Private Sector Adds Jobs, WikiLeaks Zaps Syria, NYPD Target "Professional Agitators": P.M. Links

• Small businesses and the service sector fueled job growth in June, with the private sector adding 176,000 jobs overall, says payroll-processor, ADP. You see? It's "fine" after all!

• WikiLeaks published more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies, dating from 2006 to 2012. Julian Assange said, "The material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria's opponents."
• Romney and Obama are … Yeah. Still deadlocked. Flip a coin. Actually, Ann Romney says her husband is eyeing a woman as a running mate. For her sake, let's hope she heard him clearly.
• Iran's announced plans to build a nuclear-powered submarine have complicated matters for D.C. Do sword-rattling politicians push for war over Iran's enriching fuel for the sub? Or should they continue to call for war over the country's ambitions to build nuclear weapons? It's a quandary.
• Matthew Swaye and Christina Gonzalez, a New York City couple who film police making infamous stop-and-frisk searches, are featured in a "wanted"-style poster produced and disseminated by the NYPD's Intelligence Division. The poster labels them as "professional agitators." The two have been arrested in the past for civil disobedience, but there are no warrants out for them.
• Across the country, localities have turned fines and fees into revenue-raising mechanisms for courts and cops, and farmed out collection to private companies that are authorized to jail delinquents and charge them for the privilege. Why, yes! A mess has ensued.
• In Virginia, the Newport News Sheriff's Office illegally seized hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and merchandise from Jayson Mickle, who owns three tobacco shops. Despite a court order, the cops have yet to return it all.
• Tens of thousands of Americans could lose their Internet service Monday unless they check their computers for malware that may have infected their machines last year. The malware took over those computers, and the FBI is poised to shut down servers put in place to keep affected systems online after the hackers were busted.
• Journalists, bloggers, and writers from around the world are invited to enter the 2012 Bastiat Prize for Journalism, which will honor commentary, analysis, and reporting that best demonstrates the importance of freedom and its underlying institutions.

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Comments

[The Hammer]

Been waiting for PM Links all day, since I get to work too early to get in on any actual conversations in the AM links: Need recommendations for reading for my vacation in a couple of weeks. I’m already getting Dune, High Desert Barbecue, and Hugh Laurie’s “The Gun Seller.” I generally like humor for my light reading. Any suggestions?

[The Hammer]

too early = too late.

[Episiarch]

Charles Stross’ Laundry series.

[Pro Libertate]

Dune is great, of course, but I’ll also say that Laurie’s book is quite good.

[Episiarch]

Try this series.

[jdtuccille]

Anything by Tom Sharpe. Especially his South Africa novels and “The Throwback.”

[The Hammer]

Interesting. The only Nook books available by Tom Sharpe appear to be Spanish versions of The Wilt Alternative and the Throwback.

[jdtuccille]

Damn. The Wilt books are good, but Riotous Assembly and Indecent Exposure (the SA books) are biting. If you’re interested, they’re worth hunting down.

[Mike M.]

There is always The Declaration of Independents by Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie, and Ron Paul’s Revolution by Brian Doherty. 🙂

[The Hammer]

Read the Declaration, saving Ron Paul’s Revolution for after the vacation.

[BakedPenguin]

You forgot that book – um… High Mountain Forest Fire – or something. By JD Toochilly, I think.

[The Hammer]

First post. Already on the list, because JD does good alt-text!

[Brett L]

If you haven’t read The Laundry series by Charlie Stross, I recommend them.

[The Hammer]

Excellent. On the list.

[Rich]

If you’ve not read it, you could do worse than The Wind in the Willows. Toad is pretty humorous.

[The Hammer]

Read it in junior high, haven’t really considered it since then, don’t really remember it clearly. Worth re-reading?

[Ice Nine]

I just finished The Panama Laugh by Thomas Roche. It’s a one-of-a-kind zombie story. Don’t be put off by that – The Walking Dead it is not. It’s wild and full of chuckles.

[The Hammer]

Wonderful. The list is getting near completion (As much as I can read in a week between snorkelling, eating, naps and sweet, sweet vacation sex).

