Reason Morning Links: Clashes in Egypt, Manning Investigation Faults Commanders, Change in Jordan Too

• Mubarak supporters, opponents clash in Egypt.
• Army investigation finds Bradley Manning's commanders were cautioned by mental health experts not to send him to Iraq.
• German politician jailed for calling anti-immigration advocate an "ass".
• Jordan's King Abdullah II fires the country's cabinet.
• TSA now testing more modest body scanners.

Comments

[Bingo]

Shut the fuck up Suki

[heller]

+1

[Johnny Longtorso]

The Birther Plan To Block Obama's Reelection

And now I give you a marijuana vending machine. You're welcome.

[Bingo]

Do the birthers really want Joe Biden to be president?

[Restoras]

Think of the hilarity that would ensue! Far more entertaining than the dim-witted dolt currently holding the position.

[Liberal Asshole]

Obviously. He's white, after all.

[SugarFree]

marijuana vending machine

It's like a beautiful dream...

[Pro Libertate]

I rather suspect they won't need to do anything to prevent Obama from being reelected.

[cynical]

This shit is totally going to backfire on them and disqualify some beloved conservative from running. And I'm going to laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

[cynical]

Plus, fuck elections -- if you want to ruin's someone shot at president, just sneak a mole into the records building and destroy their birth certificate.

[troy]

marijuana vending machine.

This is the peak of civilization.

[R C Dean]

I don't see anything objectionable, at all, to requiring a candidate for public office to prove eligibility for that office.

Like objecting to showing photo ID in order to vote, objecting to proving eligibility for office stinks of bad faith.

As for "moles" sneaking into buildings and destroying records: I have a certified copy of my birth certificate. So does my wife.

[Tacos mmm...]

No, but requiring a "long form" certificate with "the date and place of birth, the names of the hospital and the attending physician and signatures of the witnesses in attendance" might be problematic if this format is not used by all states. In such cases, this is essentially saying that state reciprocity does not apply to birth certificates, and strikes me as a matter of federal, not state law. You are the lawyer though.

[Spoonman.]

Rolling blackouts here in Houston because it's so cold (25) that there aren't enough power plants to heat the whole city.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Not just in Houston. It's statewide.

[Western Canada]

What's a rolling blackout?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Planned outages for planned periods of time in different locations.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's Snowtrina! Get FEMA on that, stat.

Wait a minute, don't A/C units take pretty much the same amount of power as furnaces and heaters?

[Johnny Longtorso]

Should be less - you can get your actual heat generation from natural gas. AC is pretty much all electric.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Flashback Video: Robert Byrd, Other Dems Blame Global Warming For LACK Of Snow

[Lost_In_Translation]

I wonder if its a combination of power plants and distribution lines going down due to cold weather more than an increased load on the system. Because yeah, who is using more power now than what they use when its 101F outside.

[Corduroy]

Back up electrical strip heat units on warm climate heat pumps consums a LOT of electricity.

Electricity is generally the least cost effective way to provide temporary heat.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Tell that to my light bulbs.

And who is using space heaters in Houston, seriously?

[Corduroy]

Not space heaters, most heat pumps have a back up heat system that kicks in when the outside temp drops below a certain point. Mine is a gas unit, but most have electrical units because they're cheap.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Still, the total electricity load of these heat pumps being greater than the total electricty load of A/C units in Houston on a hot day....really, come on.

[GoNavy]

Electricity is generally the least cost effective way to provide temporary heat

Not to argue(much) and I conceed that electricity is an expensive way to heat. However, the question What is the least cost effective way is one of the those questions that has the answer it depends.

Though electricity is an expensive way to heat, someone living in Orlando and was paying for an oil fired furnace to sit idle for all but a half a dozen nights per year would argue that a few heating strips was very cost effective heating solution.

[Pro Libertate]

Purer, cleansing flame heats very well.

[Restoras]

Does cold weather make power distribution more inefficient? I notice my cell phone battery doesn't hold a charge as long in the cold.

[Corduroy]

Conductors (power lines) work better cold, batteries do not.

[db]

Not really. Conductivity in the wires is inversely proportional to the temperature. That's why, in the summer, hot overloaded transmission lines tend to fail fast--heat = resistance; resistance = higher loss as heat -> higher resistance vivious cycle. Not to mention the stretching of the lines due to thermal expansion can lead to shorts trees. The 2003 blackout was caused in large part by hot lines hanging low and contacting trees which weren't trimmed adequately.

[wylie]

db, i think you got PTC and NTC backwards.

[db]

No, electrical conductivity in metals is inversely proportional to temperature.

[wylie]

ok, i was thinking of negative resistance, not temp coeffs, but my point remains: as metals heat up, the voltage across them for a given current will increase, which is also manifested as drop in current.

by contrast, plasmas and some other stuff show a drop in resistance (increase in current) when they get hotter.

[db]

That's because as you heat a plasma, more electrons are elevated to higher states of excitation and become more weakly attracted to their nuclei, creating conditions similar to the large number of "shared" electrons in an electrically conductive metal.

Transmission lines are generally held at constant voltage (at least at the generator end) and managed to optimize the voltage drop across them. As you say, when they heat up, more voltage is required to push current to the load. Transmission operators adjust voltages upward during high load periods to reduce current, and hence heating, in the lines.

[wylie]

so, the runaway heating you describe requires the action of operators to happen, it's not the default behavior of the material under steady conditions.

[db]

Not really; all it takes is for, say, one transmission line of several feeding a load to fail or otherwise be disconnected. The other lines have to take up the load, and then get hotter. It is in the absence of voltage control (either through operation inaction or the system leaving its stability bounds) that the destructive cycle continues. Typically transmission operators have to make rapid decisions to shed load (purposely black out an area) to save the grid. In the case of the 2003 blackout, operators did not have adequate information, nor did they timely act upon the information they did have, to save the grid.

