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A.M. Links: Pelosi Least Popular Congressional Leader, The New York Times Keeping "Illegal Immigrant," CIA Put Tamerlan Tsarnaev on Terrorist Database 18 Months Before Boston Marathon Bombing

Matthew Feeney | 4.25.2013 9:00 AM

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Large image on homepages | Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office/wikimedia
(Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office/wikimedia)
Credit: Lauren Victoria Burke/wikicommons
  • Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is the least popular Congressional leader, according to a recent Gallup poll. 
  • The New York Times is sticking with the use of the term "illegal immigrant," despite the Associated Press cutting the term from their style guide earlier this month. 
  • The CIA added Tamerlan Tsarnaev to a terrorist database 18 months before the Boston Marathon bombing.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the tenured Florida Atlantic University professor who claimed that the Sandy Hook shooting was staged has said that the Boston Marathon bombing was a "mass casualty drill."
  • In an op-ed for CNN the president and CEO of the NAACP says that the GOP could learn something from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) about how to win votes from African Americans. 
  • A woman was arrested in West Hempstead, N.Y. after giving an undercover cop a massage without a license.
  • A San Francisco federal jury has convicted a man on hacking charges despite the fact that he never broke into a computer. 

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NEXT: Boston Top Cop Wants Drones for 2014 Marathon

Matthew Feeney is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is the least popular Congressional leader, according to a recent Gallup poll.

    Without national ambitions, she only needs to be popular in her district.

    1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      And being where her district is, I’d bet that she is immensely popular. In fact, I’d bet that a good share of her constituents feel she doesn’t go far enough in her smothering of personal liberty.

  2. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is the least popular Congressional leader, according to a recent Gallup poll.

    You have to take the poll to find out what’s in it.

  3. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://washingtonexaminer.com/…..le/2527982

    Bush now polling even with Obama. Trolololololol

    1. Rasilio   12 years ago

      Well that would make sense given that from a policy perspective there ain’t that big of a difference between them on the issues most people actually care about (the economy, and wars)

      1. Virginian   12 years ago

        Except Bush had six years of a good economy. Obama is headed for six straight shitty years.

        Oh, and honestly….call me a cynic, but I think people care about the wars because you’re supposed to say you do.

        1. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

          I don’t give a damn about them one way or another, so you may be right.

    2. mr simple   12 years ago

      He could be the most popular ex-president ever if he keeps his trap shut.

      The three other living former presidents will also be there…Their presence will be a reminder that with the passage of time we can appreciate presidents’ genuine achievements and glide over their deficiencies and mistakes.

      Why focus on the negative? Think about all the good things Hitler did.

      1. LTC(ret) John   12 years ago

        Roadz? Er… autobahns?

        1. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

          Trainz?

      2. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        Clinton is enormously popular and is not saddled with bad economy baggage.

        1. Don Mynack   12 years ago

          LOL!

  4. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    In an op-ed for CNN the president and CEO of the NAACP says that the GOP could learn something from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) about how to win votes from African Americans.

    That’s not what MSNBC’s Melissa Joan Hart tells me.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      That’s not what MSNBC’s Melissa Joan Hart tells me.

      Freudian slip, or intentional?

      1. A Serious Man   12 years ago

        Like Sabrina would fit in on MSNBC, not with her white witch privilege!

      2. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        Have you ever known me to slip up?

        1. Ted S.   12 years ago

          Yes. All the time.

    2. SugarFree   12 years ago

      Has Clarissa explained why she put in so much weight?

      1. $park?   12 years ago

        That is the real tragedy in all of this.

      2. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

        Taking in sperm and spitting out babies probably has something to do with it. That or cake. Bitches love cake.

    3. l0b0t   12 years ago

      “That’s not what MSNBC’s Melissa Joan Hart tells me.”

      Clarissa Explains It All?

  5. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/P…..ideMonitor

    Who’s a sad clown? Who’s the sad clown?

    1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

      I don’t know. There are at least 2 in that picture.

    2. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Smokey Robinson?

    3. Gbob   12 years ago

      John Wayne Gacy?

  6. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    Family of slain Long Beach man awarded $6.5M in federal court.

    He was killed by police officers who didn’t even identify themselves or make their presence known after someone called 911 and said he was armed.

    The man was holding a garden hose nozzle.

    1. robc   12 years ago

      So that is the civil trial, when is the criminal trial?

      1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

        FTA: “Police are human beings,” Machit said. “We’re not talking about super heroes. They’re doing the best they can do under very difficult circumstances. “

        The officers were cleared in reviews by both the LBPD and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, but Zerby’s family pressed forward with the civil case.

        1. robc   12 years ago

          Doesnt mention federal prosecutors.

      2. Restoras   12 years ago

        when is the criminal trial

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

        *deep breath*

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

        1. robc   12 years ago

          I will be here all week.

          1. sgs   12 years ago

            threats, always the threats

    2. A Serious Man   12 years ago

      I remember hearing about that on the local news back when it happened. Nice to see the man’s family gain compensation but real justice won’t be done until the cops are hung upside down by their Achilles’ tendons while being publicly flogged.

      1. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

        I don’t think they’ll stay alive to be flogged after you started hanging them by said tendons. Maybe reverse the order.

        1. mr simple   12 years ago

          Only if they’re actually Achilles. I’ve seen people who have that area pierced so they can hang themselves by it.

        2. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

          They don’t have to last long, and besides corpse flogging is good family fun.

          1. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

            “Corpse Flogging” sounds like a sexual act. Fun for the whole family!

    3. sloopyinca   12 years ago

      FTA: Both sides agreed Zerby was unarmed. They also agreed that Zerby was highly intoxicated at the time and that no warning was issued before the fatal volley of gunfire erupted.

      It is there that opinions diverge.

      The plaintiffs say there was absolutely no reason for the shooting as officers had good cover, reasonable containment and at the very least had the opportunity to warn Zerby to drop the object in his hand.

      “Amazingly they didn’t give him any commands until after he stopped breathing,” plaintiffs’ attorney Galipo said. “We have to expect better out of police, we really do. We don’t want innocent people being killed. “

      Instead, according to attorney Garo Mardirossian, the officers engaged in a “rush to judgment” possibly ignited by a misfire and resulting in a contagious hail of gunfire that left Zerby dead.

      Zerby suffered four fatal wounds from handgun and shotgun fire.

      The city’s defense team described a highly tense and rapidly evolving situation with an unknown gunman on the loose in a congested area filled with beach-goers and area residents. All who saw the nozzle agreed it looked like a gun and feared Zerby might fire or get loose in the neighborhood.

      According to Monte Machit, deputy city attorney for Long Beach, police did not know whether Zerby was lying in wait, or if he had already left dead bodies in an upstairs apartment he was visiting.

      1. Ted S.   12 years ago

        All who saw the nozzle agreed it looked like a gun and feared Zerby might fire or get loose in the neighborhood.

        Well they would, wouldn’t they?

      2. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        the officers engaged in a “rush to judgment” possibly ignited by a misfire

        Shots were fired, bullets expelled, blood released.

        The chances of a modern firearm misfiring (expelling a projectile without someone manually pulling the trigger, either through deliberate squeezing of the trigger or poor trigger discipline, and fucking nil. A modern firearm doesn’t just “go off.” And our low information voter with virtually zero knowledge of firearms will buy it as a valid explanation without question, and use it as their basis for trying to curb our 2A rights.

        “You see?!?!? Not even well trained professionals can control their death gunz!”

      3. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

        All who saw the nozzle agreed it looked like a gun and feared Zerby might fire or get loose in the neighborhood.

        According to Monte Machit, deputy city attorney for Long Beach, police did not know whether Zerby was lying in wait, or if he had already left dead bodies in an upstairs apartment he was visiting.

        Those fuckers sure did have active imaginations.

        1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          Everyone is guilty until proven innocent by a search or execution.

        2. Kant feel Pietzsche   12 years ago

          Especially after “consulting” with an attorney for months…

      4. Zeb   12 years ago

        “possibly ignited by a misfire”

        People fucking believe this shit. And they will think that guns just go off sometimes. Some asshole had his finger on the trigger and was a little too excited.

      5. JW   12 years ago

        Amazingly they didn’t give him any commands until after he stopped breathing,”

        Stop resisting!

    4. Jordan   12 years ago

      Fuuuuuck that is awful. I’d take the settlement money and hire the best hitman I could find to off those cops.

      1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        The only problem with that is that most hitmen are cops.

        1. Bobarian   12 years ago

          ALL the best ones.

    5. #HOLO YOLO   12 years ago

      Read a comment on The Atlantic once that seriously said this was why we need gun control. If nobody had guns then police wouldn’t so frequently mistake various banal objects for them.

      Rightttttt.

  7. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://www.politico.com/story/…..90610.html

    Laws are for little people.

    1. Capt Ace Rimmer   12 years ago

      I plead manslaughter your honor!

      A phrase used in Criminal Law to describe an intensely emotional state of mind induced by a type of provocation that would cause a reasonable person to act on impulse or without reflection.

      A finding that a person who killed another acted in the heat of passion will reduce murder to Manslaughter under certain circumstances. The essential prerequisites for such a reduction are that the accused must be provoked to a point of great anger or rage, such that the person loses his or her normal capacity for self-control; the circumstances must be such that a reasonable person, faced with the same degree of provocation, would react in a similar manner; and finally, there must not have been an opportunity for the accused to have “cooled off” or regained self-control during the period between the provocation and the killing.

    2. Juice   12 years ago

      If Obamacare is so great, then why aren’t people rushing to join up? Everyone seems to be finding ways to not comply.

  8. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    Bill Clinton joins Twitter.

    Insert your own joke here.

    1. Bee Tagger   12 years ago

      Our first black twitterer.

    2. Restoras   12 years ago

      Sometimes a cigar is just a dildo.

    3. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      That character limit is going to be a problem.

    4. a better weapon   12 years ago

      Hide yo kids, hide yo wife

      cuz he suggestively tweetin’ errbody!

    5. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

      Pics of old wrinkly balls and grey pubes forthcoming!

      1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

        Kristen talks shit about some great movies and now she posts an Adam fucking Sandler clip. I’m now convinced she’s just pulling off an elaborate trolling on us.

        I blame Nicole.

        1. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

          I hate Adam Sandler, and I hate 99.9% of his movies, but that line cracks me up every time. Old…..balls.

          1. Heroic Mulatto   12 years ago

            Yeah…yeah…yeah…

            You’re the 2nd worst!

            1. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

              No. I insist on being The Worst.

              I hate The Blues Brothers. Hate. it.

              1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

                What’s wrong with you, Kristen? I mean, were you dropped on your head while a child? Were you molested in a movie theatre? There’s got to be a reason for your hatred of good movies.

