guess that in addition to dealing with extremely hazardous flying conditions thanks to the, you know, flames of a wildfire, the pilots now need to have someone on board with a shotgun, scanning for drones just so they don't clip a rotor/propeller, get sucked into an engine, break a windshield, etc.

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  5. coozledad1:06 PM

    The government and others are going nuts over a Connecticut teen’s pretty cool invention: a sub orbital ballistic sugar rocket equipped with a payload of bioagents.. Yousuf Al-Hamedi posted YouTube video on July 10th, showing the rocket nearly achieving escape velocity before crashing at the edge of the Sonora desert where it is repored to have given some diners at a gas station/sandwich shop the shits.

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  6. You skipped "The feds are probably just annoyed that they didn’t come up with the “flying gun” idea first — or that someone was able to make a working prototype when their scientists couldn’t."

    If only the government had thought of putting weapons on drones! Then we could have used them in Afghanistan or something!

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  7. Downpup E1:12 PM

    The chasm between
    1) Not all uses of drones are evil &
    2) Therefore they shouldn't be regulated at all

    is far too wide for my very little brain to cross. What was he even thinking to get there? All piloted aviation is regulated, for obvious reasons. Unpiloted should be exempt because GRNK UNGGK -

    Sorry. Brain is drained.

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  8. The government and others are going nuts over a Connecticut teen’s pretty cool invention: a drone with a gun. Austin Haughwout posted YouTube video on July 10th...

    so i'm guessing austin isn't black. otherwise this would probably be a very different blogpost.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Those wanting to seriously regulate drones, armed or not, are forgetting how they can be used for good. Ranchers can use them to patrol their fields. Hunters could use them on tough to find predators. People who prefer not to go outside at night could use an armed drone to detect prowlers.



    there are all kinds of good ways they can be used to kill people and things!

    ReplyDelete
  10. shit you beat me to it. someone should regulate disqus

    ReplyDelete
  11. mgmonklewis1:25 PM

    Hunters could use them on tough to find predators.

    Is a use that no one has ever needed anywhere. Is the Yeti really preying on some poor hapless rancher's sheep? Or maybe I missed where dread dragon Smaug was terrorizing the countryside, and the only remedy was DRONEGUN, because obviously.

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  12. People who prefer not to go outside at night could use an armed drone to detect prowlers.
    So a paranoid, trigger-happy individual could be able to affix a high-powered weapon to a platform not meant to support it and then fire wildly at the shadows he sees through a grainy video feed? Cool! I always did wonder what it would be like to have a stray bullet pass through the wall while I'm sleeping.

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  13. Paul MacDonald1:30 PM

    Eno is hiding in there somewhere, tooting away on clarinet.

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  14. you've obviously never seen the night-vision camera pics of CHUPACABRA

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  15. Jos771:34 PM

    I can totally imagine this argument being made by Homer Simpson.

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  16. coozledad1:38 PM

    You ought to put it back up. You know they'd have shit themselves if they'd heard a black kid was launching airborne weapons.

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  17. coozledad1:38 PM

    Michael Nyman, too. I think.

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  18. MI_RM1:40 PM

    Apparently the plan, if the state is persuaded to go along, is to develop a scrambler that will prevent drones in range from receiving control signals, causing them to crash.

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  19. "Cool" is the word you're going with, huh?
    Shut up, it is cool! I'm gonna get one, and it's gonna be all WHIRRRRR and then BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM and you're dead, terrorist? You're dead, and I'm awesome! And then I'm gonna get a bigger one and put, like, an Uzi on it, and it's gonna be all BLABLABLABLABLABLA And then, I'm gonna get one of those rifles with the range finder on it, and me and the gun and the drone are gonna fight crime together! And we'll see some drug dealers or suspicious Mexicans or Arabs, and they'll be all OH NO, IT'S THE JUSTIFIER and I'll go BLAM and I'll be a hero, and then Heather will notice me! And then we'll have totally hot sex, and you can't stop it, libs!

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  20. Socialist Cubone1:46 PM

    The right to bear remote controlled aerial small arms platforms and infrared guided surface-to-air missiles shall not be infringed. Read the constitution libtards.

    ReplyDelete
  21. mrstilton1:47 PM

    TYRRANY!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Ellis_Weiner1:51 PM

    By "the wall" you mean "my head," right?

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  23. Ellis_Weiner1:53 PM

    It's just as well. Otherwise you'd be asking it to understand how "making sensible inquiries regarding the public safety" is worded as "going nuts over."

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  24. Gromet1:55 PM

    http://s5.postimg.org/a95065cbr/SSUFOdrone.jpg

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  25. Ellis_Weiner1:55 PM

    I love the Sinfonia. I'm literally afraid to ask if they ever actually rehearsed, and how the non-musos in the group were able to follow the sheet music (to the extent that anyone was).

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  26. "Government, others freak after CT teen makes cool bomb-laden kite."

