Corruption

Reason Morning Links: Embassies Close, the Burj Dubai Opens, Stimulus Funds Enter the Twilight Zone

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• The U.S., France, and Britain close their embassies in Yemen.

• The TSA brings us new screening measures, and possibly new heights of incompetence as well.

• The feds send stimulus money to phantom zip codes.

• Arizona might do away with its highway speed cameras.

• December was the first month since the U.S. invasion with no American combat deaths in Iraq.

• The world's tallest building is open for business but not yet full.

• h+ picks the top five technology panics of 2009.

NEXT: Sports Could Use the Sound of Silence

Books Editor Jesse Walker is the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.

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  1. Does anyone else see a lag between a H&R post on reason.com and seeing it on the actual H&R?

    1. prolefeed

      There are a lot more commenters than Reason staff. We’re gonna find stuff the Reason staff hasn’t.

  2. Pope Jimbo

    I’m stealing directly from the comments section of the story about the TSA douche who dropped his notebook here.

    Did you notice what is printed on the bottom of the notebook cover? “Created with Pride by Americans who are Blind”. Is that not a perfect description of the TSA?

  3. Tim Geithner

    The feds send stimulus money to phantom zip codes.

    That’s OK, it’s phantom money.

    1. DJF

      But its not phantom debt.

  4. SugarFree

    Just think of how much more responsive the TSA will be to traveler’s concerns when they are unionized.

  5. Rich

    AQAP urged Muslims to help in “killing every crusader who works at their embassies or other places”

    Then the U.S., France, and Britain had better close “other places” as well.

  6. SugarFree

    “Instead of spending so much time focusing on getting rid of cameras, why don’t they focus on the real problem, the root problem, which is getting people to drive the speed limit?” Lieutenant King said. “If everyone was to drive the speed limit, the cameras would never flash.”

    “Obey and everything will be fine.”

  7. Cursory examination of Oklahoma revealed $11,935,249 being spent in the nonexistent zip code, 74443.

  8. P Brooks

    Now we have a frenzied clamor about the need for a titular head for the TSA; that’s the problem. Bureaucracies run like clockwork, as long as they have a Top Man. The TSA will be efficient, once it has a (politically appointed) savior.

    1. Rich

      A titular head, eh?

      How about this?

  9. P Brooks

    More than a year after Arizona became the first state in the country to deploy dozens of speed cameras on highways statewide, threats to the groundbreaking program abound.

    This is what makes the New York Times the truly exemplary journalism icon it is; dispassionate neutrality.

    1. zoltan

      As much as I’d like to take a crap on every NYT I see, “groundbreaking” doesn’t always sound like a positive descriptor to me.

  10. Cursory examination of Oklahoma revealed $11,935,249 being spent in the nonexistent zip code, 74443.

    And that kind of scratch is nothing to these fuckers in the Capitol. It’s not even worth responsibly accounting for. Do you know what a real person could do with almost $12 million? I’d have enough to convince Gillespie to part with The Jacket. SugarFree could finally buy that black-market pancreas he’s had his eye on, PLUS a spare. Epi would be set with hair product for life. Do you see where i’m going with this? Warty would have access to all the sex dwarfs he could ever need. MNG could get a clue. Libertymike could load up on Krugerrands, use them to purchase vast amounts of ammo, then barter ammunition for food. Steve Smith could do nothing with $12 million, nor would he need to, because raping is free.

    1. SugarFree

      With 12M Steve Smith could probably find a human woman depraved enough to willingly have sex with him.

      I mean, there are women who have sex with donkeys for far less than that… Steve might have a chance.

    2. MNG

      Oh I’ve got more than a clue X. In fact, I’ve got the whole f*cking thing right here: Professor Plum in the library with the motherf*cking candlestick!

    3. Name Withheld

      I feel good about being left off that list.

      1. I cried, though.

        1. Nick

          Me too. I seek validation. But, I guess it’s my own fault for not having a meme, memorable name, or John’s comment count.

