Reason Morning Links: Somalia Blowback, a Ghost Town, and the Ever-Gropin' TSA

• TSA officer molests traveler, then sues when the traveler complains.
• JSTOR gives readers free access to nearly 500,000 old journal articles.
• New Mexico prepares to get a new ghost town.
• Washington's shifting alliances in Somalia.
• George Kuchar, RIP.

The latest from reason.tv: "Defining the Anti-War Right."

Comments

[Aqua Buddha]

I have no links today. That is all.

[cynical]

Nothing about the Indiana gunwalking operation?

[Brett L]

Why build a ghost town in New Mexico? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy Detroit?

[Tim]

+1

[gaijin]

not entirely on topic, but I visited a very cool Ghost Town in California this summer: Bodie. Gold town in the middle of nowhere that's still in it's state of semi preserved decay. Worth a visit if you are in the Yosemite area. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509

[Warty]

"Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie."

[Solanum]

Cool photography of Bodie.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/l.....397847063/

[Matrix]

One thing I miss about college is the free access to JSTOR. But then again, I guess my tuition and fees actually paid for it. But I did not have to see the cost.

[SugarFree]

The tragedy of socialized medicine in three sentences.

[Jerry]

It's not difficult to find a working university proxy...

[Alan]

JSTOR is only putting online content that is now in the public domain.

Much more content should be available, but unfortunately copyright has been extended several times, including on works already created, in direct defiance of the Constitution. This is despite the fact that in the modern age, long copyright terms make less sense than ever before.

And in related news, Michael S. Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, has passed away at his home in Urbana, Illinois. R.I.P.

http://www.teleread.com/paul-b.....-has-died/

[Alan]

I should note that JSTOR is probably taking this action now because they know they can't stop it happening, and prefer to try to retain some control over how it happens. I have learned not to trust such establishments.

See also:
http://news.slashdot.org/story.....Dead-At-64

[Aqua Buddha]

Washington's shifting alliances in Somalia

ROADZ!!!!11eleven!!!

[Lord Humungus]

Things Social Security Won't Tell You
http://finance.yahoo.com/focus.....retirement

"In 2010, the Social Security Administration collected less revenue in taxes than it needed to cover its benefit payments ? the first time expenditures have exceeded income since 1983. As a result, the program had to tap its $2.5 trillion trust fund, sooner than some had expected. The same is expected to happen this year. "The depth of the recession has slowed down revenues to the system," say Eugene Steuerle, an economist with the Urban Institute, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C."

[Rich]

Serious question: Is Social Security a Ponzi scheme? (Props to Rick Perry.)

[Mr. Roo]

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors.

Since SS is by definition not fraudulent, the answer is "No".

[Rich]

Well, Mr. Roo, that's a semantic technicality. What's your serious answer?

[Bradley]

It depends:

While the government has usually tried to fool people into thinking Social Security is insurance, it has operated on a different track when necessary. Will Wilkinson notes, "The Act was scrupulously drafted to ensure that the tax and the government transfers would not appear to have anything to do with each other. And the program is never described therein as 'insurance.'"

The reason is that the government needed to protect itself ? from the people. Wilkinson: "In anticipation of a constitutional challenge, Social Security officials went out of their way to purge their informational materials of insurance language." When court challenges came, the government argued that the payments were taxes and benefits were not a matter of contractual right.

"The old-age monthly benefits program which Title II of the Social Security Act establishes is not a federally-administered 'insurance' program," Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary Arthur Sherwood Flemming said in his brief in Flemming v. Nestor (1960). "The contribution exacted under the Social Security plan is a true tax. It is not com?parable to a premium promising the payment of an annuity com?mencing at a designated age" (emphasis added).

[Rich]

If everyone knows (or can easily find out) something is a Ponzi scheme, it's no longer a Ponzi scheme.

Apparently Mr. Roo is correct. Sorry 'bout that.

[Restoras]

Ponzi schemes are voluntary.

[Rich]

Now we're getting somewhere.

[prolefeed]

Serious question: Is Social Security a Ponzi scheme?

It is a mugging, done by government thugs backed by guns, to finance an entitlement program paid for out of current taxes plus a bunch of unrelated govt programs, and justified with a bunch of lies that mischaracterize it as insurance or something else that is so clearly is not.