    'Cause seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

    Is there some way we could set up a Kickstarter thingy to hire Stabbles the Epileptic Clown to swing by Taylor Millard's place for some cool up-close chainsaw juggling?

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  27. satch1:56 PM

    "People who prefer not to go outside at night could use an armed drone to detect prowlers."


    I dunno... when I'm cowering in my bunker at night and too scared to patrol the perimeter, I much prefer the OmniCorp Robocop to a flying drone which could get fouled in trees in low visibility scenarios. You just can't beat boots on the ground for the up-close killing of "prowlers".

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  28. Helmut Monotreme2:00 PM

    You betcha. No longer will you have to own a string of gas stations or laundromats to be able to afford to hunt coyotes from helicopters. In the brave new world of the 21st century any Tom Dick or Harry who can afford a few hundred bucks to rent a kill-o-tron 2000 for an afternoon will be able to hunt the critter of their choice from the safety of their couch. Experience the thrill of the chase with thermographic vision, starlight scopes and image enhancement. The click of the mouse, the momentary jerk of the live video feed and the screams of the gut-shot prey, this is the way the American huntsman carries on the traditions of a hundred generations of the chase. The hunting drone and the unsuspecting deer, cow or poor bastard out hiking, the primal struggle can now play out anywhere.

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  29. Plus, there’s always the simplest solution: take a shotgun to the offending drone. Problem solved.Well, until the GUNDRONE owner sues you for destroying his private property, and you're forced to take a shotgun to the process server, whereupon problems will escalate quickly. See, Taylor, this schimbertarian shtick is harder than you think.

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  30. Helmut Monotreme2:01 PM

    What is Junkpuncho the Junk-Punching Alpaca up to these days?

    ReplyDelete
  31. And THEN, and THEN, um, and THEN I'm gonna do like that guy and scrape all the radioactive stuff outta my smoke detector and make a NUKE and use it on IRAN! *huff puff*

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  32. Ellis_Weiner2:03 PM

    "Plus, there’s always the simplest solution: take a shotgun to the offending drone. Problem solved."


    No, I don't think he's kidding. And if I took a shotgun to his offending drone, do you think he'd agree with me that the problem is solved? The sheer stupidity of these people is like the Grand Canyon. It defies accurate description.

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  33. satch2:04 PM

    "Hunters could use them on tough to find predators."

    And don't you even THINK of instituting a Drone Season, you regulation-loving, freedom-hating Libtards!!11!

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  34. "Him sad! Brain broken!" --Master Blaster

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  35. Robert M.2:04 PM

    The twist: in real life, Heather only notices the drone.

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  36. While highly satisfactory, Junkpuncho's tender ministrations don't quite carry the same punch of poetic justice.

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  37. tigrismus2:05 PM

    drones are amoral tools

    Indeed. It amazes me how they can type with those tiny legs, though.

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  38. People who prefer not to go outside at night

    So, every conservative, then.

    (Remind me to rant at you guys about my theory about conservativism and fear, courtesy having to deal with my con father & sister. Goddamnit, Mom, you HAD to leave me with these two?)

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  39. Helmut Monotreme2:07 PM

    We've had Skynet all wrong this whole time. It's not a paranoid AI bent on eradicating all human life, it's just Uber for killer drone rentals.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I came up with the idea of private missile-equipped drones a couple years back, but it was for a satirical crapworld RPG.

    Life imitates art - only it's imitating the wrong parts

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  41. Whee, a privatized arms race. Can't see how that could go massively wrong, no siree.

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  42. Steve-O2:12 PM

    "Plus, there’s always the simplest solution: take a shotgun to the offending drone. Problem solved."



    And if (when) they miss, where the fuck do they think the bullets/shells/buckshot ends up? Jesus, did these people stops developing at the age of 12, er are they just insane? ...maybe it's a little of both.

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  43. Gamergate, that rat's nest of harassment and crap writing, as proof that conservatives love internet freedom.

    I guess the principle is "Private information wants to be free".

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  44. tigrismus2:12 PM

    Pfft, looks like he beat me to my joke, too, but will I let that stop me? Hells no. Now excuse me, I'll just be over in the corner behind a chair, weeping softly into a stuffed walrus.

    ReplyDelete
  45. satch2:12 PM

    Drone City... Coming soon To A Mall Near YOU!!!

    https://soundcloud.com/rockymountainmike/drone-city-1

    ReplyDelete
  46. susanoftexas2:12 PM

    No, the drone will bet set for motion detection so the guy won't miss a minute of NCIS.
    BAM!!
    Small Winsome Child: Daddy daddy why did Droney kill Fluffy and Rex??
    MachoDad: Don't worry sweetheart, we'll get you a new pet.
    Child: But Daddy, Mommy and Baby were holding Fluffy when Droney shot everyone!
    Dad: Drones don't kill people. People kill people.
    Child: Daddy you just killed Mommy and Baby!
    Dad: It's a small price to pay for our second amendment rights, punkin.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Anyone else remember that bit in Use of Weapons when the Special Circumstances drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw savagely butchered a pack of bandits even as its colleague was screaming for it to stop? And Skaffen-Amtiskaw was a paragon of pacifist virtue compared to your standard American gunwhacko.