[Nephilium]

Look up the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. They’re satirical fantasy stories, that are amazing. In general, you can pick up any of them, and get to know the characters. If you would prefer to start at the beginning of a cycle, I would recommend Going Postal and Making Money. Both of them are about a con artist who is coerced into running government services.

[The Hammer]

And it’s pretty much complete. Thank you, gentlemen. Ladies, and we now know there are some here, I can only assume that you are all too busy making dinner to read much, or that you are handicapped by your gender’s well-documented lack of humor.

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

May I suggest this book?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/i…..AA300_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Angry-Wo…..ngry+women

[Atanarjuat]

PJ O’Rourke’s pretty humorous at times.

[R C Dean]

For humor? I would say go with the George MacDonald Fraser Flashman books. In order, although that’s probably not essential.

Same with the Terry Pratchett Discworld books. I would go with the Night Watch sub-series starters (Start with “Guards! Guards!” and then “Men At Arms”).

[The Hammer]

too early = too late.

[The Hammer]

Let’s see if I can make it 4 for 4.

[The Hammer]

Yes!…..Where is everybody?

[John]

http://www.newscientist.com/ar…..texts.html

Islamists going after Timbuktu’s ancient scientific texts. Yeah, they need killing.

[Bitter Taxpayer]

Help me out here …. This is all Islamic stuff we’re talking about, right? Why are they destroying it?

[John]

Because they are animals who hate other Muslims more than they do the rest of us.

[fish]

As if their PR isn’t bad enough already!

[Paul.]

Why are they destroying it?

Because the texts are scientific.

[R C Dean]

Because Fuck you, that’s why? Only with extra ululating, because Allah.

[JerseyPatriot]

Sufis are the more mystical sects within Islam*. Sufis bury their saints elaborately and venerate them at their tombs. Most fundamentalists in Islam consider that to be idolatrous or blasphemous. It’s somewhat analogous to the Protestant/Catholic debates over the veneration of saints, or the Protestant/Orthodox debates over icons.

* A small number of Sufis are not Muslims, such as the Sufism Reoriented sect, which worships Meher Baba as God.

[fish]

SPLITTER!!

[Lord Humungus]

without checking, I do believe Richard Thompson is a converted Sufi.

[JerseyPatriot]

Actually, it just mentions an unspecified threat without further elaboration. The destruction of the tombs of the saints is real, though.

[Brett L]

May NYC continue to elect the sort of mayors it deserves.

[John]

Could they be any worse than nanny Bloomburg? At least they would have a sense of humor.

[ConHugeCo]

It was amazing watching him at the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. The thought of him banning a drink over 20 oz, while watching along approvingly people eat 68 hot dogs stuns the mind

[Paul.]

while watching along approvingly people eat 68 hot dogs stuns the mind

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stun the mind. Because we’ve always been at war with EastAsia.

[Auric Demonocles]

But the people eating 68 hot dogs were under the watchful eye of a government official!

[fish]

But the people eating 68 hot dogs were under the watchful eye of a government official!

Ah…like eating standing up doesn’t count towards the days caloric intake!

[John]

http://www.newscientist.com/ar…..texts.html

Countrywide basically gave everyone in power a sweatheart loan/.

[Brett L]

SF’d the link. That goes to the Timbuktu story again.

[John]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/…..-says.html

[Paul.]

Jim Johnson, chief executive officer of Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998, earned $100 million during his time at the company. Nonetheless, Countrywide employees expressed concern about giving him a loan because he didn’t pay his bills regularly and had a low credit score, according to e-mails published in Issa’s report.

If you earn $100 million a year and can’t pay your bills and have a shitty credit score, you deserve to have all your assets taken from you at gunpoint and transferred directly to me.

[Paul.]

Oh, my ba– he earned $100 million from 1991 to 1998. So if you earn $14 million a year and can’t pay your bills and have a shitty credit score, you deserve to have all your assets taken from you at gunpoint and transferred directly to me.

