A.M. Links: Dozens of CIA Employees Were Reportedly on the Ground During Benghazi Consulate Attack, Snowden Gets Job Offer, Kerry Says Egyptian Military Was "Restoring Democracy"

US State Department/wikimedia

• Sources have told CNN that there were dozens of CIA employees on the ground the night of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi last year. It remains unclear what they were doing there.

• NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has a job offer from VKontakte, Russia's largest social network.

• Secretary of State John Kerry has said that the Egyptian military had been "restoring democracy" when they removed Morsi from power. 

• The Government Accountability Office has discovered that the Department of Agriculture sent millions of dollars to dead farmers.

• An  investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism indicates that last year the CIA targeted rescuers at the scenes of previous drones strikes, a tactic United Nations investigators have described as a war crime.

• A judge has ruled that it is illegal for a school in Arkansas to arm its teachers.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Secretary of State John Kerry has said that the Egyptian military had been "restoring democracy" when they removed Morsi from power.

John Kerry, Secretary of Turd Polishing

[Mainer2]

So when the Supreme Court in Honduras ordered the President removed for flagrant violation of their constitution, that was a military coup. When the Egyptian military forcibly removes a duly elected President, that's restoring democracy.

Got it.

[Ted S.]

What pre-Morsi democracy was there to restore?

[invisible furry hand]

the pharaohs were all voted in. The Sphinx is like a giant stone election poster

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

"Look upon my poll results, ye mighty, and despair"?

[KMA Too]

+1 Shelley
"Just a small one, thank you"

[Jon Lester]

I'm reminded of when we did something like that in Panama, and replaced the Noriega regime with a bunch of Dade County bankers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...there were dozens of CIA employees on the ground the night of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi last year.

If only Kennedy had YouTube to use as cover for the Bay of Pigs.

[Drake]

Obvious from day 2 it was a blown CIA op. As soon as I heard the words "CIA Annex" it was obvious.

[TheTreeOfLiberty]

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[SweatingGin]

Why the long face, Secretary Kerry?

[Rich]

Perhaps he's Benghazi into a crystal ball.

[Michael]

+1 tuba fart.

[DontShootMe]

gravity

[Invisible Finger]

gravitas

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

A judge has ruled that it is illegal for a school in Arkansas to arm its teachers.

Just hire George Zimmerman.

[invisible furry hand]

Any court case with the phrase "intermittently trailing feces on the floor" is going to end badly

http://media.ca1.uscourts.gov/.....2P-01A.pdf

[Rich]

Q. What was the nature of the excrement that erupted when you lost control of your bowels?
A. It was liquid and there was pieces in it.
Q. Okay.

"The Court orders the reporter to read that testimony back -- and this time without laughing."

[Mike M.]

It remains unclear what they were doing there.

Funneling weapons to our Al Qaeda "friends" in Syria, and who the hell knows what else.

[Bobarian]

At this point, what difference does it make?

Anyone running against Billary who doesn't run that right into the ground is completely nuts and doesn't want to win.

[Suthenboy]

Operating a secret torture prison for Mr. 'Close gizmo, stop the torture, I have a peace prize ' .

[invisible furry hand]

Don't be so hysterical. If it's like Gitmo, it's just a giant book club. He's the education president

[Drake]

Trading the prisoners for weapons? A reverse Iran-Contra?

[Drake]

Getting the Ambassador and the State Dept involved way over their heads?

Somebody (Jarret, Petraeus, Panetta, Clinton, or Obama) deciding that it was better to let them all die rather than exposing the operation.

[ant1sthenes]

Brennan is my guess.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the Department of Agriculture sent millions of dollars to dead farmers.

That's what they get for putting the kid from The Sixth Sense in charge of writing checks for Ag.

[a better weapon]

Somewhere out there, a young Mischa Barton is making a killing and throwing up on herself, but that last part goes without saying.

[Fist of Etiquette]

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has a job offer from VKontakte...

So that was his plan all along.

[Rich]

No wonder Ayn Rand went extinct.

[a better weapon]

Can't argue with science. I guess its time I stop being a selfish dick head.

Can I still keep the monocle?

[jesse.in.mb]

Just say you're wearing it ironically if anybody asks.

[Monkey's Uncle]

ironic monocle - I like how that sounds!

[Fluffy]

"Because trade is beneficial, that means it's also beneficial if we take all your stuff and give you nothing!"

- Leftist social "scientist"

[Sy]

FTA:
"Crucially, in an evolutionary environment, knowing your opponent's decision would not be advantageous for long because your opponent would evolve the same recognition mechanism to also know you, Dr Adami explained."

I don't think this guy understands the part about evolution where IT DOESN'T FUCKING WORK LIKE THAT.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Wait, I thought gazelles evolved the exact same tools as the animals that prey on them.

[Sy]

The ants in my driveway evolved bic lighters and butane torches.

[BigT]

Instead, it pays to be co-operative, shown in a model of "the prisoner's dilemma", a scenario of game theory - the study of strategic decision-making.

Cutting edge research!!

[Invisible Finger]

Co-operative with WHOM? There are 3 sides in the prisoner's dilemma. Not cooperating with one side is essentially cooperating with the other, so you can't NOT cooperate in the prisoner's dilemma.