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  48. where the fuck do they think the bullets/shells/buckshot ends up?

    Oh, God will catch it before it hurts anyone, of course.

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  49. coozledad2:14 PM

    Ah. The Amerika Helper project.

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  50. Steve-O2:15 PM

    [slaps forehead]

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  51. OH ANDREW JOHNSTON NO

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  52. for those alicurati a-wondering who curtis yarvin is, this is a great primer---

    http://www.thebaffler.com/blog/mouthbreathing-machiavellis/

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  53. +1, and like 8 shitty sequels

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  54. Seriously, someone at Hot Air somehow missed the whole "Droooones" criticism of Obama? Granted, it's hard to keep up with others' substantive criticisms when you're so busy manufacturing your own bullshit ones.

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  55. LIBETY!

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9I_DTBJL3fE/U-GQSNlY96I/AAAAAAAAGvA/reBmtWUglqI/s1600/libety.jpg
    ~

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  56. susanoftexas2:22 PM

    They can't even eff up without being insulting.

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  57. Clinton teen who mounted gun on drone arrested, charged with assaulting officersEntirely separate from the gun-mounting (IYKWIMAITYD).Police say 18-year-old Austin Haughwout was told to turn himself in on Wednesday, stemming from an incident on July 19. That incident is not connected to the drone with the attached gun. Officials say Houghwout was parked at the library after hours and went berserk when police approached.

    “When he tried to stop him, Mr. Houghwout initially stopped, questioned the officer’s authority for stopping him, and then prior to the officer’s backup arriving, Mr. Houghwout drove away,” said Clinton Police Sgt. Jeremiah Dunn.

    He stopped a quarter mile up the road, but the teenager allegedly kept the car in drive, refused to get out, and screamed at officers that they had no right to detain him. Clinton police backed down.Compare & contrast to police treatment of "Angry Black Woman" Sandra Bland.

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  58. Kind of the same principle as "making minor motions to ensure public safety" translates to "ETERNAL DARKNESS AND TYRANNY".

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  59. tigrismus2:29 PM

    And can't even be insulting without effing up. It's like a durr-oboros.

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  60. susanoftexas2:32 PM

    Yes, I kept waiting for "and then the cops slammed him to the ground, choked him, broke a few bones, jailed him, and now he's dead" but oddly it never appeared.

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  61. From goldbuggery to Moldbuggery...
    ~

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  62. If only Dylan Roof had one!

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  63. I think he means wolves. Bears are easy to hunt- just leave a pile of donuts under a tree. (http://www.pressherald.com/2014/10/12/bear-hunting-ballot-question-lures-big-bucks/)

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  64. Soon the Kochs and their pals won't need Arglebargles and Goldbergs and David effing Brooks.... drones everywhere!

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  65. John Wesley Hardin2:43 PM

    "no one would ever accuse today’s Right of being defined by its reverence for established pieties." I have two words in response: Bullshit. The 'established pieties' are low taxes, slut shaming and more guns, and you will find precious few on today's Right that utter a word against them.

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  66. John Wesley Hardin2:45 PM

    I would like to swallow this comment's tail, or at least have it shoved down my throat.

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  67. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2486927,00.asp



    Shotgun, huh.

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  68. It's been ages since I read it, but I'll take your word for it.

    Americans are more like the pissy drone from Player of Games.

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  69. Questioning the officer's right to detain one is "going berserk"?

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  70. Comment Of The Day.

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  71. Downpup E2:50 PM

    Chupacabras are scary.
    Eric Estrada is terrifing!
    http://www.terryingramdirector.com/images/Chupa-02.jpg

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  72. Couldn't have happened! There no such thing as "white privilege", after all!

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  73. with a bullet

    Literally.

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  74. Robert M.2:58 PM

    Yup, Mawhrin-Skel.

    ReplyDelete
  75. satch3:01 PM

    "Compare & contrast to police treatment of "Angry Black Woman" Sandra Bland."

    To be serious for a moment, this was an unforgivable tragedy that illustrates precisely why black parents have "The Talk" with their kids. A traffic stop that escalates into ugliness is not the time to question why you're being stopped, or insist on your "rights" as though you at that moment actually have any. That cop was armed with a gun, a taser, a baton, and a massive chip on his shoulder, and Sandra Bland was doomed from the moment she started questioning his right to stop her. I'm an old white guy with two nephews, who I watched grow up from babies, and who both recently joined local police forces. Already, I can see the changes: they're adopting the cop mentality of "Us Against Them", and "Cops vs Scumbags", and I hope that they do not end up completely buying into this toxic mind set.