[Brett L]

It comes out to about $14M/year. But the fact that the CEO of Fannie Mae had a credit score that would disqualify him from being an accounts receivable clerk at any institution that runs a credit check is shocking.

[Paul.]

If you earn $100 million per century and can’t pay your bills and have a shitty credit score, you deserve to have all your assets taken from you at gunpoint and transferred directly to me.

[John]

When you steal the money you don’t value it as much as when you earn it. Thieves generally have bad credit even if they have a lot of money.

[Brett L]

Most financial institutions won’t hire anyone with a low credit score. Most large internal payroll and accounting departments for corporations won’t either. I’m shocked that he could get that job.

[John]

Rules are for the little people. Most agencies won’t give you a security clearance if you have a history of drug use.

[Paul.]

Rules are for the little people. Most agencies won’t give you a security clearance if you have a history of drug use getting caught using drugs.

[Paul.]

But yet financial institutions will hire people who don’t understand the loans they’re making.

Since the Great Recession started, the Seattle Times (at least) has been treating me to every Sally Sob Story who’s about to lose their home because their loan interest rate is about to shift into high gear, and they just didn’t know– only to reveal seven paragraphs down the Sally Sob Story is a former financial industry muckity muck.

Fuck these people sideways.

[The Hammer]

He probably had a better credit score back when he had to actually earn his money.

[Brett L]

It has been my experience that people with bad credit after the age of 30 have either lived a really hard life or made a number of poor decisions (sometimes just 1: marriage to someone who makes poor decisions).

He doesn’t sound like the hard life type to me.

[Paul.]

(sometimes just 1: marriage to someone who makes poor decisions).

Getting married is the poor decision.

*ducks*

[Auric Demonocles]

What if you earn $14.29 million a year?

[Paul.]

Hit refresh.

[generic Brand]

Someone being rep’d by my law firm in a foreclosure claims he won the lottery 20 years ago and has been getting yearly stipends of $100,000+ after taxes. I’m speechless as to how he is in foreclosure.

[Auric Demonocles]

Austerity.

[Paul.]

He’s not spending the $100,000 on his bills.

[Jerry on the road]

Playing the lottery is per definition a losing proposition. So if you can spend $100 a week on money losing lottery tickets, imagine how much money you can spend on money losing opportunities with $4000 a week.

[Paul.]

I think it has to do with how old you are when you win the lottery.

When you’ve spent a lifetime trudging through life, trying to make ends meet, squeak by paying your bills while watching politicians bang hookers and weave about in traffic in their sports cars, you earn a certain appreciation for money so when you finally finally find an extra dollar in your pocket, you tend to spend it wisely.

Not that I’m bitter or anything.

[wareagle]

because actually paying your mortgage is for losers.

[Pro Libertate]

This makes me angry.

[Brett L]

Pussy Riot on hunger strike. Which sounds like what happens why you piss off your wife or girlfriend.

[Paul.]

That’s why I always knew how to cook…

Oh wait, you mean the “Pussy Riot”. I thought you meant the hunger strike.

[Translucent Chum]

Saw Ted the other night. Give it 3/5, but only if you find Family Guy non-political episodes funny. Mila Kunis is beautiful.

Trailer for some Disney movie where Jennifer Garner grows a kid in her garden. Was hoping it was a horror movie, but no luck.

Trailer for a Will Ferrell movie called the Campaign looked pretty funny.

[John]

Ted looks like a solid renter.

[Translucent Chum]

My wife said the same thing after the movie; okay in the theatre, but great on a DVR to quick rewind the really funny bits.

[Jerry on the road]

Has anyone seen Rock of Ages yet?!

[Brett L]

That’s racist?

“Four-time gold medalist Michael Johnson believes the question of why black athletes dominate Olympic sprint competitions shouldn’t be taboo. In the lead-up to the London Games, he’s trying to broach the controversial topic.

Johnson, who recently had his lineage traced back to West Africa as part of a British documentary, told the Daily Mail that slavery has ‘left an imprint through the generations.'”

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

No, no, no! In the span of a few hundred years you can breed dogs into multiple shapes, sizes and intellects, but you simply cannot do that with humans.

