Subway Ad Blocking in New York, Postal Service Defaults (Again), Spain Needs Big Bucks: P.M. Links

Scott Shackford | 9.28.2012 4:30 PM

Heckler's veto wins in New York City: New Metropolitan Transit Authority guidelines will block ads they think will "imminently incite or provoke violence." Do Old Navy ads count?
An audit of the country's main banks shows that Spain would need 59.3 billion euros (that's $76.3 billion) in order to ride out its current economic downturn.
Dozens of inmates have escaped from an Iraqi jail in Kikrit. Ten policemen were killed and al-Qaeda is suspected of involvement.
The United States Postal Service will default for the second time this weekend, unable to meet its obligations to fund in advance the health benefits for retirees.
The United Nations has a whole list of potential global taxes various interests would like to pursue. Read about it now or wait for it to show up in e-mail forwards.
The ACLU lost its bid to get documents describing CIA interrogation methods following the 9/11 attacks released. A judge accepted the government's arguments that the records are sensitive to national security.
A poll by Fox News has President Barack Obama ahead by five points over Mitt Romney.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily AM/PM updates for more content

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

NEXT: Ohio Voter Rolls Primed for Fraud

Politics

Hide Comments (106)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

Mike M. 13 years ago

First!
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

The United Nations has a whole list of potential global taxes various interests would like to pursue.

Justice Roberts approves.
1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  I don't know if I hate anyone more than I hate Roberts. Except for the Giants.
  1. Episiarch 13 years ago
    
    Hey Auric, I watched Last Resort last night. Pretty good, with some potential promise. It was a little stilted and by-the-numbers in terms of action and dialogue, but it's a fucking pilot episode, so I definitely want to see where it goes. And the captain's speech about "do not fuck with us, we will nuke you" was pretty good.
    1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
      
      Thanks for the review. And the captain's speech about "do not fuck with us, we will nuke you" was pretty good. Also "do not fuck with us, we will nuke you" is the summary of my foreign policy.
    2. JW 13 years ago
      
      If you missed it, as I did, ABC has the episode available online.
A Serious Man 13 years ago

What about those Soviet-style ads featuring Mikey Bloomberg and his goon squad? Those would definitely incite me to violence.
1. mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
  
  That's because you're a crazy, rat fucking tea bagger just waiting for your marching orders from O'LimBeckitty.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

A poll by Fox News has President Barack Obama ahead by five points over Mitt Romney.

When Fox is oversampling Democrats, then you know things are bad.
1. pmains 13 years ago
  
  Don't know if you're serious or sarcastic here, but I haven't heard anyone come forward to explain or defend the weighting of the polls so far. The best attempt I've seen is, "well, the polls are usually right, so we should trust them this time." That doesn't really answer the question of why the methodology is correct.
2. Episiarch 13 years ago
  
  If I were to put my conspiratorial campaign manager hat on (it's a propeller beanie), I would say that this might be an effort to spur TEAM RED dopes to vote because the feared Obama is ahead, and to get TEAM BLUE dopes to be apathetic because they just assume the Anointed One will win.
  1. Jerry on the road 13 years ago
    
    There was an article out today that says the Romney campaing has low expectations for the debates. Is he counting on low voter turnout?
Coeus 13 years ago

Probably late to the party on this one, but have y'all seen this site?

Called "the best measure of the overall regulatory burden" by the Wall Street Journal, Ten Thousand Commandments is dedicated to informing citizens about the hidden tax of government regulation of the economy. Since 1993.
1. Almanian's Evil Twin 13 years ago
  
  I hadn't seen it - thanks. Now all my friends have been informed...:) Good info, albeit depressing.
2. Alack 13 years ago
  
  Yup! Found it when I was doing research to start my own running count of the Federal Register. Now I use it for my monthly econ updates on Facebook, alongside the numbers from the BLS and my compiled employment spreadsheets.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

New Metropolitan Transit Authority guidelines will block ads they think will "imminently incite or provoke violence."

Well, as long as it's not arbitrary or subjective.
1. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  And, of course, to get an ad removed, all you have to do is threaten violence. QED, right?
  
  What a bunch of morons.
  1. pmains 13 years ago
    
    So, basically, had Pamela Geller smashed some cars outside of the so-called 9/11 mosque, she would have gotten her way?
    1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
      
      I don't agree with your choice of paint color, but I will defend to the death your right to spray it.
    2. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      Dunno about that, but if she spraypaints an ad in the NY subway, I think that pretty much means they have to ban it, unless they want to get into a (losing) fight over viewpoint discrimination.
      1. pmains 13 years ago
        
        I'm wondering if they're not opening themselves to another lawsuit anyway.
        
