Obama Leads Mitt, Men Feel Insecure at Homeland Security, Son of Sam Doesn't Like Guns: P.M. Links

• 
  

  Obama leads Romney by nine percent in the latest Fox News poll. That's well outside the margin of error and a clear sign that Lousy Option A is now preferred over Lousy Option B.

• Hacked emails published by Wikileaks reveal that U.S. intelligence officials have panopticon-style surveillance systems in place all across the country as part of the TrapWire Program. Oddly, Wikileaks has been driven offline for days.
• A lawsuit filed by a male Homeland Security employee alleges sexual harassment and reverse sex discrimination during the tenure of Janet Napolitano.
• Primarily because the economy around the world is so sucky, the International Energy Agency cut its global crude oil demand forecasts for 2012 and 2013. With little money floating around, the IEA sees less call for energy in the months to come.
• A Virginia woman says she was fined $5,000 for, among other things, running "unlicensed events" at her farm, like a birthday party for a friend's child. She and her pitchfork-wielding friends (yes, really) showed up at a zoning board meeting to express their displeasure.
• Anti-gun-rights activists have a new ally. David Berkowitz, the imprisoned serial killer known as "Son of Sam," thinks "society has to take the glory out of guns." Well .. of course he doesn't want the rest of us packing heat.
• Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo who planned a bombing attack against fellow soldiers in support of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, will instead spend life in prison.

Don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily AM/PM updates for more content.

Comments

[generic Brand]

NJ mom sues over breast-feeding video-turned-porn

Months later, Sahoury Googled herself. She was shocked by the results: numerous links to pornographic sites and videos containing her name. She clicked on one and saw the breast-feeding video spliced with a woman of "similar features and stature" performing sex acts, according to the lawsuit. Sahoury then Googled her infant daughter's name, which also returned links to pornographic sites and videos.

I'll be in my bunk when I get home from work.

[RBS]

Way to go Yahoo, now millions more people will see this video.

[generic Brand]

That was my second thought as well.

[rts]

Streisand effect.

[A Serious Man]

Your daily dose of schadenfreude: Fareed Zakaria apologizes for plagerizing New Yorker in article on gun control.

[Suki]

Serves the New Yorker right for plagiarizing Ziggy.

[hamilton]

Charlie Pierce being vomit-inducing on the race of the Chosen One: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/p.....e-him-0912

[hamilton]

"In theory, at least, all presidents are servants of the people who elected them. In the case of Barack Obama, it has seemed from the start that the idea as applied to him was more than mere metaphor. He is the first president in my lifetime whom the country felt obligated to remind that he know his place."

[barf barf barf]

[Zeb]

" He is the first president in my lifetime whom the country felt obligated to remind that he know his place."

Well, hopefully that is the beginning of a trend.

[RBS]

the country felt obligated to remind that he know his place."

Racist!

[Pro Libertate]

Obama sucks so much that racism could make a big comeback. Is that what we want?

Vote Romney, 2012.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect that Mormon Dude.

[Coeus]

It's gotta be racist. It can't have anything to do with expanding executive powers to the point he might as well be King George.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Opposition to King George was really based on religious bigotry against Anglicans. Everyone knows that.

[Anonymous Coward]

After over 100 years of the Imperial Presidency, it's about time the American people got around to telling its elected officials "momento mori".

[Red Rocks Rockin]

In theory, at least, all presidents are servants of the people who elected them

Well, yeah, in theory--but the reality is that over the last 110 years, the trend has largely been towards personality cults that "can make things happen," as opposed to consul-like chief executives who don't pretend they are bigger than the office.

If making Obama "know his place" means that the President's office is neutered into a caretaker role for him and his replacements, then maybe the 21st century won't suck so much after all.

[The Hammer]

Dunphy, if you want to know what an echo chamber really is, go read the comments at Esquire.

[Coeus]

White people are skittish, racists are violent. Best not to run, lest somebody think you should be chased (RIP Trayvon).

Ugh.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Obama leads Romney by nine percent in the latest Fox News poll.