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  76. portrays Gamergate...as proof that conservatives love internet freedom.

    Holy fuck, he really did:

    Exhibit A in this case would be #Gamergate, many of whose members seem to have been plucked from central casting for the phenomenon I described as “4chan Republicans,” for their newfound admiration of confirmed right-wingers such as Milo Yiannopoulos and Adam Baldwin, as well as dissident feminists and libertarians like Christina Hoff Sommers and Cathy Young.
    So here's why this is hilarious: The whole Gamergate thing started with a bunch of whiny manchildren upset because people who weren't "real gamers" (whatever that even means) were interfering in their precious hobby. Unfortunately, no one in the video game world - not companies, not reviewers, not even a significant portion of fans - picked up on it. Instead, the (*ahem*) movement was championed by MRAs and C-list pundits, none of whom had previously shown any interest in or experience with video games. Even the dipshits at Reddit - the only ones left who think this issue has legs - have noticed the irony. I will repeat that: Even the people who use the phrase "ethics in video game journalism" with a straight face think it's stupid that Christina Hoff Sommers is the face of their "cause."
    But no, Holt, I'm sure you're on to something. Please continue to sing the praises of the internet's largest collection of lolicon hentai.

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  77. 4chan Republicans

    Two great lack-of-tastes in one!

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  78. Dad: I'll get you a new Mommy, too, and nine months from now you can have a new Baby! Everything is replaceable, honey, like cogs in a machine.

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  79. susanoftexas3:09 PM

    I would never question a cop when stopped and I have been stopped by a cop who was acting erratically. But I do not think this means Ms. Bland acting wrongly; it means that I am a coward and would rather submit to capricious authority than put my family through the expense and unpleasantness of fighting back.

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  80. tigrismus3:09 PM

    I see your point, but as a woman I would have resisted getting out of the car too, I've only heard the tape and that guy scared the shit out of me.

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  81. It's got me signalling all my lane changes, that's for sure.

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  82. Bears Jonahs are easy to hunt- just leave a pile of donuts under a tree.

    Fixed.

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  83. jennofark3:12 PM

    No, the yetis are too busy doing sex porn to busty young white wimmin.

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  84. susanoftexas3:12 PM

    Dad: Now why don't you run outside and play.

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  85. LittlePig3:18 PM

    giant ass museum

    "and here's the Kim Kardashian exhibit..."

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  86. Randy Gibbons3:21 PM

    My idea is better, and it's called the POGOGUN. Imagine a shotgun mounted on a pogo stick. The shotgun faces forward at foot-stand level. Odd hops load the shotgun, even hops fire it. The vertical main cylinder holds the shells.


    A fun idea - I like to imagine a chimp on it - but building one would not make you "cool."

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  87. Anyone got a better idea for shooting down the black helicopters of tyranny?

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  88. ADHDJ3:26 PM

    His job got outsourced to Taco the Stereotypically Mexican Guanaco.

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  89. TGuerrant3:38 PM

    Well, that'll be nice for those of us on the ground - random crashing drones.

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  90. DocAmazing3:40 PM

    Is there something contradictory about a reactionary named Pax?

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  91. For all the screeching, they seem to be missing the big and salient point: Having someone firing a gun when they have only a vague idea of where it's aimed ("somewhere over there") is a definite recipe for disaster. Let the kid next door to your house start firing a Glock-9 over your summer cookout and see how "freedom loving" you are.

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  92. Even social conservatives have changed from continue to combine being smugly self-assured about their own “Silent Majority”-style dominance to with an embattled approach ...Some free editing for you, M.H.

    no one would ever accuse today’s Right of being defined by its reverence for established pieties.Nonstop cynical bullshitting lip service to established pieties, sure, but not actual reverence.

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  93. Helmut Monotreme3:44 PM

    That certainly won't go wrong in dangerous ways. Are they going to jam GPS? There a lot of things including cell towers that reply on GPS signals for time information. Are they going to jam cell phones? EMT's police and firefighters never use those. Are they going to jam wi-fi? Good luck. Spread spectrum and frequency hopping are built right into the protocol. The FCC is probably getting a migraine thinking about it.

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  94. Only because "unbelievably awesome" supersedes "cool."

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  95. TGuerrant3:45 PM

    Coming soon: The Donald Drone™

    Instead of carrying a firearm, it carries a megaphone and blasts out random gibberish that you feel compelled to report as news again and again and again.

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  96. tigrismus3:49 PM

    Fascinating article, thanks.

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  97. You misspelled "Already arrived."

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  98. LittlePig3:51 PM

    The boy does over use 'cool!' just a wee, don't he?

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  99. blatantly anti-political correctness neoreactionaries like Pax Dickinson
    and Curtis Yarvin are being cast less as cranks and more like brave,
    countercultural heroes.Yeah, but only by other reactionary cranks, so this isn't particularly dispositive.