So, "Ponzi scheme" does not accurately describe the particulars, but the term captures the sense of outrage the victims of this mugging should feel.

[Joe M]

Hahahaha, trust fund? They're still acting as if that money really exists? Is it in a lock box?

[Trespassers W]

Remember in Dumb and Dumber when they spent the ransom money and replaced it with IOUs?

That was funny. I can't remember why I thought of that, though.

[Lord Humungus]

This is a good sign in merry ol' England.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....death.html

"An elderly shopkeeper, Cecil Coley, who stabbed to death a burglar in Manchester will not face charges, as prosecutors reassured homeowners they can use reasonable force to protect themselves, their families and their property."

[Matrix]

Shhh... TrO2ll won't like that...

[O2]

correct, using deadly force to protect insured property is barbaric.

[Matrix]

I don't want my premiums to increase because some thief doesn't want to legally obtain the items. I'm not just going to sit idly by and let him take it. I'll try to stop him, and if I have to, I'll give him a job pushing up daisies.

[Kreel Sarloo]

...using deadly force to protect insured property is barbaric.

...while threatening deadly force is just a consequence of the deprived upbringings of the poor unfortunate criminals and not barbaric at all, right double asshole?

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes, it's MUCH more civilized to just allow burglars to come in take what they please.

[JD]

Mr Coley, a well-known figure in the neighbourhood and a regular churchgoer, was playing dominoes with a friend after closing time when Mullings and three other armed men burst into the store and demanded the takings.

That's more than just a burglary. Fortunately things worked out for the shopkeeper even though his government denied him the right to use equal force against his attackers.

[Lord Humungus]

It Wasn't Just Neanderthals: Ancient Humans Had Sex with Other Hominids
http://www.theatlanticwire.com.....ids/42117/

insert STEVE SMITH, Sugarfree, etc joke.

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH NOW RAPED LAST VICTIM. STEVE SMITH GO INTO RETIREMENT IN NEPAL... MAYBE SCARE TOURISTS FOR EXTRA CHANGE. NO MORE STEVE SMITH POSTING HERE. GOODBYE REASON.

[Rich]

STEVE SMITH, please don't go. We were laughing *with* you!

[Pope Jimbo]

Yeah sure. First time White Indian bends over to pick up a buffalo chip, you'll be back. Big time gamboling on the fruited plain.

[Ancient Human]

"We think there were probably thousands of interbreeding events," said Hammer. "It happened relatively extensively and regularly."

In my defense, it got really effin' cold in that Ice Age.

[steve]

okay, that was good

[Ska]

Any cave in a storm, eh Uruk?

[Name Nomad]

For those who have been missing Balko nut(/fallopian tube?) punches. This one is particularly lovely.

[Another isolated incident]

And nothing else happened.

[Karl Hungus]

Balko nut(/fallopian tube?) punches

Well, my nuts are now the size of grapefruits, thank you very much. And that's each nut, not just the scrotal area as a whole.

Also, wouldn't the female equivalent here be an ovary punch?

[Gusto]

Blocked at work.

Executive summary?

[Karl Hungus]

It's from Balko's site, The Agitator:

Never mind that the police lied about this guy ramming their cars, which they claim was their excuse to shoot him. Never mind that video evidence shows a police truck smashing the man's car into police cars, strongly suggesting the cops actually created said excuse to open fire. Never mind that said excuse-creating exercise caused the man to be wrongly charged with attempted murder. Never mind that that prosecutors have decided not to charge the lying, shooting cops with any crime.

Never mind all of that, and just appreciate their sheer fucked-upedness of this sentence:

Cortes, shot in the abdomen and arm, remains charged with attempting to flee or elude police.

I'm pretty sure I'd have tried to get the hell out of there, too. But apparently, when the cops ram your car with an unmarked truck, then shoot your four times, you are legally obligated to stick around until they finish you off.

[Pip]

Oh Dunphy...Dunphy...

[H man]

Actually he provides some ice this time. Jury aquits Chicago man charged with attempted murder for shooting at police during a drug raid.

http://schantz-law.blogspot.co.....ument.html

[Karl Hungus]

That was a nice read. The comments, too.

