More jump cuts and less substance than a Micheal Bay movie. That's an impressive development in itself!

You seem to be under the impression that libertarianism is some kind of strict monolithic orthodoxy. Because of this, I can only assume you believe it to be an affliction caused Libertarian Ideal Particles, which have infinitely negative mass and are transmitted at velocities much faster than light, which are beamed right into the brains of those who are naturally predisposed towards libertarianism, from the Libertarian Hive-mind on Planet Bob, moon of the fifth planet orbiting 55 Cancri, an exoplanet believed to have a particularly eccentric orbit.

Yeah. About that... It's not.

Don't forget about Santa Claus. He sees you when you're sleeping and he knows when you're awake. He's a mighty perverted creep, for goodness sake!

No-one has "bought" the USD that might be in your bank account, either.

Wrong. You bought them. With your time. Assuming the primary reason you have currency in your bank is that you have an actual job, that you aren't some kind of mooch / thief / scammer / or otherwise use other people's capital to your benefit.

How does one compensate for a dozen of instruments that were hand-made by the player from rare materials?

For each of the people responsible and their immediate superiors: Eight hours per week of volunteer work at the local elementary schools for the next twenty years, consisting of listening to the 3rd grade music class practice Mary Had a Little Lamb on their flutes, while hand-carving flutes for the next year's class, with no chance of parole. And they have to like it. If the 3rd graders suspect, in the least, that their performances aren't thoroughly enjoyed...30 lashes in public with the cat-o-nine-tails.

60 Minutes has a long list of journalistic fuckups, misrepresentations, poor research and intellectual dishonesty going back at least 30 years.

I'm just surprised to see them so flagrantly sit at the right hand of the Ministry of Truthiness, as they did in this piece.

To the GP's credit, they didn't show the car taking off on the ice, which is the particular situation the GP claimed traction control suffers at. Instead, he had a pretty good running start. Also, the host has to be about the most inept driver ever. Hurr...Dip the clutch, proper driving technique... Durr. Let's over-rev the engine to 2-2.5k, dump the clutch and say a conventional car can't go up the ramp. Hurr de durr...

No need for $8000/month. A natural death can follow quickly, especially if your order says to give you no food or water.

My aunt suffered from ALS for years, and at one point toward the end she basically just said "I've had enough", and refused food, and I'm pretty sure water as well, except maybe an occasional sponge swab to keep her mouth somewhat moist.

She lasted 21 days. I'm not even sure how that's possible, given the rule of threes for human survival; unless someone was watering her behind the rest of the family's back. I wouldn't wish that version of hell on anyone.

Probably not. On the other hand, the bad guys might file civil suits for sullying their reputations by falsely associating them with TSA.

Just make a mechanism tied to an electronic trigger that fires the guns when the output from a random number generator, generating numbers from 1-100 with five second intervals, matches a predetermined number picked out of a hat by a chicken.

The probability is there will be enough time for dramatic tension to build without making everyone hang around so log to put them sleep, and you don't have to burden the executioner's psyche, because ultimately, the chicken is the executioner. Because, as we all know, chickens just want to watch the world burn anyway.

Why not model regional ISPs on Credit Unions and Rural Electric Associations / Utility Cooperatives? Cooperative in nature, each member is also part owner, and they provide better service than the larger purely private equivalent (in my experience), and often at a lower price.

The biggest problem outside of funding would probably be to get right of way access from municipalities. Cable and telephone companies would naturally fight tooth and nail against it.

You lost at equating the slaughter of food animals to the torture of sentient, thinking people, who are pretty much just like yourself, with hopes and aspirations and families of their own. I think part of it is the empathic realization that you might have just as easily been in that person's place.

I've hunted, and had my hands in the blood and guts of my prey, which I later delighted in consuming. I've also witnessed people die terribly bloody and painful deaths. Animals may have a general sense of panic when you look them in the eyes as they die, but for me at least, it's not at all on the same level as when its a person looking back at you. Not even close.

I have an uncle who is going on 70 who will not eat pork, not because he's Jewish, but because his family on the farm made him watch the slaughter of 'his' pig when he was a child. He viewed that pig very much as people view their dogs and cats. Of course it's anecdotal evidence, but I'd say he was scarred by the experience.

Of course it is, and yet even seemingly smart people really just don't get it!

Oh, the oil industry makes too much money, let's tax 'em to fund the new animal orphanage!
Three days later...
Goddamn, the price of gas is killing me!

The thing most people never seem to get is that corporations do not pay taxes. Taxes which are levied against corporations are indirectly levied against their customers. They simply raise the prices of their goods and services to offset the difference, similarly to how they optimize their position in the marketplace through pricing strategies.

This makes corporations in general act as an invisible collection branch of the government, and an easy target for new taxes that the people would never vote to put on themselves. I've long said that there would be a overthrow of the government by next Thursday if people had to come up with just the difference in commercial property tax which most communities expect their local businesses to pay.