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  100. Randy Gibbons3:53 PM

    Holy shit, I thought your quote was a joke for a moment. Maybe this Taylor Millard fellow is not quite ready to share his thoughts on the matter.


    Not only did he type the above, but prefaced it with "The FAA and ATF are also involved because how dare someone invent new gun-related technology which they didn't know about." Stretching the word invent a bit, aren't we?

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  101. LittlePig3:55 PM

    So they tore down the house of ill repute but left the Burmashave sign up? Betty and Anny were good girls I must admit, though I guess in Anny's case that's 'girls'.

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  102. Randy Gibbons3:56 PM

    Thanks. A skilled user could reload without dismounting, if the top of the main cylinder was open. There are also belt-feeding possibilities. All very irresponsible, though.

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  103. Randy Gibbons4:00 PM

    "... where it is reported to have given some diners at a gas station/sandwich shop the shits."


    Correction: the food gave them the shits, the bioagents put them out of their misery.

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  104. Randy Gibbons4:01 PM

    I believe that's a false dichotomy.

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  105. Can I ask, if no one else has yet, whether a drone carrying and firing a gun properly falls under the heading of a right to bear arms? Let alone the "well regulated militia" part.

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  106. Like you have a choice, in Obama's America.

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  107. LittlePig4:04 PM

    Yeah, that smells way too much like bullshit, or more specifically a "cool-tech" sounding handwave of a solution. I have no knowledge of the control frequencies of drones, but since 'Thank Henry Ford for interchangable parts' I can't imagine they are nearly that specific.

    As you note, can't touch GPS (da duh duh duh) and jamming wi-fi is a non-trivial exercise(*), so tell us just how the state will do that little thing.

    * Would a 500 kv spark gap transmitter get overtones into the 3 GHz range? Inquiring minds want to know....

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  108. Tell us about your theory!

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  109. Now it will be "Why don't you run under your bed and pray."

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  110. Right--as a woman my experience goes both ways. Sometimes submission is what is expected and it works--but sometimes you get a vibe from guys that you need to stand up for yourself and that only if you demonstrate that you won't be cowed will they leave you alone. If she hadn't been murdered in the prison Sandra Bland would right now be suing the pants off these assholes and defending her rights, and everyone's rights, to be treated respectfully by the police in that town. She didn't make any mistake--her actions were not responsible for his actions--she was courageous, acted appropriately, and was killed for it.

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  111. agorabum4:11 PM

    Just like the founders had. Heck, where would we be if Washington had not sent his drone over the Delaware River to attack the Hessians? Or used French drones to suicide bomb the British fleet, securing the siege at Yorktown?

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  112. agorabum4:13 PM

    I'm sure he has a column arguing for drone regulations...until they put a gun on a drone, and then its all "yee-haw, pew-pew-pew....ka-boom!!1!!"

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  113. Shalimar4:16 PM

    They can all be used for good or evil....Plus, there’s always the simplest solution: take a shotgun to the offending drone. Problem solved.

    Isn't destroying someone else's property pretty much the libertarian definition of evil?

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  114. From the ACLU website:

    "U.S. law enforcement is greatly expanding its use of surveillance drones, and private actors are also seeking to use the technology for personal and commercial use. Drones have many beneficial uses, including in search-and-rescue missions, scientific research, mapping, and more. But deployed without proper regulation, drones equipped with facial recognition software, infrared technology, and speakers capable of monitoring personal conversations would cause unprecedented invasions of our privacy rights. Interconnected drones could enable mass tracking of vehi­cles and people in wide areas. Tiny drones could go completely unnoticed while peering into the window of a home or place of worship."
    Why does the ACLU hate freedom?

    ReplyDelete
  115. M. Krebs4:18 PM

    Are you looking for venture capital? I want in.

    ReplyDelete
  116. LittlePig4:18 PM

    Yeah, I've got that 'only the good die young' working overtime in my extended family, too.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Interesting question. I shall use my google fu and get back to you.

    ReplyDelete
  118. LittlePig4:21 PM

    as he picks up the control pad...

    ReplyDelete
  119. Do Tea Party androids dream of sheeple?

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  120. LittlePig4:24 PM

    "Johnny's first Raptor"

    To quote a line I heard on TV in the 60s (Jonny's improv guest? Smothers Brothers show?) 'Be the first kid on your block to be the last kid on your block'.

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  121. Imagine if dronegun kid explained that he built the flying assassin so he could kill rebel rednecks in the "inevitable" (buy some survival rations!) post Jade Helm civil war- the righties would be singing a different tune.

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  122. Nope, those drone missiles are so smart they'll be able to blow him up under the bed without mussing the blankets. Whee?