        But, let's say Pamela went around NYC spray painting things she found inciteful. Not just ads, but anything. What kind of power do we give to the easily offended? Is it just subway ads they have the power to remove?
        
        JW 13 years ago
        
        SHE HATES THESE CANS!
        
        ant1sthenes 13 years ago
        
        I'm pretty sure if she vandalizes the ground zero mosque, they have to tear it down.
2. Caleb Turberville 13 years ago
  
  Mona Eltahawy was acting in a violent manner by vandalizing the poster. Ban her actions because violence can be determined objectively. The non-violent poster should be protected.
  1. Caleb Turberville 13 years ago
    
    I'm being naive, aren't I?
    1. T 13 years ago
      
      Lil bit.
A Serious Man 13 years ago

Skydiver to attempt to break world record jump October 8th. The jump will be from 23 miles up and may break the sound barrier.

Is that even possible? Can a person ever reach a terminal velocity that's faster than the speed of sound? I know the atmospheric conditions and drag are siginificantly different that high, but it still seems like a stretch.
1. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  Even more interesting: can a person survive breaking the sound barrier during freefall?
  1. db 13 years ago
    
    If the density of air is low enough, sure. The sound barrier will likely be broken early on in the jump when the speed of sound is slow due to low density. Hopefully the reverse transonic transition will occur at low speed as well.
    1. db 13 years ago
      
      Sorry, speed of sound in air is only related to temperature. But very high up, the temp and density are very low.
      1. db 13 years ago
        
        Never mind, density does matter. But my point stands.
      2. db 13 years ago
        
        Never mind, density does matter. But my point stands.
        
        darius404 13 years ago
        
        It stands so well it had to be posted twice!
    2. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      Hopefully the reverse transonic transition will occur at low speed as well.
      
      Won't it happen at (or, I suppose, slightly below) the speed of sound?
      1. R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        Never mind, just processed your point.
2. tarran 13 years ago
  
  It's actually been done!
  
  An retired air force test pilot who is advising the Red Bull team an who is the current record holder did break the sound barrier when he made his jump back in the 50's.
  1. rts 13 years ago
    
    Not quite. Joseph Kittinger
    
    ... he fell for four minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 614 miles per hour (988 km/h)[4][5] before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m).
    
    Mach 1 is over 1200 km/h.
    1. kinnath 13 years ago
      
      mach goes down as altitude goes up.
      1. rts 13 years ago
        
        Sure (chart), but never goes below ~295 m/s or ~1060 km/h until you get to 70km+ in altitude.
        
        rts 13 years ago
        
        *sigh* put an ampersand between the ".svg" and "page=1" to get the link to work.
        
        db 13 years ago
        
        Hmm, I had forgotten that chart. Anyway, at low densities, the sonic shock will be highly attenuated so, so will exert less disruptive forces on a falling body.
        
        Also, this is the "standard atmosphere," and by most accounts it is not actually representative of reality...it tends to be conservative such that a reported pressure altitude is significantly lower than the actual altitude, right? So the pressures and reported speed of sound could be off significantly too.
    2. db 13 years ago
      
      Speed of sound depends on density so the speed of sound is lower at higher altitude.
      1. db 13 years ago
        
        Or what kinnath said.
    3. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      It's around 700-800 mph at sea level, I think.
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Oh, sorry, didn't see the kph--just said the same thing.
3. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  Terminal velocity is about friction, so sure, if the air is thin enough.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

The United States Postal Service will default for the second time this weekend...

Release the junk mail!
Mike M. 13 years ago

Provocative filmmaker claims that Frank Marshall Davis was Obama's real father, and that his mother Stanley did a porno film.
1. SIV 13 years ago
  
  Dreams From My Real Father', made by a right-wing film-maker who is a long-time critic of Obama, includes images of a woman it claims is the President's mother Ann Dunham clad in leather gloves, boots and a corset posing seductively on a couch.
  
