Feds Don't Have Solution for Health Plan Cancellations, Obama Says He Is Paying Attention to Intel, Issa Not Letting Go of IRS Scandal: P.M. Links

• 

  Know Your Memes

  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the government wants to help folks who have had their plans cancelled, but they have no actual options right now.

• Pakistan's Taliban is warning of revenge killings in response to the death of their former chief in a U.S. drone strike.
• President Barack Obama promises he's heavily involved in intelligence operations, despite reports that he didn't know that the United States was engaging in direct surveillance of foreign leaders.
• The U.S. is trying to get Syrian rebels to come to the table to talk peace, but it's all just a great big mess.
• A British group wants to test people at the workplace to see if they're boozehounds.
• GOP Rep. Darrell Issa has not forgotten about the IRS targeting tea party nonprofits and has issued a new subpoena for his investigation.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the government wants to help folks who have had their plans cancelled, but they have no actual options right now.

The solution might already be in the law, they just haven't read it all the way through yet.

[LynchPin1477]

There is probably some clause allowing them to declare a state of emergency, suspending the Constitution and placing all government functions under the authority of FEMA. IIRC, this was how the alien invasion was going to play out in The X-Files.

I guess what I'm saying is that the Birthers were right, Obama isn't an American citizen, but they got his birthplace wrong. It isn't Kenya, its Ceti Omicron 6. I for one welcome our new insect overlords.

[PD Scott]

Has the FDA weighed in on alien space honey?

[Swiss Servator, I got nothing.]

BANNED!

[Bill Dalasio]

No. MANDATORY!!

[Ted S.]

Just repeal the law, and let people go back to their old plans.

It really is that simple.

[PapayaSF]

But that's reactionary! That's the opposite of progress! Progressives only move forward!

[Ted S.]

They're antigressives.

[Sevo]

"The solution might already be in the law, they just haven't read it all the way through yet."

Turn it over to Roberts; if he can find a way to read it as a tax, he can find a way to deliver unicorns.

[Pro Libertate]

I think the government has helped enough, thanks. How about they repeal the stupid, economy-harming law right this second?

And how the fuck does Kathleen Sebelius still have a job? Even for today's no-accountability government, that's amazing. BURN THE WITCH. And her boss, for that matter.

[PD Scott]

Damn low-rider bus, it's so hard to throw yourself under it's wheels.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Remember when Bush got rid of Rumsfeld the day after the GOP lost Congress in the midterms? I'm guessing Obama won't even give the Dems that middle finger.

[Ted S.]

I think the government has helped enough, thanks. How about they repeal the stupid, economy-harming law right this second?

Why didn't anybody think of that before?

[Tonio]

Sebelius still has a job because she's useful to the administration. She's going to take all the blame for this, then they will fire her when it starts to work.

That they haven't fired her yet is a sign that there's a lot of troubles still to come. They don't want to hire/fire a series of HHS directors because that would make them look even worse.

[VG Zaytsev]

Has Obama ever fire anyone?

[Atanarjuat]

Whistleblowers?

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else had a government that wanted to help?

[Swiss Servator, I got nothing.]

Charles V?

[BigT]

The ACA law gives quite a bit of latitude to the Secretary, Ms Sebelius, to make adjustments as she sees fit. So her statement is another in a long, long list of bold-faced lies.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

"A British group wants to test people at the workplace to see if they're boozehounds."

They're British, so, yes.

[PD Scott]

"The British are drunk in 76 percent of their Facebook photos".

Brits are drunk in 76 percent of photos that they're tagged in on Facebook, reports the Telegraph.

According to a study conducted by photo storage website MyMemory, over three-quarters of photos were taken either with alcohol or after the consumption of alcohol. It was also reported that 93 percent of Facebook users in Britain had de-tagged or deleted photos deemed to show them embarrassingly drunk.

[Brett L]

So they go to an effort to take sober pics?

[PD Scott]

No, just "embarrassingly" drunk. Regular drunk is okay, I guess.