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  123. Well I'll be damned. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2117724##

    The Right to Bear (Robotic) Arms
    Dan Terzian
    Duane Morris LLP

    July 26, 2012

    117 Penn State Law Review 755 (2013)

    Abstract:
    Can robotic weapons be “Arms” under the Second Amendment? This Article argues that they can. In particular, it challenges the claim that the Second Amendment protects only weapons that can be carried in one’s hands, which has roots in both Supreme Court Second Amendment doctrine (District of Columbia v. Heller) and scholarship. Scrutinizing these roots shows that Heller did not intend to create such a requirement and that little, if any, constitutional basis for it exists.

    This Article also contextualizes robotic weapons within the established Second Amendment framework for arms. Robotic weapons are not yet arms, but there is no legal impediment — nor should there be — to them becoming arms.

    Finally this Article presents an alternative theory of Second Amendment protection for robotic weapons based on auxiliary rights, in light of the Seventh Circuit case United States v. Ezell. It posits that Second Amendment auxiliary rights include the right to employ a bodyguard, whether human or robot.

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  124. Also, because of course he is, Alex Jones is on the case. http://www.infowars.com/the-next-gun-debate-armed-drones-could-be-protected-by-the-second-amendment/

    ReplyDelete
  125. LittlePig4:30 PM

    That reminds me...

    "The park has seen a lot of bear activity this season, particularly grizzly bears. Since grizzlies are particularly aggressive and dangerous, the park recommends you carry pepper spray and put little bells on your shoes to alert the bear humans are nearby.

    It is also important to know whether bears are present in an area. The easiest way to do so is to identify the bear's spoor. Black bear spoor is identifiable by the presence of acorn husks and berry skins. Grizzly spoor can be determined by the strong pepper odor and small bells"

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  126. brandonrg4:31 PM

    Some of them were actively hostile to gamers before it became an easy excuse to be raging sexists, e.g. Milo

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  127. Helmut Monotreme4:33 PM

    There are some engineers at Vespa that like the way you think.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa_150_TAP

    ReplyDelete
  128. redoubtagain4:42 PM

    The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a drone is a good guy with a drone.

    ReplyDelete
  129. Portsmouth Sonphonia reduce me to helpless giggles, I love them. Nearly led to a rupture when a kid's orchestra started to play like them and I could not laugh. Damn, but I should get infinity good karma for that.

    ReplyDelete
  130. #ann_elk Oh, my THEORY!

    Well, it's probably obvious, but I'm thinking that being a conservative has a lot to do with being scared - the hotel I'm staying at is in a dubious part of town (with BLACK people nearby! *LOOK OF HORROR*) and Dad and Shari are warning me of robbery and mayhem undoubtedly due to be inflicted on me. I'm also getting a lot of lecturing on money and the conservation thereof and how horrible it'd be if I was broke. (Been there, done that, have the car bedroom to prove it.)

    Anyhoo, I found a little plaque that Mom bought at Dollar Tree a couple weeks back, something along the lines of "To find new lands, you sometimes have to lose sight of the shore" - which is always the attitude that she had; that nothing's accomplished without risk, that sometimes you need to close your eyes and jump and trust that things will work out.

    All this suggests to me that being a conservative is linked to fear - fear of the unknown, fear of risk, fear of not having total control. (chorus: "we KNEW that!")

    (I'm also learning a thing or two about "freedom" - I now am "free", whee, and I wish to hell I wasn't.)

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  131. Wingnut Welfare, Inc. : "Hire this man!"

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  132. Robotic weapons are not yet arms, but there is no legal impediment — nor should there be — to them becoming arms.

    Can't see that going horribly wrong, either!

    ReplyDelete
  133. Dont forget the racial animus.

    ReplyDelete
  134. I Googled "Yeti porn" and yes, it's a thing. I hope the feds never get a hold of my hard drive now. Will you explain this to them for me if the need arises?

    ReplyDelete
  135. the author's bonafides

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  136. redoubtagain4:56 PM

    Unfortunately, if you're black, sometimes, being in the grip of capricious authority means that you're going to die anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  137. Oh Pere:

    The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
    Now, voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.

    ReplyDelete
  138. Jaime Oria5:08 PM

    Methinks a laser pointer could do a dandy number on whatever optical sensor the drone's carrying.

    ReplyDelete
  139. Jaime Oria5:13 PM

    Okay, so he's a robot but those are a kind of drone...

    ReplyDelete
  140. sophronia5:17 PM

    A few years ago -- heck, a few days ago, probably -- wingnuts were hysterical about the privacy-invasion possibilities of drones. But someone attached a gun to one, and suddenly they're in love. More guns!


    This is what we get when we allow generations of wingnuts to be raised believing that glib "arguments that have never been made in such detail and with such care" are the same thing as thinking. It's just like Orwell described -- eventually it becomes impossible for thought to actually happen. Thus we have the large, politically unstoppable portion of our society who believe that for any problem ever, the solution is guns.

    ReplyDelete
  141. LittlePig5:18 PM

    No one has ever been charged for this, yeti.