[db]

For anyone interested enough to read 238 pages of root cause analysis and recommendations, the 2003 blackout report is located here: https://reports.energy.gov/BlackoutFinal-Web.pdf

I read it for two reasons: 1) I am a root cause nerd; and 2) I used to work in the electricity generating business.

[Pip]

Wht do you hate mother earth?

[cynical]

I think metal conductivity tends to get better in cold, while the opposite tends to be true for semiconductors; battery chemistry is a different story altogether.

[wylie]

ummm. no.

[wylie]

(well, yes on the batteries as others have pointed out....but, superconductors and cold? that's the only way they work.)

[Timon19]

Semi-conductors != superconductors

[db]

He said semiconductors, not superconductors.

[wylie]

well, superconductors are cooler, so I read it that way instead.

[Restoras]

Holy crap, thanks for the education!

[Scooby]

The shortfall is due to plants going down, not excessive demand. Power plants in the South aren't always designed to operate in extremely cold conditions (and by that, I mean relatively warm for Chicago, i.e. teens & low twenties).

[db]

Yeah, they typically have no orvery light thermal insulation on lower temperature pipelines; and frequently their steam turbine/generators are exposed to the elements, not enclosed in buildings.

[Gray Ghost]

I wonder if there are Enron-type shenanigans with these rolling blackouts in Texas? However, the stated reason for why we are having them now, and not in the summer with A/C units' demand, is because natural gas inventories are supposedly low, and ~45% of the power plants in Texas run on natural gas. About 7,000 MW of generation is off-line. http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/0.....blackouts/

Completely unacceptable. Can the PUC not read a fucking weather forecast?! And if rolling blackouts were anticipated, why didn't they let people know about it yesterday?

Another aside, I've no idea how, if the grid is this friggin' fragile, the increased power demand from switching to electric automobiles is going to be met.

[Name Nomad]

This was exactly the moment Houstonians have been preparing for. For years they've been building up those inches-thick layers of blubber around their bodies, I would imagine, so that they could hibernate through something like this. I must say that I admire their foresight.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Hey, we're no longer the fattest city. I think Green Bay or Madison took that title or something.

[Spoonman.]

Actually, I'm betting they've got their heat up to 75 or so. That could use quite a bit of electricity, because we don't really have furnaces in our homes here, just electric heaters.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Huh, most homes here have gas furnaces. I haven't seen anyone with a space heater in Houston.

[T]

My wife keeps it on 71. My gas bill this month is going to be insane.

[Tim]

America doesn't need more power plants, it needs more sweaters and turtlenecks.

[China]

Trust us, we know. And we will provide them cheap!

[Brett L]

Fuck you, Jimmy Carter.

[Not an Economist]

Hell I'd love to just have 25 deg temps here in Ohio. I have 3+ inch thick limbs littering my lawn from the inch of ice that came down over the past two days. I'm not even sure how long it'll take me to get my garage door open. Of course other places in the midwest have it as bad or worse than I do so I'm not complaining all that much.

[Not an Economist]

I forgot about the 50,000 people without power just in my local area. I'm lucky I only had momentary power outages.

[Clouds]

Not just rolling or on purpose. All northeast H-town was blacked out for like 45 minutes this morning. For some reason I thought cold weather was better for electrical components.

[Wind Rider]

Whaaaat? You mean T. Boone's pet project plan to bilk the public trough with wind pinwheels, that he backed away from when he figured out that the fix was in to siphon even more funding to General Electric and leave him with nothing more than a fading laugh and throat full of dust has failed miserably to keep Texans toasty warm even in the midst of blustery conditions which should be providing tons of harvestable energy (unless it's blowing too hard for the pathetically and poorly designed spindly feel good eyesores and might break them)?

Knock me over with a goddamned feather.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Apparently, a big relay station went offline overnight, so it appears to me that, rather than usage, as such, that is the issue. We'll see.

[The Truth]

But remember, we don't need to upgrade our infrastructure!

Jesus, what other first world country has rolling blackouts? We're really on our way to becoming Guatemala with nukes.

[Clouds]

The brits?
see

[The Truth]

"By the end of the next decade", they're not experiencing them NOW.

And since their political system isn't a sclerotic, broken one where a state with 500,000 people gets the same representation as a state with 32 million, where any Lord..er...Senator can put a secret hold on anything he pleases, and where (on top of that) it takes a supermajority to get anything done, they're going to address their problems.

[The Truth]

That's from the same link the guy above posted. One to two hours without electricity, caused by worker error.

Not exactly the same thing as rolling blackouts caused by the inability to generate enough electricity. Not even close.

[Azathoth]

Idiot, a relay station went down. It's not like Texas has just implemented planned rolling blackouts--it's the fault of extreme weather conditions.

When a tree branch knocks down a power line, it isn't a sign that your block is headed for third world status

[Pip]

"And since their political system isn't a sclerotic, broken one where a state with 500,000 people gets the same representation as a state with 32 million"

Stupid up your butt much?

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Italy and Spain

[The Truth]

That's from the same link the guy above posted. One to two hours without electricity, caused by worker error.

Not exactly the same thing as rolling blackouts caused by the inability to generate enough electricity. Not even close .

[Fist of Etiquette]

TSA now testing more modest body scanners.

The images return with a CGI blush put on the prospective flyer's face.

[Ragin Cajun]

How about a fig leaf superimposed over all the naughty bits?

[SugarFree]

Fig leaf fetishists.

[Hugh Akston]

The system will automatically superimpose a random animal face over the subject's face.

[Bee Tagger]

You want your airports protected by furries?

[heller]

Every outrageous political scheme has an equal and opposite reaction. Can you imagine how much anger the Democrats could use to stir up votes if the birthers got that passed?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

It's outrageous to require the same documentation to run for President as I have to show to get a passport?

[Lost_In_Translation]

He's shown it, let it go.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Apparently he hasn't shown it to Arizona.