Languishing! The goddamn campaign is languishing!

[The Hammer]

People like that reform. Maybe he should get him some.

[Fist of Etiquette]

David Berkowitz, the imprisoned serial killer known as "Son of Sam," thinks "society has to take the glory out of guns."

Yeah, but what does Harvey think?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

woof. woof. gunz r bad. woof woof. woof

[rts]

Red Dawn remake trailer

This looks terrible.

[Ska]

Who in their right mind would click that link?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I clicked it. Avenge me. AVEEEEENGE ME!

[T]

And you're surprised why, exactly?

[A Serious Man]

The Norks look monolithically evil, wheras at least in the original there was the sympathetic Cuban officer. The original was much more nuanced than is given credit for.

[Translucent Chum]

One of my favorite characters was the replacement Spetsnaz officer.

[Episiarch]

When they kill the Russian soldiers who are just kids like them is actually a pretty damn good scene.

Even when John Milius is going way over the top, he's still really talented.

[Fluffy]

The movie has to be great. It presents an utterly absurd strategic situation, but still gets my buy-in the entire time.

It's like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK in that regard.

[A Serious Man]

I also liked the scene where they execute the kid who colloborated with the Russians by carrying a tracking device. It actually comes close to depicting the realities of occupation and resistance.

[BakedPenguin]

After watching First Blood again, I would agree with that. The other Rambo movies are ridiculous from the start. FB, on the other hand, starts with a completely plausible premise. From there, it so gradually boils the frog, you don't notice it's fantasy until most of the movie is done. And by then, you want to follow it to the end.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC

[Translucent Chum]

And I'm boycotting because I didn't get hired as an extra when they shot the movie here.

[Pro Libertate]

When the original was terrible, what can you expect?

[Translucent Chum]

All that hate is gonna burn you up inside.

[Episiarch]

It already has. He's just an empty shell at this point.

[JW]

You spelled awesome wrong.

[rts]

The original wasn't terrible terrible, as others have noted above.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Even worse than I could have imagined.

Are any of the people who worked on the original involved in the remake?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The bad part about remaking Red Dawn is that there's very few plausible scenarios for a foreign invasion here, unless the country cracked up into more easily conquerable regions. Sure, the Chinese MIGHT be able to pull something off like that, but would they be able to sustain an invasion on the scale that the Russians/Latinos did in the first? Probably not.

[Fist of Etiquette]

She and her pitchfork-wielding friends (yes, really) showed up at a zoning board meeting to express their displeasure.

Ooo, I sure hope they filed all the necessary pitchfork permits.

[LarryA]

The right to keep and bear farm implements.

[Zeb]

What is "reverse discrimination"? You're either discriminating or you aren't.
(I know what it means, but it's always annoyed me. It's discrimination whether or not the victim is part of a traditionally discriminated-against group.)

[hamilton]

If someone says you're a victim of reverse-discrimination, aren't they discriminating against you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Only white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant males can be racists or sexists. Everyone is just making up for past offenses against their race/sex.

[Emmerson Biggins]

+1.

Tow the Libertarian Lion, and don't ever use the phrase "reverse discrimination". Please.

[Mickey Rat]

"Reverse discrimination" refers to being discriminated against specifically to make up for other people being discriminated against. It is the rcognition of the absurdity and moral bankruptcy of such a policy.

[Gojira]

Four bears break into a cabin, drink 100 beers.

[Episiarch]

So that's what Warty and his brothers were doing last weekend.

[Pip]

"I don't know why any bear needs 100 beers"

/MD First Lady

[Pro Libertate]

If one of those beers should happen to fall. . . .

[Pope Jimbo]

Nilsen says paw prints on the cabin windows and bear excrement outside the dwelling leave little doubt they were responsible.

I guess bears really do shit in the woods even when there is a perfectly good cabin to use. Who knew?

[Episiarch]

Hacked emails published by Wikileaks reveal that U.S. intelligence officials have panopticon-style surveillance systems in place all across the country as part of the TrapWire Program.