    (Shamelessly stolen from the Jonny Quest episode, 'Monsters in the Monastery')

    ReplyDelete
  142. Randy Gibbons5:26 PM

    That scooter is very sharp looking, but the description seems contradictory as to whether the recoilless rifle is fired from the scooter (paragraph 2) or taken off, placed on a tripod, and then fired (paragraph 3).

    ReplyDelete
  143. Oh, wow - just ran into this line in an article on grief and recovery on legacy.com:

    Will you incorporate your loss and have it be a catalyst for growth, or will you stay stuck and mired in it, never to take risks again?


    She'd want me to keep taking risks.

    ReplyDelete
  144. Robert M.5:38 PM

    I mean, it's a secondhand quote from an NPR story, so I'm not very well-equipped to address those questions.


    Also, the CA government person in the story said something like "we don't really know what would happen when you try to take [drones] away from the controller," so I have no idea how close the fire people are to actually getting their wish.

    ReplyDelete
  145. John Wesley Hardin5:40 PM

    Well, racial animus isn't as settled as the other three. There's still a robust argument going on as to whether or not all Hispanics are bad, for example and m any conservatives would agree that Blacks are at least 4/5ths as good as white people, if not more.

    ReplyDelete
  146. As a white man I had the same thought.

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  147. Just don't sound so pious when you put it directly. Needs more huffing and puffing.

    ReplyDelete
  148. Howlin Wolfe5:48 PM

    Luckily her survivors can bring a wrongful death suit. I hope they sue the shit out of them.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Luckily strikes me as the wrong word.

    ReplyDelete
  150. https://twitter.com/JonahNRO/status/624699849833873408
    ~

    ReplyDelete
  151. Blaster: FAUX Nooze (already arrived).

    "You": the rest of our corporate media (already arrived).
    ~

    ReplyDelete
  152. DocAmazing6:28 PM

    There are books of fart jokes available in ten languages--sorry, "nearly 10"; gotta allow for those fractional languages.

    ReplyDelete
  153. mgmonklewis6:29 PM

    Or set out a pic-a-nic basket.

    ReplyDelete
  154. Jaime Oria6:31 PM

    Wm Gibson has an oblique go at the so-called Dark Enlightenment types in his latest book The Peripheral.

    ReplyDelete
  155. "fractional language"?

    ReplyDelete
  156. Jonah, do you know who else's book is available in ten languages?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf#Online_versions_of_Mein_Kampf

    ReplyDelete
  157. "And down the hall, you'll find Donald Trump."

    ReplyDelete
  158. Can't we have *both* libety and tranny?

    ReplyDelete
  159. jennofark6:45 PM

    Pity he blocked me on the twitter for pointing out, to everyone's hilarity, that he owes his entire career to a cumstain.

    ReplyDelete
  160. Yes, she would--but she'd also want you to take care of yourself in every way. Be good to yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  161. LookWhosInTheFreezer6:51 PM

    "Everything is replaceable, honey, like cogs in a machine."

    With Rearden Metals! And if you call now, we'll give you a second cog for no additional cost!

    ReplyDelete
  162. Nearly ten, huh? So, four, including Klingon?

    ReplyDelete
  163. I keep saying I'm going to write some of this. There seems to be a market for it.

    ReplyDelete
  164. Yes, yes, Terzian. More importantly, robotic arms are not yet weapons. But someday, they will inevitably be equipped with flamethrower attachments. Since the 2nd Amendment clearly establishes a right to bear arms, robotic or not, it should be perfectly legal to shout "fire" in a crowded theater while carrying a flamethrower. Ipso facto, libs!

    ReplyDelete
  165. What's funny is Vespa got their start making affordable postwar vehicles out of aircraft landing gear.

    ReplyDelete
  166. I could've sworn I left my scooter here... I recognize Nashville in the far background, but...

    https://dreamscope-prod-v1.s3.amazonaws.com/images/34b663d0-b22a-4822-a346-218ffb25dcb9.jpeg

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  167. Meanie-meanie, tickle a person7:31 PM

    the “flying gun”

    Somewhere out there there needs to be a pic of Karen Valentine, aloft in her origami 707 headwear, all steely-eyed determination, with twin Uzis slung under her arms. See to it, intertubes!

    ReplyDelete
  168. LA Julian7:34 PM

    I'm just waiting for the first proven firebug-drone operator, because you know it's going to happen if it hasn't already been one of the incidents where they didn't catch the drone guy blocking the aircraft. Too many arsonists think "FIRE PRETTY!" and nothing else, and too many of these "l33t" drone types are antisocial libertarians, and there is bound to be some overlap between the sets.

    ReplyDelete
  169. LA Julian7:36 PM

    Well, in these circumstances, they'll be crashing into raging wildfires, so hopefully you won't be underneath!

    ReplyDelete
  170. The proprieties must be observed.

