Police Ask for More Cell Records, Oregon May Vote to Legalize Pot, "Fast and Furious" Suspects Named: P.M. Links

• Cell companies report a spike in requests from law enforcement agencies for customers' phone records. Verizon Wireless saw a 15 percent increase last year. U.S. law enforcement agencies logged a total of 1.3 million phone records requests last year.

• Marijuana legalization supporters in Oregon turned in twice the number of signatures they need to put their cause up to a public vote in November.
• The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Monday and revealed the identities of four men suspected of killing of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Terry's death in 2010 helped bring to light the Justice Department's botched "Fast and Furious" gun-running program. They're offering a $1 million reward for the capture of the suspects.
• A Detroit woman was killed Sunday when an off-duty police officer's gun accidentally discharged when she hugged him at a party. She would have turned 25 today. (h/t to Hit and Run commenter Paul)
• Egypt's new president, Mohamed Morsi, may anger the nation's military leaders after ordering the reconvening of parliament, defying a court order that dissolved it. On Monday, Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court reiterated that its ruling was binding.
• Samsung has successfully defended itself against a patent suit from Apple in London over its Galaxy tablet. The judge determined that the Galaxy's look didn't infringe on the Apple's iPad designs because "They are not as cool."
• A survey by the Doctor Patient Medical Association claims 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting their practices over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
• 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

[Fist of Etiquette]

Cell companies report a spike in requests from law enforcement agencies for customers' phone records.

Wouldn't it be easier to just nationalize the wireless communication industry?

[Libertarius]

Yes. When will private property advocates discover that a gun is the best incentive of all?

[wareagle]

The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Monday and revealed the identities of four men suspected of killing of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

so DOJ is going to arrest 4 of its own?

[Pro Libertate]

Apple is so full of shit. They've been stealing for decades.

[T]

Yeah, Xerox would like a word or two. And some money.

[Brett L]

Patent trolls gonna troll. But Samsung should definitely sue that judge for defamation. "Cool" is not objective.

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

"Cool" IS RACIST!!!

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yeah, all tablets are based around the same basic design. Our (and apparently the British) patent system is fucked.

[Pro Libertate]

It's absurd the number of patents granted when there is clearly prior art and/or the concept is totally not novel.

And don't get me started on business process patents.

[Brett L]

Software patents are the ones that send me into blind rages. Its like patenting math.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, I fooled them all, because I patented the Higgs boson. Yeah, no use of matter in the entire universe without paying me a license fee.

[kinnath]

You can patent a method; you cannot patent software. Although the method may utilize software running on a processor of some type.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, but look at some of the patents that have been granted, anyway.

[kinnath]

The infamous Amazon 1-click patent claims a system and a method.

I have many patents that are fundamentally the same (claiming systems and methods). There is nothing wrong with this type of patent.

The "bad" patents that are out there are mostly system/method patents that should have been rejected due to prior art or for being obvious to one skilled in the art.

[Brett L]

I get that. I don't think methods are worthy of patents.

[Pro Libertate]

I don't see any method. . .at all.

[kinnath]

We claim:

1. A method of placing an order for an item comprising:

under control of a client system,

displaying information identifying the item; and

in response to only a single action being performed, sending a request to order the item along with an identifier of a purchaser of the item to a server system;

under control of a single-action ordering component of the server system,

receiving the request;

............

[Pro Libertate]

It's like magic.

[kinnath]

The amazon patent is well constructed from what I can tell. But the "invention" itself is so bloody obvious to anyone that has ever written code that it should have been laughed out of the patent office.

[kinnath]

Not all methods are equal. A method to buy a book online is not equal to a method to harden steel is not equal to a method to land an aircraft in zero visiblity etc.

A system covers the equipment and the method covers the process. Generally, patents need to cover both things to provide adequate protection of an invention.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm pro-reasonable IP protection, so don't take my snark as a condemnation of the whole system. But the PTO grants patents like popcorn.

[kinnath]

For a good long stretch there, the operating philosophy was to grant the patent and let judges sort it all out. That has changed and it is getting a lot tougher to get a new patent through the system

[Jerry on the road]

Someone needs to patent one-touch-shopping.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm filing a patent for masturbation while using the Internet.

[Tulpa the White]

That overlaps with my patent on insinuating someone is a sheepfucker without actually saying it.