[Lost_In_Translation]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Clearly. Perhaps you should RTFA.

"Last week, Arizona state Rep. Judy Burges, a Republican, introduced a bill that would bar presidential candidates who do not prove they were born in the United States from appearing on the ballot in the Grand Canyon state."

[Lost_In_Translation]

Perhaps, but I'm not going to. However, that's such a trivial thing that it won't matter if its passed.

[CoyoteBlue]

Since every state legislature has to select the electors - they can put any requirement they want on sending them to the Electoral College.

[generic Brand]

I thought he only showed an authorization by a doctor who may or may not have seen the original at one point in time. I'm with Mohawk on this one. Not saying he's illegitimate as president, but it's still incredibly one-sided to say he doesn't have to produce an original birth certificate.

[generic Brand]

Not saying he's illegitimate as president

At least not from the birther standpoint. There are plenty of other reasons that show he shouldn't be president.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Dude, original birth certificates are lost all the time, which is why states keep copies on hand. The state of Hawaii has this copy and its available to anyone who ponies up the money for a copy.

[generic Brand]

I'm so out of touch with the Birther theory. Is the issue that Hawaii wasn't a state yet, so he can't be a U.S. citizen? Or that he wasn't really born in Hawaii? I thought his mother was American so it didn't make a difference regardless.

Obviously most birthers are looney, but I just can't keep track of the hoops they're jumping through.

So Obama just refused to put the Birthers to rest by showing a birth certificate so that he can then write off an entire voting block as racist or crazy?

[capitol l]

So Obama just refused to put the Birthers to rest by showing a birth certificate so that he can then write off an entire voting block as racist or crazy?

Conspiracy theorists are never satisfied. Usually official evidence presented is seen as being further proof of how far up the conspiracy goes. See truthers, jfkers, ufoers, zogers, bildebergers etc etc...

Also, it's not like anyone in the birther movement or someone who would find them persuasive was going to vote for Obama anyways.

[generic Brand]

Usually official evidence presented is seen as being further proof of how far up the conspiracy goes.

Good point. I don't know what a "Certificate of live birth" is versus a birth certificate (they seem like they are saying the same thing), but that seems to be what the hang-up is for putting this to rest, other than the point you make.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Is the issue that Hawaii wasn't a state yet, so he can't be a U.S. citizen? Or that he wasn't really born in Hawaii? I thought his mother was American so it didn't make a difference regardless.

The argument is that he was not actually born in Hawaii, as he claims. The Constitution requires the president to be a "natural born citizen." So his mother being an American wouldn't get him there.

[generic Brand]

The Constitution requires the president to be a "natural born citizen." So his mother being an American wouldn't get him there.

True. I guess I thought "natural born" referred to out the vaginal canal and not a c-section... or a robot.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I didn't think anyone claimed his original was lost.

There's a difference between the long form and the short form -- my ex-Marine dad had a hell of a time getting a copy of his long form so he could get a passport -- and, as far as I am aware, the only thing the public has seen from Obama is the short form, which is insufficient to get a passport (AFAIK), let alone for proof as to eligibility to be President.

I don't think it outrageous to require such proof from a candidate. That doesn't mean I don't think he can produce the proof.

[Mo]

Hawaii doesn't have long form birth certificates anymore. They digitized them to save money/space. It depends on the state whether or not the short form is accepted. Hawaii's satisfies the passport requirements

http://hawaii.gov/dhhl/applica.....s/applyhhl

http://travel.state.gov/passpo.....step3first

[Azathoth]

Umm, that passport link seems to make it pretty plain that Hawaii's COLB is not accepted. It cannot have the raised seal that is required.

Having had to deal with the utter uselessness of the COLB, I am at a loss as to why it is issued at all.

[Isaac Bartram]

My two Hawaiian COLBs both have raised seals on them. They were issued in 2001. I got the impression this is the only birth certificate.

In 1997 my ex-girlfriend got a passport using her Indiana COLB which for all practical purposes is identical to my Hawaiian one.

I later find my two original long form Territory of Hawaii birth certificate issued in 1948 (photostatic copy of the original record) that I though I had lost packed away in a box. As far as I know those records were transferred to microfilm long ago.

I like them better, but they aren't any more valid than the 2001 green thing.

[Isaac Bartram]

Mo, IIANM, no US state nor any Canadian province or territory issues a long form birth certificate any more.

The "certificaters" are on the same shaky ground as the NBCers on this one.

Making shit up.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Having a hell of a time getting the long form is just bureaucrats being bureaucrats. They don't want to help you, so they don't. If it came to blows, I gaurantee you that a long form could be gotten for Obama.

Seriously, the birther conspiracy has got to be the weakest conspiracy ever.

[9/11 Truther]

I know, right?

[R C Dean]

The state of Hawaii has this copy and its available to anyone who ponies up the money for a copy.

Actually, not my understanding. What the State of Hawaii has released is a document saying they're sure they have a birth certificate around, somewhere. I believe release of his actual birth certificate and other records requires Obama's authorization, which he has refused to give.

Also, and I'm honestly not sure that it means anything, the Governor of Hawaii was flopping around in public recently saying he was going to locate the original birth records to put this to rest, only he hasn't been able to, yet, or something.

Like his refusal to release his college transcripts, its all rather . . . suggestive. I don't know if any other Presidential candidate, much less President, has hid as much of his past as Obama has.

And, of course, there's a further, technical issue. If he wasn't born in Hawaii, immigration law at the time can be read to deny him "natural-born" status. His mother would have had to live in the US for 5 years after age 16 to qualify, if I recall, which she hadn't done.

The whole thing is enormously entertaining. If Arizona can stir it up (again), I for one will break out the popcorn.