[Hugh Manitarian]

Somalia's recoverable uranium deposits, totalling about 6,600 tonnes, are among the smallest in Africa

Nuke Somalia from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Sierra Club]

They are truly blessed, those that have no natural resources. Now if only they would organically farm using their own feces, Somalia would be perfect.

[steve]

Just legalize khat in the US and boom! instant exportable industry.

[Jerry]

JSTOR gives readers free access to nearly 500,000 old journal articles.

But the charges against the guy who downloaded the JSTOR archive are still pending I reckon?

[Au H20]

Best question ever: Is it okay to hide my gay affair if my wife doesn't want sex anymore?

THE MORAL QUANDARY OF OUR DAY!

[SugarFree]

Such a fake question. No 70-year-old writes like a dumb-bunny teenager.

[Rich]

I'm not taking anything away from my wife, so I don't consider what I'm doing to be cheating.

Let us know how your wife buys into that.

[mad libertarian guy]

I will say just this: if my wife cuts off the supply (for good), I'll DEFINITELY be looking elsewhere for a woman to satisfy my manly urges. It's a rationally defendable position, even if only from a contract perspective.

I don't see how choosing to find a man to fuck would be any different.

[Brett L]

My WTF moment. Some supposed scientist thinks its a good idea for people to have tankfuls of anhydrous ammonia around us at all times.

"(PhysOrg.com) -- John Fleming of SilverEagles Energy and Tim Maxwell from Texas Tech University, say they have developed a way to make ammonia that is cheap enough so that it could be used as fuel for cars. If their claims turn out to be true, many consumers might consider switching over because ammonia, when burned in an engine, emits nothing but nitrogen and water vapor out the tailpipe. And if that's not enough incentive, they claim they can make the ammonia for just 20 cents a liter (approximately 75 cents a gallon)."

1. Anhydrous ammonia is pretty caustic shit. Fuel spill accidents will be a whole new level of fun.
2. Nitrogen and water as the only products? Not in real engines. NOx products will be a significant fraction of the exhaust.

I can't believe anyone who works in the fuels industry thinks this is a good idea. Great news for farmers and meth manufacturers, but not for "renewable" energy.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Ammonia = the new ethanol. Even shittier than the original gas substitute.

[Bee Tagger]

they claim they can make the ammonia for just 20 cents a liter (approximately 75 cents a gallon).

75 cents? That leaves so much room for the government to add taxes.

[Name Nomad]

I love how they mention the cost per gallon of producing ammonia, but leave out the comparison of useful energy in a gallon of gas versus that in said gallon of ammonia.

[Brett L]

Energy by volume is about 2/3 of gasoline at STP.

[Matrix]

so it would be cheaper, though you'd be filling up more often. what is the weight ratio as well? We might be able to make bigger tanks, but the weight might be too much.

[Brett L]

Energy by volume, so you'll have to make tanks half again as large to go the same distance -- assuming engines have same efficiency and weight of fuel is negligible.

[Trespassers W]

But unlike gas, they can teleport the ammonia straight from the factory to your tank.

[Darryl]

And now I can piss in the gas tank as well as the radiator.

[Devil Inchoate]

The Toyota Peeus already does this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkES0sdgoVU

[db]

Holy Shit that is fuckng insane. I wrote the Process Safety Management manual for anhydrous ammnia for a power plant where I worked in college. That shit is lethal. And hard to handle. Farmers use it frequently but but silly things like not replacing hoses on schedule,.failed repricing valves, leaky connections, etc result in many cases of lung damage, eye damage, chemical burms and other assorted nastiness every year. This idea is like handing out chemical weapons to the general populace.

[Muammar Gaddafi]

This idea is like handing out chemical weapons to the general populace.

Cool!

[Lord Humungus]

look on the bright side: who needs death panels?

[Mr. Burns]

Hiring college kids to write the safety manual, eh Smithers?

Eeeeeexcellent.

*rubs hands*

[Au H20]

Why we should care about the new kickoff rules.

Because it screws over the Chicago Bears? Thanks a lot, NFL.

[Brett L]

Like the Bears need help fucking their season up. You guys have been Cubs fans too long. Its always something.