[Brett L]

Jerry:

Like Amazon's patent for single click checkout that Apple has to pay them royalties for. For patenting storing all of my relevant info and retrieving and applying it when I click a button. Such utter bullshit.

[Pro Libertate]

Some years ago, but not that many, British Telecom tried to assert ownership of the hyperlink.

[jasno]

Apple is like a hipster who steals their ideas from unknown artists and then gets mad when they're imitated.

[SKR]

So Shepard Fairey.
Seems legit.

[Drake]

"That's not fair! I wanted to try to steal it first!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S_JgkiW3qI

[Episiarch]

Terry's death in 2010 helped bring to light the Justice Department's botched "Fast and Furious" gun-running program. They're offering a $1 million reward for the capture of the suspects.

And to think, Holder's been amongst them the whole time. That should be a quick and easy $1 million, right?

[John]

Wouldn't it be great to be a Congress critter right now and go over to the Hoover Building, give them Holder's name and address and then demand your reward? Hell, I would file suit in federal claims court when they didn't give it to me.

[Episiarch]

That would be fucking awesome. Someone needs to do that.

[Tulpa the White]

Maybe it's a scam to get the million dollars reward donated to Obama's reelection campaign.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...83 percent of doctors have considered quitting their practices over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

I was told I would be able to keep my doctor after Obamacare is fully implemented, so arrest those quacks who try to quit for breaking Obama's promise.

[Auric Demonocles]

If this is an accurate stat it is mindbogglingly. Making 83% of the providers of a market consider quitting is going to make that market cheaper?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The unknown is such a scary thing. We just have to wait to see what was in that bill before we know how bad it could get.

[The Lantern]

A cursory examination of the underlying data reveals the incredibly biased nature of this "survey." They sent out more than 16,000 surveys and received less than 700 responses (4.3% response rate). Responses were completely voluntary so you're only going to get people who are either extremely upset or extremely supportive.

Moreever, the organization conducting the survey believes that the PPACA is the Death of Medicine. You can read it right on their website.

The questions also all focus on big government, government in medicine, government this, government that. They clearly are trying to attract anti-government types.

Lastly, they don't say how they obtained their list of the 16,000+ doctors they sent forms to. One could easily imagine how you could choose doctors/clinics to get the results you want (send more surveys to rural areas, the Midwest, etc.).

I'm all for honest, open debate on the subject, and I really don't have an opinion on the PPACA. The Court says it is okay, and I generally support the goal of the bill (now whether it ends of costing too much is another story). This "survey," however, is a total waste of space, and Reason takes a credibility hit for even mentioning it in my book (although there are a lot of Reason writers that are prone to jumping off the anti-government cliff every chance they get, so it doesn't surprise me).

[dieinafiredunphy]

"the organization conducting the survey"

Irrelevant ad hominem.

"The questions "

Irrelevant red herring.

"One could easily imagine how you could choose doctors/clinics to get the results you want (send more surveys to rural areas, the Midwest, etc.)."

More ad homs, and accusations with no support.

"I'm all for honest, open debate on the subject"

NO, you lying fuck, you aren't, you cast aspersions on the survey without cause, stop fucking lying.

You're a leftist troll who hates that doctors hate your guys plan, trying to pretend you're not here to troll and spout propaganda.

[The Lantern]

Do you know what ad hominem means, my friend? The questions are not a red herring. Do you know what that is? Look at the wording right there on the DPMA website. Numerous blog posts describe DPMA's relationship with ALEC, the National Tea Party Federation, and others. I assume it is irrelevant to you who funds or conducts research. I'll remember this the next time you are raving about the NRDC or some other organization you don't like. Have you ever taken a statistics (or anything related to critical thinking even) course at all?

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that this is both the first and last time I'll ever be commenting here. Clearly there is no place for libertarians and civil discussion, only stark raving lunatics who accuse people of ad hominem attacks where they don't exist and make ad hominem attacks of their own. It must be fun to pretend to be smart. Cheers.

[DesigNate]

My god some of the comments...

[R C Dean]

Well, anyone can "consider" quitting. That means nothing.

You know what keeps docs practicing?

A shitty stock market, that's what.

[robc]

A shitty stock market, that's what.

I was thinking "med school debt", but that too.

[SugarFree]

They're offering a $1 million reward for the capture of the suspects.