  11. The Gobbler

    “Warty would have access to all the sex dwarfs he could ever need”

    I was under the impression that he already did.

    1. SugarFree

      Peter Dinklage keeps turning him down.

  12. I was under the impression that he already did.

    You would think that, but he goes through ’em so quickly. Plus, the cleaning bills for all those tiny gimp masks really add up, and it’s not like Warty is “financially secure” or “gainfully employed” or “not living under a bridge” or anything.

    1. A friend of mine once fucked a midget. He almost died from mononucleosis a few weeks later. The lesson is clear: midgets aren’t worth the risk.

      1. zoltan

        Please inform us all of the sex of each participant.

  13. P Brooks

    MNG could get a clue.

    Steve Smith could endow a chair for himself in the Physics Department at MIT before that happened.

    1. MNG

      What a zinger!

      Zounds!

  14. jester

    ‘The residential part of the building will include fitness facilities, a residents’ library, a cigar club, valet parking and a gourmet market, according to the building’s Web site. The goal is an “unparalleled lifestyle experience,” the Web site says.’

    A distillery might do the trick to up occupancy at the world’s tallest building.

  15. DJF

    The Federal government should not take half measures, the threats against the embassies in Yemen is a threat against the US government so the US government should shut down the entire US Federal government because it is unsafe to operate

  16. dbcooper

    Morning link in the style of SugarFree:

    Ignorant “feminist” blogger doesn’t know who Jim Thompson is, shits pants over Winterbottom adaption.

    http://jezebel.com/5401274/the…..th–sadism

    The Killer Inside Me: Sex, Death & Sadism

    The Killer Inside Me is set for release in 2010; its five minute trailer promo gives away a good chunk of the plot, which seems to involve quite a lot of graphic violence against women. This isn’t particularly surprising, considering the long-standing media fascination with sex crimes, and the rising acceptance of rape scenes on prime time television (we’re particularly reminded of the Last House on the Left trailer, which clearly showed a very young actress being raped). However, the level of violence shown in the clip is striking, and given the context, quite disturbing.

  17. P Brooks

    Authorities were searching for a man who walked through a screening checkpoint exit into the secure side of a terminal Sunday night at Newark Liberty International Airport, and flights were grounded and passengers being re-screened, an air safety official said.

    A man was seen walking down an exit lane at Terminal C about 5:30 p.m., said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis, and screening was halted in the Continental terminal while authorities looked at surveillance tapes to identify the man.

    Passengers were then evacuated from the secure side of the terminal and moved to the open side to go through screening again to ensure that every passenger boarding a plane tonight out of the terminal was fully screened, Davis said in a statement. The security line was emptied, and passengers were waiting in check-in areas.

    NYT

    This never would have happened if the TSA had a boss.

    Seriiously.

  18. jester

    the “flesh-eating robot” will consume vegetable matter only-

    Fuckin’ whiny vegans ruin everything that is totally cool.

  19. John

    But Iraq was supposed to be another Vietnam and unwinnable.

    1. brotherben

      That was with Gollum Bush in charge. Now that Obama is bringing us out of the wilderness, Anything Is Possible!

      1. The Gobbler

        Before Obama: War!

        After Obama: No War!

    2. Tulpa

      Assuming you’re being sarcastic, what definition of victory are you going by that (a) has now been met, and (b) wasn’t met back in the spring of 2003?

      1. TrickyVic

        An agreement for withdraw? 😉

        How about the ability of the Iraqi people to take responsiblity for much of their own security, and those security forces answering to an elected leader instead of a dictator?

        Does that count?

        1. TickleStick

          It doesn’t count because George Bush made it happen.

    3. TrickyVic

      Maybe would could have won Vietnam if we would have paid citizens in the North to fight for us. 😉

      1. TickleStick

        I’m reminded of the joke (I forget which comedian) about the fall of the USSR: Who would have thought that communism’s fatal flaw would have been that there just wasn’t any money in it?

  20. thanks

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