              2. JW   12 years ago

                I hate The Blues Brothers. Hate. it.

                There is something very fundamentally wrong with you.

                1. #HOLO YOLO   12 years ago

                  I hate The Blues Brothers. Hate. it.

                  Fuck that noise.

        2. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

          V for Vendetta and Gladiator were great? You’d put them up there with the likes of The Godfather?

          1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

            They were pretty good.

            Either way, you just said you hated The Blues Brothers, which is unforgivable. Who else do you hate, Jesus Christ, Stephen Hawking and Mother Teresa?

            1. generic Brand   12 years ago

              Who else do you hate, Jesus Christ, Stephen Hawking and Mother Teresa?

              Hellen Keller.

            2. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

              One of these things is not like the other ones.

              1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

                One of them is still alive?

  9. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Top Secret America: A hidden world, growing beyond control
    http://projects.washingtonpost…..d-control/

    The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

    * Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

    * An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

    1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

      yep – we’re just paranoid…

    2. Bardas Phocas   12 years ago

      We so much safer becuase of all this boondogling and multiplying of security trolls.

    3. Jordan   12 years ago

      Exactly why we need more Bradley Mannings.

    4. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

      Well, shit, man – everyone where I work is required to have Secret clearance and we handle publicly-available information. That’s all we handle.

      1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

        “That’s all we handle.”

        Said the woman with secret clearance.

        Riiiiight.

    5. bostonaod   12 years ago

      remember, tyranny is unpossible

  10. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://www.seattlepi.com/news/…..458598.php

    mighty fine police work there Fitzy

    1. Capt Ace Rimmer   12 years ago

      Authorities had previously said Dzhokhar exchanged gunfire with them for more than an hour Friday night before they captured him inside a boat covered by a tarp in a suburban Boston neighborhood backyard. But two U.S. officials said Wednesday that he was unarmed when captured, raising questions about the gunfire and how he was injured.

      1. Virginian   12 years ago

        Some cop took a shot, and they all started shooting.

  11. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    The CIA added Tamerlan Tsarnaev to a terrorist database 18 months before the Boston Marathon bombing.

    That might mean something if we knew how big that database is. I’m guessing there are a few people here in that database.

    1. Jerry on the boat   12 years ago

      Then what’s the point of the database?

      1. Bardas Phocas   12 years ago

        Jobs

      2. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Appearances.

      3. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

        Like all Government IT initiatives, it was a feel good measure pushed by some executive appointee and not the end-users, never referenced and unsuited to the job it’s claimed to be for.

    2. WTF   12 years ago

      On the radio this morning they said that the database contains about 700,000 names. I don’t know how accurate that is, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

  12. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/i…..ad-5413189

    REGULATE SPEARGUNS NOW!!!!

  13. Caleb Turberville   12 years ago

    Surprisingly un-drafted player of 2013: Matt Barkley or Manti Teo?

    1. robc   12 years ago

      Both will be drafted.

      1. Ted S.   12 years ago

        Honey Badger is going to be drafted, too.

        Hell, even a turd like Maurice Clarett was drafted.

        1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

          draft Honey-boo-boo

          1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

            Too large for the NFL.

      2. Caleb Turberville   12 years ago

        Okay, but which one goes first? I say Barkley. The Vikings could use a QB, but they say they are not going to take one. The Browns have two wannabe franchise QBs on their roster (McCoy and Weeden), but I like his chances of going there.

        1. robc   12 years ago

          Barkley will go before Teo.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            I agree. Everyone talks about his scandal hurting him, but I don’t think that’s his problem. His problem is that he looked terrible against Alabama. He’ll get some benefit of the doubt because of the team being so outclassed across the board, but he looked overwhelmed. And Alabama, as good as it is, ain’t no pro team.

            1. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

              Te’o’s a dying breed of player, too. So many teams are running spread offenses these days that it’s more important to have a safety that can come up in run support if needed than a true middle linebacker. You don’t really need an MLB in a 4-2-5 defense, you need two fast linebackers that can get from point A to point B in a hurry.

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                Depends on the scheme. I still don’t think he’s a great MLB. But he’s certainly NFL-caliber talent.

        2. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

          There are no QB’s worthy of a first round choice – according to consensus.

          1. KDN   12 years ago

            There are no QB’s worthy of a first round choice – according to consensus.

            Need dictates that some team will panic and take one. I fully expect it to be the Jets, because they’re idiots.

            1. prolefeed   12 years ago

              There are no QB’s worthy of a first round choice – according to consensus.

              Need dictates that some team will panic and take one. I fully expect it to be the Jets, because they’re idiots.

              Value is subjective. If a team’s weakest link is their QB — if they really have a shitty starting QB — and they don’t think they can snag a decent QB in the second round, then picking one of the QBs in the first round may be a rational choice.

          2. Art Vandelay   12 years ago

            “according to consensus.”

            The science is settled?

          3. Rasilio   12 years ago

            Actually this is not true. Most scouts have Geno Smith with a first round grade, but one which places him in the bottom half of the first round.

            Problem is none of the teams in the bottom half of the round needs a QB and Smith is not worth a top 10 pick where the teams who need QB’s are drafting.

            The end result is either a QB needy team overdrafting him or someone trading up into the back half of the round to get him.

            Personally I am projecting at least 2 and possibly 3 QB’s going in the 1st round but none with the possible exception of Ryan Nassib going earlier than 20th.

            Nassib is the exception because of the perfect storm. The Bills desperately need a QB, they just hired Nassib’s college coach to coach their team, and they have a history of overdrafting players they like so there is a very real possibility they’ll say screw the draft rankings and just take Nassib 8th

        3. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

          McCoy was traded to SF IIRC.

          1. Caleb Turberville   12 years ago

            Yep, sorry about that. That indicates to me that the Browns are comfortable enough in Weeden to allow him to stand alone as signal-caller, so Cleveland is out of the Barkley sweepstakes.

          2. Caleb Turberville   12 years ago

            And, to be honest, I think Weeden has potential. Cleveland should probably build around him for right now. Last year was definitely a new look for the Browns; they’re gaining some positive separation from Oakland as the most pathetic team in the league.

            1. KDN   12 years ago

              30’s a little bit late to be banking on potential. The guy’s a born backup. I actually like Cleveland’s new management, but that’s a hole they’re gonna have to fill.

        4. sloopyinca   12 years ago

          Barkley way before Te’o. I could actually see Barkley going in the second round. Te’o is a 4th or 5th rounder at best.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            I’d agree, but T’eo’s been hyped up so much that some teams will buy it.

            I see him as someone with good instincts but lacking in some key physical skills. Should be a long-term starter, but I doubt he’ll ever be dominant.

          2. KDN   12 years ago

            Positional value at play there. Vontaze Burfict was a surefire 1st rounder last year, screwed up at the combine and tumbled out of the draft entirely. Teo’s hype should make sure that doesn’t happen to him, but it wouldn’t exactly be unprecedented.

        5. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

          Pshaw! The Vikes don’t need a QB – they have the multi-Super-Bowl-winning Matt Cassell!

          *cries*

        6. Rasilio   12 years ago

          Oh they’ll both be drafted but if you meant not drafted tonight I’d go with Barkley.

          Teo I’m guessing goes 20 – 25, Barkley might go in the bottom of the first round if one of the QB needy teams decides to move up and get him by making a trade with one of the bottom 4 – 5 teams in the first round.

          Assuming Smith and Nassib are already off the board Something like the Vikings trading picks 52 and 83 along with a 3rd or 4th rounder next year for the 26th, 27th or 28th pick might make sense. Otherwise Barkley is looking at being a mid second to early 3rd round pick

    2. Elspeth Flashman   12 years ago

      Not another sports thread.

      1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

        agreed, these should be on the bottom of the page. (so sez the lukewarm hockey fan)

      2. Jordan   12 years ago

        THIS^

      3. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

        Not another bitching about sports threads subthread.

        1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

          I never understood why Will Riker felt an affection for Wesley Crusher. Discuss.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            You knew the answer before you asked the question: Riker is Wesley’s real dad. How else do you explain letting some kid sit at the helm? Do you know how expensive a starship is? Not like we let kids man the helm of aircraft carriers today.

            1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

              There’s not a lot to hit in space.

              Besides, if Wesley has a secret dad, it’s Picard for sure.

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                Okay, I’ll split the difference. It could be either Riker’s or Picard’s, but Crusher won’t reveal the true space baby daddy.

          2. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

            Well, as we saw in the episode with that androgynous race, Riker’s sexuality is…. flexible.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              [Nods knowingly at Auric.]

        2. $park?   12 years ago

          Not another bitching about bitching about sports threads subsubthread.

          1. a better weapon   12 years ago

            Guys, gals! Everyone stop bitching about the thread and just get back to a hyperlink war of formerly skinny, now fat celebrities and Ke$sha creature.

            1. $park?   12 years ago

              Seriously, nice to see some people know what really matters.

            2. Elspeth Flashman   12 years ago

              nicely put.

  14. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

    Intersting conversation on the ridiculous nature in which radiation is treated.

    Radiation is one of those things that people are blindly affraid of and treat as some form of toxin in which, unlike any other toxin, has no low dose value where it does not pose any risk. I, frankly, am sick of the way the US/world treats radiation. The people of Fukushima are still forced to stay away from their homes because there are radiation levels less than Denver, Colorado present from the nuclear accident. This is insane. Human race needs to learn that radiation at low doses (< 1Sv/year, IMO) will likely not raise your chance of cancer over your lifetime by any amount statistically noticeable (right now max dictated by the NRC is 1 mSv to public).

    The site I linked has generally good info on nuclear issues, sometimes the blogger and commentators get a little too much of the “if we only had our guys in charge” mentality. But I still enjoy the site.

    1. db   12 years ago

      People really are retarded about nuclear issues. It is the perfect example of emotion trumping logic and fantasy over fact.

      1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        People really are retarded about nuclear issues. It is the perfect example of emotion trumping logic and fantasy over fact.

        Exactly right.

        1. SugarFree   12 years ago

          You can’t hug your children with nuclear arms!

          1. Capt Ace Rimmer   12 years ago

            Unless your children were born in Russia.

            1. Ted S.   12 years ago

              What might save us, me and you
              Is that the Russians love their children too

              [vomits]

              1. robc   12 years ago

                The “words in the mouth of the president” was what made nuclear war not a real issue.

                When Mr Gorbachev tore down the wall, this song became invalid.

          2. robc   12 years ago

            Maybe you cant.

          3. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

            Uranium is a metal, you can make robot arms from it, and even set up each major component (upper arms and forearms) in the configuration of a little boy style gun device such that you have huggable nuclear arms which can be used as nuclear arms.