[Wind Rider]

I find they entire thing ridiculously stupid, and I vacilate between horribly pathetic and outrageously hilarious. The whole gambit (in both directions) hinges on a massive mis-understanding or flat out ignorance about the topic of citizenship in the first place. It was mentioned that his citizenship deriving from his mother is innacurate - that's exactly one of the valid paths for his claim of being a US citizen, and quite frankly, it actually wouldn't matter if she copped a squat and grunted him out like a bowling ball on Waikiki or on top of Lenin's tomb. What WOULD matter, or have mattered, is if, at the age of attainder (his 18th birthday) he'd declared that he was going to exercise his OTHER option, and claim British Commonwealth/Kenyan citizenship courtesy of his dear departed dad. For which there is ZERO evidence or even inference that he did. Whatever piece of paper that Skippy, taking advantage of bureaucratic intransigence courtesy of takine apparatchiks living in paradise, is irrelevant and for all intents and purposes virtually worthless, other than serving him as yet another item from his past to play keep away with to drive his critics into a frenzied lather, making them that much easier to dismiss and paint as looney tunes. Which requires a minimum of effort on his part, since they're already there.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

What WOULD matter, or have mattered, is if, at the age of attainder (his 18th birthday) he'd declared that he was going to exercise his OTHER option, and claim British Commonwealth/Kenyan citizenship courtesy of his dear departed dad.

How does what he did or didn't do at his 18th birthday affect whether "No person except a natural born Citizen..." applied to him? It seems like he was either a natural born citizen or he wasn't, regardless of any choices he makes later.

I guess we'll see what happens if and when a state passes such a law.

[kinnath]

Mr. Attorney, if is is proven that Obama is not eligible to run in the future, would that effect the past? For example, would his signature on previous legislation be valid, or would all those laws become null & void?

His mother would have had to live in the US for 5 years after age 16 to qualify, if I recall, which she hadn't done.

Actually, the age is 14.

[John]

Commie summer camps still exist.

http://pajamasmedia.com/ronrad.....ill-exist/

[mr simple]

I bet most of the kids are just going through the motions, happy to be away from home and trying to hook up. Like church camp when I was a kid.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Man arrested in threat made against Stuart's Rep. William Snyder shortly after Arizona shootings

A Pacifist Finds Her Call to Arms

[SugarFree]

More disturbing is Ehrenreich's blindness to ? or obfuscation of ? the fact that government is organized violence, and a push for government to do more is not a pacifistic stance. The rule of law is the threshold at which the government will spill blood and confiscate treasure. Changing the rule of law to guarantee equality of outcomes, not simply equality of opportunity, is a proposal for violence.

This^

[Bingo]

You gotta hand it to our education system. Academic metrics be damned, they've been very successful in producing a class of dependents who are blind to reality and substitute tribalism for critical thinking.

[Wind Rider]

Credentialed, not educated, and ultimately dumber than a bag full of hammers, but convinced otherwise.

[Restoras]

And unfortunately for the rest of us, holding the levers of power.

[Wind Rider]

To use a car analogy, frantically punching the preprogrammed buttons on the radio to get the car to move off the tracks from in front of the speeding freight train.

[Marshall Gill]

They made a show about Erenreich's idiot book Nickel and Dimed. Is was a couple of hours long. All the sob stories that were produced were a result of the individual making poor choices. They literally showed one woman looking for another job at work on the clock, all while bemoaning the cruelty of capitalism. Walter Williams had probably less than 5 minutes on the entire show but totally debunked her stupid claims anyway. She is, without doubt, a petty tyrant in concern troll clothing.

[John Dewey]

EXACTLY what I wanted!

[JW]

More disturbing is Ehrenreich's blindness to ? or obfuscation of ? the fact that government is organized violence, and a push for government to do more is not a pacifistic stance. The rule of law is the threshold at which the government will spill blood and confiscate treasure. Changing the rule of law to guarantee equality of outcomes, not simply equality of opportunity, is a proposal for violence.

I've said, not as eloquently, the same thing to liberals for years.

It's almost cute the way the cock their head when you do tell them this.

[SugarFree]

Maybe they are waiting for you to throw the stick.

[generic Brand]

The unsigned e-mail, sent to Snyder's state House of Representatives address on Jan. 8, told the legislator to "stop that ridiculous law if you value your and your familie's lives."

But is it really a threat? It could just be a non-sequitur. For example, "Stop that ridiculous law if you value cheese."

[Johnny Longtorso]

NYC probe in Arizona shows illegal gun sales: Mayor Bloomberg

[Lost_In_Translation]

I'd evict anyone with a New York dirver's license at this point. I mean seriously Bloomberg, WTF?

[Restoras]

Mayor-for-life Bloomberg is a douche.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

From the article: "An undercover investigation at an Arizona gun show found that private sellers didn't always require background checks of buyers, Mayor Bloomberg announced today."

I don't know about Arizona law, but there is no federal law requiring private sellers to do background checks, so this is horseshit even if one accepts that the government has the authority to pass such laws (and I don't).

[Wind Rider]

Iguess he's figuring that everyone has pretty much forgotten how he got his pee-pee whacked for pulling this shit in Virginia a few years back. Good press, bad press, who gives a fuck as long as it gets the name out there in front of people that don't really have a clue what a turd he really is.

[cynical]

Maybe he's just trying to remind everyone why they hate New York.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Obama SOTU 2010 redux: "If we truly care about our deficit, we simply cannot afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans." Top 1% alrwady pay more than bottom 95%

[Fist of Etiquette]

Army investigation finds Bradley Manning's commanders were cautioned by mental health experts not to send him to Iraq.

Army mental health experts included among their ranks Major Nidal Hasan, so they had no right to throw stones at Manning.

[Tim]

+2

[John]

Same mentality in both cases. In both cases there was someone who clearly needed to be put out of the Army and wasn't because the commanders wanted numbers. Hussein had the added complication of the PC refusal to admit that any Muslim could ever be a threat.