[Au H20]

Dude, I'm a Mets fan. Grew up in CT with parents from Chicago. COuldn't stand the Giatns/Jets, but my Dad didn't mention he was into the White Sox until '05.

Yes, it's like a double nads kick.

[Matrix]

f*** the Mets, from Braves Nation!

[KDN]

I'd think it screws over the Raiders even more. Explosive return man + touchback machine kicker = huge field position advantage. The NFL has effectively negated that.

So hey, get ready for another 2-14 year for the silver and black followed by an offseason where Al Davis inexplicably passes on Andrew Luck because they already have Pryor and he's really fast.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Every opening kickoff will now be proceeded by an Obama political speech to a joint session.

Stimulating!

[Lord Humungus]

Postal Service financial rescue plan in works at White House
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

"In addition to structural reforms, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) suggested that USPS should mount a national advertising campaign promoting the value of printed mail.

"You cannot get money by text message," McCaskill said. "I really think that there is a longing out there right now, especially in these uncertain times, for some of the things that have provided stability over the years."

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Well that cinches it. McCaskill is a moron of the third order.

[Jerry]

And when wireless providers aren't making money on text messaging because everyone has an iPhone, they also should mount a national advertising campaing? Why are these progressives always acting like reactionary luddites.

[Al So]

You cannot get toilet paper by text message. I really think that there is a longing out there right now, especially in these uncertain times, for some of the things that have provided stability over the years.

[NeonCat]

As always, Conan provides wisdom in these trying times:

http://teamcoco.com/video/post-office-ad

[Abdul]

One of the greatest myths of our age is the over-susceptibility of marketing to explain away social ills.

Kids are fat--it's the food marketing!

Kids having sex--it's the sex marketing in rap videos!

and this can all be reversed if you counter market effectively. A clever anti-teen-pregnancy ad will overcome the desire to have unrpotected sex!

[PantsFan]

A teacher's message to parents: Trust us, please

"Not all parents, however, are so open to Mr. Clark's unsolicited advice.

One mother, who was commenting on Ms. Shaw's blog, wrote that there is one thing she wishes teachers knew: that they play a supportive, supplementary role.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le2157282/
"I was really irked that the general attitude in my [early childhood] courses was an attitude that the teacher knows better than the parent," writes the mom."

[Au H20]

Most baby boomer do not expect to leave kids an inheritance.

Or Social Security and Medicare, so I guess at least they are consistent.

[Brett L]

An old guy with more sense than just about anyone I've ever met told me about 2003 that the Boomers would be the first generation to rob their parents (which every generation does to some extent) AND their children. His kids will have plenty of money, though.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I can't believe noone has posted this yet.

Ex-Republican staffer writes his way into the liberal talk circuit.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodb.....1314907779

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it may have come as a shock that the Republican Party is so full of lunatics. To be sure, the party, like any political party on earth, has always had its share of crackpots, like Robert K. Dornan or William E. Dannemeyer. But the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital center today: Steve King, Michele Bachman (now a leading presidential candidate as well), Paul Broun, Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Louie Gohmert, Allen West. The Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy.

It was this cast of characters and the pernicious ideas they represent that impelled me to end a nearly 30-year career as a professional staff member on Capitol Hill. A couple of months ago, I retired; but I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis. Then, they would use that fiscal crisis to get what they wanted, by literally holding the US and global economies as hostages.

[Trespassers Supertramp]

an entirely artificial fiscal crisis

Crisis? What crisis?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

but I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis.

This is what 30 years of being suquestered in Capital Hill does to people--it makes them completely oblivious to mathematical realities.

Running a deficit that's 12% of GDP to only get a 1% return (an overall trend that's varied in scale over the last 50 years but has rarely produced a net positive result on the GDP side of the ledger) is going to blow up in your face sooner or later. That Team Red didn't really have a clue as to why it was a fiscal crisis is hardly the point; the point is that the math shows the reality up front and in your face.

And the fact that raising the debt ceiling didn't hold off Europe's problems one iota should negate whatever economic argument this clown is making right off the bat.

[Dagny T.]