            1. Elspeth Flashman   12 years ago

              I lol’d.

      2. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

        Radiation is a great example, maybe one of the best.

        This recently was in the news: Fracking Truck Sets Off Radiation Alarm At Landfill

        This dump won’t take drill bits used in fracking because they have some radioactive material from fracking. Fear, unwarranted, hysterical fear.

        1. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

          Comment from that link: “I just can’t even believe this happening in this country and to the planet. Fracking is so dangerous and toxic on so many different levels. This is a short-term solution that is not worth the long-term ramifications. Humans have gone absolutely insane.”

          This type of dumb fuck is the same dumb fuck who is deathly afraid of any amount of radiation (forgetting that fact that banana’s, carbon in your body, rock, etc. are all radioactive).

          I will take the risk posed by coal, natural gas, and nuclear, even if they actually posed a measurable risk to my health, over not having power. Having no electricity poses a much much higher risk to my health. These dumb fucks don’t seem to get that though. They think there is a realistic alternative to fossil fuel or nuclear (other than hydro which is a location specific power source).

          1. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

            What these dumb(evil?) fucks want, whether secretly or subconsciously, is mass starvation and death so the human race can return to earth worshiping-supplicating barely sustenance levels of existence. I bet if all the “bad” power sources disappeared they’d find reasons to hate solar (silicon usage, land coverage), hydro (chaining Gaia’s rivers), and/or geothermal (…..because!).

            1. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

              In order to get a high yield froma geothermal tap, you end up pumping coolant into the fizzures to generate steam. This results in both the fracturing of the rock and the loss of local heat, eventually leading to the inability to draw further geothermal power from a given tap. Waiting for the heat to come to you will last the longest, but gets the lowest yields. Geothermal literally bleeds the earth.

              There’s your environmentalist anti-geothermal platform.

              You’re welcome.

              1. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

                I actually was thinking along those lines to some extent but my reasoning was based on comic book logic (How does the Hulk get stronger and Wolverine heal indefinitely if they don’t have any energy reserves? Somehow absorb ambient energy?) than anything based in reality.

          2. itsnotmeitsyou   12 years ago

            I had an argument with a buddy’s mom the other day about this. She was spouting off about 93 billion bq of radioactive material per day being released from Fukushima. A few people were aghast at that huge number. I felt it my responsibility to point out that while it sounds like a huge number it really isn’t that much.

            I pointed out that bq is a very small measurement, so I converted it to Curies to make it more manageable. 93B bq is about 2.5 CI. Right now, your body contains .1 CI of radioactive potassium. Go find 30 other people and stand together. There is now more radioactive potassium in your group than ALL of the radioactive material being released every day. Basically, almost none.

            Her response was “well I appreciate your opinion on the matter, and obviously we disagree on the danger.”

            Hey fucktard, I didn’t give you my opinion, I gave you FACTS.

        2. db   12 years ago

          Radiation that comes from the ground. Naturally.

        3. db   12 years ago

          Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed.
          You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-boxdo-gooders telling everybody it’s bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them,too. When they canceled the project it almost did me in. One day my mind was full to bursting. The next day – nothing. Swept away. But I’ll show them. I had a lobotomy in the end.

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder   12 years ago

            My personal favorite: Opposition to food irradiation

            Read the comments for gold-plated stupid.

            Why would anyone intentionally choose food that is irradiated? Most of the comments in this post are rationalizations… Whether they’re well informed is immaterial… Their misleading…

            There is no reason to support irradiation of food.

            The question is… What are you putting in your mouth that would require irradiation? Perhaps it’s time to reconsider what you eat…
            Why support this at all?

            1. #HOLO YOLO   12 years ago

              What are you putting in your mouth that would require irradiation?

              Oh, lots of things.

          2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            Plate o’ shrimp.

        4. T   12 years ago

          My last job, we wouldn’t take back anything that came back from the field radioactive, but I don’t recall what our threshold was. It has nothing to do with fear of radioactivity. The stupidity and fear is at the regulatory level.

          It has everything to do with not wanting to comply with regulations on storage and disposal. We knew the shit was harmless, but we weren’t going to open that can of worms. That’s some expensive (and stupid) shit you’re getting into with radioactive waste, even if waste is defined way, way down.

          1. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

            Its a combination of ridiculous regulatory rules and people who are just afraid. If I was a business, I wouldn’t accept it either even if I knew it to not be harmful to anybody.

            Dealing with regulatory agencies about radioactive material is, as you said, a massive can of warms.

      3. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Same could be said of organic and GMO food.

      4. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        A good chunk of the matter in our bodies was created in nuclear reactions. How can anyone be anti-nuke?

        1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          Carbon, the building block of life as we know it, is now considered to be a sin.

          1. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

            “We must ban all carbon in this time of crisis.”

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              Carbon is the product of nuclear reactions and is spread initially by massive explosions called supernovae. Not organic.

        2. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

          Simply by being anti-people. Duh.

          1. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

            We can’t be, if we were to come into contact with people, there’d be an explosion!

          2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            To be sure, we’ve got a lot of hydrogen in our bodies, which is pure, Big Bang matter. Organic.

            1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

              That’s not good enough. They live by the one-atom rule.

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                Free hydrogen only, huh? What about its isotopes?

                1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

                  No isotopes need apply.

                  1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                    What about antimatter?

                    1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

                      As long as it’s anti-hydrogen it can be considered a worthy adversary.

                    2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      I can already hear the “Star Trek Fightin’ Song” in my head.

                    3. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

                      Also, the nucleus has to be white on the correct side.

    2. Dr. Frankenstein   12 years ago

      I’m never getting nuclear caused superpowers amy I.

  15. Matrix   12 years ago

    A woman was arrested in West Hempstead, N.Y. after giving an undercover cop a massage without a license.

    Probably because there was no happy ending afterwards.

    Besides, we don’t need these dangerous terrists giving out massages without licenses. Otherwise, we become just like SOMALIA!!!!11!!!

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Probably because she expected to get paid.

  16. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://hotair.com/archives/201…..-lab-raid/

    Superstitious barbarians attack research facility.

    1. db   12 years ago

      Much of the research destroyed is related to various psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia. +1 for irony, PETA, you douchebags.

    2. $park?   12 years ago

      God damn mongorians!

  17. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

    Farrah Abraham takes break from sex tape negotiations to take daughter on beach trip

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ent…..z2RToSEHiO

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      I can’t wait to dl that from the free sites.

  18. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    A woman was arrested in West Hempstead, N.Y. after giving an undercover cop a massage without a license.

    Someone didn’t get the happy ending they wanted.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Ooh, somebody beat Fisty to the punchline. 🙂

      1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        I DON’T READ OTHER PEOPLE’S COMMENTS.

  19. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://imgur.com/a/RDjT5#0

    Time capsule opened in Oklahoma.

    1. Bam!   12 years ago

      How long before those items end up on Pawn Stars?

    2. I Dug It   12 years ago

      Cool!

    3. db   12 years ago

      Very neat. They must have sealed it quite well, as everything looks pretty new.

    4. Apple   12 years ago

      Very cool. My grandfather was born near OKC in 1912. Would be awesome, but highly unlikely, to find some of our family’s stuff in there.

  20. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    ‘We Don’t Cower in Fear’: Reconsidering the Boston Lockdown
    http://www.theatlantic.com/nat…..wn/275165/

    America’s “values” are unshakeable, President Obama declared during Boston’s post bombing inter-faith prayer service. “In the face of evil, Americans will lift up what’s good. In the face of cruelty, we will choose compassion,” he intoned, as if “we” had never chosen torture and he had never chosen not to prosecute it. In the face of terror, he claimed, “our fidelity to our way of life, to a free and open society, will only grow stronger.”

    No, it won’t. Most likely it will continue to weaken while the secretive Bush/Obama security state continues gaining strength, feeding on our fears. In its shadows, watch-lists will grow, along with surveillance of peaceful protesters, the militarization of police, the domestic use of drones, and the total information awareness state facilitated by Big Data, among other betrayals of our “way of life” that civil libertarians have been futilely chronicling for years.

  21. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now
    Smithsonian researchers used optical technology to play back the unplayable records
    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/…..37471.html

    really, no one could come up with a process to drag a needle across the records/cylinders?

    1. SugarFree   12 years ago

      No, they could have, but not safely. Each error in needle composition they made would have a high likelihood of damaging the unique recordings. Similar mistakes were made in the attempts to restore daguerreotypes with various techniques, included the disastrous idea of re-electroplating them. And aluminum grooved audio discs had a similar problem. Metal and even some plastic needles will destroy the audio grooves. I hosted a guy talking about it who was having to carve the needles himself from coconuts. When I gave him some actual coconut needles I found in a donation, he practically
      tongue-kissed me in joy.

      1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

        keep your fantasies to your self.

        1. SugarFree   12 years ago

          If you ever see aluminum grooved audio discs for cheap, snap them up (not aluminum core 16″ transcription discs, but 10″ or 12″ all-metal discs). The vast majority of them were recycled for airplane parts in WW2.

    2. db   12 years ago

      I love these stories about restoration of old media tech. Imagine in 100 years when no one can play an MP3.

      1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        I used to work on a research team that would restore very old manuscripts that had been damaged in some way (fire, water, worms, light, age). Very cool work to be one of the first people to be able to read something in hundreds of years.

  22. Matrix   12 years ago

    Gun control would have made the Boston Bombing more difficult to pull off

    Excuse me while I vomit

    1. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

      I was wondering when that talking point was going to bubble to the surface.

    2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Sure, having a handful of armed people rather than a whole city of them is safer. Bet that guy who found a terrorist in his boat would’ve like a gun.

    3. mr lizard   12 years ago

      If they had been white dudes with anti-gov/tea party stuff on their Facebook pages then I bet the background check requirements would’ve passed. A day late and a meme short.

  23. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/…..shonomics/

    Is it the Fed that’s the real problem?

    1. robc   12 years ago

      The Fed has always been the real problem.

      That article making it sound like the 2007 policies caused everything is silly though.

      The cheap money Fed policy started in the 90s.

  24. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Mars One mission could go horribly wrong ? if it ever gets off the ground
    http://physicsfocus.org/amy-sh…..he-ground/

    So there are a lot of reasons to view the Mars One project as insane.

    Let’s start with the technology. The team behind the mission claims that the mission is feasible with existing hardware. That may be true, but “existing” does not necessarily mean flight ready, let alone suitable for a manned mission. Only the Russian Soyuz is currently able to take humans into space, and that’s not a spacecraft equipped to land on Mars. And the landing is another issue. Mars One says it will use retrorocket (rockets that fire to slow the spacecraft for a soft touchdown) and no parachute to land its crew on Mars. That’s a method that’s never been done. NASA’s Viking landers use retrorockets, but they also used a parachute in the early stage of their descent and weighed far less than a manned spacecraft. I can only imagine how much the fuel for a powered descent would weigh for a spacecraft not taking advantage of a parachute-assisted descent.