[Audrey the Liberal]

To be fair, just because some Muslims are deranged doesn't mean all are.

[JD]

True, but if you have evidence that a certain one is deranged you would be stupid to keep him around.

[Audrey the Liberal]

Well, obviously.

[Mango Punch]

I posted this yesterday (under the Libertarian video) but am re-posting in case anyone needs a little humor to lift them out of today's ice storm doldrums.

Chunk Thomas - The REAL Tea Party Candidate

[Mango Punch]

Commentor CatoTheElder thought it was "dumb" while commentor Robert was a fan. I'm with Robert on this one - it's quite funny (if you can handle people poking fun at libertarianism).

[capitol l]

The end was okay where he talks about the mailing the ballot to the government(gasp!). Overall I think that he could of been a little more biting; cut to the quick.(no mention of keeping the government out of medicare)

I give it 3 out of 5 mehs.

[generic Brand]

On the meh rating scale, would more mehs be better or worse? "meh" would already seem to denote some disdain for the viewed material, so would 1 be a better score due to the lack of not caring?

[capitol l]

I always thought of 'meh' as an apathetic response not one of disdain, but yes 5 mehs would be totally un-awe-inspiring while 1 would be equivalent to 'neat'.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Fairfax, VA settles for $2 million with family of man killed by cops.

This is the guy who had zero criminal history and was the subject of an undercover investigation for essentially bar-betting. When the cops showed up to arrest him at his house, they used a SWAT team. One member of the SWAT team, who later claimed to be tired because he had been out late the night before, pulled his .45 and pointed it at the Culosi. The police admitted they had no reason to believe Culosi would be armed or present any kind of threat - so one wonders why this guy felt the need to point his gun at anyone.

The SWAT guy fired a shot that pierced Culosi's aorta and he died right there within a few minutes. The SWAT guy claimed that when he jumped out of the car, the door hit his arm and caused a sympathetic reflex which made him fire the gun.

The plaintiffs had various experts who basically were prepared to testify that SWAT guy's account could not possibly have happened, because of the trajectory, he had to have been standing much closer to Culosi, and also that police protocol would not have provided for SWAT guy to even have his gun out of the holster at that time.

Of course, although there were something like 6 or 8 other cops standing around right there, none of them saw the actual shooting. How convenient.

[John]

When you are jacked up and are startled by something, you pull the trigger. It is just the reaction. That is why it is a really bad idea to point guns at people unless you plan to shoot them.

Oh and let me guess the cop who did this was never fired much less charged with anything.

[Channeling dunphy]

But we're experts!

[T]

Rule #3: Keep your booger hook off the bang switch.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

OK, I somehow boogered the link.

Here is the right link to the story.

And right you are regarding the shooter:

Then-Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. ruled in March 2006 that Bullock could not be charged with a crime, and a federal civil rights investigation also cleared him. The Culosis sued Bullock, the county, Chief David M. Rohrer and Lt. James Kellam, the head of the SWAT team, in January 2007. Brinkema dismissed all but Bullock as defendants in the case, citing a Virginia law that provides immunity to government entities. Appeals of those rulings delayed the trial until Tuesday.

Rohrer suspended Bullock without pay for three weeks and removed him from the SWAT team. Bullock is now a detective with the department. He did not attend the hearing Tuesday and did not respond to a request for comment.

[John]

His fuck up caused someone's death and he is still a fucking detective. Imagine if you worked for a private company and you fucked up and killed someone and it cost your company two million dollars plus legal fees. You would no longer have a job. Sickening.

[R C Dean]

Bullock is now a detective with the department.

What was he before? Was he actually fucking promoted?

[Wind Rider]

The only conceptual bright spot to the thought of him being "promoted" to detective would be if he was assigned, for the rest of his career, to "investigate" natural cause deaths that were only noticed after no one had heard from the victims for about a month, because they lived alone with like 20 cats, and turned out to have died like 15 minutes after the last time anyone knew they we alive. And this turd Bullock had the sole assignment of 'gathering evidence', including the rotting corpse and all the cats that stayed alive feeding on it. And that this was the ONLY type of case he was ever assigned to.

[capitol l]

A couple weeks ago the p-burgh Post Gazette took some time off of their usual badge fellating to do a story about how much money our broke-ass city spends on criminal cops. They even had the art student kid that Balko featured who got beat down for walking while black.

It gave me hope that if people can't get outraged over the abuses of power and the dead innocents, then at least they might get a little annoyed at the law suit settlements.

@John...Isn't it convenient that when the cops get startled their fingers are always on the trigger, and the gun is pointed at the guy's letters.

[John]

Honestly, I don't think the cop went there to kill the guy. But I do think he received horrible or no training and ran in there with his gun on fire and his finger on the trigger. And that is criminally negligent and stupid.

[Warty]

When your dad taught you how to shoot a gun, the first thing he taught you to do was keep your finger off the trigger until you were ready to shoot, wasn't it? I think the problem must be that all cops had no dads.

[John]

That and they have the mentality that it is better to kill an innocent person than incur any additional risk to themselves. When your father taught you how to handle a weapon, he and by extension you cared enough to make sure you didn't accidentally kill someone. Cops just don't give a shit if they accidentally shoot someone. That is the only rational conclusion I can make from the evidence in front of me.

[Ancient Mayans]

they have the mentality that it is better to kill an innocent person than incur any additional risk to themselves

Exactly. That should go for dogs too; it's better to risk a dog bite now and then instead of mindlessly (and cowardly) shooting every dog you encounter.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Are you insinuating that they are bastards?

[Citizen Nothing]

My dad was a cop. He taught me to shoot. "Never point a gun at something unless you're willing to kill it" was the first lesson.
I had gun safety drilled into me for years.
Guess they don't teach that stuff at the academy these days.
(Dad did patrol in high-crime areas for most of his 25-year career and never fired his gun, except at the range.)