It's $2mil if you can prove you got rid of the guns before turning the shooters in. [wink]

[wef]

A Detroit woman was killed Sunday when an off-duty police officer's gun accidentally discharged when she hugged him at a party.

There must be more to this story.

This should be fictionalized. Along the lines of Ethan Frome.

[db]

The correct term is "negligent discharge." "Accidental discharge" is generally not descriptive of the event.

[Dovahkiin]

That's what she said!

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Yeah, that's something likely copied straight from the cover-our-ass police report and should be in quotes or otherwise explained. Reason usually points out subservient media shit like this instead of abetting it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A Detroit woman was killed Sunday when an off-duty police officer's gun accidentally discharged when she hugged him at a party.

There have been multiple outlets handling this story and yet the dearth of information about the incident continues. Were there witnesses to this? Was it a magic hug bullet? What was the relationship between the shooter and the victim? Why would anyone willingly live in Detroit? So many unanswered questions.

[DesigNate]

Nobody willingly lives in Detroit. It's like an event horizon. You get too close and it sucks you in whether you want it to or not. I suggest not crossing the Ohio, just to be safe.

[Apatheist ?_??]

As Shirley likes to say, no hugs for thugs.

[RedDragon6009]

It's amazing how many times I've seen this reported today and not one source has any more information. How on earth does a holstered weapon go off like like that? And perhaps just as important: How in the world can so many outlets report it without asking that same question?

[Paul.]

It's amazing how many times I've seen this reported today and not one source has any more information. How on earth does a holstered weapon go off like like that?

If it's a Glock.

*ducks*

[RedDragon6009]

I hear about the sensitivity of Glock all the time...but even in those instances it requires at least a slight trigger pull...how does this happen to a holstered weapon? I'm not doubting it's possible, i just don't understand.

And why are cops using glocks anyway?...they should be using the walther p-99 or the SW variant.

[robc]

Glock had the ad with their pistols being dragged down the road behind a car. And they didnt go off.

People like to say that glocks dont have a safety, but they have 3. The 3 all but guarantee (nothing is 100%) that it cant fire without the trigger being pulled.

[T]

Glocks are semi-notorious for firing when being reholstered if anything gets in the trigger guard during the process.

[Paul.]

Glocks are semi-notorious for firing when being reholstered if anything gets in the trigger guard during the process.

This is what it's really about. It's well established that almost any modern semi-automatic firearm won't go off when jostled or dropped, but what if the trigger gets snagged by a twig? I'd be curious to know what would happen if you pulled a Glock through a briar patch, or threw it into a tree?

To be sure, a good holster will definitely have the trigger area covered over to prevent a trigger snag. I'd be surprised the officer didn't have one of these holsters, and if he did, it's exhibit A in how the world isn't perfect.

Without knowing the details of this case, it's going to be hard to know exactly how the gun went off, and given the usual flow, we probably never will.

As a long-time firearm owner, while the Glock is a well-engineered, fine and functional weapon, I still have the visceral reaction when it comes to the primary user-safety being a "trigger" safety.

The standard response from Glock fans is always the true: if he didn't put his finger on the trigger, it wouldn't have gone off.

But given the alarming number of accidental discharges from people who have more firearms training than most of the rest of society, it should at least give people pause.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I hate the marketing conflation (see also: "Safe Action Pistol") of manual safeties with things like firing pin/drop-safety mechanisms. You might as well count the trigger itself as a "safety" then.

[Paul.]

You might as well count the trigger itself as a "safety" then.

My understanding from the hardcore Glock afficianados is that the trigger is the only safety. Again, worlds, chaos, imperfection.

I just purchased my Springfield XD which is the most Glock-like pistol I've ever owned.

LIke a Glock, it's getting very high reviews for shootability, function and reliability.

It's a polymer construction and has the infamous trigger safey just as the glock does, but it has the grip safety as well.

I'm really pleased it has the grip safety, but I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll ever use it as my carry weapon because I've just not yet grown comfortable with the fact that it still has no "manual safety".

[Paul.]

I like this, though:

The D.C. department liked the lack of an external manual safety, calling that "a paramount consideration" in selecting the Glock, according to the department's Firearms Training Manual. Officers accustomed to firing revolvers that lacked an external safety ? which included the entire D.C. force ? could more easily switch to the Glock than to a pistol that required them to learn how to disengage the safety before shooting, the department reasoned.