Our very own SCORPION STARE. Yay.

[JW]

Well yeah, CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN is coming this November. On a Tuesday, I think.

[Episiarch]

Well, Bob and BASHFUL INCENDIARY have to deal with GOD GAME BLACK first.

[JW]

SPOILERS!

[Episiarch]

Just buy the fucking thing and read it already!

[JW]

I just got Jugglers of Worlds, so that comes first.

[generic Brand]

What the hell are you guys talking about? I tried using google for a while and got completely turned around.

[Trespassers W]

Laundry.

[Episiarch]

This.

[Episiarch]

Laundry.

[Episiarch]

The Laundry series.

[ClubMedSux]

Anti-gun-rights activists have a new ally. David Berkowitz, the imprisoned serial killer known as "Son of Sam," thinks "society has to take the glory out of guns." Well .. of course he doesn't want the rest of us packing heat.

Son of a bitch. Son of Sam. Son of a BITCH.

[Mad Scientist]

Sorry, but I don't take advice from guys who follow orders given by their dogs. I mean, I have no way of knowing if the dog has my best interests in mind.

[T]

I'd be handing out a lot more treats if my dogs were running the joint. And that squirrel who taunts them over the back fence would be a chew toy.

[Mad Scientist]

If elected, I promise (this is the dog talkin' now) a steak in every bowl! Chewable bumpers on the cars in every garage! And an end to the tyranny of covered cat litter boxes!

[Pip]

Speaking of dogs:

Prosecutors: Man admits beating woman with dead dog

Tadeo faces up to 20 years in prison on the aggravated assault charge and five years in prison on the felony animal cruelty charge.

The incident happened in the victim's Foxcroft condominium apartment on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.

Tadeo kicked and beat the woman, kicked and stomped the dog, a Pomeranian, after it rushed to its owner's defense, snapped the dog's neck and used the dead animal to beat the woman more, authorities said.

Sandy Springs police Capt. Steve Rose described the incident as "probably one of the worst cases of animal cruelty that we've ever seen."

The man had been drinking heavily, police said.

http://www.ajc.com/news/north-.....93197.html

[sage]

Sorry, but Lolz!

[Pip]

What if it was his neighbor's dog instead?

[Mad Scientist]

Was it his neighbor's dog? Hell, if he's anything like my neighbors' dogs then I definitely don't trust him.

[A Serious Man]

Democratic plans for convention leaked.

Dem convention will include some Republican speakers as well as "social contrasts" from people on issues like gay marriage, birth control, and taxation to differentiate between Obama, the champion of the middle class, and Romney, who is out of touch.

[RBS]

A girl I went to school with had this to say about Obama today:

President Obama signed into law healthcare reform, Wall Street reform, credit card industry reform, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, federal hate crimes legislation, and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. He appointed two progressive women to the Supreme Court, ended the war in Iraq, authorized the raid that brought down Osama bin Laden, turned around the US auto industry, stopped the federal government from defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court and halted deportation of DREAMers. He has run a White House free of major scandals. Oh, and he ordered the killing of some pirates.

[Episiarch]

Ordering killing is good?

[RBS]

Apparently. At least since 2008.

[JW]

Other than the DOMA part, I'm having trouble seeing anything that he did that was any good.

[The Hammer]

Intentions, not results.

[Chloe]

Can't stop stupid sometimes

[JW]

I always point them to the oustanding Greenwald piece he did in December. It's long, but tears Obama a new asshole.

[JW]

The candidate supported by progressives ? President Obama ? himself holds heinous views on a slew of critical issues and himself has done heinous things with the power he has been vested. He has slaughtered civilians ? Muslim children by the dozens ? not once or twice, but continuously in numerous nations with drones, cluster bombs and other forms of attack. He has sought to overturn a global ban on cluster bombs. He has institutionalized the power of Presidents ? in secret and with no checks ? to target American citizens for assassination-by-CIA, far from any battlefield. He has waged an unprecedented war against whistleblowers, the protection of which was once a liberal shibboleth. He rendered permanently irrelevant the War Powers Resolution, a crown jewel in the list of post-Vietnam liberal accomplishments, and thus enshrined the power of Presidents to wage war even in the face of a Congressional vote against it. His obsession with secrecy is so extreme that it has become darkly laughable in its manifestations, and he even worked to amend the Freedom of Information Act (another crown jewel of liberal legislative successes) when compliance became inconvenient.