[Rich]

Ever been to West Virginia? 😉

[Anacreon]

Michael should have gone drinking with Jimmy the Greek.

[Brett L]

Paleolithic man must have been one hell of a polluter.

“Doggerland, a huge area of dry land that stretched from Scotland to Denmark was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC.”

[fish]

What color was the water?

I’m guessing it was pale yellow and there were miniature male Dachshunds involved.

[Brett L]

Vampire? Or failed zombie attack? You decide.

[Brett L]

And I’m done.

[Rich]

“professional agitators.”

Like Al Sharpton?

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

That piece of shit just won the BET Humanitarian Award a few days ago. Fucker should be hanging from a tree.

[Coeus]

A better idea would be to put him in white-face and send him to the Wisconsin state fair.

[Dovahkiin]

RACIST!!!!1

[A Serious Man]

Re: Mitt’s running mate, a lot people are speculating about Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

Unfortunately she sucks on just about every major issue from gun rights (opposes Castle Doctrine) to drug policy reform to foreign policy (she thinks drone strikes are totally awesome). She is therefore perfect for Mitt.

[John]

The only good news is that VP’s have no power. I guess the thinking is that if they choose a women who is anything but a total leftist, the feminists will eat the furniture going after her. She would be a choice to reassure the soccer moms.

[MP]

Agreed. As much of a nitwit as Joe Biden is, has it mattered?

In recent history, only Chaney was delegated significant authority.

[ant1sthenes]

Ask Megaupload users, I guess.

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

“In recent history, only Chaney was delegated significant authority.”

No. Biden oversaw every penny of TARP that was spent.

[Xenocles]

Biden may have protected Obama from impeachment or worse by being such a horrible alternative. Sort of like a succession doomsday device.

[kinnath]

New Fucking Hampshire. That’s going to go over really well with the Tea Party.

[Paul.]

Unfortunately she sucks on just about every major issue from gun rights (opposes Castle Doctrine)

What other doctrine is there besides the “please take anything you like, just please don’t shoot me” doctrine?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The “live in a house guarded by state employees for whom you don’t bear the full cost” doctrine.

[DEG]

She’s the former state AG. What do you expect?

[Mike M.]

Actually, Ann Romney says her husband is eyeing a woman as a running mate. For her sake, let’s hope she heard him clearly.

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that it probably isn’t Sarah Palin.

If what Mrs. Romney is saying is really true, I can’t imagine who it could be that he might possibly be eyeing other than South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.

[Fluffy]

If Ann saw Mitt eyeing Nikki, I think Ann might just kill Nikki.

[Robert S]

I’m hoping he goes Kristi Noem. I would love to see the Jezebel girls freak the fuck out.

[sage]

It’s not left vs right. It’s the State vs you!

[mr simple]

Nerds: Totally bad people who might be seeing the light.

[Brett L]

I’m trying to figure out who is most self-absorbed in that article. I was originally going to go with the guy they are writing the article about, but I’m on the fence.

[Suthenboy]

Please stop posting links to jezebel. Just clicking the link kills brain cells.

[Ska]

And here I was thinking I just needed to go to bed earlier.

[ant1sthenes]

They forgot to mention the sad ending: the nerds discover Jezebel and go back to being misogynists.

[Virginian]

*rolls eyes* seriously? Now look, I’m not going to deny that some of the people you see on the Internet with all their he man woman hate stuff are just butthurt virgins who don’t get that its not the whole alpha/beta thing but the fact that they’re 300 pound assholes with no sense of humor beyond self referential in jokes and memes.

But enough about the HampersandR crowd.

hehe…for real though, when you see a good guy who does all the things feminists say they want guys to do snag a feminist girlfriend, who then sleeps with some massive asshole because he is a bit of an alpha male….well…you lose a lot of respect for feminism in general. And yeah it kind of makes you bitter.

That is the cruelest (and thus, the funniest) irony of all….the neckbearded wannabe alphas….that’s just the male counterpart to Jezbel.

[Paul.]