A revolver with no 'manual safety' is markedly different than a semi-automatic pistol with a manual safety. Requiring a hard, long trigger pull is a far different thing than the short, "glass-rod" trigger pull of a well-made automatic pistol.

How many accidental discharges occurred with a double-action smith and wesson revolver?

[R]

Double action only pistols all have long, heavy trigger pulls just like revolvers do. The pistols that don't are generally single actions like the 1911, which do have multiple manual safeties.

[Paul.]

Double action only pistols all have long, heavy trigger pulls just like revolvers do.

Ed Zachary.

I have a great HK .40 which I feel relatively (operative word: relatively) comfortable carrying chambered and without a safety. Because it's an auto with a hammer and it has a de-cock option. If you decock it, it has a long, heavy trigger pull to fire the first round. Great carrying piece.

[wareagle]

the answer lies in the work 'report.' What you think it means and what those charged with doing it think it means are not the same.

[Translucent Chum]

SW MP.40 with a soft holster at his waist...

[Translucent Chum]

Or try this http://www.detroitnews.com/art.....207090365/

[Translucent Chum]

Miller was dancing behind the officer and "there was some manipulation along the officer's waistline that he did not control" when the department-issued Smith and Wesson MP-40, a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, fired and struck her in the chest, Godbee said.

Having a hard time figuring out how she was shot in the chest if she was behind him.

[RedDragon6009]

Thank You Chum. This was frustrating me to no end. Now can someone please explain why he thought it was a good idea to own a weapon with no external safety?

[robc]

???

I dont see the point of external safeties.

[Drake]

The pistol was pointed up in it's holster? And somehow the trigger was fully depressed in the holster?

The MP is available with or without a thumb safety. I have not heard which type this guy had. I prefer a thumb safety, but I doubt this story either way.

[R C Dean]

What kind of safeties do those have?

I'm trying to imagine how my 1911 model could go off "accidentally" while it was in my holster, assuming I had one in the pipe.

Even if I didn't put the thumb safety on, there's still the grip safety.

I just can't see it on a 1911, no matter how old and raggedy and soft my holster might be.

[Translucent Chum]

I know only what I've read today about that gun, so take this with a grain of salt. No safety, but a double pull trigger.

[Brett L]

They have the trigger break safeties like Glocks. The one story I've seen that had photos, the holster material go caught up inside the trigger guard, and the guy changed positions and put pressure in such a way that it pulled the trigger above the break. Lucky bastard got a 9mm hole in his pants and a tiny little scratch.

[Brett L]

I'm not surprised that it discharged. Leather holsters get old and can snag the trigger guard leading to unintentional discharge. How the bullet ended up in her lung, though is a mystery, because I can't think of a single carry position where this would happen unless possibly she hugged him from behind and he was carrying under his shoulder.

[Invisible Finger]

Depends what part of his body she was hugging.

[Tulpa the White]

Weak side belt holster would also do it, as it points down and to the rear. If she was much shorter than he was.

[Paul.]

She hugged him from behind. I think that was detailed in the story.

Speaking of which, I always found the shoulder holster to be a bit, funny.

Safe gun handling, rule #1: Never, ever point a gun at anything you don't intend to shoot.

Shoulder holster design: Guns is pointed center chest at the guy walking behind you.

When I had my 1911, and we were trudging through the woods, I always found it..."funny" that my friend walking behind me had a loaded 1911 pointed at his chest. I'm sure he was appreciative that I had the manual safety engaged.

[Eduard van Haalen]

If it weren't such a tragic situation, someone would be quoting Mae West about now.

[Eduard van Haalen]

But to honor the dead, I won't mention anything.

[AuH2O]

Why are they not currently making Escape from Detroit? It would be incredibly plausible, after all.

[SFC B]

Because Toronto doesn't want the indignity of being used for filming a place like Detroit.

What? You think they'd actually film it in Detroit? Are you out of your mind?!!? Movie making equipment is expensive! The insurance for taking the gear into Detroit alone would put the film over budget.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Marijuana legalization supporters in Oregon turned in twice the number of signatures they need...

