The guy claims to have raised millions of dollars for the film, but the trailer was apparently made on a shoestring budget. Aside from violating his parole, I wouldn't be surprised if the movie was part of some new con. Most amusing possibility is a "Producers" type scheme: Raise a bunch of money to make an anti-Muslim movie, use the reaction to the trailer as an excuse to delay production due to "safety concerns", and then abscond with the money before anyone sees through your false identity. (Not an original idea, see the comments here: http://bradhicks.livejournal.com/465590.html) [HS: A farfetched hypothesis. Given that he LIED about his name, LIED about being Israeli, was convicted for some scheme involving fake bank accounts and fake checks, he most likely he also LIED about the $5 million.]

> I think that Romney probably wanted to pick Portman That's not what his campaign staff are saying: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-picked-ryan-over-advisors-early-doubts

> I've been using the word atriarch, to replace matriarch or patriarch. Wouldn't "elder" or "ancestor" (depending on context) work well?

I often take the (really slow) train Boston to Cleveland to visit family. If it's a leisurely trip, I don't mind taking the extra travel time to save several hundred dollars. That would be different if I was rich enough that several hundred dollars was insignificant. (Or maybe if my destination was more exciting than Cleveland.)

> "Based on these (false) facts, Zimmerman would be guilty of second degree murder." Based on that particular hypothetical, he'd be guilty of first degree murder. The case where he'd be guilty of second-degree murder is if Zimmerman followed Trayvon, provoked him into a fight, got super pissed-off, and then shot him (intentionally but without premeditation, and "depraved" by hatred, not blinded by rage).

Patrick is right.

"Maybe she has read Whiskey’s blog post where he advises Republicans to go hunk and avoid women" Though that post also describes Romney as "a non-starter for President as much as Sarah Palin" and suggests Republicans "go non-White" in their nominations.

Add energy to a chaotic system and volatility increases. Global warming would be consistent with a higher average temperature and more extreme deviations from that average (in either direction). Global cooling would be consistent with a lower average temperature and less extreme deviations from that average (in either direction).

> There is also the absurdity that corporations in the U.S. could have higher-rated debt than the country it’s in. How is that even possible? Devil's advocate argument: The US government has more ability (military and other power) to get away with unilaterally "restructuring" their debt than, say, Cambridge, MA or Microsoft (both of which have AAA-rated bonds). Arguably, someone with unlimited power might deserve a very poor rating on their bond debt, since although they definitely have the _ability_ to pay, what guarantees that they _will_? Mostly I agree with you, though. The US is about 100% likely to repay all currently-issued bonds in full (in USD, and maybe USD won't be worth much at that point, but I don't think that's what the bond rating is supposed to cover).

Hardly a NAM in sight, and yet to you they must be at fault. Somehow. "You can clearly tell that the whites who are rioting are low class prole whites." Don't most people in Canada fall under that category? It's a pretty white place, and they can't all be lawyers. Certainly being a big time sports fan (the sort prone to public displays of grief and rage when a team loses) is a prole thing. @Duncan: I say read 'em the riot act and then open fire. @jayphive: There are some people looking for any excuse to burn and destroy (easy to recognize in the photos, they seem to be wearing punk or anarchist "uniforms"). And then there are a lot of people who will join in as soon as things get violent. And even more who will stand around posing for photos instead of staying out of the way of the police.

"[T]his article should convince you that you are wasting your time trying to convince people of the 'truth' of HBD." Honestly, I think that "HBD denialism" is a strawman. Plenty of liberals will agree with all of the following: 1. There's such a thing as general intelligence 2. There's a genetic component to general intelligence 3. Therefore there are statistical differences in general intelligence between hereditary groups But disagree with you on the significance of the above, or what policies they'd support in light of that. (There's also a lot of quibbling around the edges of all of those points, but it would be a mistake to confuse that with unequivocal disagreement.) If you think that whatever policies you support flow trivially from those facts, then the easy conclusion is that anyone who disagrees with you on policy must be deluded. But that doesn't make for a very persuasive argument. [HS: No, they won't agree, they will call you RACIST for thinking it.]