Jesus that article is weapons-grade stupid. Jezebel continues the tradition of stereotyping everyone on the planet not like them, in an effort to fight stereotyping.

[Paul.]

Another said that he doesn’t think it’s funny to watch strippers almost get hit by cars as they try to cross the highway on their way to work anymore.

Shyeah. Now that I have a daughter, I see those people and I say to myself, “That could be be YOU [insert daughter’s name] one day! Respect them!”

No, I make fun of them even fucking harder while telling my daughter, “If you ever… ever… I will kidnap your ass and send you to re-education in Idaho.”

[Hell's Librarian]

“SLUT SHAMER!!!”

[Brett L]

This is an interesting plan.

“Students can demonstrate college-level competencies ? no matter where they learned the material ? as soon as they can prove that they know it?

Rather than molding coursework around a set timeframe, these modules can be designed to contain only the knowledge required within a specific competency. This could benefit working adults who need to start and pause their studies because of work and personal commitments. It could also benefit highly motivated students who are able to move through course materials at a faster pace.”

[Auric Demonocles]

It could also benefit highly motivated students who are able to move through course materials at a faster pace

Whoa, whoa, whoa! If I learned one thing during my education, it’s that faster students must be made to go at the approved pace.

[Andrew S.]

The comments on the “Professional Agitators” story. Oh, the comments. Why do I read comments when I know they’re going to make me stabby?

[Nando]

What do you do with old Walmarts? Turn them into Libraries!

[ant1sthenes]

But what do you do with libraries when the demand for physical books drops below a certain extent?

[Virginian]

Keep them open, because otherwise you’re a big meanie who closes libraries.

[fish]

BURN THEM!!!!!

[R]

Turn them back into Walmarts.

[Mr. FIFY]

I wonder where Nando shops.

No, wait… I don’t.

[robc]

OT: Glasgow Rangers

There is some sort of austerity argument in there.

[Brett L]

I vote relegation.

[robc]

That is happening. They wont be back in the Premier League next year, that vote happened next year.

The next vote is where to let the new team start, in the past, reformed teams had to go to League 3, but there is talk about them starting in League 1, in order to keep the FOX TV contract with the premier league alive.

[robc]

The vote happened yesterday, I meant.

[Brett L]

Sorry. I meant FULL relegation. I was confused because it sounded like they were trying to get into the SPL to save the Rangers v. Celtic game.

[BakedPenguin]

A lot of famous teams are close to bankruptcy, if my Brazilian co-worker is correct.

[robc]

True, for example Leeds United went bankrupt a few years back. The difference here was they were liquidated in mid-June.

The question is what to do with “Newco” Rangers. Someone bought the stadium and brand for 5.5 million pounds.

All the players are leaving, as the team they had a contract with doesnt exist anymore.

[JerseyPatriot]

Celtic should apply to the Football League as soon as humanly possible. No one wants to watch Celtic demolish lesser clubs every week, and they won’t. Pretty soon the rest of the league, including Celtic, shrinks to nothing.

[Invisible Finger]

New use of eminent domain.

http://online.wsj.com/article/…..91018.html

[Invisible Finger]

The article contains this newspeak definition of PUBLIC USE

“Eminent domain allows a government to forcibly acquire property that is then reused in a way considered good for the public?new housing, roads, shopping centers and the like.”

[Invisible Finger]

Also contains a list of officers and their “accomplishments”

The company’s chief executive, Graham Williams, is a mortgage-industry veteran who helped pioneer lending programs for low-income borrowers at Bank of America Corp. in the early 1990s. Its chairman, Steven Gluckstern, is an entrepreneur who once owned the New York Islanders hockey franchise. Evercore’s founder and co-chairman, Roger Altman, served in the Clinton administration and is raising funds for President Barack Obama’s re-election effort.

Apparently nothing succeeds like failure.

[Coeus]

The bigger the lie, the less likely someone is to call you on it.

Feministing declares that strongest person in america is a woman.

[fish]

Because womens weightlifting has a following not much better than Fisting…err…I mean Feministing.