[Killazontherun]

Smartest remark that I saw --

.
ferenginar
6 Hours ago

You cannot make judgements on evolution based on a modern day experimentation, it ignores 99.99% of human development. Clearly prehistoric survival presented a balance of opportunities for selfishness and co-operation, or one or other would have been bred out of us long ago.

Funny how many computer models rule out empirical reality as an outcome.

[Zakalwe]

Buzzfeed does a "libertarian problems" listicle, spawns 10x as many comments and "fail" votes as a typical listicle.

ARE WE NOT AS CUTE AND CUDDLY AS KITTENS?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I don't give a blue fuck what the hell BuzzFeed readers think, I really don't.

[RBS]

Some of those were actually a little funny.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I thought most of the post was fine. It's the Bluetards and their Pavlovian response to the word "libertarian" that's old.

[Irish]

If someone is reading Buzzfeed, the deserve nothing but scorn.

[Xenocles]

Wow that was a lot of animated GIFs.

[Gbob]

I'm teaching a photoshop class at a local media art collective. One of my students told me she was taking the course to learn how to make animated gifs so that she could write for buzzfeed.

I had an urge to walk out of the room right there and spare us another buzzfeed contributor.

[JW]

Shooting her on the completion of that comment would have been justified.

[Brett L]

"May whatever gods you follow eat your soul."

[Juice]

Ugh, why do so many people equate Ayn Rand with libertarianism? Even this buzzfeed list does it, which is kind of meta. And calling Rand Paul a libertarian is like calling Glenn Beck one. They aren't that far from each other.

[Atanarjuat]

Sources have told CNN that there were dozens of CIA employees on the ground the night of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi last year. It remains unclear what they were doing there.

Well, we can rule out lifting a finger to keep the ambassador from getting dragged through the streets.

[Tim]

What were they doing?

"Running for their very lives" comes to mind...

[Invisible Finger]

"Creating targets" comes to mind.

[wareagle]

so when does the DOJ investigation of CNN begin?

[mr simple]

2009

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Well, we can rule out lifting a finger to keep the ambassador from getting dragged through the streets."

I bet they lifted a finger...guess which one?

[Pro Libertate]

It's always the cover-up that gets people in trouble.

When the articles of impeachment finally come, and I'm starting to think they will, they will have a variety not usually seen in impeachment proceedings.

[T]

If you actually look at Nixon's proposed articles, they do run a wide gamut.

[Pro Libertate]

I've read them. They do hit a number of areas, but I think this administration's officials are going to blow that out of the water. This is an amazingly out-of-control bunch.

In a way, the media shield may have helped, making them think they could do this forever. But when left-leaning media are beginning to dig into scandals. . .bad things are coming.

[R C Dean]

Cool off, Pro L. Nobody's impeaching the first black President. If the House was 98% Republican and there were videos on YouTube of the President accepting bags of cash from drug lords and oil sheiks in exchange for drone hits on their rivals, he wouldn't be impeached.

[Joe M]

I'd also like to note that the new Benghazi revelations have yet to make it to the front page of Google News.

[AlexInCT]

The Google algorithm is written specifically to help do things like that...

[Pro Libertate]

If the evidence gets bad enough and hard enough to suppress, look for his own party to pressure him to resign for family reasons.

[Fist of Etiquette]

An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism indicates that last year the CIA targeted rescuers at the scenes of previous drones strikes...

In the CIA's defense, no American pilots were put in danger during those strafing runs.

[Tim]

Hitler is laughing in Hell.

[Mike M.]

Speaking of our friends in Al Qaeda, apparently we're temporarily shutting down every one of our embassies and consulates around the world on Sunday.

Whatever the NSA snoops just picked up, it sounds pretty big.

[Mike M.]

Actual link.

[DontShootMe]

yeah, they heard about some blogger looking up "pressure cookers" while her husband was googling "backpacks", so of course all the embassies should be shut down.

[Adam.]

it turns out it's not quite as awful as orginally reported; the searches were reported by the husbands previous employer, not from google.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

They need to drum up some terrorist fear to justify their existence.

[Atanarjuat]

Or they are staging a ploy to protect their phony-baloney jobs.

[Rich]

With all due respect, isn't this a slap in the faces of all the "host" countries?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Innocence of Muslims II is set to premier this weekend.

[wareagle]

jailing of director to follow.

[a better weapon]

I'll wait and see what Loder thinks about it first before I give up my Sunday afternoon. Still on the fence about seeing it.

[Tim]

Have dots been connected?

[Restoras]

What's the over/under on that moron Shriek not showing up today after another anemic jobs report, complete with downward revisions for the previous two months?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

But the S&P!!!

[KDN]

+1700

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Don't invoke it either! Jesus, are you that bored and/or masochistic?

[Bobarian]

C'mon, it's not troll free tuesday.

[Ted S.]

Unexpected downward revisions.

[robc]

It would be interesting to see direction of revisions vs administration.

On average, revisions should go in both directions. If they are consistently going in one direction, there is a bias and a problem. Im not saying it started with the Obama administration either, I bet it existed previously, but the history would be nice to see.