A few of my liberal friends posted that on Facebook yesterday, with comments like "PLEASE read this, it's SO important". *Sigh*

[T]

As a general rule, I'm immediately skeptical about anyone who bandies "truth" around bolded and in all caps. They're usually lying.

[The Truth]

Fuck you..., oh, er, China rulez!

[Tim]

From TSA link:
"These outbursts in public and writings on the internet have subject my client to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy, "

Obloquy?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Perhaps it's something like "obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant"

[Rich]

I heard that the TSA agent, Thedala Magee, has a daughter named Obloquy.

[SugarFree]

ob?lo?quy /??bl?kw?/
The act of delivering a soliloquy while in an oubliette.

[Oubliette]

Tim?

[SugarFree]

Tim (?t?m)
Slang for the supernumerary male of species neuroterus albipes

[Tim]

You're in trouble as soon as I find out what that means.

[Au H20]

Okay, so Gawker liveblogged the Republican debate.

The best moment came at 8:51, where, and I quote, they said:

Ugh. Here we were having so much fun! But now we feel obliged to briefly discuss policy: The Social Security growth rate is steady in the long-term. Look at the chart. It is not a problem. Jesus.

The link they posted? It mentions in the first paragraph that Social Security is insolvent in 2036, and after that, tax revenues could cover 75% of promised benefits until 2086. How is this not "insolvent", Gawker?

The stupid, it hurts.

[NeonCat]

There is nothing so powerful as the word "could". Why, today aliens could abduct all the unemployed people - voila, no unemployment! The Treasury department could find $15 trillion hidden in a couch (admittedly, a very large couch) in a basement storeroom - voila, no federal debt! Tonight Obama could announce he has embraced libertarianism and wants to drastically reduce the size and scope of the federal government - voila, millions of jaws drop while millions of other heads explode!

Could. It could happen.

[SFC B]

It doesn't have to be a large couch. They find a wallet with a few of $1,000,000,000,000.00 bills (I don't know whether they'll be called "Timmys" or "Barrys") in it and voila.

[Devil Inchoate]

They're trillion-dollar coins, not bills.

[Lord Humungus]

'A social pariah': How lonely Monica Lewinsky has failed to find happiness... and is STILL the butt of lewd Clinton jokes
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ffair.html

a little Clinton nostalgia...

[Bill Clinton]

Monica's sexual relationship with Mr Clinton, who is now 65, led to a Republican-prompted impeachment in the House and a trial.

I did NOT ....

[Devil's Advocate]

I do kind of feel sorry for Monica. She made some shitty decisions when she was 21, and has been punished for it for nearly two decades. (On the other hand, this is the Daily Mail reporting this, based on reporting from The Enquirer, so how it's pretty debateable how accurate it is.) But in any case, it's a good thing most of the stupid things people do in the fullness of their youth don't follow them around forever.

[db]

Same here. I think it can be legitimately described as "unjust" to have the former intern who sucked off her boss be treated as a nationally reviled pariah, while the aforementioned boss, who actually bombed a foreign country, killing people, in order to deflect public attention from his marital infidelity, is an international star, raking in millions on the lecture circuit and generally gamboling across the fruited plain.

[Devil's Advocate]

Yeah, I didn't want to get into the whole double standard thing, but it is pretty egregious in this particular case.

[mad libertarian guy]

Of course she's going to get maltreatment by the media. Clearly she tempted Clinton and is responsible for everything that happened as a result (like making enough of the swing voters mad enough at Clinton for "betraying their trust" - or some such shit - that we voted in BOOSH. If it wasn't for her being a strumpet whore, Gore would have been elected god and we would have a green infrastructure by now to keep the polar bears alive.

[hmm]

Watching Santelli kick poor Tom Friedman in the nuts over Social Security this morning on Squawk Box was great. Tom spent the rest of the segment pouting. LOL I hope they get the video up today.

[Trespassers W]

kick poor Tom Friedman in the nuts

OK, but if you're speaking metaphorically, I'm going to be disappointed.

[Reformed Republican]

I do not support the TSA groping passages, and I do not think Amy Alkon's blog post should result in a law suit. However, after reading the actual post, she sounds like a drama queen who acted in a calculated manner to generate as much attention as possible. She is definitely not very sympathetic.