And the DEA thanks them for the names.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Crooked Timber proves libertarians wrong on workplace freedom:

"What would the world look like if GMU economics professors were treated similarly to workers in low-paid jobs with little protection? No offices ? at best open cubicles, so that a supervisor could stroll by, making sure that the professors were doing the job that they were supposed to be doing. Monitoring of computers to prevent random websurfing. Certainly no air conditioning. Compulsory random drug testing. Body searches, in case professors were sneaking office supplies back home. Monitoring ? at best ? of bathroom breaks, and written demerits and termination of employment for professors who took too many of them."

http://crookedtimber.org/2012/.....epartment/

[Brett L]

I say this as someone who lived out the 2nd half of my 20s and first third of my 30s in a university town, but yes. They should be treated exactly like that. Lazy, worthless, slackers, all.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I find it amusing that the esteemed bloggers at CT think that any of the above 1) describes most unregulated workforces in developed nations, and 2) is reason to institute more workplace regulation.

(As an added bonus, drug testing today is the result of government action, not employer desire.)

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm currently randomly websurfing in my air conditioned office without having taken a drug test in years.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

All because of regulations, my friend. Otherwise, you'd be working shoeless in the sweltering heat, peeing 24/7 into small cups while getting dry-humped by your boss.

[Auric Demonocles]

peeing 24/7 into small cups

So that's why they give us unlimited free beverages!

[wareagle]

and obviously, you are not a professor since you would have long since left if you were.

[jasno]

Same here, but I was just talking about this last night with some unskilled friends in their mid-20's. According to the 3 of them, damn near every job outside the restaurant industry carries the risk of being randomly tested. Not sure I buy it, but it was food for thought.

[SKR]

Art. Jobs in art are almost guaranteed to not drug test. There is a reason I went to art school.

[Libertarian]

(As an added bonus, drug testing today is the result of government action, not employer desire.)

I assumed it was due to lawyers (threat of lawsuit) i.e. "you hired this person to sell shoes and you didn't even take the simple step of testing them for drugs first????"

[Brett L]

Its the primary way for insurance companies to deny workers comp claims to restaurant workers.

[Kaptious Kristen]

My damn job is to be on teh internetz. Probably not reason, but still.

[R C Dean]

I doubt we have those kinds of sweatshops in this country.

We have a couple of call centers here in town, and from what I have seen, they are air conditioned, there aren't body searches or limited bathroom breaks, and there aren't complusory random drug tests.

"What would the world look like if GMU economics professors were treated similarly to workers in low-paid jobs with little protection? No offices ? at best open cubicles, so that a supervisor could stroll by, making sure that the professors were doing the job that they were supposed to be doing. Monitoring of computers to prevent random websurfing. Certainly no air conditioning. Compulsory random drug testing. Body searches, in case professors were sneaking office supplies back home. Monitoring ? at best ? of bathroom breaks, and written demerits and termination of employment for professors who took too many of them."

[Auric Demonocles]

My current job began in our tech support call center. The description I gave earlier matches the call center too.

[Trespassers W]

What would the world look like if GMU economics professors were treated similarly to workers in low-paid jobs with little protection?

Um... they'd all quit? Wrong answer?

[BakedPenguin]

Crooked Timber writers should be treated similar to workers in the state they most admire, North Korea. See how long they keep crying after the move.

[Episiarch]

I'd prefer to just continue to ignore them.

[BakedPenguin]

No Jello Biafra was right. They'll work harder with a gun at their backs for a bowl of rice a day.

[Hell's Librarian]

For some odd reason that song has been resonating a lot with me lately.

[Emmerson Biggins]

If I understood their point, I'm sure I'd completely disagree with it.

[The Hammer]

Wow, the comments are painful:

"This series of posts has been really very good. The first three show how to rigorously rout libertarian pretensions and this one shows how intellectually dishonest is Libertarians' responses to rigorous criticism."

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Nothing more rigorous than a caricature.

[Virginian]

Wow......

Armies of strawmen do not equal rigorous criticism.

[JW]

rigorous criticism

They spelled 'mental masturbation' wrong.

Seriously, as soon as I see anything remotely resembling rigorous criticism at that site, I'll be sure to note it.

[AuH2O]

The body searches is just so face palm worthy.

I can't count the number of time I'm cleaning out my pockets at the end of the day and find a spare pen I slipped in there.

[CampingInYourPark]

Rick Perry's letter to HHS:
http://governor.state.tx.us/fi.....090024.pdf

[Brett L]

I am disappoint that it lacked the phrase "make my day".