[ant1sthenes]

Why is this shocking? Progressives aren't liberals. In fact, they're probably less liberal than a lot of conservatives.

[JW]

He has entrenched for a generation the once-reviled, once-radical Bush/Cheney Terrorism powers of indefinite detention, military commissions, and the state secret privilege as a weapon to immunize political leaders from the rule of law. He has shielded Bush era criminals from every last form of accountability. He has vigorously prosecuted the cruel and supremely racist War on Drugs, including those parts he vowed during the campaign to relinquish ? a war which devastates minority communities and encages and converts into felons huge numbers of minority youth for no good reason. He has empowered thieving bankers through the Wall Street bailout, Fed secrecy, efforts to shield mortgage defrauders from prosecution, and the appointment of an endless roster of former Goldman, Sachs executives and lobbyists. He's brought the nation to a full-on Cold War and a covert hot war with Iran, on the brink of far greater hostilities. He has made the U.S. as subservient as ever to the destructive agenda of the right-wing Israeli government. His support for some of the Arab world's most repressive regimes is as strong as ever.

[JW]

Most of all, America's National Security State, its Surveillance State, and its posture of endless war is more robust than ever before. The nation suffers from what National Journal's Michael Hirsh just christened "Obama's Romance with the CIA." He has created what The Washington Post just dubbed "a vast drone/killing operation," all behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy and without a shred of oversight. Obama's steadfast devotion to what Dana Priest and William Arkin called "Top Secret America" has severe domestic repercussions as well, building up vast debt and deficits in the name of militarism that create the pretext for the "austerity" measures which the Washington class (including Obama) is plotting to impose on America's middle and lower classes.

[Killazontherun]

Anthony Gregory has similarly powerful remarks:

But Barack Obama is really what has made the left-liberal illusion fold under the weight of its own absurdity. Here we had the perfect paragon of left-liberal social democracy. He beat the centrist Hillary Clinton then won the national election. He had a Democratic Congress for two years. He had loads of political capital by virtue of following a completely failed and unpopular Republican administration. The world welcomed him. The center cheered him. And what did he do?

He shoveled money toward corporate America, banks and car manufacturers. He championed the bailouts of the same Wall Street firms his very partisans blamed for the financial collapse. He picked the CEO of General Electric to oversee the unemployment problem. He appointed corporate state regulars for every major role in financial central planning. After guaranteeing a new era of transparency, he conducted all his regulatory business behind a shroud of unprecedented secrecy. He planned his health care scheme, the crown jewel of his domestic agenda, in league with the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

He continued the war in Iraq, even extending Bush's schedule with a goal of staying longer than the last administration planned. He tripled the U.S. presence in Afghanistan then took over two years to announce the eventual drawdown to bring it back to only double the Bush presence.

[Killazontherun]

He widened the war in Pakistan, launching drone attacks at a dizzying pace. He started a war on false pretenses with Libya, shifting the goal posts and doing it all without Congressional approval. He bombed Yemen and lied about it.

He enthusiastically signed on to warrantless wiretapping, renditioning, the Patriot Act, prison abuse, detention without trial, violations of habeas corpus, and disgustingly invasive airport security measures. He deported immigrants more than Bush did. He increased funding for the drug war in Mexico. He invoked the Espionage Act more than all previous presidents combined, tortured a whistleblower, and claimed the right to unilaterally kill any U.S. citizen on Earth without even a nod from Congress or a shrug from the courts.