    1. Loki   12 years ago

      I’d love to read the article, but apparently Raytheon, an aerospace/ engineering company has chosen to block physicsfocus.org. Because there’s no way ENGINEERS could possibly have a legitimate interest in visiting a PHYSICS site. Anywho,

      The Mars One folks have always struck me as even more daffy than Bob Zubrin. At least most of Zubrin’s Mars Direct ideas are kind of feasible, the Mars One folks strike me as basically a bunch of even more wild eyed dreamers who really have no idea what the hell they’re doing.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        If they start actually working out the details, it’ll likely start sounding less implausible. I bet some kind of Mars Direct scheme ends up being used.

        1. Citizen Nothing   12 years ago

          Real question: What’s so daffy about Zubrin and Mars Direct?

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            Zubrin sometimes rubs me the wrong way–he’s definitely got strong opinions–but I really like Mars Direct. We may not do it exactly the way he describes, but there are some really interesting possibilities there.

            1. Citizen Nothing   12 years ago

              I was a “back to Luna first” guy until I started reading Zubrin. He makes a persuasive argument.

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                I don’t much care where we go, provided we stop piddling about in LEO. Increased competition in launch services should get to-orbit costs down, which is really the key to the whole thing.

              2. Loki   12 years ago

                I agree that going back to the moon is unnecessary. While I can see some value in using the moon as a test bed for some of the technology required for Mars such as the habitat modules, new spacesuit designs, etc., most of the testing can be done on Earth for a fraction of the cost. The moon would become a costly distraction, both in terms of time and money.

                In the end though, I’m with Pro L, this LEO shit has got to go.

          2. Loki   12 years ago

            A lot of the basic ideas behind Mars Direct are sound. Launching the surface habitat module first, using in-situ propellant generation techniques to produce fuel for the trip home, etc. All good ideas and a hell of a lot better than trying to launch everything at once.

            The main issues I have with him are that he tends to gloss over some the technical difficulties involved. “Just build a launch vehicle using existing shuttle SRBs, engines, and external tanks. Easy-peasy!” Yeah, ’cause it’s really that simple to assemble a completely new rocket. Even using existing technology it’s a little harder than just throwing something together really quick like. There’s an enormous amount of testing involved, even using left over shuttle derived hardware. “Just tether the spacecraft to the spent upper stage and rotate the whole thing to create simulated gravity during the trip out there. Nevermind that it’s never been done before, it’ll be easy!” Uh-huh, sure it will.

            I also suspect that he’s wildly underestimating the cost of even a Mars Direct style mission to Mars. This is NASA we’re talking about here. Although as time goes on he’s gotten more and more anti-NASA in his arguments. Probably because he recognizes that NASA is an ossified bureaucracy that’s not interested in doing anything truly extraordinary anymore. I could go on, but I’m probably close to the character limit as is.

    2. Rasilio   12 years ago

      Here is the thing I don’t get with all of the planned manned mars missions so far…

      They all talk as if it need to be done with a single craft.

      There is absolutely no logical reason to do this.

      You launch an unmanned mars lander into mars orbit today, You launch 3 or 4 supply pods into Solar orbit such that they will be near predetermined rendezvous points along the way, Then launch the crew modules, probably 3 – 4 seperate modules along with an initial supply pod and assemble them all in low earth orbit, then you have that whole thing depart for Mars.

      Afterwords you can even launch a couple more supply pods for rendezvous on the return trip.

      All totaled you’re looking at 15 to 16 launches spread over the course of a year or so but all of them but 1 (the lander, the only part going directly to Mars) being rather simple launches to low earth orbit not terribly different than the supply runs that SpaceX is already doing

  25. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    A San Francisco federal jury has convicted a man on hacking charges despite the fact that he never broke into a computer.

    Legislation means what federal prosecutors say it means.

  26. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    *mumble* drug war *mumble*

    Electricity Theft: A Bigger Issue Than You Think
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/pe…..you-think/

    According to Hogan “We don’t know where it all goes, but we do know the majority goes to growing marijuana.” And the thieves are not amateurs. “They tap into 12 kV or 25 kV lines. These people have utility lineman experience.” They also have a great deal of ingenuity. “We’ve seen where they hollowed out the utility poles, tapped into the power line, and then ran underground to their operation. They even put in their own transformers. Smart meters can help put a stop to that, because we have a better sense of where the power is going and when it is used.”

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      These people have utility lineman experience

      I blame Julius Vrooder.

    2. Loki   12 years ago

      Smart meters can help put a stop to that

      Sounds like someone’s drumming up another excuse to mandate “smart meters”.

      1. mr simple   12 years ago

        But don’t you understand that there is a terrible problem that only my product/giving me more power will solve? I’m starting to think this is a style of argument that is actually taught. Actually, my professor did recommend using appeals to emotion in my public speaking class in college.

        I had read that electricity theft in a country like India might result in a loss of up to a third of the power generated, but I figured it would be no more than a couple percent in any utility jurisdiction in North America.

        It turns out that B.C. Hydro may be losing up to 3% of its electrons to theft.

        OMG! It wasn’t 2% like he thought, a perfectly reasonable amount; it is up to and possibly including 3%!

        1. Scarcity   12 years ago

          Those electrons, you didn’t lose those. No seriously, you didn’t, dumbass.

    3. Raston Bot   12 years ago

      “We don’t know where it all goes, but we do know the majority goes to growing marijuana.”

      If you don’t know where it all goes, then how do you know what the majority of it is used for?

  27. db   12 years ago

    NASA rover rapes Mars with giant space penis.

    1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

      That’s what Mars gets for passing out drunk at a party.

  28. $park?   12 years ago

    Apparently good ole Barney Frank doesn’t know what conservative means.

    “I wonder how the right wing in America feels about being aligned with al-Qaeda?” Frank said to Buzzfeed, adding that “there is an irony that the most active anti-gay [groups] are al-Qaeda and the American right-wing.”

    1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      We’ve been over this. “Conservative” means resistant to change, traditional.

      We have been trying to “liberalize” the Middle East for years.

      1. $park?   12 years ago

        Thanks for missing the point, doofus.

    2. Jerry on the boat   12 years ago

      there is an irony that the most active anti-gay [groups] are al-Qaeda, blacks and the American right-wing.

      FTFY

    3. Virginian   12 years ago

      Al-Qaeda does not operate in America. Considering it doesn’t fucking exist anymore in any real sense.

      1. John   12 years ago

        It is exists. Someone is putting out the press releases and magazines. It just doesn’t have any leadership anymore. It just has disjointed groups of confused foot soldiers. And that actually says that perhaps killing and imprisoning an organization’s leaders is more effective than some think. It turns out when you kill the leaders, another leader doesn’t just pop up or if he does, he is not as effective as the guy he replaces usually.

        1. $park?   12 years ago

          I don’t think Al Qaeda members are quite like Mangalores. But hey, I could be wrong.

          1. John   12 years ago

            Yeah they are.

            http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013…..h-seen-as/

            Facts are always stranger than fiction.

            1. $park?   12 years ago

              You could have just said you don’t know what Managalores are. Or maybe Googled the term first.

        2. Kant feel Pietzsche   12 years ago

          Huh. Are you saying that talent is also a scarce resource? Hoodathunkit?

    4. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      That’s such bullshit, and he knows it. If anything, the right is more anti-radical Muslim than the left. Crap, lefties run around saying that most of the time.

  29. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    Tolerance in action.
    http://washingtonexaminer.com/…..le/2528072

    The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reported that Corkins, who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, said in court that he hoped to “kill as many as possible and smear the Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in victims’ faces, and kill the guard.” As Bedard explained, “the shooting occurred after an executive with Chick-Fil-A announced his support for traditional marriage, angering same-sex marriage proponents.”

  30. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    NASA Announces the Discovery of the Most Interesting Planetary System Outside Our Own
    http://www.theatlantic.com/tec…..wn/275119/

    The Kepler Space Telescope has been in orbit looking for planets around other stars since 2009, and it’s started to find some startlingly interesting solar systems out there.

    Today, the Kepler team announced the discovery of star system Kepler 62, a group of five planets circling a red star, two of which may be capable of supporting life. That doubles the number of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone that Kepler has confirmed in the cosmos. And they’re the smallest, and therefore closest to Earth size, that astronomers have detected. The system is 1,200 light years away.

    1. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

      I love how NASA is busy reminding us of interesting places it will never be able to go. Kind of like a deadbeat father getting his chillun’s hopes up by talking about Disney World as a prospective vacation destination.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Yeah, how about getting us out of LEO, losers?

    2. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

      “a group of five planets circling a red star, two of which may be capable of supporting life”

      Krypton?

  31. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

    Fuck you, cut spending.

    From CQ’s this morning — “The White House has dropped ? for now ? the president’s demand that any sequester replacement bill be offset by some new revenue and is backing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s stopgap proposal to cancel the sequester through September”

    1. Loki   12 years ago

      Is it too early to start drinking?

      1. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

        nope.

  32. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    It’s Anzac Day – the Battle of Gallipoli was 98 years ago

    Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours… you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well.
    – Mustafa Kemal

    1. A Serious Man   12 years ago

      152 Trooper H. Rush
      10th Aust. Light Horse
      7 August 1915 Age 23
      His Last Words:

      “Goodbye Cobber, God Bless you.”

    2. Virginian   12 years ago

      One of the key differences between WWI and WWII was that in the 40s amphibious operations were practical. Using radio and close air support, along with paratroopers, made it possible for the numerous Allied invasions in both theaters to succeed.

      Those boys in Turkey waded ashore with no effective fire support, no specialized amphibious vehicles, no air support, and without automatic weapons that could be used in the role of a mobile attack.

      1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

        as John Keegan said: wool as the only defense against bullets and artillery.

      2. Brett L   12 years ago

        The idea of not being able to effectively attack artillery with CAS but still going ahead w/ counter-battery fire from ships is crazy.

        1. Virginian   12 years ago

          Yeah the dynamic totally changed. The weapon that won WWII was the LST. Without it, we would have had to starve or nuke Germany.

          1. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

            You think so? Post-Kursk the Germans seemed pretty doomed to me, and that was before the Normandy invasions.

            Can any of you recommend a good, comprehensive WWII military history? I really enjoyed both Stalingrad: The Infernal Cauldron and The Myth of the Great War (WWI). I could use a good comprehensive WWII history.