[John]

No "Fuck off Slaver".

[Ska]

Also, no heart above the letter i in his signature.

I thought random capitalization and inconsistent lettering was the mark of a psychopath. At least that's what my staff tells me when I write them notes.

[Episiarch]

Yeah, but your "staff" are just the voices in your head. Of course they'd say that.

[Ska]

They do sandwich it between fawning over my cunning plans and unparallelled grooming habits.

[Episiarch]

"Your pustules look so red and shiny today, sir, if I may be so bold."

[db]

[CitATion rEquiRED]

[DesigNate]

About the only time I've been semi proud of Perry.

[CampingInYourPark]

Curious how any of it "works" if half the states refuse to expand medicaid

[R C Dean]

It works a charm.

The feds save a boatload of money (Medicaid matching funds).

The states take the blame.

The po' continue to get exactly the same healthcare they would have if they were on Medicaid.

[Brett L]

Firefox developer: Everybody hates Firefox updates.

I don't have a personal blog precisely because I would regularly post this sort of honest but embarrassing post about my work and get fired.

[wareagle]

but you would be getting fired from places who ignore customer complaints, too, and that sort of behavior ultimately leads to firings anyway. Sadly, it takes a strong, secure company to acknowledge and address such complaints. Anybody know one?

[Apatheist ?_??]

According to their commercials, Dominoes, but I have yet to test whether they have actually followed through on it in reality and likely never will.

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

Still sucks.

[Bryce from Minnesota]

Where the FUCK is my free pizza, you papist shitbag!

[robc]

I get updates when I run "yum update" (or apt-get update on my laptop). So it happens at exactly the regularity I want.

[darius404]

Interesting. I use Firefox, but have never felt frustrated with it, aside from the ridiculous memory it used to use. That actually DID make me consider switching. Other than that issue, I haven't had any complaints. I guess I never noted the updates as being particularly fast or bothersome. Weird. You'd think I would have, if its considered a big deal.

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012.....omney-bus/

Someone cut the alternator belt on the Romney campaign bus. God these people are children.

[R C Dean]

I have to ask:

WTF kind of security is that? Isn't there a Secret Service detail? How do you claim to be providing security when you leave the vehicle completely unattended?

[John]

The perpetrator probably gave the agents guarding the bus $100 and a couple of condoms and told them to go have a good time.

[tarran]

It's not a bus Romney rides in. It's a bus the campaign uses to shuttle staff and volunteers around.

And no, we need to abolish secret police units, not expand the stuff they "protect".

[R C Dean]

It's not a bus Romney rides in.

That helps.

And no, we need to abolish secret police units, not expand the stuff they "protect".

Not arguing, necessarily, but if you're going to provide security, you don't leave the fucking vehicle completely unguarded where anyone can get to it. If the Secret Service had done that, everyone on the detail should have been fired. On the spot.

Given the level of violence and vandalism that Obama supporters are capable of, I'm a little surprised there is apparently no security at all for staff and volunteers.

[tarran]

I'm a little surprised there is apparently no security at all for staff and volunteers.

You shouldn't be...

The Romney campaign has to rationally allocate their funds in pursuit of numerous ends. Every dollar spent guarding a van is one not spent buying an ad, etc.

So, how do they figure out the appropriate level of security? They react to trends as they develop and don't try to protect everything prophylactically.

I don't see anything in this that calls their judgement into question.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Hey, hey, hey, now! That's just heartfelt political activism! Romney's rich with all of his evil Bain Capital money! He can buy a bajillion Chinese-made alternator belts! WE ARE THE 99%!"

I believe that's mental diarrhea goes, right?

[Tulpa the White]

TBH, the fewer places Romney is able to show up the better. It's much easier to be Not Obama when you're not around.

[Brett L]

How to write up a crazy murder story with going into bath saltz!! hysterics.

[John]

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....DLETopNews

Does anyone fully understand the Libor scandal? This seems like a much bigger deal than is being portrayed in the media.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I don't really understand it.

I also don't understand how anybody could be shocked that key interest rates are manipulated and not the result of supply and demand for loanable funds. I thought everybody knew that.

[Brett L]

I believe the deal is that the banks misrepresented the margins between what they had to pay each other to borrow and what they were charging customers. So they had LIBOR set higher than what they were paying for interbank loans so that they could charge LIBOR + x% to their customers.