[NoVAHockey]

I live in Fairfax. None of my neighbors have even heard of this. Or the other case where an unarmed driver was shot and killed during a traffic stop. Also cleared of any responsibility.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....0111106868

[Wind Rider]

Fairfax is narcissistic and oblivious headquarters, from my brief observations.

[Mango Punch]

Althought it's good they got a 7 figure settlement, $2m seems kinda small considering that most wrongful deaths are $6-$8m.

Any information on what happened to the offending officer?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Yes. Scroll up.

[Andrew S.]

Radley has obviously been on top of this one for years (since it happened actually).

The best example of cop mentality I've seen came out of this one. The cop who negligently shot Culosi was suspended without pay for 3 weeks and dismissed from the SWAT team. The police union... protested this, saying that the proper punishment for murder was a written reprimand.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

The best example of cop mentality I've seen came out of this one.

I like the fact that half a dozen or more fellow cops were standing right there, only a few feet away from Culosi, who was in the process of being taken into custody - and not a single one of them saw what happened.

Amazing how these guys who were all professionally trained to be highly observant and attuned to what's going on around them completely missed it. Wow. Some coincidence, huh?

[Fist of Etiquette]

German politician jailed for calling anti-immigration advocate an "ass".

Ed Schultz (who?) could take lessons.

[Brett L]

Meanwhile in Chicago Carol Mosely Braun can call an opponent a "crack addict" in a debate, apologize, and run a strong second to the appointed heir.

[R C Dean]

Well, to be fair, her opponent actually was a crack addict.

Since reformed, and can hardly wait to carry the zeal of the converted into office.

[Brett L]

It worked so well for DC.

[sage]

Here's a Gawker post on the recent Obamacare decision, with a bonus shout out to Reason (or is it a Bronx cheer?)!

Link!

[P Brooks]

Then-Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. ruled in March 2006 that Bullock could not be charged with a crime, and a federal civil rights investigation also cleared him. The Culosis sued Bullock, the county, Chief David M. Rohrer and Lt. James Kellam, the head of the SWAT team, in January 2007. Brinkema dismissed all but Bullock as defendants in the case, citing a Virginia law that provides immunity to government entities. Appeals of those rulings delayed the trial until Tuesday.

There are days when I'm not completely opposed to mob violence. If every one of those people were dragged from their homes in the middle of the night by a howling throng, beaten senseless and set alight, I wouldn't shed a tear.

And cops wonder why people shoot at them.

[Wind Rider]

Any updates on this toad Horan? Per the peter principle, surprising that we haven't got words on his advancement and promotion to the highest level of his incompetence. Oh, wait "master of the Universe" isn't a real job title. Nevermind.

[Warty]

For the Egyptians, Refuse/Resist.

And this one has a bonus: the most Youtubeish comments I've ever seen.

@Mrpildoras I know homosexuals who like Sepultura, so what's the point??. They ones who clicked are not homosexuals, but faggots. A faggot doesn't? have to be an homosexual, and an homsexual it's not a faggot. A little bit of respect, please...

b1a2r3f4 3 weeks ago 38

[Timon19]

Sepultura! One of their better songs.

[P Brooks]

Dear Johnny Longtorso-

You're a couple of days late on the Bloomberg gun show "sting".

Hah, hah.

[Wind Rider]

He just now got his Bloomberg PR boy payment to clear PayPal.

[Warty]

German politician jailed for calling anti-immigration advocate an "ass".

German asses

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Would "donkey" be OK?

[Restoras]

I was expecting something else at the link.

[P Brooks]

When your dad taught you how to shoot a gun, the first thing he taught you to do was keep your finger off the trigger until you were ready to shoot,

I think the first thing my dad taught me was to know where that little bullet was going to end up if it didn't stick in what I was aiming at.

[generic Brand]

Dude, why do you never reply within the threaded comments? Your like my mom, who finally gets around to telling us what's for dinner 5 topics later.

Obviously, I'll have to look for your reply to this at the end of the comments section.

[generic Brand]

damnit! *You're

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Civil disobedience against the pile of crap this version of threaded comments is. If you're going to have threaded comments you really need to have some way to distinguish new posts.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

I think the first thing my dad taught me was to know where that little bullet was going to end up if it didn't stick in what I was aiming at.

Or even if it did.

Although actually the first thing my dad taught me was always assume the gun was loaded, no matter what.

[Ice Nine]

A preview of coming attractions, "hate crime" law fans.

>>"A regional politician has been fined ?1,500 ($2,060) or 50 days in jail for allegedly calling Thilo Sarrazin, the author of a controversial book criticizing Muslim immigrants, an 'ass.'
The act of using expletives to curse at others is a prosecutable crime in Germany that can result in steep fines. Just flipping a person off while driving can lead to a fine of between ?600 and ?4,000."

I think it's only ?750 for calling someone a "poopoo head' though. And, don't even be letting your kid stick his tongue out at the next driver.

[Rich]

With all due respect, that's why one should use only double entendres to insult people.

[mr simple]

Hmm, the Germans acting like a bunch of fucking Nazis, imagine that. Do they hand out fines for calling the shit-for-brain Germans who like this law Nazis?

[Restoras]

Well, wouldn't this fit right in on most of our college campuses?

[cynical]

Except in this case, an right-wing anti-immigrant politician was the "victim", instead of the "perpetrator".

[Mr. Bumble]

German politician jailed for calling anti-immigration advocate an "ass".

The law is an ass.

[Gomer Pyle]

Mubarak supporters, opponents clash in Egypt.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

[Modest in Modesto]

Airport body scanners violate Islamic law, Muslims say

"It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women," reads the fatwa issued Tuesday.

How's that again?

[Ice Nine]

This will of course be what finally convinces TSA to discontinue their use.

[R C Dean]

Only for Muslims. That would be a crystal-clear violation of the 1A prohibition on establishment of religion (as currently interpreted). Not that anyone cares.