[Nafissatou Diallo]

She still could have been raped.

[hmm]

Her skirt was probably too short and she was inviting it, right?

[Devil's Advocate]

While I disagree she was raped, per se, I can completely understand her distress. Having a stranger repeatedly jam their hand up your vulva for no other reason than (apparently) they thought you were too uppity might tend to make one "dramatic" and think in terms of a sexual assault.

[Thedala Magee]

uppity

RACIST!!

[Reformed Republican]

Or maybe the TSA agent wasn't jamming her finger in her vulva as aggressively as she claims.

Fuck you Amy Alkon for making me play devil's advocate for the TSA.

[Devil's Advocate]

Fuck you Amy Alkon for making me play devil's advocate for the TSA.

OK, I laughed.

[O2]

FBI probe into home's link to 9/11 hijackers wasn't reported to Congress, commission
By Anthony Summers and Dan Christensen

The Miami Herald
Published: September 8, 2011
MIAMI - Just two weeks before the 9/11 hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center, members of a Saudi family abruptly vacated their luxury home near Sarasota, Fla., leaving a brand new car in the driveway, a refrigerator full of food, fruit on the counter - and an open safe in a master bedroom.

In the weeks to follow, law enforcement agents not only discovered the home was visited by vehicles used by the hijackers, but also phone calls were linked between the home and those who carried out the death flights _ including leader Mohamed Atta _ in discoveries never before revealed to the public.

http://www.stripes.com/news/te.....n-1.154453

[O2]

FBI probe into home's link to 9/11 hijackers wasn't reported to Congress, commission
By Anthony Summers and Dan Christensen

The Miami Herald
Published: September 8, 2011
MIAMI - Just two weeks before the 9/11 hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center, members of a Saudi family abruptly vacated their luxury home near Sarasota, Fla., leaving a brand new car in the driveway, a refrigerator full of food, fruit on the counter - and an open safe in a master bedroom.

In the weeks to follow, law enforcement agents not only discovered the home was visited by vehicles used by the hijackers, but also phone calls were linked between the home and those who carried out the death flights _ including leader Mohamed Atta _ in discoveries never before revealed to the public.

http://www.stripes.com/news/te.....n-1.154453

[O2]

FBI probe into home's link to 9/11 hijackers wasn't reported to Congress, commission
By Anthony Summers and Dan Christensen

The Miami Herald
Published: September 8, 2011
MIAMI - Just two weeks before the 9/11 hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center, members of a Saudi family abruptly vacated their luxury home near Sarasota, Fla., leaving a brand new car in the driveway, a refrigerator full of food, fruit on the counter - and an open safe in a master bedroom.

In the weeks to follow, law enforcement agents not only discovered the home was visited by vehicles used by the hijackers, but also phone calls were linked between the home and those who carried out the death flights _ including leader Mohamed Atta _ in discoveries never before revealed to the public.

http://www.stripes.com/news/te.....n-1.154453

[OO]

FBI probe into home's link to 9/11 hijackers wasn't reported to Congress, commission
By Anthony Summers and Dan Christensen

The Miami Herald
Published: September 8, 2011
MIAMI - Just two weeks before the 9/11 hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center, members of a Saudi family abruptly vacated their luxury home near Sarasota, Fla., leaving a brand new car in the driveway, a refrigerator full of food, fruit on the counter - and an open safe in a master bedroom.

In the weeks to follow, law enforcement agents not only discovered the home was visited by vehicles used by the hijackers, but also phone calls were linked between the home and those who carried out the death flights _ including leader Mohamed Atta _ in discoveries never before revealed to the public.

http://www.stripes.com/news/te.....n-1.154453

[Lord Humungus]

New jobless claims rise to 414,000 last week.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....;=&ccode;=

"New U.S. jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week, further evidence of a weak labor market just hours before President Barack Obama delivers a major address to Congress on the issue."

[CoyoteBlue]

He's going to give a big "Historical" speech. That solves everything in Obamaland.

And then the unicorns gamboled across the windmilled plain.

[Lord Humungus]

my cynical-side thinks that Obama really doesn't give a shit about jobs. This speech will be more politically motivated, demagoguing his opponents while offering the usual false choices. His 'plan' will probably go nowhere, especially with a 'pub-controlled house, but can be used for political advertising for 2012.