[Pro Libertate]

It's definitely more evident when the economy is anemic for so long.

[sloopyinca]

But I thought last summer was the Recovery Summer.

[Fatty Bolger]

No, it was the one before that. No, the one before that. No, it was this summer. It gets hard to keep track of them all.

Recovery Summer!

6/17/10 5:06 AM EDT Vice President Joe Biden today will kick off the Obama administration's "Recovery Summer," a six-week-long push designed to highlight the jobs accompanying a surge in stimulus-funded projects to improve highways, parks, drinking water and other public works.

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, said: "This summer will be the most active Recovery Act season yet, with thousands of highly-visible road, bridge, water and other infrastructure projects breaking ground across the country, giving the American people a first-hand look at the Recovery Act in their own backyards and making it crystal clear what the cost would have been of doing nothing."

[Pro Libertate]

No, no, that was the Skulduggery Summer. Next summer will be the Compulsory Summer.

[Brett L]

Recovery Summer IV: Fuck the Russians!

[Fatty Bolger]

But unemployment dropped ever so slightly! Good times are here at last.

[Invisible Finger]

If everybody would just stop looking for work the economy would be awesome!

[AlexInCT]

Part time jobs rule!

[BiMonSciFiCon]

"An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism indicates that last year the CIA targeted rescuers at the scenes of previous drones strikes, a tactic United Nations investigators have described as a war crime."

Another phony scandal drudged up by Republicans. When will they give up?

[Jordan]

"I agree"

/Nobel Peace Prize Committee

[DontShootMe]

+1 Yasser Arafat

[Ted S.]

How long until the IRS starts investigating the BIJ?

[Fluffy]

"War crimes" means "charges imposed on the political and military leadership of a polity that is defeated in war" and therefore by definition nothing done by any US official can be a war crime.

For the moment.

[John]

No if you are a flunky you can be guilty even if you are on the winning side. Hanging the odd flunky makes the elites feel better.

[NeonCat]

see also Breaker Morant.

[CampingInYourPark]

Bureau of Investigative Journalism

okay...wtf is this

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Column: The New York Times fails its readers?and the country
...Just then, though, one of the Times reporters, Michael D. Shear, interrupts the president and says what has to be one of the most beautiful and revealing sentences ever to appear on Nytimes.com: "He was my professor actually at Harvard." Almost every word of this sentence is an act of social positioning worthy of Castiglione. "My" conveys ownership, possession, and intimacy; the "actually" is a subtle exercise in one-upmanship, implying a correction of fact or status, and suggesting that Shear, who seems to have taken a course with Putnam while pursuing a graduate degree at the Kennedy School, is on closer terms with him than the president of the United States of America; and of course the big H, "Harvard," before whose authority all must bow down....

[John]

God that interview is pathetic. Even the worst groups of elites in the past left art or engineering or something. The ancient regime gave the world Versailles, the Renasaince church gave us Rapheal and Michalangelo. Hell even Stailin built the White Sea canel and the Moscow subway. What does the modern prof give the world besides bankruptcy and ignorance?

The kicker is the name dropping about the bowling alone guy. What a boring idiotic book that is. Only an idiot who doesn't know better would like it much less name drop the author.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Untouchables: America's Misbehaving Prosecutors, And The System That Protects Them
...Over the last year or so, a number of high-profile stories have fostered discussion and analysis of prosecutorial power, discretion and accountability: the prosecution and subsequent suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz; the Obama administration's unprecedented prosecution of whistleblowers; the related Department of Justice investigations into the sources of leaks that have raised First Amendment concerns; and aggressive prosecutions that look politically motivated, such as the pursuit of medical marijuana offenders in states where the drug has been legalized for that purpose. In May, an 82-year-old nun and two other peace activists were convicted of "sabotage" and other "crimes of violence" for breaking into a nuclear weapons plant to unfurl banners, spray paint and sing hymns. Even many on the political right, traditionally a source of law-and-order-minded support for prosecutors, have raised concerns about "overcriminalization" and the corresponding power the trend has given prosecutors....

[Ted S.]

I presume the HP article doesn't mention Trayvon Martin?

[Jordan]

Did the Daily Fail go offline or something? Sarcasmic has been noticeably absent.

[Ted S.]

Didn't he get a new job that cuts down on posting from work?

[invisible furry hand]

Gene Marks offers "6 Reasons Why I'd Hire Anthony Weiner", gives six reasons I'd never hire Gene Marks

[Ted S.]

Would you hire Weiner for the purpose of kicking him in the nuts?

[DontShootMe]

Why would anybody hire Anthony Weiner just to have him kick Gene Marks in the nuts?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I see that as more of a contract position.

[Bobarian]

Isn't Nikki a contractor?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Alright, I need some advice.

I just finished my master's degree in nuclear engineering, my undergraduate degree is in chemical engineering. I have the opportunity to continue on to a PhD in nuclear engineering but I don't know if thats what I want to do. I'd like to get some experience (and a good paycheque) in industry and get away from academia. And I'm not sure if I want to be research oriented for the rest of my life too, which is likely what will happen if I go the PhD route.

Anybody on here have a PhD in engineering? Is it worth it? Any input is appreciated, I need to make a decision in the next month about what to do.