It would be interesting if this study divided the non-married categories by relationship status. I wonder how the happiness of unmarried people in comparably long-term relationships compares to the happiness of married people.

Alternately: If things are going south, you should flee or negotiate for amnesty, instead of clinging on until you're overthrown. Whose influence and goodwill would be preserved by such an action? Certainly not the Egyptian people's. Other embattled dictators? Might be better to offer _them_ amnesty instead, point out the advantages of early retirement.

Obama’s foreign policy goal seems to be to reduce America’s world influence as much as possible before he leaves office. That he’s a crypto-anti-colonialist makes more and more sense. "Crypto"?

a substantial percentage has been appropriated in taxes. Value has been transferred to the government Some value gets transferred back to him in that relationship, so it's more complex than that. But it's probably a net transfer away from Joe Value Creator (and a net transfer to members of the millionaire class). The majority of the value that this guy has created has been for the benefit of other people. It always amazes me how Marxist the core of your post-Marxism is.

This is a disgusting act of placation to our enemies. Really? Dumping the body at sea is, if anything, the absolute minimum standard for a decent burial during wartime. No returning the body to the family, no grave-site to enshrine. Provocation just for the sake of provocation is dumb.

Pakistan and the US may be "allies", but that doesn't mean they're friends. @anon: I wouldn't expect Pakistan to send fighters against a US helicopter or two in either case. Not worth the trouble.

Seems like wishful thinking. Though I guess the US might be worried if angry OBL loyalists currently have access to nukes.

He didn't pay for the tattoo, he won it in a contest run by Sega.

Irritated your prediction didn't pan out? I'm just glad the would-be bomber was caught.

Attacks on Copts by Muslims predate the revolution: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/01/world/la-fg-egypt-church-attack-20110102 And opposition to attacks on Copts by (different) Muslims also predates the revolution and continued during it: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqXfZTgOCOE So while the revolution didn't instantaneously solve that conflict, I wouldn't call that fact evidence that the revolution is "bad for Coptic Christians". Is there evidence that the military government has taken a substantially different policy with regard to the Copts than Mubarak?

Oh, those crime stats are for the city, I shouldn't be comparing them against population numbers for the county. Here's the Nantucket County crime figures for 2000: http://www.fedstats.gov/mapstats/crime/county/25019.html 48 counts of aggravated assault were reported in the county in 2000, compared to 39 aggravated assault and sexual assault charges reported in 2008.

The 2000 census says Nantucket County (the whole island) was 86.9% White-non-Hispanic and 0.6% Asian with a population of 9520 (~1190 NAMs): http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=n&_lang=en&qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DP1&ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&geo_id=05000US25019 The 2010 estimates say it's 82% White-non-Hispanic and 1.3% Asian with a population of 11,322 (~1890 NAMs): http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/25/25019.html Nantucket is still whiter than the MA average. And while Nantucket has more violent crime than the state average in 2009, that was also true in 2001 and 2002, but not in 2004 and 2005: http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ma/nantucket.htm Maybe an area that relies on income from tourism / vacationers / seasonal residents is more prone to violent crime during an economic downturn?

"Sure, just like they are happy about the prospect of blacks doing as well as whites on standardized tests." I hope your argument is not that such an outcome would be bad, but that you think it's unlikely. The Egyptians should get their chance, probable or improbable. I agree with Jonathan and mikeca above. "What is the point you feel you were responding to?" My point is that it doesn't follow from "liberals are in favor of democracy" that liberals should be happy about any outcome of a free election. You and E present such examples as if that contradicts my earlier point that liberals favor democracy. My response is that liberals care about more than one thing.

"Seems to me that's just the True Scotsman fallacy. You are saying that if the people, through their elected representatives, decide to implement a one-party system or some other kind of despotism, that's not True Democracy." It's not democracy at all. Not after that point, anyways. Excluding locked-in autocracy and one-party rule follows from the common definition of the word "democracy", I'm not narrowing the definition. "I suppose it qualifies as the 'prospect' of the spread of democracy" Fair enough, I should have said: "Liberals are happy about the prospect of the spread of democracy." "I have no idea what your point is here." I was responding to your (and E's) rhetorical question. Which was indeed kind of pointless.