[Ice Nine]

But of course. You don't think they're going to let those treacherous Norwegian grandmothers slip by so easily, do you?

[nekoxgirl]

How ironic...

[Citizen Nothing]

The TSAr isn't forthcoming with documentation, but I've become convinced that the only reason the holiday "boycott" of the back-scatter scanners failed is because the TSA cut way back on their usage that day.
I go through airport security all the time. My home airport has backscatter units at every security line. But their use seems random at best. I suspect that even now, they may "choose" people to go through based on how much fuss they think they'll make.
I've only had to opt-out one time, and that was before the enhanced pat-down became standard. Every other time I've been through, I've gone through the metal-detector only.
It's also pretty easy to determine which lines aren't operating the backscatter device at all and get in them.
And this is really about security?

[SariPari]

LOL, I think whats happening in Egypt is awesome! Power to the people!

privacy-tools.au.tc

[John]

Our credentialed but ignorant elite. This is fucking classic.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/02.....ne-garcon/

During an exclusive dinner hosted Monday by the Alfalfa Club, Obama adviser Valerie Jarret had just such a moment. And were it not for an irritated tipster, Jarret might have walked away from the dinner unblemished.

According to our tipster, Jarrett was seated at the head table along with several other big-name politicians and a handful of high-ranking military officials. As an officer sporting several stars walked past Jarrett, she signaled for his attention and said, "I'd like another glass of wine."

[Lost_In_Translation]

Heehee, though it'd be better if he turned and said "would you like that shot or nuked?"...then when she turned around, winked and continued walking. Embarrasing officials should be done early and often.

[Wind Rider]

RAAAAAAACIIIIIIIST!

[Ice Nine]

"Would you get me another glass of wine?"
"It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get a seat at this table."

[The Truth]

So we're having fucking BLACKOUTS over SNOW.

This country's infrastructure is so decrepit. I live on the edge of the capital of what is supposedly the most powerful nation in the world, and in the last snowstorm i lost power for two days.

I lived in Germany for a year, and never lost power. Never. Not even a flicker, despite some massive snowstorms.

[John]

There is only so much money left over after the important stuff like paying public emplyees six figure pensions and making sure politicians can steal.

[The Truth]

Yeah, because in Germany, they have no unions at all and pay their employees $7/hour.

Oh wait, they don't, they have a political system that isn't sclerotic and broken.

[generic Brand]

It's not broke because they fine people for cursing (see story above)

[Restoras]

Ice + powerlines = You're freakin' right to unlimited, uninterrupted electricity? STFU already and move back to Germany if it is so effin wonderful. Oh, and don't call us the next time Europe goes into convulsions of civil war.

[The Truth]

Places that have rolling blackouts due to weather are usually third world shitholes, not developed countries and certainly not one that is supposedly the most powerful in the world.

If Germany can keep the lights on during ice and snow, I think we should be able to, as well.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Dude,

Third world countries have rolling blackouts REGARDLESS of weather, not for 3 days a year after a bad storm. Get over yourself.

[Wind Rider]

Places that have rolling blackouts due to weather are usually third world shitholes

Or the Hampton Roads area of Virginia (aka the 'penalty corner' of the state).

Or California. Oops, same same.

[Restoras]

Oh woe is me! Hold on, hold on, I'm dialing you up a waahhmbulance...

[Lost_In_Translation]

Sorry, we can always bomb your city down to rubble, then rebuild it with underground powerlines if you wish. However, that does seem an expensive way to meet your desires.

[The Truth]

Switzerland was never bombed, neither was Sweden, or New Zealand, or Finland, nor the vast majority of the UK, yet they seem to have no problem keeping the power on.

[Citizen Nothing]

How quickly we forget.

[The Truth]

The powerlines were shutdown intentionally (not knowing it would create such a domino effect), and it lasted all of an hour.

Yeah, that's totally comparable to a state of 32 million people experiencing rolling blackouts because they can't generate enough electricity to meet demand.

But, you know, it's all the fault of those highly-paid, unionized, Texan public employees!

[Citizen Nothing]

(not knowing it would create such a domino effect)

Insane German Engineer Posse: Fuckin' power grids, how do they work?

[Clich? Bandit]

almost peed myself right there.

[Restoras]

Hey, can someone remind me how many tens-of-thousands died in that paradise of western europe during the heat waves of the past few summers?

I'm sure it was zero but I just want to be sure.

[The Truth]

Nobody there has A/C because until recent years, you didn't need it. They didn't have incredibly hot summers like North America. They're probably going to have to now, though, because of climate change.

[Restoras]

Excuse, asshole, you know the rest.

[Mike M.]

We can't provide enough reliable power for our huge country because Montgomery County left-wing jackwagons like you refuse to allow us to use our natural resources and build new power plants.

[The Truth]

Or Canada (except the parts hooked into our fucked up system, see 2003), Or Australia.

[Kristen]

I also live on the edge of the nation's capital and haven't lost power due to weather in years.

[Mike M.]

If this left-wing douche troll doesn't want power outages he should move out of Montgomery County, because everyone knows that Pepco fucking sucks ass, and they're getting worse. They're one of the worst utilities in the nation without a doubt.

[P Brooks]

And this is really about security?

Well, what else could it be?

[P Brooks]

During an exclusive dinner hosted Monday by the Alfalfa Club

The Alfalfa Club?

Hang on.....

*searches frenziedly for copy of "Boys' Racism Spotter's Guide"*

[The Truth]

And the blackouts in Texas aren't due to trees falling on powerlines, it's because they can't generate enough electricity.

Again, we're becoming Guatemala with nukes an aircraft carriers.

[Restoras]

And $100 trillion of unfunded goodie-give-away liabilities. Don't forget to mention that to your congress critter.