[Fluffy]

Under the coming dictatorship having a PhD in nuclear engineering will be like having a PhD in Baby Seal Clubbing.

I suggest you work on establishing a secret identity and a lair now.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I'll claim I'm learning all of this sarcastically because I actually hate nuclear power.

[Fluffy]

Niiiiiiiiiice.

So the secret identity you've chosen is "hipster".

[Fatty Bolger]

Hipster Joe Fission. Has a nice ring to it.

[bostonaod]

"You mean...you learned to dance like that sarcastically?"

[jesse.in.mb]

will be like having a PhD in Baby Seal Clubbing.

Will I have to move to the northern wastes of Canada to get this degree?

[Drake]

I hear Al Queda is hiring.

[anarch]

Response when you call the Iraqi Suicide Prevention Hotline: "Can you drive a truck?"

[wareagle]

first thing to do is learn the proper spelling of paycheck. Hard to imagine your degrees to date not leading to a nice job.

[Rich]

Hey! That British stuff has scored Joe *many* hot chicks.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Canuck spelling.

Yeah, I'd like to get a good job. I don't want to look back in 10 years and regret not taking the opportunity to get a PhD, but I guess the opportunity to do a PhD will always be around if I really want to do it later on.

[Tim]

Have you considered painting houses?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Literally "painting houses" or mob idiom "painting houses"?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Tried that before the master's degree, it didn't blow my hair back

[KDN]

If you go into the industry do you think you'll lose the theory and research chops necessary to pursue the PhD? If not, I'd suggest going into the industry for a bit and learning the practical applications of what you're looking at before heading back to school once you're free of debt, sick of working, or this stupid higher ed bubble collapses (honest question: do you have to pay to pursue a PhD? I've never looked into it).

[Jordan]

Agreed. If the nuclear industry is anything like the software industry, once you go for a PhD, you have pretty much shut yourself out of the industry forever, unless you're one of the brilliant types who can get hired by Google, Amazon, etc to solve the really hard problems.

The few PhDs I've interviewed were absolutely worthless developers.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I suspect they weren't good developers before the PhD, either.

[Jordan]

Likely. But somebody with no industry experience is entry level at best, PhD or not. Maybe nuclear's different, though.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Depends on the job. Certain jobs I see consider masters as 1-2 years experience and phd as 2-3 years.

[robc]

In general, you get paid to pursue a PhD in engineering.

Its enough to live, poorly.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Yeah, for my master's I have been payed roughly 17,000/year, I think PhD get you a bump to 20. It's enough to get by but it leaves a whole lot to be desired.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

This has been my thinking, I was offered the PhD so I have been going over the pro's and con's of either decision.

A girl here finished her phd last summer and immediately got a job with Bruce Power in Canada doing fuel and physics analysis, so a phd doesn't completely shut you out, but it definitely pushes you into either academia or working for a national lab.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

My advice: get paid. If you can get paid well, go do it. You've been just getting by for too long. Do yourself a favor and go get that money.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

And about an hour ago I got an email from a big utility in SC wanting to proceed to the next step of the hiring process. This could make my decision easier.

[AlexInCT]

From a guy with an MS in EE and a BS in EE/AE, take it. I went out to work and make money. Even switched to writing software since I spent most of my time doign that anyway as an engineer, and now only write software.

Unless you want to be in academia or work for government, you are better off getting real life work experience. And it pays better too.

[Pro Libertate]

It's all about what you want to do and how much you want to get paid. If the PhD helps either or both, get it. If it's neither, then it's probably not worth your time.

[robc]

Im a PhD program dropout with a BNE.

Take from that what you will.

[kinnath]

but a damn fine brewer 😉

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Gorman Thomas?

[Spoonman.]

I quit a prestigious PhD program in geology with an MS and I couldn't be happier about it.

[Pro Libertate]

Fusion! No, really!

Okay, maybe not. Unless you can crack it, then please do it.

[GPZsug]

Wasn't around this morning, so I'm jumping in late.

I have a PhD in EE. I'm currently in employment limbo, having just quit an industry R&D position and not knowing what I really want to do. I refuse to work for the government (labs, public schools, or even private companies that solicit public funds), but there are still plenty of options.

The idea that having a PhD limits your options is somewhat of a myth in my opinion. I interviewed with firms several years ago for non R&D positions. They asked why a PhD would want to do it, but as long as you have an answer then it's not a big deal.

And it's not as if there's no market for PhDs. Companies like Intel hire PhDs in droves, regardless of degree, then train them to do whatever Intel needs. Consulting firms also love PhDs.

If you have student loans that you want to pay off quickly, then getting a job now isn't such a bad idea. But if not, then just do what you want. If you want a PhD, get a Phd. It's fun.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Thank you very much for your insight.

I will have to keep pondering this and decide if I am ready to commit the years to a PhD. I want to pay off my debts which is a big push to start work now and I just want to start racking up real experience outside of school. But I like the *idea* of getting my PhD, decisions decisions.

As I mentioned above, I received an email this morning from a utility in SC and they want to proceed to the next step in the hiring process. Although these companies take their sweet time in making moves, this could help me make my decision.

[GPZsug]

Glad I could help.