[Sevo]

"Regular drunk is okay, I guess."

I think you'll get agreement on that.

[playa manhattan]

What percentage of British Facebook photos are of ugly people?

[Lord Humungus]

99.95% would be my guess based on my consumption of UK television.

[PapayaSF]

Even facelifts and Photoshop often don't help them.

[playa manhattan]

That was pretty gnarly. I'm pushing up my beer time by 1 hour because of that.

[PapayaSF]

You're welcome!

[AlmightyJB]

That's why we have light switches. I'd hit it.

[Medical Physics Guy]

The ugly star actors are a source of national pride here. I'm not kidding.

[Francisco d Anconia]

What percentage have straight teeth?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

A British group wants to test people at the workplace to see if they're boozehounds.

I give my Cockney orphans a big tot' o gin myself. Keeps them quiet at night.

[Mad Scientist]

Strap them kids in, give 'em a little bit of vodka, in a Cherry Coke..

[Brett L]

Good song.

[SweatingGin]

Can I get it with some tonic?

[Lord Humungus]

and a lime.

For awhile I was a big fan of Gimlets, ala Philip Marlowe, mixed 50/50. A tad sweet for today's average drinker, but I like 'em.

[SweatingGin]

Really sweet for my tastes... I'd be well into next-day-headache from the sugar. Of course, I end up going ridiculously sour with mine.

Tonight: Negronis.

[Lord Humungus]

yeah, it's not an all-night drink. From my brief reading, tastes in the 1920s-50s seemed to be on the sweet side for mixed drinks.

[Max Power]

Negronis for me too! My wife likes the Boulevardier better.

[SweatingGin]

I've made Boulevardiers a few times, I don't get into them quite as much as the Negroni.

I probably posted it before, but a neat alternative is the Unusual Negroni made here by a British tart.

[Max Power]

That's a cool alternative. I wish that girl would throw a Negroni at me.

[Astra]

Mario Batali has one called the Cyn Cin that I really like. 1 part each gin, Cynar, and sweet vermouth and two dashes orange bitters. I may have one now.

[CatoTheElder]

I like the classic with Campari and Vermouth Rosso, but I'm going to experiment with the idea of throwing right now!

[CatoTheElder]

Not bad. More visually aesthetic, but not better tasting than Negroni on ice.

A couple of splashes on Orange Bitters improves flavour.

[Zeb]

Yeah, straight up Rose's lime juice (or whatever) is way too sweet. There is a restaurant near where I live who makes a gimlet with just the right amount of sweet.

[SugarFree]

Make your own, it's just a simple syrup of lime juice and white sugar. The normal ratio is 1:1, so just decrease the sugar until you make a batch you like. And since you are going to have to bring it just to a boil, use a bottle 100% lime juice.

You and also shake lime juice and sugar in a mason jar until it dissolves, but it is not as stable as breaking the disaccharide by boiling.

If you really want to get fancy, add the zest before boiled, then strain.

[db]

The Feds don't have a solution to anythi g.

[Zakalwe]

The NSA is busy at work trying to solve for your missing letter, but they say they need more funding.

[db]

Maybe if they went on Wheel of Fortune they could close the terrible gap in their budget.

[Corning]

Can't go to the robber barons in the private sector.

Plus i don't think Vanna White was Michelle's sorority buddy so they are ineligible for the no-bid contracts.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. is trying to get Syrian rebels to come to the table to talk peace, but it's all just a great big mess.

Maybe they shouldn't have promised them arms and to bomb their enemy.

[Zakalwe]

You know who else Obama promised things to and instead just created a big mess?

[PD Scott]

"If you like your rebellion?"

[BakedPenguin]

Just mention the people he didn't. It's a shorter list.

[Zakalwe]

Michelle Obama on their wedding night?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the government wants to help folks who have had their plans cancelled, but they have no actual options right now.

We'd like to help you but we don't want to help you.