            1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

              Rise and Fall Of The Third Reich is about as good as it gets.

            2. Virginian   12 years ago

              Well I meant in the way we ended up winning it: with the US holding western Germany and the rest of Western Europe freed not only from the Nazis, but from the Soviets.

              If Overlord had been repelled, the Allies would have done to Germany what was done to Japan: total blockade and bombardment up to and including the firestorm attacks begun on Japan in March of 45, followed by nuclear bombs.

              Keegan has a history of WWII. He’s always worth reading.

            3. Rasilio   12 years ago

              I think you’re probably right but only because of Hitlers growing insanity.

              Had Overlord failed and Germany had a secure western front they would have had a lot more resources to devote to defending a border against the Soviets, so a switch from an offensive to a defensive stance could likely have blunted the Russian advance and allowed Germany to maintain it’s holdings in Europe and then on the basis of smacking down the US/UK and bleeding the Russians white allowed them to negotiate a peace treaty leaving them in possession of pretty much all of Europe.

              This of course all presumes that Hitler would have allowed them to switch to a defensive stance focused on holding their current lines and not trying to continue to take Russia.

              1. Virginian   12 years ago

                You don’t win on the defensive though. If Overlord had been repelled, Hitler could have stripped France and the assorted other Western nations bare of infantry and armor and finished off the Soviets. Coupled with a U-boat surge to cut off the northern lifeline of Lend-Lease to the Soviets, and using the lessons learned in previous years (No more skipping winter clothing, for example), the Germans could have knocked the Soviets out of the war.

                The only reason the Red Army got to Moscow was because the US gave them the trucks to do it. Without our aid, the USSR would have fallen. With all the fresh divisions from France, led by Erwin Rommel, they would have won in Russia in the spring of 44 while the US and UK were licking their wounds. FDR and Churchill might have been forced from office. Who knows how 1945 could have shaken out.

        2. T   12 years ago

          I prefer ‘suicidal’.

    3. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Not Churchill’s finest hour.

  33. Loki   12 years ago

    Good news, WA staters: Apparently your state legislature “solved” all of your state’s real problems about six years ago.

  34. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

    Family dog of eight years kills 2-yr old.

    http://www.ajc.com/news/news/t…..nty/nXWm3/

    1. Bam!   12 years ago

      Time to ban dogs larger than 16oz.

      1. Restoras   12 years ago

        Don’t forget the Dog Magazines.

    2. Loki   12 years ago

      Obviously the cops need to shoot more dogs.

    3. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

      that’s awful.

    4. Matrix   12 years ago

      PROOF that cops should shoot all dogs on sight!

    5. John   12 years ago

      That is horrible.

    6. a better weapon   12 years ago

      And here we are condemning cops shooting dogs every day.

      If I’d have known how dangerous these creatures are to all the 2 year olds on the force, I wouldn’t have been so hard on them.

  35. I Dug It   12 years ago

    Today is the 221st anniversary of the first execution by means of the guillotine.

    1. a better weapon   12 years ago

      That can’t be right. The guillotine seems like something that has been around a lot longer.

      1. Scarcity   12 years ago

        Nope, the French revolutionaries needed a more efficient killing machine, so they invented one.

  36. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    Unemployment in Spain hits 27%.

    1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      What is the minimum wage there?

      1. John   12 years ago

        Extremely high if you count government mandated benefits.

      2. Restoras   12 years ago

        About $6.20, assuming a 40-hour work week and no vacation…

        1. #HOLO YOLO   12 years ago

          40-hour work week and no vacation…

          *snort*

  37. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    In an op-ed for CNN the president and CEO of the NAACP says that the GOP could learn something from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) about how to win votes from African Americans.

    What the fuck does that guy know?

    1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      Clearly he’s a lawn jockey.

    2. a better weapon   12 years ago

      That’s why the Democrats didn’t want to do immigration reform when they had both legislative branches. They need it to be bipartisan to keep the African-American voter mad at both parties.

      1. a better weapon   12 years ago

        Whoops, wrong thread. Meant this for the immigration bit.

  38. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    “Can you help me find my family, Officer Friendly?”

    “Of course, ma’am. Just hop in my cruiser and let me play with your titties, otherwise you’re going to jail.”

    1. Loki   12 years ago

      He clearly had a bad case of the Gottasee’ems, and he was probably never specifically trained to NOT try and use his position as a cop to get women to show him their tits.

    2. I Dug It   12 years ago

      I think we need to see ’em in order to judge the veracity of the allegations.

      1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

        Can’t find his victim, but the accompanying picture of the officer in this story sure doesn’t look like a guy that would do whatever he wanted without fear of consequence, am I right?

        I’m not sure if it’s the skeletor look or the dead eyes that are creepier. Either way, what woman in her right mind would ask that guy for help with anything other than getting raped or beaten?

      2. Capt Ace Rimmer   12 years ago

        Settle down, you’ll get your chance when they’re introduced into evidence and passed around the courtroom.

    3. Brett L   12 years ago

      At least TX seems to be charging them with actual criminal penalties for sexual assualts with some regularity.

      1. H. ReardEn   12 years ago

        The officer, Precinct 5 Deputy Constable Tommy Forgue, was charged this week with misdemeanor official oppression.

  39. John   12 years ago

    So in a thread last night about the extremist Muslims who apparently speak that the Mosque the Boston bombers attended, someone brought up the IRA fundraising in the US in the 1980s as a point against my me for arguing that I really wouldn’t care if they told the Mosque to stop letting these guys speak or close down. Clearly the person thought that I think the IRA fundraising was okay. I don’t. If I had been in charge in 1980 and there had been a GUITMO, I would have happily sent Gerry Adams’ sorry murdering ass there. He killed a lot more people than most of the people we have in GUITMO.

    While it wasn’t a valid point against me, it is an interesting point about the US and Boston in particular. How many of the “fuck you its our city” Bostonians thought it was perfectly okay for Shin Fein to raise money in the US back in the 1980s or gave money to Shin Fein, even though what happened in Boston this spring happened in London and Belfast dozens or more times and many times to much worse effect? It kind of makes me think that rather than basking in righteous indignation, some of those Bostonians ought to be sending the people of London and Belfast an apology. Same goes for the people who spent the 80s talking about how horrible British methods in dealing with the IRA were only to now think it is great Obama is keeping America safe by using in many cases much more extreme methods. A little bit different when it is your shit being blown up isn’t it?

    1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

      Hey John, you might want to read this before you propose sending people to Gitmo.

      1. John   12 years ago

        Nothing in the first Amendment says that you have a right to advocate the murder of people. Things like fraud and conspiracy are mostly just speech crimes. Child pornography possession is nothing but a “possessing certain kinds of speech” crime. So the 1st Amendment does not, was never intended to and never has protected all speech.

        Thanks for playing and begging the question.

        1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

          Nothing in the first Amendment says that you have a right to advocate the murder of people.

          Except for the “shall make no law” part, you’re exactly right.

          Thanks for playing and begging the question.

          After the first paragraph, I’m gonna assume this is some kind of performance art.

          1. John   12 years ago

            So all conspiracy and fraud and assault/stalking threatening and such laws are unconstitutional? Shall make no law you know.

            1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

              Fraud becomes fraud when the deceptive speech results in the deprivation of someone’s person or property.

              Assault become assault when there is physical interaction meant to deprive another’s rights. Otherwise, every protester would be subject to prosecution for assault.

              Stalking laws are routinely struck down if there is no physical intimidation or trespassing also involved.

              Look, John, I think those Sinn Fein assholes were despicable people. But I sure ain’t giving up any of my 1A Rights just to shut them up. I’ll just choose to not listen or mock them instead.

              1. John   12 years ago

                Assault does not involve physical touching. That is battery. Assault is just using speech and actions to give someone a reasonable fear that you will batter them.

                And inciting violence has always been a crime in this country. The people who egged on the mob to lynch someone were just as guilty as the people who did it.

                1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

                  Assault does not involve physical touching. That is battery. Assault is just using speech and actions to give someone a reasonable fear that you will batter them.

                  Yeah, them personally. There’s a big distinction.

                  And inciting violence has always been a crime in this country. The people who egged on the mob to lynch someone were just as guilty as the people who did it.

                  I wouldn’t say “always” there. Unless you’re prepared to cite some examples from the wayback machine.

                2. JW   12 years ago

                  And inciting violence has always been a crime in this country. The people who egged on the mob to lynch someone were just as guilty as the people who did it.

                  If you’re stupid enough to commit a crime because some guy on a podium said that you should, you’ve got far bigger problems.

                  And no, they guy on the podium hasn’t committed any crime. Those that did the killin’ and lynchin’ did.

              2. John   12 years ago

                The 1st Amendment was never intended to protect people’s right to advocate murder.

                1. $park?   12 years ago

                  So everyone who ever says “I’m gonna kill you” or “I’m gonna kick your ass” should be arrested for assault.

                2. sloopyinca   12 years ago

                  Advocate, yes. Plan, no.

                  And I’m sorry, but you called for indefinitely detaining people for saying distasteful things. We have fucking laws in this country, John. We don’t, or shouldn’t, just detain people for saying things we don’t fucking find tasteful or respectful of others.

                  Should we have also thrown the Nazis in Gitmo instead of letting them march in Skokie? How about the NBP Party members calling to kill or beat white people in Philly during the 2008 election? And what are your thoughts on protesters calling for the death of George Zimmerman? Shall we lock them up without charge as well?

                  1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

                    Nazis = Illinois Nazis

                  2. John   12 years ago

                    Were the Nazis calling on people to kill the jews or just saying stupid shit like we are great and the holocaust didn’t happen? If it is the former, lock them up. The latter, no. Same goes for the idiots in Philadelphia. If they were calling for the deaths and beatings of people, too bad.

                    1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

                      Doesn’t fucking matter what they were saying. Unless they were speaking of, and planning, to injure specific targets, they’ve done nothing that warrants being charged with a crime.

                      That said, you are advocating locking people up without charge. What the fuck is wrong with you, man? OK, I can see you wanting to curb the 1A for safety purposes. I disagree, but I can see it. But now you’re talking about disregarding the 4A as well just to remove distasteful speech from the public arena. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to tell you to go fuck yourself now.

                3. Fluffy   12 years ago

                  John, you’re totally wrong.

                  I can sit here all fucking day and discuss scenarios under which it would be morally permissible (or obligatory) to destroy the government of the United States.

                  Destroying the government of the United States would kill millions.

                  But that just doesn’t fucking matter, because we’re just talking about it. If we take an act in furtherance, then we’ve got a criminal issue. But “The entire Congress deserves to fucking hang” does not include an act in furtherance.