If you do go the nuclear PhD route, watch out for anyone doing inertial confinement fusion. Their level of optimism is borderline psychotic 😉

[Invisible Finger]

(and a good paycheque)

I suggest you get the fuck out of whatever communist hellhole you live in that makes you spell paycheck like that.

[Briggie]

I am going for a master's in materials science and then going into industry. With the exception of a few rockstar positions with companies like boeing, NASA ect. a PhD tends to get you stuck in academia (from my observations). HR people seem to be pretty quick with branding a candidate as "overqualified" these days. Then again that's just me.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Journalism in the 21st Century: Just Be Quiet, And You'll Be OK
...The opinion page editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press says he has been fired for writing an editorial that was highly critical of President Barack Obama's new "jobs plan."

"Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough," the headline reads.

Drew Johnson, the now apparently former opinion page editor at the Free Press, announced his firing on Twitter Thursday.

"I just became the first person in the history of newspapers to be fired for writing a paper's most-read article," Johnson wrote....

[Rich]

Hey, Drew, I understand VKontakte is hiring.

[wareagle]

and a chill swept through the newsroom.

[DontShootMe]

that's a feature, right?

[John]

Can't wait for them all to go broke. Nothing more boring than bad propaganda.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Fired for changing the headline. Right.

[Apple]

He had the bad taste to reference a country song while being critical of the President. Racist!

[Zakalwe]

If, like me, you couldn't be bothered to follow the XKCD "Time" comic when it came out, here's a summary and Youtube compilation.

[Xenocles]

Ain't nobody got time for that.

[jesse.in.mb]

I had no idea that was going on. Thanks for the link.

[Joe M]

"In my comic, our civilization is long gone. Every civilization with written records has existed for less than 5,000 years; it seems optimistic to hope that the current one will last for 10,000 more," Munroe told WIRED. "And as astronomer Fred Hoyle has pointed out, since we've stripped away the easily-accessed fossil fuels, whatever civilization comes along next won't be able to jump-start an industrial revolution the way we did."

No.

[a better weapon]

Went to my first jury summons yesterday and was pretty excited until I found out it would be a civil trial for parties involved in an auto accident.

Had hoped for something more interesting, so I made sure to talk a lot during voir dire and then went about my afternoon.

[generic Brand]

Better than my last summons, where I had to drive 45 minutes away from where I lived (and an hour 15 minutes from where I worked), only to be told that we would not be needed that morning and then found out I couldn't receive jury duty time off from work since I was never actually needed.

[Ted S.]

In the county where I live, there's a call-in system: you call in the evening before to find out whether you'll have to go in the next day.

The last time I got a summons, I was about #270 in the pool, so I figured I wouldn't be needed. The first Monday they called in jururs #151-300. Fuckers.

We were dismissed just before voir dire was to begin from what sounded like a drug case.

[invisible furry hand]

Here in NSW we check the court's website the evening before to see if our panel is needed. Next year they'll be introducing more choice so you can nominate convenient periods for jury service

[Tim]

I thought you guys just rounded up kangaroos.

[invisible furry hand]

heh, about 20 years ago in Canberra the court ran out of jurors and the sheriff had to go onto the streets and grab passers-by to make up a panel

[mr simple]

I had a kangaroo burger last week. It was pretty good. Tasted like a sweeter prime rib.

[db]

Maybe some day voir dire will be done via video conference to save people's time and fuel.

[robc]

Similar here, although everyone has to show up first day. Then its call in for the rest of the two week period.

I got voir dired for one case, but "lost" in the random draw and didnt make it on the jury.

[Steve G]

Everytime I read voir dire, I hear Joe Pesci saying it. hilarious....

[robc]

As do I. It helps me spell it though, somehow.

[jesse.in.mb]

I just got a summons on Wednesday for September. Last time I was in selection for a capital rape/murder case, but was sent home when I answered on the juror intake questionnaire that I thought the death penalty was dumb because it's more expensive in CA to kill someone than to put them in for life imprisonment without parole. As soon as I said "why should taxpayers be punished for his crimes?" the prosecutor rushed me out of the room.

[a better weapon]

Nice.

[Rich]

"Jurors are the cornerstone of our judicial system."

[Eduard van Haalen]

I was summoned but never used in a case. In the waiting room (or whatever it's called) there was a computer, and I used my spare time to look up Lysander Spooner's Trial by Jury. Nobody noticed.

[Jon Lester]

Lucky you. The one time I actually had to serve on a jury, it was a divorce trial.

[alittlesense]

I was on a civil trial over an auto accident. The jurors got really good free donuts, coffee and soda, an excellent lunch while we were deliberating, and found for the defendant. The lawyers were unimpressive. The defense attorney kept rolling his eyes when the plaintiff's lawyer was orating, but the paintiff's lawyer was a bozo.

[thom]

I've only ever been summoned in Baltimore and only ever been voire dired for murder trials, but never been put on a jury.

It's always strange to me that people hate jury duty so much. I love jury duty. It's a paid day off work, I get to spend most of the day reading, and the minor involvement I have with the court is usually somewhat interesting. Also, they pay $15, so lunch is taken care of.