[R C Dean]

Actually, I think its just the opposite (or, at least, started that way).

The banks starting making up LIBOR during the Great Credit Lockup of 2008. They couldn't set an interbank rate because banks weren't willing to loan to each other.

But, if that came out, the whole thing would fall apart. So they set a make-believe rate so everyone would think it was business as usual.

Once they had the green light to fabricate LIBOR (arguably, the most important single financial metric on the planet), I wouldn't be surprised if they kept fabricating it after the lockup ended to pad their variable rates, though.

[wef]

But the rate is for interbank loans - not loans to rube customers. Are we sure the rates were set higher or lower? Or was this a fake Libor rate - so to con rube customers to pay more on linked instruments - and the true interbank rate was hidden? Frankly, the reporting on this, including in the financial press, has been muddled.

[Brett L]

Apparently, nobody knows. The story I read from an insider made it seem like they were manipulating it to pad margins, but RC seems to believe that they were making up a lower number so that customers would panic and run the bank.

At this point I am totally confused.

[AuH2O]

The current economist has a good breakdown of this. Basically, LIBOR is used to value 800 trillion worth of financial instruments, from the complex to the simple (including your mortgage). Barclay's has been the first to admit it, but there were clearly other banks involved.

Apparently, central banks may have been involved as well, keeping it at artificial levels to prop up confidence in banks.

Now, if the central banks were involved, that's bad, but if they aren't, that's worse for the banks because we are talking big tobacco level class action suits.

[Ska]

And it's not just loans from financial institutions that are based on LIBOR. Private equity groups and private financing arrangements are based on LIBOR as well.

[AuH2O]

Yeah, I was using mortgages as the easiest example, but I would suppose that would be why The Economist kept calling them financial instruments.

[Bitter Taxpayer]

You know, I tried to get HnR interested in this last week, when the story broke. But would they listen to me? Nooooooooooo.

[AuH2O]

Dude, don't be an HnR hipster.

[Bitter Taxpayer]

How about an HnR hipster-doofus? Is that allowed?

[Kaptious Kristen]

The only Libor I know of is Libor Uher, whose K2 video is awesome.

[Mo' $parky]

You know some shit is about to go down when you see a woman with a knife and a brick!

nvestigators say Dobbins was apparently upset that her son's father had a new girlfriend at the party. Police say Dobbins cut one woman's ear with a knife and hit another with a brick. She's also accused of hitting two other women in the brawl that ensued.

[Brett L]

Maybe she was collecting for the Red Cross.

[Episiarch]

Mr. Munch told her to do it.

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012.....an-lakoff/

Behold the stupid that is George Lakoff.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Well at least if I see somebody carrying a little blue book I now know to avoid them.

[John]

Lakoff seems to be a font of most things retarded.

[tarran]

OH MY GOD........

Do these people seriously think that Orwell's Newspeak was a roadmap?!? And they're proud of this?!?

Talk about being prejudiced and unreasoning!

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Syrian Dictator Bashar Assad Learning English By Way of Annoying Email Forwards

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/.....h_language

What's the over-under on him having AnonBot as a FB friend?

[Bitter Taxpayer]

That makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

[Brett L]

The last atmospheric nuclear test.

This bitch EMP'd radios in Hawaii from 900 miles away.

[John]

We'll Meet Again
Don't Know Where
Don't Know When...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb0mxcpPOU

[db]

This should have been in the soundtrack for one of the Fallout games.

[Apatheist ?_??]

That video at the end looks pretty cool, I'll have to watch it later.

[T]

If you haven't seen Trinity and Beyond I highly recommend it. Bonus points for Shatnerian narration.

[Warty]

Many of the electrons from the blast didn't fall down into the Earth's atmosphere, but instead lingered in space for months, trapped by Earth's magnetic field, creating an artificial radiation belt high above our planet's surface.

Fuuuuuuuuck.

[Warty]

NPR gives us something worthwhile.

[AuH2O]

A website for people who think that Jezebel isn't feminist enough. Yes, there are people that crazy out there.

The best is that people from Jezebel email in to take offense.

[Warty]

I like the tin-eared misuse of animated gifs, too.