                4. Azathoth!!   12 years ago

                  Actually, it was. It IS intended to protect all kinds of awful speech–that’s the point.

    2. tarran   12 years ago

      John,

      The average Bostonian is a mouth-breathing imbecille… Remember Joe from Lowell? He was one of the top 1% of thinkers here.

      The voters reliably put in office machine politicians who are from a quality standpoint just as corrupt as the ones from Chicago. They build an expensive tax funded state park to honor Thoreau, read nespapers extolling the virtues of gun control while also promoting reenactments of the Battles of Lexington and Concord and are abso-fucking-lutely oblivious to the contradictions there.

      The city is a hotbed of ethnic grievance politics, with passions being cynically and expertly stoked by the corrupt Democratic Party with token resistance from equally progressive Republican Party which is quite happy to snap up the scrap the Democrats toss or allow fall to the floor.

      1. John   12 years ago

        I am fully aware of all of that. And that city and its politicians were some of the biggest Shin Fein boot lickers in America back in the day. And the Boston Marathon bombing is exactly the kind of thing the IRA used to pull. It is almost as if there really is such a thing as karma.

        1. T   12 years ago

          Some days, you make my brain hurt and I can’t help it: Sinn Fein. SINN.

          1. LTC(ret) John   12 years ago

            Forgive my Shins, as I forgive those who Sinn against us.

            1. nipplemancer   12 years ago

              Shin Fein would be an excellent name for a kosher Chinese restaurant.

      2. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

        The average Bostonian is a mouth-breathing imbecille… Remember Joe from Lowell? He was one of the top 1% of thinkers here.

        The voters reliably put in office machine politicians who are from a quality standpoint just as corrupt as the ones from Chicago.

        But that Irish immigration was just great for America!

        1. John   12 years ago

          The Italians and Brahmins were not any better.

        2. Loki   12 years ago

          But that Irish immigration was just great for America!

          “Allright! We’ll give some land to the niggers and the chinks. But we don’t want the Irish!”

        3. tarran   12 years ago

          It’s not an Irish thing.

          It’s a Boston thing. Boston has always been nuts, see the brawls between North Enders and South Enders in the 1700’s on Pope’s Day.

          1. Heroic Mulatto   12 years ago

            The House of Pain is in effect, y’all….

  40. John   12 years ago

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2…..ight-wing/

    Left still convinced Loughner was a right wing terrorist. This is how the left wing works. Pundit A says some rediculous slander without any citation or evidence. Pundit A later walks back on statement. Pundit B then cites Pundit A as proof of the original slander. Pundits C,D, and E all cite Pundits A and B as evidence that said slander is universally believed and only nuts think otherwise.

    1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

      Replace “Loughner” with “The Koch Brothers” and “terrorist” with “eco-terrorist”. The rest of the paragraph still works.

      1. John   12 years ago

        The use the technique a lot.

  41. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    How can white Americans be free?

    It’s clear that we as Black and Brown Americans, are still recovering from the racist indoctrinations of the past 500 years. Though laughable it sounds, white Americans, too, have suffered from this crime. As our country began and brown races were systematically denied the right to be human and so internalized the role of the savage, white consciousness bullied its way into objectivity. The white mind became the unbiased mind that objectively observed all the rest. This is called The Default: The belief that the white experience is a neutral and objective experience and white consciousness is the standard consciousness unless otherwise specified. White culture, and American culture as a whole, suffers from the tragedy of whiteness as the default setting.

    1. John   12 years ago

      What some call “default” others call logic and reasoning. What that guy is really saying is “why can’t whites be an irrational victim group too”. Good luck with that.

      1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        Didn’t you know that us white guys would be free if we could just submit to government and accept our fate as one of the oppressed?

      2. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

        Actually, we’re getting there.

    2. I Dug It   12 years ago

      American culture as a whole suffers from the tragedy of non-baldness as the default setting.

      1. Ted S.   12 years ago

        Let me guess: you’re a bald guy jealous of other men’s hair.

        1. I Dug It   12 years ago

          I’m not jealous. I feel sorry for the well-haired man’s suffering as The Default.

        2. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

          baldilocks!

      2. Elspeth Flashman   12 years ago

        This is why hats were so popular in earlier decades. Blame the hippies for not wearing hats, and letting everyone see what’s on top. They are to blame.

        1. John   12 years ago

          I thought hats went out of style because JFK didn’t wear one?

          I like hats. But the worst thing is that they have now been adopted by hipsters forever leaving their disgusting taint on a great piece of fashion.

          1. Elspeth Flashman   12 years ago

            you’re right it was the Royal Family, I mean the Kennedys, who are to blame. But I prefer to blame hippies.
            And I agree about hipster-hat-wearing.

          2. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

            If you want to wear a hat, wear a hat.

            If the only reason you’re not is because you think it will make you look like part of the wrong group, then you’re a hipster yourself.

          3. Gladstone   12 years ago

            JFK wore a hat to his inauguration. He didn’t wear a hat when he actually inaugurated but neither did Truman or Eisenhower.

    3. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

      I wish someone would free me from the chains of servitude! Lordy!

      1. LTC(ret) John   12 years ago

        When Lord Humungus was in Egypt’s land…let his white people go!

  42. John   12 years ago

    http://riehlworldview.com/?p=29654

    Lawmakers secretly negotiating to exempt themselves out of Obamacare. Craven and stupid are too weak of words.

    1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      They’re on federal health plans anyway. Obamacare is just private insurance/exchanges.

      1. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

        no .. the law has a provision that requires them to use the exchanges or plans that are created under the ACA

    2. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

      I heard that on WTOP this morning. I want to know who leaked it. I was on the hill Tuesday making the rounds and didn’t get even a whiff of that.

      1. John   12 years ago

        It is sad but unsurprising the Republicans are this fucking stupid. The last thing they want to do is being seen as wanting to exempt themselves. Way to give up any high ground in killing the Democrats over Obamacare.

        1. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

          yep. the D’s are about ready to hang themselves with this then and the R’s decide to walk up the gallows too.

          1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

            Stupid party, etc.

  43. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    I know I’m just paranoid and that there’s really not a double-standard. I mean, that couldn’t possibly explain how this trial ended up, right?

    I’m sure the judge didn’t really mean what he said, right?

    FTA: In his ruling, Judge Maguire said he didn’t order the defendant to serve time in jail because that would result in his termination from the San Diego Police Department. The crime did not warrant the detective losing his job the judge told the court.

    They routinely set aside penalties because a “civilian” might lose their job. The papers are full of these golden-hearted judges and prosecutors that ignore the corruption of evidence to help a suspect, like what happened in this case and other factors like the excessive speed or the fact that he was driving a police car.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Since when is losing your job ever a factor in your sentence? How many lives has that judge casually ruined in the name of doing justice?

      1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Since when is losing your job ever a factor in your sentence?

        Some animals are more equal than others.

      2. sloopyinca   12 years ago

        Unless he treated every other DUI case in front of him the same way, he needs to be disbarred and the case retried. I’m sorry, but this is just a blatant flaunting of the law.

        1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          When I got that DUI on a bicycle way back, I had a part time dish washing job at a hotel. Well, they scheduled the court date on one of the days that I normally worked, and next thing I knew I was no longer on the schedule.

          I guess if I’d been a cop, the judge would have rescheduled the court date so as to not interfere with my work schedule.

          1. John   12 years ago

            Tons of people have lost jobs because of court dates, probation appointments and such. The courts don’t give a fuck if their schedule destroys your life, unless you are a cop that is.

            1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

              In this case it’s not even just scheduling the dates around work, which seems pretty reasonable to me. It’s just canceling the punishment altogether.

  44. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

    In an op-ed for CNN the president and CEO of the NAACP says that the GOP could learn something from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) about how to win votes from African Americans.

    FTFA:

    Paul told students that his friends called him “either brave or crazy” for showing up at Howard University, a statement that says more about his friends than the audience at Howard.

    Apparently the author didn’t see the ReasonTV video.

  45. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    Asian-American fraternity under fire for making video involving guys in blackface.

    I’m really hoping this doesn’t deteriorate into full-on rioting because it was pretty ugly yesterday when some black students disrupted a student office function that had one of the guys in the video as a staff member.

    1. $park?   12 years ago

      Not white, therefore not racist. Case closed. How can these stupid black students not understand that?

      1. Virginian   12 years ago

        No Asians have been considered to be quasi oppressors for quite some time. Just like the Jews.

        1. Loki   12 years ago

          Yep, unfortunately Asians aren’t dark enough to not be considered oppressors. Plus they also tend to do well in school and make money instead of becoming good little minority victims like they’re supposed to. IOW, they look and act just a little too “white”.

    2. I Dug It   12 years ago

      As a hetero white male of European descent, I find few things more amusing than inter-minority-group PC pissing contests.

      1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

        As a hetero white male of European descent,

        I stopped reading your comment right there.

        /Progtard

      2. Loki   12 years ago

        CHECK YOUR PRIVELEDGE, STRAIGHT WHITEY PATRIARCHICAL MYSOGINIST!

    3. A Serious Man   12 years ago

      I’m not sure how much I should speak out but I’m getting a lot of schmaltzy ‘this is a teaching moment about privilege’ posts from my Facebook friends.

      The most offensive one was something like “blacks have experienced so much oppression and alienation that it’s understandable for them to react inappropriately to the video”.

      Now this person, who is Asian and like several times in his note apologized for his privilege, may mean well, but how does he not see the inherent racism with that statement? Blacks have no impulse control because the white man’s been keeping them down? That’s offensive to everyone!

      1. John   12 years ago

        The most offensive one was something like “blacks have experienced so much oppression and alienation that it’s understandable for them to react inappropriately to the video”.

        The worst Jim Crow era Southern racist couldn’t have expressed the negative stereotypes about blacks any better. That statement is a whole lot more offensive than anyone wearing a black face.

        1. Virginian   12 years ago

          No this is good bigotry. See, it’s not their fault.

          1. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

            I had a liberal friend (he’s not quite a progressive, as he has reasonable views on some issues and is otherwise a very smart and decent guy) once tell me that if a white person says the name of or sings parts of the Kanye/Jay-Z song “____ in Paris,” around a black person, the white person would get shot.

            (granted, he was belligerently drunk at the time, but I think he would have said something similar when sober)

  46. Juice   12 years ago

    Man Convicted of Hacking Despite Not Hacking

    Juries are not to be trusted. They’ll vote to convict just because. No good reason, really.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Interesting thing about hacking. It seems that most of the people who can actually do it are selling out and working for the government. I go to a couple of privacy conferences a year. And at them meet and know a good number of people who work in privacy in the private sector. And their war stories of data loss always involve crude old fashioned loses like a disgruntled IT guy copying a database and selling all of the PII to pay off his gambling debts or some nitwit losing a lap top full of PII and such things like that. They never seem to involve classic hacking where some genius hacker breaks into the system and steals the data.