[AlexInCT]

If I ever have to go to trial I know I won't get a jury of my peers. My peers need to wor because the crap they pay you to be on jury duty is a pitance, so they find ways to get out of jury duty.

Funny thing is that they keep calling me back every year despite the fact that I was once finde for contept when I told the judge that both the defense and prosecution laywers looked like slimy guilty criminals to me during the interview.

You would figure they would put you on a "persona non grata" list after that, but they are too stupid to get the message to stop wasting my time.

[thom]

Most of the people who got seated the times I've been in the jury pool have been normal, middle class folks who work at jobs that continue to pay them during jury service. In that respect, I probably would come close to getting a jury of my peers.

[invisible furry hand]

The Saudi Criminal Court found Raif Badawi, the founder of the Free Saudi Liberals website, guilty of insulting Islam through his website and in comments he made on television, sentenced him to 600 lashes and seven years in prison, and added three months to his term for "parental disobedience."

He's kinda cute too

[John]

Funny bow that gets so little press but the Russian gay law is flogged daily.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Obamacare hurts parents of special-needs children
President Obama's Affordable Care Act, known as "Obamacare," will make it more difficult for parents of special-needs children to pay for tuition at special schools and to purchase medical equipment, according to a new report.

More than 30 million Americans place money into a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through their employers to help save emergency funds to pay for their families' medical costs. Obamacare institutes a brand new $2,500 cap for FSAs, which will make more money taxable and could raise $13 billion in taxes for the federal government over the next decade.

"Before Obamacare passed, there was no limit to how much money you could put into your FSA at work," Ryan Ellis, tax policy director at Americans for Tax Reform, told The Daily Caller. Ellis was inspired to perform research on the issue after hearing the complaints of a friend with a special-needs child.

"Most people don't, but the one group that does put a lot of money into their FSAs is parents of kids with Down Syndrome, and parents of kids with physical disabilities," Ellis said...

[John]

Had obbamacare existed in the 90s special needs kids like Matthew Yglasies would have never made it to school much less Harvard.

[generic Brand]

My cousin's son has spina bifida, or some similarly debilitating disease, and I know that she was fretting non-stop when Obamacare was being passed, and continues to do so, now that Obamacare is slowly being implemented. They have to go to the doctor/hospital at least once a month for treatments, check-ups, emergencies, etc. and Obamacare regulations are making his care more expensive and limiting the options my cousin has to get treatment for him.

[Ted S.]

But Obama said you can keep the care you like, or something like that! And that it would push costs down!

[invisible furry hand]

Even if generic Brand's cousin's costs are rising, they are in fact falling. 'Tis the Miracle of Obamacare

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Just as The Plug

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

*ask

[John]

My sister is very handicapped. And I find that people for all of their talk otherwise rarely consider the handicapped to be full human beings worthy of the same care and sympathy other humans are. Sad but true.

[ant1sthenes]

I worry that we're going to find out in the next few years just how accurate calling the progs "fascist" really is. Take care of your family, John, wherever you can, in the US or otherwise.

[a better weapon]

OT, saw Hyperion and Francisco discussing Argentina last night. My wife and I are going in November to Buenos Aires, any more uncommon recommendations for thing we can do/eat/see?

[generic Brand]

If lucky enough, maybe an Argentinian national soccer game (WC qualifier or something similar if available). Their team is loaded with stars right now.

[generic Brand]

Also, at least in the touristy areas of Orlando where I live, we have Argentinian (and Brazilian) meat buffets, like The Knife. So I don't know if that's just a delicious tourist trap here in America, but you may want to look into something similar in the Southern Hemisphere.

[Xenocles]

I don't know about Argentina, but those places are also delicious tourist traps in Europe.

[a better weapon]

If lucky enough, maybe an Argentinian national soccer game

Damn, that would have been cool. No games in November.

They play Chile in October though. I'll have to tune into that one. We'll call it the "Libertarian Cup." Sullum should throw a watch party.

[AlexInCT]

Hit a churrascaria and eat as much meat as you can with any of the local Malbec wines. good times. And practice that lisp thing. The Argentinians like to do it about as much as the Spaniards do.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Top this, SF:

Public college freshmen forced to read comic book starring lesbian, child molester
...administrators at the public university in downtown Charleston, South Carolina chose "Fun Home," a 2006 graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, a cartoonist who writes a comic strip called "Dykes to Watch Out For."

The book's plot concerns a woman who is coming out as a lesbian. She has a closeted gay father. He's an English teacher who owns a funeral home. He's also on trial for a sexually molesting a young boy. Among much else, there's an illustrated masturbation scene to boot.

In addition to dropping nearly $40,000 on the glorified comic books, CofC will generously give $13,000 from its public coffers to Bechdel when she speaks on campus in October, according to Campus Reform....

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Millikin U. permits a murderer who changed his identity to chair their psychology department
...Jim Wolcott is an admitted murderer. He shot his parents and sister to death in 1967. When questioned by police, he confessed to the crime, but was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Six years later, authorities considered him cured, and authorized his release from a mental health facility. After that, he disappeared.

The psychology professor and the deranged murderer are the same person, according to a two-year investigation by the Georgetown Advocate, a weekly newspaper circulated in the region of Texas where the killings took place....