The left-liberals who stand by this war criminal and Wall Street shill have made their choice: better to have the militarism and police state, so long as it means a little more influence over domestic politics, even if that too is compromised by corporate interference, than it is to embrace a radical antiwar agenda that might complicate their domestic aspirations.

[JW]

And the coup de grace:

The simple fact is that progressives are supporting a candidate for President who has done all of that ? things liberalism has long held to be pernicious. I know it's annoying and miserable to hear. Progressives like to think of themselves as the faction that stands for peace, opposes wars, believes in due process and civil liberties, distrusts the military-industrial complex, supports candidates who are devoted to individual rights, transparency and economic equality. All of these facts ? like the history laid out by Stoller in that essay ? negate that desired self-perception. These facts demonstrate that the leader progressives have empowered and will empower again has worked in direct opposition to those values and engaged in conduct that is nothing short of horrific. So there is an eagerness to avoid hearing about them, to pretend they don't exist. And there's a corresponding hostility toward those who point them out, who insist that they not be ignored.

[Mickey Rat]

"Progressives like to think of themselves as the faction that stands for..."

Greenwald did not read the Progressive fine print

"Except where such stands interfere with our cherished goals".

None of those stands are principles to progressives.

[JW]

They think they stand for them, which is all that matters in this case.

[Fluffy]

"But people need health care!"

That's their answer. I'm not using snark. That's literally their answer.

Always remember that progressives are always genuinely incredulous that voters (in their view) don't "vote their interests".

The idea that a middle-class person might vote against a candidate promising lots of government handouts for the middle class on the principle that handouts are wrong is literally inexplicable to them. Thomas Frank has made a career out of his perpetual incredulity in this regard.

But if people should "vote their interests", then it follows that people should vote for the guy who wants to force other people to pay for their healthcare, even if that guy slaughters some foreigners. The lives of foreigners are not a middle-class "interest", and therefore they are of no import.

[JW]

As I've noted before, I'm going to bleed these collectivist fucks dry, when I retire.

[Killazontherun]

God fucking fuckety fuck that's painful to read.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

i'm copying it - great cause for discussion w/pro obama types.

pretty awesome stuff

[Pro Libertate]

I'm available. I just need five minutes to tell them what I think.

[RBS]

That's not how it works. You're supposed to tell them what they think.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Because the American middle class really gives a damn about some arcane bullshit regarding birth control and gay marriage.

Give me a fucking break.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The American middle class doesn't give a shit, but the striver poor college students that make up Obama's base sure do.

[Fatty Bolger]

Those kids are going to be too busy doing something important (like playing XBox, watching TV, or getting laid) to vote for Obama this time around.

[ZengaFooo]

That actually makes a lot of sene dude. Wow.

http://www.in-privacy.tk

[Archduke PantsFan]

MEMO from work:

The Corporation's strong commitment to sustainability is demonstrated by our actions - and we are continuously looking for opportunities to reduce our environmental footprint and serve as an example to others. One of the opportunities we have is to further reduce the use of desktop paper calendars and agendas.

As we approach the time to put in your orders for desktop calendars and agendas, we encourage you to think about the environmental impact and use the electronic calendar in Outlook instead.

If you haven't already, we hope that you will make the switch and help us reduce the number of paper calendars and agendas used. However, we do understand that some employees will still need to place an order. If you do require a paper calendar or agenda for 2013, please discuss it with your manager before Monday, Sept. 17, 2012.

We realize there are always more improvements we can make to further enhance our sustainability. Please email your ideas on green practices and how we can reduce our environmental footprint to SustainableDev

Makes me want to get a dayrunner.

[JW]

Do you have those TPS reports I asked for?

[Dunphy (the real one)]

mmmmm....yea

[Suthenboy]

"...improvements we can make to further enhance our sustainability."

I grow trees. Here is an idea; order more calendars so I can plant more trees.

APF, if you find out who came up with that bullshit, kick them in the kneecap for me.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Outlook is such a POS email client that one forgets what a horrible calendar application it is.

... Hobbit

[rts]

The Persied meteor shower peaks this weekend, and is forecast to be quite active.