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  171. LA Julian7:40 PM

    There's a case ongoing now where someone is suing a neighbor for shooting an "offending" drone down that was over their own yard, but the neighbor doesn't care and has a history of firing into their yard, but in the past they didn't hit an expensive piece of radio-controlled camera equipment, so they'd let it pass.

    The best part is, the neighbor thought it was the CIA spying on him...

    ReplyDelete
  172. Hey, if they can play poker...

    https://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/sites/default/files/silent_running_moc_001.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  173. That earns you Whiplash AND a scooter!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYNoQZ5djUA

    ReplyDelete
  174. 1. English

    2. Klingon
    3. Pig Latin
    4. Ubbi Dubbi
    5. Wingnutspeak
    6. ASL (American Shithead Language, a dialect of # 5)

    ReplyDelete
  175. philadelphialawyer8:16 PM

    "Even social conservatives have changed from being smugly self-assured about their own 'Silent Majority'-style dominance to an embattled approach personified by Rod Dreher’s 'Benedict Option,' while blatantly anti-political correctness neoreactionaries like Pax Dickinson and Curtis Yarvin are being cast less as cranks and more like brave, countercultural heroes. . ."
    With a rude remark on the internet,
    Their noses thumbed at the politically correct,
    Here the embattled bloggers fret,
    And mull their Options Benedict...

    ReplyDelete
  176. Signs are favorable. Lucky Numbers on reverse.

    ReplyDelete
  177. MCSquared9:12 PM

    Sally Field

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  178. Jon Hendry9:18 PM

    "Clinton police are up in arms (pun intended) over Haughwout’s invention, with one officer saying it’s obvious technology is surpassing legislation."



    Actually Clinton police said no laws were broken.

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  179. Jon Hendry9:20 PM

    In order to preserve Drone Freedom, all aircraft will have to be tested for survival in case of a bird strike, where the bird is made of aluminum, carbon fiber, neodymium magnets, and lithium batteries. It would be tyranny to expect drone enthusiasts to shoulder these costs.

    ReplyDelete
  180. billcinsd9:23 PM

    pic of Karen Valentine

    Coffee, Tea or Uzis!

    ReplyDelete
  181. Jon Hendry9:26 PM

    Maybe they could come up with a small, directed EMP generator, if that's not too science-fictional.


    Barring that, maybe someone can come up with a drone hunter-killer, that detects the EMF coming off the other drone, homes in on it, and just runs into it. Maybe the hunter-killer would be covered in blu-tac.

    ReplyDelete
  182. Mary Ellen Sandahl9:27 PM

    I hesitate to get all serious about spelling in the midst of all this razorblade snark (you people are brilliant), but conservatism not only springs out of fear, it also springs abundantly, at the non-David Brooks level, out of rotten, underfunded public education.

    ReplyDelete
  183. This one of my dear departed Curly watching over the scooter (Honda PCX 125) is better. (pic)

    ReplyDelete
  184. Jon Hendry9:33 PM

    The CT kid sounds like a budding sovereign citizen type.

    http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-clinton-drone-teen-arrest-0724-20150723-story.html#page=1

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  185. He couldn't count to ten because one of his fingers was wedged up his nose and one of his thumbs was wedged up his ass.

    ReplyDelete
  186. Jon Hendry9:40 PM

    "Government, others freak after CT teen makes cool chainsaw lawn darts.

    ReplyDelete
  187. jennofark9:43 PM

    Not to nitpick, but isn't Trump in the Yooooooge Ass Museum?

    ReplyDelete
  188. Jon Hendry9:44 PM

    I'm pretty sure the fact that the cop was a short motherfucker, seemingly shorter than Sandra, played a big part in it.

    ReplyDelete
  189. jennofark9:53 PM

    Write one with an eastern-mysticism bent. Yetis & Yonis.

    ReplyDelete
  190. jennofark9:54 PM

    Sure, if you think you're gonna want me as a character witness once they get done searching my hard drive.

    ReplyDelete
  191. jennofark9:59 PM

    The short man syndrome is a real thing, though I have known many men of shorter than average height for whom it wasn't a thing. Some of them though....

    ReplyDelete
  192. mgmonklewis10:32 PM

    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1b/1f/5e/1b1f5e5429ea1017e33bf0641b2801dc.jpg
    Oh Hanna-Barbera, is there nothing you can't make kitchy?

    ReplyDelete
  193. M. Krebs10:58 PM

    I can't resist.

    https://youtu.be/NySAbB2JLII

    ReplyDelete
  194. M. Krebs11:05 PM

    Holy crap, it's not very different from the original. https://youtu.be/JRp1LZOk05o

    ReplyDelete
  195. M. Krebs11:09 PM

    Nearly ten? Maybe the Luxembourgouis quebecois

    ReplyDelete
  196. And he appears to be immune to pepper spray, even to actually seek it out if there are nachos nearby.

    ReplyDelete