[Eduard van Haalen]

I actually believe in rehabilitation...unless he concealed his identity to his employer, of course.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Why do you hate gay people?

[Rich]

Lynne Ford, associate provost, said the graphic memoir copes with issues of identity and "will help students to learn that they are not unique. Our experience is shared by millions."

WTF?

[wareagle]

and academics wonder why normal people laugh at them.

[Ted S.]

Everybody's a special snowflake until we need a collective.

[db]

David Rothkopf goes full retard: Suggests Obama will "cement his legacy," ending America's "Decade of Fear" through rollbacks of the national security police state. This man has to be delusional.

[Doctor Whom]

But by how much will he increase our chocolate rations?

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

From 30 grams to 20 grams - double plus good!

[Joe M]

I already used that joke this week. Statue of limitations on humor is one month. It was increased from two months recently.

[np]

Urine Provides Stem Cells Capable of Multiple Therapies

Stem cells can be isolated from urine and transformed into multiple cell types without the use of expensive and invasive surgeries

[Longtorso, Johnny]

So will Epi cure Warty or will Warty cure Epi?

[Ted S.]

Who will cure Kedollarsignha?

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

Self administered cure, obviously, in her case.

[sloopyinca]

So, this is Kedollarsignha in disguise?

[Emmerson Biggins]

so kesha was right afterall

[Fluffy]

If there were dozens of CIA dudes on the site, why didn't THEY fight?

What did they need the Marines for?

Aren't all of those guys rated in small arms before they go overseas?

[Tim]

Maybe they did fight. Or maybe there was some dumb ass "gun fee embassy" policy.

[John]

CIA guys are not soldiers usually. They are generally Ivy League idiots. I am sure they ran and hid leaving the ambassador to die.

[Tim]

Even if they all had glocks, I understand that the attackers had AK's, RPG's, grenades and mortars for fire support. It would be hard for the best people to fight a war with handguns.

[John]

True.

[bmp1701]

If there were dozens of CIA dudes on the site, why didn't THEY fight?

They were too busy investigating whether anyone in Benghazi was preparing quinoa and/or couscous.

[Steve G]

and remember there were two sites and the ranking conspiracy theory is the CIA was running a jail at the site NOT where the Ambassador was killed...

[Steve G]

and the CIA (contractors) did fight at the non-consulate site.

[Drake]

They used the State employees as cover then left the swinging in the wind.

[tarran]

The firefight lasted hours.

Against a large force armed with mortars, heavy machine guns and RPG's.

Twenty men with small arms aren't going to be able to pull off a Horatius at the Bridge for too long in the face of that.

[VG Zaytsev]

If there were dozens of CIA dudes on the site, why didn't THEY fight?

Supposedly, if you can trust the news reports (which generally I don't, but stil), the 'battle' lasted 8 hours or so, implying that it wasn't entirely one sided.

[R C Dean]

There was a big gap in the middle, is my recollection.

Of course, you have to wonder about any of the "information" we have about this. The administration has gone balls-deep on lying and covering up on this one.

[AlexInCT]

^^^ THIS...

[ant1sthenes]

What the fuck are a bunch of really sneaky bureaucrats going to do? I imagine most of them aren't Michael Westen.

[a better weapon]

http://www.thegatewaypundit.co.....mes-video/

Rep. Trey Gowdy told Greta the Obama Administration is hiding the survivors, dispersing them around the country, AND changing their names.

I'm sure they each had their own reasons for a change of scenery and name change, let's not shoot from the hip here people.

[Suthenboy]

Wow. They really are shitting circles around themselves trying to hide this, aren't they? Hmmm, maybe even my conspiracy theories don't go far enough.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Former Soldier Turned NFL Cheerleader Caught On Tape In Alleged Drunken Rage, Beating Boyfriend

[Longtorso, Johnny]

When Welter called 911, she told the operator that her boyfriend was a "professional fighter" and had "smashed [her] head into tile" and had put her in what she described as a "choke hold with his legs."

[Restoras]

This sounds suspiciously like make-up sex.

[generic Brand]

Allegedly, Welter thought another woman was somehow involved in their relationship, and was demanding to see her boyfriend's phone.

More evidence to why it is better to not go snooping.

[Zakalwe]

That makes her the second hot, crazy signal geek chick named Megan I know.

[Nando]

Evolution favors unselfish people

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I guess this explains all the species that share their mates, etc.

[Jordan]

Nothing says selflessness like "gimme half your shit or I'll lock you in a cage."

[Zeb]

I don't see a problem with that. Cooperation is important and it is hard to get through life being completely selfish. Of course, someone will take the results of something like this and conclude that it means that libertarians are stupid, but that really doesn't have anything to do with the actual results.

[JW]

Free trade, spontaneous order and mutually beneficial voluntary transactions aren't sharing! Duh!

Now, give me my fair share!

[Rasilio]

That tends to happen when you can't tell the difference between cooperation and coersion

[John]

Guesses on the truth of what the CIA was doing in Bengazi? I was thinking gun running and or prison. But I am not sure even that would not cause them to do this. This must be some serious shit. New identities and stashing peoe in witness protection? Wow.