[wareagle]

she is not getting endorsements because no one in weightlifting gets endorsements. It’s one of the “pretty” sports that the casual fan can relate to.

I kinda doubt she outlifted the top man but, who knows, maybe. Regardless, it is weight lifting; it gets about a minute-thirty of tv coverage during the Olympics. Leaves so much more time for those time honored sports. Like beach volleyball.

[wareagle]

oops…it’s NOT one of the pretty sports.

[Warty]

Oh, for fuck’s sake. I like how they say she can lift 568 pounds without saying what the lift is. It’s the squat, presumably, which puts her about 40 pounds above my PR. So, there you go, the strongest person in the US is 8% stronger than an extremely mediocre hobbyist. Fucking stupid Feministing cunts.

The real strongest person in America is probably Derek Poundstone, but that’s a different sport. Americans blow at Olympic weightlifting.

Also, if Sarah Robles doesn’t have sponsorships, it’s because she hasn’t been working at it, not because of TEH PATRIARCHY.

[Brett L]

568 is her combined Olympic lifts. Apparently American men are shit in the Olympic lifts. So she may well have the highest total Olympic lift.

[Coeus]

Kendrick Farris, he competes in the 187 lb. weight class, and his personal best is 355 kg (782 lb.).

Note that he weighs almost 100lbs less then her.

[tarran]

All the fireworks for San Diego’s 4th of July celebration are fired simultaneously (skip past the unusually sappy, really embarassing military-gasming to the middle of the video).

For some reason this amuses me.

[R C Dean]

Sounds like the most awesome fireworks show ever, to me.

[Brett L]

133 kilos in a snatch? That’s pretty fucking impressive.

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

“in a snatch”

SEXIST DOG!!

[Ska]

Is clean and jerk that much better in this sense?

[Chupacabra]

It’s better than “jerk and clean”!

[Coeus]

133 kilos in a snatch? That’s pretty fucking impressive.

It is. But it’s damn sure not the best in America. We really need Warty or Dunphy to weigh in on this one.

[Warty]

That’s about 15 kilos more than the highest snatch I’ve ever seen, and about 31 kilos more than I’ve snatched with my absolutely dogshit snatch technique. So, yes, she’s very impressive for a girl, but it’s extremely stupid for Feministing to call her the strongest person in America.

[R]

According to Wiki, the current weight record for men is 214 kg, and 147kg for woemen.

I doubt we don’t have a male competitor doing something between 180 and 200 kg at least.

[Warty]

We have one male competitor, Kendrick Farris. We only have one because US Oly lifting is shamefully bad. His PR snatch is 160 and his clean and jerk 203.

[Agammamon]

“Do sword-rattling politicians push for war over Iran’s enriching fuel for the sub?”

You don’t need HE fuel for sub reactor’s – the french have been running LE (6-7%) for almost a decade now.

[fish]

Yeah but if you want to go really really fast you need the high octane stuff!

[Agammamon]

No you don’t – highly enriched mostly means that you can go longer between re-coring. Re-coring is a signficant expense in the lifetime cost of a nuclear vessel, one of the reasons the Virgina class is intended to have a 30-year life-span core – by the time you have to refuel its probably time to scrap the sub anyway.

[fish]

fish go for humor….no get!

[Xenocles]

They don’t even need nuclear subs. All they need to do is cause trouble in the gulf, and their midget subs are enough for that (if you consider them expendable).

[Coeus]

Ahh, Sweden. The feminist paradise where a broken condom with a woman is rape, but it is impossible to rape a man.

[Warty]

Jesus. I would never have expected Sweden to be on the list of worst places to be a tranny.

[ant1sthenes]

Isn’t that also where they were trying to mandate sitting down to pee? Fuck Sweden.

[Warty]

I agree. Now that Opeth is dead to me, the country should just sink into the sea.

[Coeus]

Isn’t that also where they were trying to mandate sitting down to pee?

One of them.

[Juice]

So wikileaks is back on .org? How did that happen?

Are we all sure that this is the same wikileaks?

[GettiYetti]

I dunno man I never thought about it like that dude.

http://www.Privacy-Peeps.tk