  If this were true I'd vote for Zombie Anne Dunham-Obama-Sotero.
  1. Mike M. 13 years ago
    
    I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but she looks kind of hot in that S 'n M getup.
    1. Killazontherun 13 years ago
      
      Looks too much like my own mother for me to . . . wait a sec . . . this conspiracy goes much deeper than I thought!
2. db 13 years ago
  
  One would hope for a false flag. Seriously, how could anyone think this kind of low attack won't blow back?
  1. R C Dean 13 years ago
    
    I don't know which would be more depressing:
    
    That this actually winds up helping Obama due to blowback, or
    
    It actually winds up helping Romney, because people think it matters.
    1. darius404 13 years ago
      
      Clearly it's the latter. Consider this from the article:
      
      It has even won the support of Alabama's Republican Party chairman Bill Armistead who has said: 'That (the film) is absolutely frightening. I've seen it. I verified that it is factual, all of it. People can determine.'
SIV 13 years ago

Looks like the US now has a de facto "hate speech" prohibition.
A Serious Man 13 years ago

More cool science: Astronmers get images of particle jets at edge of supermassive black hole.
Coeus 13 years ago

Cop charged in Niagara Falls cheese smuggling investigation.
sloopyinca 13 years ago

Third cop charged in Kelly Thomas murder.

Only three to go.
1. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  Color me shocked.
  1. Almanian's Evil Twin 13 years ago
    
    You look more "tased" than "shocked"
  2. Coeus 13 years ago
    
    That is very suprising.
A Serious Man 13 years ago

Millions of copies of a DVD claiming that Obama's mother did porn--among other allegations--are being mailed to voters in Ohio.

Yeah, I think that really crosses the line.
1. A Serious Man 13 years ago
  
  Shit, Mike M beat me too it.
2. db 13 years ago
  
  That's going to be a very collectible piece of election memorabilia.
3. db 13 years ago
  
  That's going to be a very collectible piece of election memorabilia.
4. Jerry on the road 13 years ago
  
  A couple of million more copies and USPS will be saved for another month.
5. Nephilium 13 years ago
  
  So that's what the DVD that came and arrived with the rest of the election junk mail I'll be getting through November.
  1. db 13 years ago
    
    Post a review please.
Pro Libertate 13 years ago

I dunno about tossing in "imminent incitement" language is going to make the ban constitutional. Under strict scrutiny, I bet such a law is going to be found overbroad, when challenged.
1. Almanian's Evil Twin 13 years ago
  
  But we can HOPE it will be upheld!
  
  /prog
sloopyinca 13 years ago

Protip: if you and your partner are gonna beat up a couple of guys and then charge them to cover up your crimes, make sure your dashcam "malfunctions".
1. db 13 years ago
  
  Available facts don't...wait, what?
2. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  I like the comment that the cops left the dashcam on intentionally so they could pass it around at the station house later for lulz.
3. Episiarch 13 years ago
  
  It's a good thing shit like that only happens in shithole Tukwila and not Seattl...oh wait.
4. JW 13 years ago
  
  it was a legitimate AUOF. you can clearly see where the one guy had his arms raised in an aggressive display and was about to attack the LEO.
  
  hth
  1. ant1sthenes 13 years ago
    
    Bigorati something something
    
    Troll-o-meter 0.000142%
Joe M 13 years ago

Re: the Post Office

"Every day Congress delays fixing this problem, the financial challenge grows more difficult and the potential solutions become more expensive," Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat, said in a statement on Thursday.

This statement is so twisted around backwards it hurts my brainz. Being able to say that while ignoring the real problem of a bankrupt government is quite a piece of work.
Joe M 13 years ago

The United Nations is at it again: finding new and "innovative" ways to create global taxes that would transfer hundreds of billions, and even trillions, of dollars from the rich nations of the world ? especially the U.S. ? to poorer ones, in line with U.N.-directed economic, social and environmental development.

What a ridiculous fantasy land they live in. I suppose 100 poor countries can vote in favor of these taxes and supposedly pass them, but it's pretty amusing to think the U.S. government would let any other organization get a cut of its "revenues".
Coeus 13 years ago

Huge Fark thread on Reason's libertarian morality article. Bonus: the tag for the article is "sick".
1. Almanian's Evil Twin 13 years ago
  
  God. DAMN. You.
  
  I went and read it, and now I've got stoopid and butthurt all over me. I need to categorize your inks with SugarFree's now....SHIT!
  
  slayer199:...The primary way we achieved substantive reform in the 20th century that massively lowered poverty rates, raised overall cost of living, improved society, extended life expectancy, and freed people from horribly dangerous working conditions is through government action. As much as you may try to write the Progressive Era and the New Deal out of history, they still happened.
  
  GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    The thing that made everything better? In a nutshell? Technological innovation. What, more than anything else made that happen? The freeish market.
  2. A Serious Man 13 years ago
    
    My favorite from another Far thread was "I never click on a link from Reason because I know what I read will be just the opposite." Derp
  3. Coeus 13 years ago
    
    Yeah, your ...'s are misleading though. Slayer's actually in there fighting the good fight. He must feel like that castle fight in lord of the rings. Completely surrounded by sub-human foot-soldiers of the All-Seeing-Eye. Not a minarchist though, more of a Gillespie flavored libertarian.
  4. Brett L 13 years ago
    
    Right. Pinkertons vs. Unions was all gummint, all the time.
  5. ant1sthenes 13 years ago
    
    Makes sense. That's why things got so much better in the Communist countries than they did here -- more government action.
2. Warty 13 years ago
  
  Why the fuck would you go to Fark, you idiot? There was a time when it wasn't 100% full of screaming retardation, but that ended at least five years ago.
  1. Coeus 13 years ago
    
    Maybe for the same reason you go to see the monkeys do stupid shit at the zoo (well, other people's reasons, for you it's a sexual thing). Maybe to grasp the political leanings of your average liberal art's graduate. Maybe it's repressed masochistic tendencies. Dunno. Afraid to examine it too deeply.
3. Coeus 13 years ago
  
  This is just precious:
  
  intelligent comment below
  2012-09-28 02:48:43 PM
  Nobodyn0se: there are many instances in which the "liberal" side of things is to take away liberty and choice.
  
  You seem to be confusing economics with social liberties. See this is the problem right here. There are no economic Constitutional freedoms. In fact it's the exact opposite. The founders specifically wrote in the Constitution that government has a right to regulate interstate commerce.
  1. Rights-Minimalist Autocrat 13 years ago
    
    You're better off trying to teach your horse how to play the tuba than to explain to that person why he's wrong.
A Serious Man 13 years ago

So I watched the pilot for Last Resort and thought it was pretty good overall. While some of the characters need to be fleshed out more and the dialogue was kind of stilted at times, the overall execution was great, particularly how the Captain really does detonate a nuke just off the coast of the US to prove a point. And his ending speech in which he rejects the authority of the US government and warns the world to back off makes him pretty much an Oath Keeper.
1. Episiarch 13 years ago
  
  I already covered this at the top of the thread. You're almost as unobservant as ProL.
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    Seeing right through doesn't make me unobservant. It just makes you invisible.
    1. Episiarch 13 years ago
      
      Who said that? I can't see anyone, but I'm sure I heard something.
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Someday, all this cloaking device technology we keep hearing about will actually work. Then we can ignore each other perfectly.
        
        And, with augmented reality, you could program your glasses so that you can't, in fact, perceive deep-dish pizza at all. Or fat chicks.
        
        Episiarch 13 years ago
        
        I keep hearing things. Am I going insane?
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Why yes, yes you are. Just like Almanian.
        
        Coeus 13 years ago
        
        RightNut's got a point though. Travolta's villain makes that movie a great choice for crappy movie night.
        
        Marshall Gill 13 years ago
        
        Going?
2. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  Thanks for the spoiler alert, Mr. Man.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

I never click on a link from Reason

Please allow me to offer my heartfelt thanks.
Jerry on the road 13 years ago

Czech President Vaclav Klaus got shot at.
1. db 13 years ago
  
  Does he count as an Archduke?
  1. Archduke Pantsfan 13 years ago
    
    grumble
2. Killazontherun 13 years ago
  
  With a first name like Vaclav? Close enough!
Tndsow 13 years ago

That jsut loosk like fun dude. WOw.

http://www.AnonData.tk
Phil_EngAmer 13 years ago

It seems the best course of action for the USPS would be to move away from union and public sector thinking. The writing has been on the wall, as net income and volume have mail have steadily declined (http://chi.mg/oBezLD), but it's clear a lot needs fixing. It may be time for the USPS to embrace private sector business theory. Government regulation is doing it no favors, and unless it can adapt, more layoffs seem to be the only way to account for faulty business model. It's sad to see such misfortune befall the USPS, but solutions are there if they can embrace innovation.

Please log in to post comments

Subway Ad Blocking in New York, Postal Service Defaults (Again), Spain Needs Big Bucks: P.M. Links

Latest

In Defense of the Tourist Trap: Why Following the Crowd Might Be the Smartest Way To Travel

69 Percent of Americans Say American Dream Is Not Dead

With Environmental Regulatory Reform, California Gov. Gavin Newsom Finally Does Something Substantial

Celebrate Independence Day by Insulting a Politician

Independence Day Reminds Us You Can Be American by Choice

Recommended

Login Form