[Pro Libertate]

Torture? Seems like the one thing they couldn't possibly let out, especially if it involved hardcore torture techniques.

This is really, really serious. I think we're hearing the early death knell for a chunk of the administration.

[R C Dean]

Only if Congress grows a spine and the media does a 180.

I give this a 1 in 3 chance of turning into anything, regardless of what actually happened there.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, I think it will take time before Congress acts. It could even take as long as the next elections. Watergate took two years, after all.

[Pro Libertate]

One other thing--I believe the latest on a possible CIA cover-up was broken by CNN. Not Fox, not Glenn Beck, not the Illinois Nazi Examiner.

[Nando]

As the American military looks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, the Marine Corps is leading the way with cutting?edge technology and innovative devices

[NoVAHockey]

Just hit my desk:

"The Office of Personnel Management will issue a rule next week ensuring that the federal government will contribute to the cost of premiums for congressional staff purchasing health insurance through the exchanges created by the health overhaul."

I'm more of a medicare guy, but i'm pretty certain the authority is iffy at best.

[John]

It is not iffy. It is nonexistent. The law says they can't do that. There is no authority to spend the funds. That is an anti deficiency act violation. This administration is truly lawless

[Matrix]

Newspaper editor fired for not sucking this Administration's cock

[db]

It sucks for sure, but private employer, SLD.

[The Late P Brooks]

Alam Krueger is on my teevee, sobbing pitieously about the sequester. If not for that mean old sequester, the economy would be BOOMING!

[The Late P Brooks]

i'm pretty certain the authority is iffy at best.

It's a Moral Authority. Clause 27/B in your Social Contract.

[db]

http://cdn.meme.li/instances/300x300/22713178.jpg

Great Brazil reference.

[sloopyinca]

As to Benghazi, you guys all need to go to the wayback machine a few days after it happened and read my comments. A guy that used to wear three shiny stars told me through an intermediary what went down. Every thing I wrote is coming to pass exactly as he said.

The US government was running a secret prison and giving away stinger missiles and light to heavy arms to the terrorist B Team Muslim Brotherhood, in an attempt to get their own puppet regime put in place when Kadaffy was run out of town. The secret prison was being stormed, just like what we just saw at the Afghan prison last week, and the CIA couldn't let the military get involved in the defense of it because it was gonna end bad if a group of Rangers happened upon a warehouse full of illegal weapons. So the solution was to get Chris Stevens over there to possibly calm the situation or give the attackers bait if he failed to do so. He led them to the Embassy* (Why they're calling the CIA secret prison an "annex" is beyond me, as is why the media's buying it), which was more defensible. Unfortunately, the military for ordered to stand down and not go in and defend the Embassy either for fear that they'd get over to the "Annex" and see what was there. So, the few people that stood and fought were killed, Carter Ham was given his walking papers and the people on the ground are either being given polygraphs monthly to see if they're cooperating with Congress or they're being disappeared into the WPP.

[BigT]

Seattle censors.

Government workers in the city of Seattle have been advised that the terms "citizen" and "brown bag" are potentially offensive and may no longer be used in official documents and discussions.

...

Seattle, however, isn't the only city with an eye on potentially disruptive words.

The New York Post reported in March 2012 that the city's Department of Education avoids references to words like "dinosaurs," "birthdays," "Halloween" and dozens of other topics on city-issued tests because they could evoke "unpleasant emotions" among the students.

Dinosaurs, for example, conjures the topic of evolution, which could rile fundamentalists and birthdays are not celebrated by Jehovah's Witnesses. Halloween, meanwhile, suggests an affiliation to Paganism.

Officials said such exclusions are normal procedure, insisting it's not censorship.

[sloopyinca]

I'm so happy that those two cities...apparently models of a modern education system...have solved the dilemma of undereducating students and not preparing them to enter the real world, which is allowing them to focus on the fine points of their approach.

Now, if they could just get around to addressing the rubber rooms used to house criminal and pederast teachers that the union contract keeps on the government dime.

[The Late P Brooks]

The US government was running a secret prison and giving away stinger missiles and light to heavy arms

It's almost as if there is some sort of shadow government, immune to any sort of Constitutional restraints, operating in the background.

Naaaaaah.

[Jon Lester]

Pickens County, GA GOP wants to warn you about Crayola now:

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/pol.....rayolas-w/

[Gus]

"The Government Accountability Office has discovered that the Department of Agriculture sent millions of dollars to dead farmers."

Those votes aren't just going by themselves you know.

[Libertywolf78Z]

A message from the Living Impaired Farmers of America:

There are those in Congress who would take away the payments to the brave Living Impaired Farmers that grace the countryside of our beautiful land, and the citizens of the United States should be appalled at this lack of compassion shown by our Congressional leaders. These men and women gave their lives to feed the people of this nation, and they continue their selfless acts even in death.

When there is no more room at Uncle Sam's table for Living Impaired Farmers, the hungry will walk the Earth.

[Jack the Reaper]

So I'll throw this out to the commentariat.

I posted a job opening on monster and craigslist this week for a C++ programmer. I have gotten less than 5 resumes and they all kind of suck. Anyone else try to hire programmers these days? Are they all out selling magazines because it pays better?