[AuH2O]

Warty, that is just your whiteness talking. By complaining about the misuse of gifs, you are just trying to hold down strong women of color.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You ever try to hold down a 440 lb feminist? Not saying it's impossible, but it'd take effort.

[Warty]

It's pretty tough to hold a mount position against a feminist whose belly is so large that it prevents you from getting both knees on the mat. I suggest you switch to side control, and I particularly like the kesa getame variation for controlling someone.

[Coeus]

"It's OK when we do it, because... Patriarchy" Part 1,387:

Date rape.

[AuH2O]

Holy fucking shit, that woman who wrote the article is deranged. I hope to god any date of hers reads this, because if she doesn't get oral she sounds like she'd pull a knife.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I normally like Louie but I thought that scene was very rapey and certainly not funny at all.

[John]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mSuawMl4lOo

Video of dude crashing the greatest RC plan I have ever seen, an eight turbine RC B 52.

[tarran]

Original video has been taken down:

This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.

Here it is, I think, from a different angle.

[John]

Damn,

Sorry about that.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I had an ex who dated a Detroit police officer immediately prior to meeting me. She broke it off after he got really drunk at a bar and pointed his gun at her head as a "joke". When she tried to report this to his superiors, they basically just laughed it off and took absolutely no disciplinary action or investigation.

[db]

Cripes. What did you have to do to get here to leave you?

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Not want to have children NOW NOW NOW.

[Putin Picks on Little Girls]

TMZ has obtained the 911 call placed moments after former U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson allegedly committed a hit-and-run last month ... then suffered a seizure, and crashed his car AGAIN.

It all unfolds during the phone call -- placed by a passenger in the first car Bryson allegedly hit.

The passenger tells the operator, "We have a drunk driver that just hit us and fled. He hit us twice, we're pursuing him now." During the pursuit, the driver says Bryson hit a second car.

After the second accident, 68-year-old Bryson was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released the following day.

Bryson was cited for hit-and-run in connection with the first accident -- but as we reported, the D.A. rejected the case and no charges were filed.

Despite the passenger calling Bryson a "drunk driver," cops say drugs or alcohol do NOT appear to have been a factor in the accidents. Only minor injuries were reported.

http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/09/.....t-and-run/

[Tulpa the White]

He was probably tweeting his bulge to porn actresses, not drunk.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Wow, something on Hit and Run which involves a hit and run!

[Eduard van Haalen]

I never met a meta I didn't like.

[ant1sthenes]

How do they know he didn't have a seizure before the first accident? Anyway, it's a fucked situation, but aside from the fact that it involved a public official, I don't see where I should care -- no one died, the story seems to check out, and there's no clear wrongdoing on anyone's part.

[Kaptious Kristen]

When it was 104 degrees on Saturday I bought some kickass ski pants.

That is all.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'm-a go play The Sims. Behave yourselves. Or not. I don't actually care.

[I, Kahn OClast]

Almost a decade ago I came up with an idea of forming a company whose sole business would be to purchase, en masse, insurance claims from doctors at some percentage of face value and then doing all the processing, filing and collecting. I polled a number of physicians and the result was 100% positive. If they could save on the personnel, and the delay in reimbursement, and all the other crap, they would happily sell to me at some 60-75% of face value. So no surprise that more insurance and more bureaucracy would have them heading to the hills.

Another aside: My doctor takes no insurance whatsoever and so charges me less. I am free to file claims myself and he is free to have a 2 person office and a credit card processing machine. He also accepts cash.

[Terr]

I've been paying most offices with my HSA card without charging the insurance company and have gotten some solid discounts. I've been to one office that wanted to charge me more for a direct cash/credit payment.

[Eduard van Haalen]

More news from the most transparent administration in the history of the multiverse:

U.S. Justice Department attorney threatens local reporter, says not to quote or cite what the attorney says at a public meeting: Reporter wouldn't want to get on DoJ's "bad side."

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press objects.

Extra Bonus Points: What if this happened under George W. Bush?

http://www.mainjustice.com/201.....c-hearing/

[Eduard van Haalen]

"An Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday denounced a ruling in Germany banning ritual circumcision, saying the decision infringes upon religious freedom and evokes memories of the worst chapter in German history, the defeat of the German soccer team by Manchester United."

Ha ha, they actually said the Holocaust.

http://abcnews.go.com/Internat....._uFTJHl-So