[Proprietist]

Freaking L.A. Lakers. They seriously suck.
- Jealous Dallas Mavericks fan

[EDG reppin' LBC]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_.....les-lakers

Niiiiiice. Glad Howard will be a Laker, but super glad we moved Bynum. Good riddance Andy. Plus, we keep Gasol. Very nice.

[Proprietist]

My only hope now is that Dwight hates Kobe's guts and wants to leave next summer for Dallas.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Give it time. 😉

[Pip]

A place to plant the Seasteading flag?

A vast "raft" of volcanic rocks covering 10,000 sq miles (26,000 sq km) of ocean has been spotted by a New Zealand military aircraft.

A naval ship was forced to change course in order to avoid the cluster of buoyant rocks, located 1,000 miles off the New Zealand coast.

The unusual phenomenon was probably the result of pumice being released from an underwater volcano, experts said.

One navy officer described it as the "weirdest thing" he had seen at sea.

Lieutenant Tim Oscar told the AFP news agency: "As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell.

"The [top of the] rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant white colour. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," the officer said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scie.....t-19207810

[generic Brand]

I like it in theory (like a Laputa of the sea), but I don't see how you could build much on it as it would start to sink further and further. You'd have to have further flotation devices or engines to keep it afloat.

[Coeus]

Can we finally put that whole "Women are more psychologically resistant then men" canard to rest now?

One out of three women suffer from PTSD stemming from childbirth.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Isn't that just post-partum depression? They're seriously trying to say that having a baby is the same as being shot at and watching people get killed in real time?

[Coeus]

I'd imagine that for that same third, passing a kidney stone would precipitate a full-on psychotic break.

[Fluffy]

"One out of Three Women Now on SSDI" - tomorrow's headline

[Coeus]

Ah hell, didn't think of that. Now it makes sense.

[Xenocles]

Have we started the fantasy football league yet?

[generic Brand]

Yes, what is this FFL I have heard about? and how might I partake?

[Archduke PantsFan]

Just a rumour.

[generic Brand]

Trapped in office because of a storm starting at (no joke) 5:23 PM. SEND HELP!

[db]

I'll drink a beer for ya.

[generic Brand]

As long as you didn't drink my beer for me.

[Coeus]

Coolest swimming pool you will ever see.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

I think that this is a serious contender.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu5nlu4IBN8

... Hobbit

[darius404]

Feds: Mississippi county runs 'school-to-prison pipeline'

Officials in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, have operated "a school-to-prison pipeline" that violates the constitutional rights of juveniles by incarcerating them for alleged school disciplinary infractions, some as minor as defiance, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

"Students most affected by this system are African-American children and children with disabilities," the Justice Department said.

The federal agency's civil rights division seeks "meaningful negotiations" in 60 days to end the constitutional violations or else a federal lawsuit would be filed against state, county and local officials in Meridian, according to a Justice Department letter dated Friday to those officials.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

lol. from newsfeed

"A Dallas police sergeant named Mark Johnson has been transferred and reassigned to an overnight shift while being investigated over an incident involving a Chick-fil-A sandwich.

Johnson, you see, is said to have entered into the station's briefing room with a Chick-fil-A sandwich on "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" ? a day organized by Mike Huckabee in support of comments made by Chick-fil-A's CEO regarding same-sex marriage. Two lesbian officers at the station filed a complaint claiming that Johnson placed the sandwich directly in front of them during the briefing ? which allegedly included information about the Chick-fil-A demonstrations going on that day ? and acted in a manner that left them "embarrassed and humiliated" because he had been trying to "send them a message."

[Coeus]

Reminds me of this.

[Coeus]

What tha fuck?

Indian superheros are weird.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Thanks for sharing that!

[Coeus]

Damn juries deadlocked on this even though the cops were shown to have lied. Where the fuck do they find these fucking people?

[Suki]

The phone book?

[Coeus]

A random selection would not yield this result. Jury selection is a fucking joke.