[cynical]

Well, most of our power plants were built back when people could build power plants. Until there is a culling of bureaucrats and environmentalists, those days are gone.

[The Truth]

Right, because Germany is completely unregulated. They don't have any bureaucrats or regulations at all. No sir!

Fool. You need to travel more.

[cynical]

The "why" is just speculation, but it apparently isn't profitable to build new power plants, government-subsidized green energy boondoggles excepted.

[The Truth]

Uh, Germany subsidizes more green energy than we do and it seems they don't have poblems with blackouts.

Seriously, all you idiots do is go to the talking points looptape every time I make a salient point.

It's like one of those dolls where you pull the string and it says a canned phrase.

*pulls string* "IT'S THE FAULT OF THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES! TOO MANY BUREAUCRATS! GREEN ENERGY BOONDOGGLES! CLEARLY WE NEED TO LOWER THE CORPORATE TAX RATE!"

I could say, for example, "Chick-fil-A is overrated" and you'd respond "IT WOULD BE BETTER IF WE LOWERED THE CORPORATE TAX RATE! MORE COAL PLANTS!"

[Marshall Gill]

every time I make a salient point.

Hahahahaha!! Every time you....hahahahahahaha!! My positions are important because I believe them!!

[cynical]

Maybe learn reading comprehension? I said green energy boondoggles were an exception to the general problem of being able to get a decent ROI for power plants in the U.S.

[WTF]

Dumbass, the Europeans have nuclear power plants all over the place providing a large portion of their power. We have not been allowed to build a new nuke plant in decades thanks to you leftist enviroweenies.

[The Truth]

Also, in Germany they really know how to appreciate scat films. Enlightened people like me know there is nothing better than being pooped on by a hirsute aryan while you give him a reach-around.

[cynical]

As long as we're on the subject, it should be noted that the Texas power system is fairly isolated -- the East is interconnected, so if Michigan has a power issue, it can get support from Alabama. Texas, however, doesn't have AC lines with the outside, just DC (IIRC). So, if Texas has problems, Texas has to fix them.

As for the West Coast, the problem is geography, to some extent (namely: Mountains + Desert). It can't really interconnect with the East, so you've got a few major transmission corridors for the more populated areas, and a whole lot of blank space elsewhere.

Bear in mind that most of the U.S. has fairly low population density, which changes the economics of transmission and distribution quite a bit.

[zoltan]

As someone who lives in Austin, this rolling blackout thing is really not a big deal. My really old boss said this is the coldest day of his 50-or-so years in Austin. I can understand the strain on our power plants.

[SugarFree]

When you talk to the troll, ask yourself: Cui bono?

Only the troll.

[Citizen Nothing]

Cui fuckin' bono? Can't we all agree to at least talk Amuhrican?

[P Brooks]

Again, we're becoming Guatemala with nukes an aircraft carriers.

...when we should be striving to be more like China.

[The Truth]

This is straight out of the Cold War-- East Germany, USSR, they couldn't provide power for for the entire country. Bad healthcare, people were freezing, starving. Crumbling infrastructure.

[The Truth]

Someone should pull tv news articles from the 1970's and 1980's and do a comparison to what was reported about the failure of Communism, and see how how the Reagan/Thatcher cowboy capitalist system has fared. I bet there are fewer differences than anyone would like to imagine.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Except widespread prosperity, huge advantage in GDP, a car for every person, >50% home ownership, the most advanced medicine on the planet, massive communication and transportation structure....

Go sit in the corner troll

[The Truth]

Except widespread prosperity,

20% real unemployment, median wages and household income stagnant for nearly 40 years, tens of millions without health or dental insurance, the highest childhood poverty and infant mortality rate among developed countries, the highest homicide rate among developed countries, the largest prison population IN THE WORLD both per capita and nominal.

e advantage in GDP

That's based on financial schemes and pushing paper around, that mostly goes to the top 2%, and that will be overtaken by China within five years.

a car for every person

Wasteful use of energy that will fuck us all when $8/gallon gas comes, and contributes to us being the most obese people in the world.

>50% home ownership

Record number of foreclosures, record number of people underwater on their mortgage, banks "robo-foreclosing" homes and selling them out from under their owners.

the most advanced medicine on the planet

Boner pills, lipitor (from all that obesity) and anti-depressants (to distract you from how shitty it all is).

massive communication and transportation structure

Hahahaha. Our mobile phone system and coverage is a laughing stock and South Korea has the fastest internet in the world, our interstates are crumbling and we can barely operate one high speed rail line in the northeast (and then, only some of the time).

Try again.

[Marshall Gill]

we can barely operate one high speed rail line in the northeast (and then, only some of the time)

What is it about mental illness and the worship of "high speed rail"?

[Destrudo]

Children love trains, and all liberals are still scared little children wanting to be taken care of? *shrug*

[B.P.]

Wait, we're all destitute and impoverished... and fat? How did that happen?

[Lost_In_Translation]

I don't think you actually appreciate what exists here. Maybe you would prefer Zimbabwe? I hear Mr. Mugabe is all about fairness.

[WTF]

My God, you're an incoherent idiot.

[Lost_In_Translation]

indeed, except nothing like it at all.

[P Brooks]

We could send our fleet of Ospreys out to knock the snow off the power lines (by crashing into them).

[Brett L]

I thought they fixed the "ground magnet" problem in the new version of the Osprey.

[P Brooks]

Bad healthcare, people were freezing, starving. Crumbling infrastructure.

Louder!

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah. Unless it's in all caps, it seems insincere.

[Wind Rider]

And let's not forget exclamation points mixed with ones. Gotta have at least eleventy of those to be taken seriously.

[P Brooks]

Dude, why do you never reply within the threaded comments?

I yam what I yam.

[Citizen Nothing]

Ah. We finally learn what the P. stands for.

[SugarFree]

Patrick?

[P Brooks]

Preston

[????? ??????]

Thanks