(worried female voice) The president had a plan to put America back to work, but Congress said no.

(fade to going-out-of-business sign) It's time to fight back...

[Tim]

Five bucks says he throws in some ridicule.

[The Other Kevin]

Who was that white-haired gentleman in the debate last night? Sounded like he had some good ideas. Didn't hear him mentioned in the pre- or post- analyses.

[Rich]

Are you referring to the guy who won the debate?

[Devil Inchoate]

I like how Paul got more than 3 times the second place finisher and his bar is not three times longer. Media Conspiracy!!11!!

[Mustakrakish]

I agree. The rent IS too damn high!

[Ice Nine]

may be stupid enough to sue anyway. If so, she's going to learn a swift and vivid lesson about California's anti-SLAPP statute. Her client may well wind up paying Amy Alkon's attorney fees.

She's also probably going to learn that Amy Alkon is no one to fuck with, as anyone who has read Alkon's book ("I See Rude People") can tell you.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://rinosandrats.com/2011/0.....-timeline/

The Gunwalker Scandal: Overview and Timeline

... "As this scandal has unfolded, it has become increasingly evident that the unlawful, almost certainly treasonous acts and intents behind Project Gunwalker make both Watergate and Iran-Contra pale in comparison, and that a massive, well-coordinated cover-up has been, and remains in effect to this day." ...

"The Gunwalker Scandal Timeline"

"Early 2009: High ranking members of the administration launch a major campaign to pass a new 'Assault Weapons Ban' in the US. Over and over again, they state that 90% of weapons recovered in Mexico from drug cartels come from U.S. retail gun shops. Almost immediately, the 90% figure is called into question. it becomes apparent that:" ...

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.investors.com/NewsA.....unner-.htm

A White House 'Gunrunner'?

"Operation Gunwalker, the rogue ATF operation to arm Mexico's cartels, extends now to three White House officials. A bell goes off with the one named Dan Restrepo."

"Late last Friday, CBS News and the Los Angeles Times almost buried the news that Restrepo, the National Security Council's top man for Latin America, and two other officials, were in on ATF memos from the Gunwalker operation called 'Fast and Furious.'"

"That blows apart White House claims that it had no idea the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was encouraging frontmen for Mexico's cartels to buy weapons from U.S. gun dealers ? to 'trace' them afterward." ...

[Lord Humungus]

I hate to break the spell, but this has truly been a Troll-Free Thursday. But it's still early!

[SugarFree]

Ruiner.

[Warty]

Rectal usually starts earlier than this. We might get lucky today.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i.....ens-arrest

"And what if a suspect runs away? Well, that means the citizen's arrest has not been completed.

But don't be a hero. If you see that a suspect is armed, don't interfere. Just call police and let the professionals handle it."

^^^^ Lmfao

[Ice Nine]

The whole citizen's arrest thing always struck me as a great way to get arrested or sued for assault, or false arrest, or some such - especially if the "arrest" is for something like disturbing the peace. It's probably also a real good way to get your ass kicked.

[Res Publica Americana]

I'd only ever do it if it was for something serious -- rape, assault, murder -- and I was armed. I wouldn't play CAPTAIN ORDER and detain people for playing their music too loudly, or some other such ridiculous shit.

[db]

The cool part is that when you deputize yourself by making a citizen's arrest, you become infused with a new professionalism, whereby ignorance of the law becomes a badge of honor and a sure path to promotion and car-hood sexytimes.

[Gomer Pyle]

Citizen's arreyest!!
Citizen's arreyest!!

[Ice Nine]

George Kuchar, RIP

Wait, I sat through a 30sec ad to RthisFA? Kick me.

[Robert]

You wouldn't write that if you'd seen Secrets of the Shadow World.

[Warty]

Was Marx Right?

Rapha?l Jacquot 23 hours ago
the first 3 paragraphs are useless, there's nothing wrong in being a communist, besides all that anti-communist slander US citizens have been exposed to, only for dogmatic reasons.

[Res Publica Americana]

Unicorns and leprechauns. Having sex. In orgies. With cinnamon dildos.

That's how much sense the link makes. Fuck people like him.