      Even people like Anonymous don’t really do “hacking” they do mindless DNS attacks mostly. It seems like the intelligence services are occupying the field.

      1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Hacking is not as glamorous as it is often portrayed. It used to be a matter of running password generating scripts. Now it mostly involves phishing for passwords.

        1. John   12 years ago

          Last year the FBI found one of the main Anonymous leaders. He was living with his mother on welfare in Chicago and got busted for being involved in a petty identity theft ring. After all of the high sounding bullshit they put out, it turned out at least one of the main guys was just a thief and not a very good one at that.

          1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

            got busted for being involved in a petty identity theft ring

            Like I said, phishing for passwords.

        2. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

          pretty much this – security really got locked down after the 80s.

          Back when I was a Commodore 64 geek, phone phreaking and hacking was pretty commonplace. Back then passwords to major systems were being swapped around on some of the bulletin boards.

          A friend of mine got busted for illegally using AT&T party lines to host a bunch of hackers from Europe. He eventually got busted – but no visit by the FBI. Instead it was AT&T internal security who just wanted to question him.

          1. John   12 years ago

            I think it is a bit of a myth that you can just go on the internet and break into many systems anymore. Even the big government run hacking jobs like Stuxnet usually involve something being put into the hardware before it is delivered that creates the backdoor letting someone in. I am somewhat familiar with a couple of those kinds of operations and the ones I have seen don’t just involve cruising the internet looking for holes in the system. They are well planned and involve holes that are planted there during the manufacture of the software or hardware.

            1. robc   12 years ago

              A company I know of brings in a security expert every year for a one day “find a big hole” event.

              This year, he couldnt use social engineering and started with a basic user account on an external machine, something that even a client, or at very least, many low level employees might have.

              Within 20 minutes, he had root on an internal machine. Someone left a plain text file with passwords in it on that external machine. That gave him basic user access to the internal machine, and from there, he took advantage of some known flaws to escalate to root.

              1. John   12 years ago

                Perhaps not then. The other thing is that the security people I have talked to say it is nearly always the IT people who allow such things to happen. It is amazing how many IT people do things like you describe and are generally incredibly careless all the while screaming at people who don’t have a complex enough password.

              2. Loki   12 years ago

                Someone left a plain text file with passwords in it on that external machine.

                *facepalm* How many times have people been told not to write down your passwords or save them to a textfile, or do anything that could make them easily accessable? For fuck’s sake, 99.999% or more of IT security incidents come from exactly this sort of thing. This is pretty much the IT equivilent of leaving a key under your door mat and then wondering why someone was able to get into your house and steal all your shit.

                1. John   12 years ago

                  Loki,

                  If they would let people keep their passwords more than six months or let them have passwords that did not require ten characters and three special characters and never be anything anyone short of rain man could remember, people wouldn’t write them down so much.

                  Currently, I have six different passwords to remember each of which must be at least 8 characters long and changes every six months. How exactly am I to remember all of that without writing it down?

                  1. Heroic Mulatto   12 years ago

                    Password Keeper.

                    1. robc   12 years ago

                      What HM said.

                      “write” them down, but encrypt that, with a passphrase you CAN remember.

                  2. Loki   12 years ago

                    I know what I usually try to do is use a mixture of acronyms and numbers that mean something to me, but only I can remember, and the only way someone else could crack the password is if they know me extremely well. Then when I have to change passwords, I just re-arrange the acronyms and numbers. For special characters I usually just append something like “!@#$” (1234 + shift key) to the end.

                    Works pretty well for me. Plus, you can then write down reminders for your password without having to write down the password itself. Or do what HM says below.

              3. sloopyinca   12 years ago

                NEEEEEEEEERDS!!!!!

            2. db   12 years ago

              Not at all. Most unauthorized entries are due to social engineering or zero day exploits. From what I understand, there are groups of hackers out there who specialize in discovering zero day exploits and selling them to other hackers that actually use them. The prices they can charge are reportedly very high especially if the end user pays a premium to prevent the exploit being sold to anyone else. Once a ZDE gets used, it’s not long before it gets noticed and fixed.

              1. Tonio   12 years ago

                And government security agencies are said to be big buyers of zero day exploits.

  47. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    The scourge of right-wing paranoia.

    According to too many of them, the country is collapsing, and the government is not to be trusted. The circle of safety is contracting. You must arm yourselves to defend your own.

    I don’t feel that that last part is necessary, but the other two statements seem pretty reasonable to me given the direction this country is heading.

    1. Virginian   12 years ago

      You don’t feel that the last part is necessary?

      1. A Serious Man   12 years ago

        I’ve actually never fired a gun before and feel safe without it, but maybe in the future I’ll change my mind.

        1. Virginian   12 years ago

          Well if you think the rest of the statement was accurate, then the last part logically follows.

          1. $park?   12 years ago

            Depends on how you read the last sentence. If you read “In order to defend your own you must arm yourselves” then you’re correct. If you read it as “You must arm yourselves…” then it doesn’t necessarily follow.

    2. I Dug It   12 years ago

      the government is not to be trusted

      Only a child or a mental defective would disagree with that proposition.

    3. John   12 years ago

      Just because the government has debts debts that amount to well over GNP and seems to have no ability to stop spending, doesn’t mean it is collapsing. Just because the government is huge, full of laws that few understand and no one fully complies with and had been known to frequently jail innocent people or people who never intended to commit the crime they did, doesn’t mean you can’t trust them.

      1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        But a Mad Max hyperinflationary dystopia is not coming either.

        1. John   12 years ago

          As if Mad Max dystopia is the only bad thing that could ever happen.

        2. Virginian   12 years ago

          You can predict the future too?

          Oh that’s right….you’re the finance guru making all the right calls.

      2. Ted S.   12 years ago

        Just because the government has debts debts

        Are “debts debts” like “rape rape”?

        1. John   12 years ago

          Yes. It is special debt.

          1. a better weapon   12 years ago

            It’s less serious, I guess.

    4. Fluffy   12 years ago

      I tend to think that apprehensions of imminent system collapse are just Imagination of Disaster daydreaming and wish fulfillment…

      but then I remember stuff like this:

      http://www.kspr.com/news/local…..1009.story

      And then I say, “What secret did that guy stumble across that made him want a concrete house and bulletproof glass windows and a 23000 square foot storage basement?”

      1. John   12 years ago

        That may be more of a question or “who exactly did that guy piss off so much he is worried about them coming to kill him?” It could be either way. “Ties to the defense industry” could be a polite way of saying “arms dealer”. Perhaps he is worried about a few of his former customers wanting a refund.

        1. Loki   12 years ago

          “What secret did that guy stumble across that made him want a concrete house and bulletproof glass windows and a 23000 square foot storage basement?”

          Steven Huff is reportedly an engineer and chief technology officer of Overwatch Systems, Ltd. According to the company’s website, it delivers multi-source intelligence to the defense department.

          [emphasis added] Hmmm…

          1. John   12 years ago

            Hmm indeed.

  48. Matrix   12 years ago

    Not every high school kid is a complete idiot, even at public schools
    HS Freshman asks “Is it really the gun’s fault?”

    1. Bam!   12 years ago

      Not only can our public schools not educate our children, but they can’t even brainwash them anymore.

  49. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    I want to know who leaked it.

    Baucus.

    1. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

      good call.

  50. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    The crime did not warrant the detective losing his job the judge told the court.

    “Nice courtroom you got here. Be a shame if a riot happened and nobody came to help.”

  51. John   12 years ago

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/a…..s-tax.html

    Megan McCardle explains how the internet sales tax fucks small business. Considering that our Congress is made up almost entirely of the idiot sons and daughters of the political class and have never worked for a real business let alone owned one, it is not surprising they love this idea and have no idea how making businesses pay taxes in 50 states could possibly be a problem.

    1. Joe M   12 years ago

      Of course. The whole idea, once again, is for the big guys to throw their weight around and get an unfair advantage. What’s interesting though, is that right now on Amazon, if you buy direct from them, you have to pay sales tax, but third-party merchants don’t charge it. What’s even more interesting is that there are a number of merchants that have “fulfilled by Amazon” under their names, such that you can get the free shipping option for Amazon orders, but still pay no sales tax.

      1. John   12 years ago

        Amazon could not care less about having to pay sales tax.

        1. db   12 years ago

          Amazon should love the idea of internet sales tax. They are huge, have the infrastructure in place, and can therefore outcompete small businesses. They will also be able to offer services to smaller businesses that can’t afford to set up the tax collections themselves. Amazon gets a piece of everyone’s commerce by default. Nit’s baptists and bootleggers.

          1. Brett L   12 years ago

            They do. Also, they are planning to have a physical presence in every state, so they’ve rolled over on it.

    2. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

      Megan McCardle should explains how the internet sales taxes fucks small business.

      There Megan. FTFY.

    3. robc   12 years ago

      According to Tulpa, calculating sales tax for 10000 different taxing districts is a trivial task.

  52. Joe M   12 years ago

    A guy gets harassed by a couple cops for trying to film in a public place. Now, I’ll admit he’s pretty aggressive about it, but he’s within his rights the whole time. I love the older cop at the end who acts like a police officer should.

    1. Bam!   12 years ago

      I think police need to start being trained how to handle being filmed.

    2. sarcasmic   12 years ago

      On Wednesday April 17th 2013, at JTA SkyWay’s Central Station two off duty JSO Officers working for JTA violated their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution,by illegally ordering me to stop video recording. JSO Officers G.E. Alloush badge # 6893, and Officer E.D.Gooch trespassed me off the JTA Sky Way under threat of arrest thus denying my right to access public transportation. The two officers also violated JSO policy by refusing to provide their names and badge numbers.

      A perk of enforcing the rules is that you are under no obligation to follow them.

  53. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

    The Joker finally clams up after 16 hours of interrogation and finally being read his rights. So, what happens now to those 16 hours of gab?

    1. A Serious Man   12 years ago

      The Joker finally clams up after 16 hours of interrogation and finally being read his rights. So, what happens now to those 16 hours of gab?

      Inadmissible in a court of law, but it’s not like they need it to get a conviction.

      1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

        Who says it is necessarily inadmissible?

    2. John   12 years ago

      Either the courts decide to completely rape the public safety exception to Miranda or they refuse to admit everything he said against him. They might take the latter since they will be able to convict him without it. Gives the judge a way to make a proper ruling without it having a bad result.