[Feministing commenter]

Umm, cinnamon dildos?

[Lord Humungus]

sure, spawning an ideology that makes Nazis look like pikers - no problem.

[Devil's Advocate]

Oh, but that wasn't real communism.

[Brett L]

Capitalism imperfect, still least worst system for allocating resources, news at 11.

[Isaac Bartram]

From everything I've read by or about Marx, he made some interesting observations about capitalism and then drew a bunch of not very wellfounded conclusions. His successors compounded those basic errors.

[Lord Humungus]

Grab Your 'Murse,' Pack a 'Mankini' And Don't Forget the 'Mewelry'
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....94012.html

eep.

[T]

When did sandals and jewelry become feminine gendered? Was I napping when that occurred?

[Brett L]

New Yorkers like to think they invented everything, so if NYers start doing it, its news. If you've lived in Key West all your life, sandals and male jewelry are a uniform.

[Reformed Republican]

Ah, yes. Key West, well known for having a small homosexual population.

[Brett L]

I prefer to think of it as the place Wallace Stevens duked it out with Ernest Hemingway to become Emperor of Ice Cream, but YMMV. Also, NYC, not exactly homo-less. Although the gay percentage seems completely orthagonal to bankers wanting "mandals".

[Swishy]

It's not what you wear, but how you wear it.

[Sterling Archer]

I said 'M' as in 'Mancy'! God, Ray, you of all people...

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Although no one will live there, the replica city will be modeled after a typical American town of 35,000 people, complete with highways, houses and commercial buildings, old and new.

Pegasus Global Holdings CEO Bob Brumley says the $200 million project, known as The Center, will be a first of its kind in the U.S., creating a place for scientists at the state's universities, federal labs and military installations to test their innovations for upgrading cities to 21st century green technology and infrastructure in a real world setting.

Boiling down to it's essence, they are saying this: "Although no one will live there, the replica city will be... a real world setting."

I'm surprised anyone connected with the project hasn't been killed by their head exploding from the severity of the contradiction.

It will certainly be easier to get desired results without those dirty, pesky people living there.

[Devil's Advocate]

Kind of reminds me of the Biosphere stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

[Some Internet Lurker]

Will there be lead lined refigerators?

[Michael]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150785212905394&set=a.166518975393.246008.145914455393&type=1&ref=nf

[Michael]

And yes, I realize that's a fake. It doesn't make it any less funny though.

[Apple]

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy....._news_blog

Tea Party zombies!

[hmm]

The aforementioned Santelli rant where Friedman calls the question, "Is social security a ponzi scheme?" idiotic.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21.....4#44439004

[GILMORE]

I don't know if this has been noted already, but apparently that solar-energy company Obama had touted (Solyndra) is now being raided by the FBI

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/.....d=14473051

Apparently the boondoggle is connected to Obama fundraising...?

Beginning in March, ABC News, in partnership with the iWatch News/the Center for Public Integrity, was first to report on simmering questions about the role political influence may have played Solyndra's selection as the Obama administration's first loan guarantee recipient. Federal auditors had flagged the loan, saying some applicants had benefitted from special treatment

One of the lead private investors in Solyndra was an Oklahoma billionaire who served as an Obama "bundler," raising money during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Who bets this becomes "Solargate"? Solyndragate isnt as sonorous.

The Department of Energy defends itself=

"Sophisticated, professional private investors, who put more than $1 billion of their own money behind Solyndra, came to the same conclusion as the Department: that Solyndra was an extremely promising company with innovative technology and a very good investment."

Uh, yeah, Sophisticated, professional private investors... who believed the best way to get rich was to raise money for politicians, then use their political connections to get huge, cheap loans, hoping that favorable government regulations, clean energy mandates, and foreign anti-competitive measures would allow them to set themselves up to benefit in an industry where no one else can make a profit.

Maybe that's a better way of putting it.

[hmm]

Well, at least now we will know who got the blow job to grease the money chute for the Solyndra...

[Brett L]

Yeah, I posted on another thread. This is going to be interesting. If Solyndra turned out to be lying on its loan application watch out. However it works out, there's $535M in flushed money that would never have happened if the government was picking winners in the energy delivery markets.