      It goes to show that the people who claim that Miranda is unnecessary because everyone knows their rights are dead wrong. You would think if anyone knew their rights it would be someone dedicated enough to pull off a bombing. I would think the terror guides they got their information from would have told them they don’t have to talk if the police catch them. Yet, this guy still talked right up until the police reminded him he didn’t have to.

  54. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    During the weekend, I put my family’s shot gun on the front porch, and knowing it has no legs, I set it on a chair so that it may have an open view of what was happening around it. Over the course of a day, UPS dropped off a package, my neighbors walked their dog past our home, and my family and I went in and out of the house taking our dogs and garbage out. At the end of the day I had checked on our shot gun and noticed that it hadn’t been fired, and no one was hurt. It became apparent to me that guns in fact do not kill people. That leaves us with only one thesis: people kill people.

    Joan Walsh needs to have a serious talk with this girl. She (JW) might learn something.

    1. Virginian   12 years ago

      I hope she didn’t actually do this.

    2. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

      No one stole it?

  55. Aloysious   12 years ago

    Thanks for that picture of Pelosi. Was going to eat breakfast, but now just forget it.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Just doing what they can to fight the obesity epidemic.

  56. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    The scourge of right-wing paranoia.

    I’m too lazy to do it, but it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to catalogue popular examples of left wing paranoid idiocy; like “Paul Ryan wants to SLASH the federal budget. Republicans want to DISMANTLE the Great Society.” Et c.

    Charles M Blow is a fucking dummy.

    1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      GMO FRANKENFOODZ!!!!!!!11one!!!

    2. Drax the Destroyer   12 years ago

      Let alone any mention of “States Rights” or “limited government” automatically means, to Progtards, driving huge trucks into the inner cities and chaining up anything that isn’t pale ass white and hauling them off to the cotton fields. Or suggesting that maybe college isn’t a good investment automatically means forcing children to work in dingy factories from the age of 3. In a way, they are just envisioning a different kind of dystopia.

  57. Loki   12 years ago

    Marijuana dispensary robbed.

    Around 8 p.m. three men entered the dispensary at 2110 Hancock St. and ransacked the store. Two of the men were armed with handguns, according to police. …

    Marijuana and cash were taken from the facility.

    Are we sure these guys were robbers and not DEA agents?

    1. John   12 years ago

      I suspect robbing those dispensaries could be a very profitable endeavor. Lots of untraceable and easily fenced goods to be had. And at least right now, probably a whole lot less security than a pharmacy.

    2. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

      If they were DEA agents, they would have kidnapped the staff too.

      1. LTC(ret) John   12 years ago

        And had ASSAULT WEAPONZ!!!

  58. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    According to Tulpa, calculating sales tax for 10000 different taxing districts is a trivial task.

    Another excellent example of the rhetorical subterfuge I have dubbed the appeal to magic.

    Some Senator: “This will be a piece of cake because… SOFTWARE! Objection denied.”

  59. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

    Oh, great. It’s Bring Your Incubus of Viral Plague* to Work Day!

    (*thanks Meryl Streep!)

  60. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    It’s Bring Your Incubus of Viral Plague* to Work Day!

    You’re in D C. Why should I object to this?

    1. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

      I’ll be the first to admit that most incubii (aka children) could do a better job than these bureaucrats, but it ain’t cool when they scream “Daaaaaaadddddyy!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!? DAAAAAAAADDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

      1. Heroic Mulatto   12 years ago

        It disturbs me that you refer to children with the Latin word for “Those who] lie upon [you]”.

        Pedo.

        1. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

          You missed my credit to Meryl Streep, eh?

          1. Heroic Mulatto   12 years ago

            No, but you’re perpetuating it, 2nd Worst.

  61. SugarFree   12 years ago

    You sons of bitches just laughed. Thought I was making it all up. There’s no such thing as STEVE SMITH you said. It was just a trick of the light you said, a tree limb scratching against a window you said.

    He’s here you bastards! He’s almost found me! My butthole is too sweet and tender to deserve this!

    The Waddy Creature Strikes Again!

    1. Loki   12 years ago

      That post has so many fucking grammar and spelling errors it makes me wonder if the poster even knows English. And bigfoot enthusiasts wonder why no one takes them seriously.

      1. Joe M   12 years ago

        This is why there are no female STEVE SMITHs.

  62. cavalier973   12 years ago

    “BRUSSELS, April 23, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an astonshing display of gentleness in the face of a vile attack, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, remained calmly seated with eyes closed in prayer Tuesday as four topless women attacked him with shouts and curses and doused him with water.”

    http://www.lifesitenews.com/ne…..se-him-wit

    1. cavalier973   12 years ago

      “The four women, representing the pro-abortion and homosexual group FEMEN, took to the stage where they disrobed to reveal black-painted slogans on their bare chests and backs, such as ‘my body my rules,’ and ‘anus dei is coming.’ They also held signs reading ‘stop homophobia’. The women doused the archbishop with water from bottles formed in the image of the Virgin Mary.”

    2. cavalier973   12 years ago

      He’s not complaining, because church service attendance is picking up, for some reason.

    3. SugarFree   12 years ago

      The comments are a good time.

      Jackie Anderson Christensen
      No. This isn’t ‘persecution’. This is a re-make of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those whore’s would just as soon drag that holy man naked, get him drunk and defile him. The same as they would like to do to school kids. Its conversion they want by defilement. Its a wolf like hunger for the blood of what is not poisoned like them. It is the spirit of Jezebel – a demonic possession and it’s what controls American culture. We’ve come a long way baby!

    4. cavalier973   12 years ago

      I think the ladies in question have developed a very effective method of protest. Public shaming is an excellent way to get someone to change his wrongheaded views. However, I think they are limiting their potential by focusing only on the Catholic Church. The teaching of Islam includes some very unflattering things concerning homosexuality. These ladies should find the nearest mosque, and use this technique on the cleric that leads the worship services this Friday.

      1. SugarFree   12 years ago

        FEMEN have been holding anti-Islamic protests.

        1. Tonio   12 years ago

          Ooooohhh, pwned.

          1. Tonio   12 years ago

            The horseman, not you, Sug.

        2. Azathoth!!   12 years ago

          cite?

  63. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

    Fuck Morning Joe. Today, they had a graphic that read Mayors Against Illegal Guns. It said that in North Dakota, 96% of mayors are opposed to illegal guns. Well this piece of shit was saying that 96% of North Dakotans were in favor of the Senate’s gun bill and that Senator Heidi Heitkamp was voting against what 96% of her constituency favored. It will be a great day when we can read Joe’s obituary. What a piece of shit.

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      There is no way, no how, that’s a valid figure. Heck, I doubt 96% of any crazy, leftwing, gun-controlling city is anti-gun. More people believe space aliens run the country than he has supporting gun freedoms.

      As rural as North Dakota is, I’d bet it would be more accurate than it is now to flip the figure.

      1. Matrix   12 years ago

        They Live! was based on a true story!

    2. John   12 years ago

      I am sure Heitkamp has no idea what her constituents actually think. Nope. She is just brainwashed. It couldn’t be that she made a smart political calculation or anything.

    3. UnCivilServant   12 years ago

      Of course we’re against illegal guns, we’re also against making more guns illegal.

  64. mr simple   12 years ago

    Why worry about improving education when you can just shift students around to bring up the average?

  65. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    (aka children)

    Drat. I was hoping you were referring to a real viral plague.

    Resident Evil style. You get my hopes up, and then…

    I hope you’re happy, you big bully.

  66. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    Fuck Morning Joe.

    I saw part of that. They are pitching a full blown tantrum over this.
    That smug cunt Mika Bropfzintspzik should be kicked out of her armored limousine somewhere on the south side of Chicago and told to walk back to the Four Seasons by herself.

    The truly noxious part was when they were talking about the “female legislators” audience granted by the Ascended One; I can just imagine the sort of estrogen-fueled shaming and recrimination pile-on Ayotte and Heitkamp got.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Mika has no clue such places exist. She has lived her entire life in the cocoon that is being an upper middle class or wealthy attractive white women. If there is a more sheltered and privileged class of people than that, I am unaware of what it would be.

  67. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    And, of course, that would be estrogen-fueled shaming and recrimination, led by HIMSELF.

  68. Virginian   12 years ago

    http://freebeacon.com/gun-grabbers-go-after-gop/

    Puppet continues to flail.

    1. John   12 years ago

      It is just unseemly.

    2. Joe M   12 years ago

      A series of radio ads by the group Americans for Responsible Solutions…

      ARS? Hehe.

    3. Archduke Pantsfan   12 years ago

      of all people, David Letterman has been calling them “stooges” on his show.

      1. Archduke Pantsfan   12 years ago

        them I mean the Rep. Senators.

      2. Gladstone   12 years ago

        Why is this a shock? Isn’t Letterman a left-wing Democrat?

    4. mr simple   12 years ago

      Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) are the first two members of Congress to be targeted for their votes on gun control following the Senate’s failure to pass legislation expanding background checks on firearm sales last week.

      I don’t know about New Hampshire, but these people are truly blind idiots if they think being pro gun freedom is going to cost someone votes in Kentucky. Even some of my more liberal, hipster acquaintances in the “big city” of Louisville have guns.

  69. Matrix   12 years ago

    Remember, it’s only bad for men to objectify women

    Jezzies go nuts over Saudi guy who was deported from Saudia Arabia for being too handsome

    I don’t care about their reactions. But in light of them crucifying men who behave the same way towards women, I find this contemptable.

    1. John   12 years ago

      But in liberal land multiculturalism rules all. The Jezzies no doubt think the Saudis requiring women to wear Burkas in public is just great.

  70. Dunphy (the real one)   12 years ago

    A guy gets harassed by a couple cops for trying to film in a public place. Now, I’ll admit he’s pretty aggressive about it, but he’s within his rights the whole time. I love the older cop at the end who acts like a police officer should.

    …

    Any cop who can’t handle being filmed should turn in his badge and any cop that interferes with filming should be punished. This shit REALLY pisses me off. Open govt. means that people absolutely have a right to film us as we go about our daily routine. It’s a great thing. And it only helps to protect you IF you are doing the right thing. I wish somebody was videotaping me every time I had to use force.

    1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      Fuck of and die.

      1. Dunphy (the real one)   12 years ago

        Smooches! I’ll be your working class hero even though you haven’t spread the love.

        Cmon, SPREAD THE LOVE!!!

  71. Elspeth Flashman   12 years ago

    thanks 🙂

  72. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Red Wings in 8th seed – hope they can keep it.

  73. KDN   12 years ago

    I never thought I’d agree with that sentiment, but go Wings, go Jackets, go Avs, and go Oilers. The rest of this season is all about hate for the Wild and the Rangers for me.

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