[Zakalwe]

Pakistan's Taliban is warning of revenge killings in response to the death of their former chief in a U.S. drone strike.

HELLO! PEACE PRIZE!

[playa manhattan]

Revenge killings, as opposed to just regular old sectarian killings.

[GILMORE]

This weeks' sectarian killings have been retroactively rebranded Revenge Killings by the Taliban PR department, and next weeks' planned arbitrary murder of females for teaching / reading/ walking around unescorted / interrupting their pedophilia sessions / will also be slotted for Revenge purposes. Any near-term vehicular bombings of government facilities or religious institutions will be rationed equally to Revenge and Anti-Crusader departments as needed.

[db]

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the government wants to help folks who have had their plans cancelled, but they have no actual options right now.

"I'm sorry, there's just nothing we can do!

[Zakalwe]

Republican obstructionism, bro.

[Pro Libertate]

For once, I think that's not going to work. Everyone knows the Republicans aren't smart enough to wreak this kind of destruction. Only Imperial Dumbtroopers are this precise.

[Zakalwe]

Can't we have one thread without Star Trek references?

[Pro Libertate]

Have we ever? Here, have some tranya. I got it from the Mos Eisley cantina.

[db]

Star Wars into Derpness isn't even in preproduction and you are complaining already.

[Sevo]

..."Everyone knows the Republicans aren't smart enough to wreak this kind of destruction."...

Dunno. I see a lot of Dem claims about that stupid Bush outsmarting a whole lot of 'really smart' Dems.

[Pro Libertate]

They really have a rough time with reality and logic, don't they?

[PD Scott]

"This is not the health insurance you're looking for."

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Barack Obama promises he's heavily involved in intelligence operations, despite reports that he didn't know that the United States was engaging in direct surveillance of foreign leaders.

So, you know, believe what you like, because it's probably true or not true.

[Andrew S.]

Obama knows nothing, unless he thinks it's politically expedient to show he knows something. Then he knows something, except he also knows nothing if it's also politically expedient to know nothing.

And what's worse, his minions will argue both sides and think nothing of it.

[playa manhattan]

Did you read that carefully? HE PROMISED.

[Fluffy]

Today: "I am heavily involved in intelligence operations. PERIOD."

1 year from now: "I am sorry that you are finding yourselves in this situation based on assurances from me that I was heavily involved in intelligence operations."

[Rich]

Excellent.

[Fluffy]

Two years from now:

"There is no sugarcoating it. I misspoke when I said that I was heavily involved in intelligence operations, without qualifying that statement by saying, '...other than those conducted by the United States'."

[playa manhattan]

If you change "I misspoke" to "you misunderstood", you could be one of Obama's speechwriters.

[CatoTheElder]

No. To qualify as an Obama speechwriter, Fluffy would have to introduce this with "Let me be perfectly clear:".

A gifted Obama speechwriter will also include some implied blameshifting to the Republicans with a variant of "There are some who [make absurd or irrelevant criticism of Obama]".

[playa manhattan]

Florida Reasonoids:
Why are the Mormons buying up Florida?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com.....7936.story

[PD Scott]

Competing with the Scientologists in Clearwater in some strange real-world game of Go?

[playa manhattan]

Now with 1000 percent more security cameras!

[Zakalwe]

They were promised they could have their own, bizarre, custom fantasy world in the afterlife, but then realized they could do it on a smaller scale before they die?

[Pro Libertate]

I think they're planning some sort of War of the Cults.

[playa manhattan]

They've got a lot of land to defend... Almost 2 percent of the entire state!

[Pro Libertate]

What are they buying, the swmaps?

[Pro Libertate]

Southwestern maps or swamps, take your pick.

[BakedPenguin]

St. Joe Company land. Which means they want a monopoly on slash pine trees!

[Pro Libertate]

Maybe they want paper mills, then?

[Zakalwe]

Or really bad fanfic.

[Ted S.]

I thought that was the original Book of Mormon.

[carol]

They've bought alot of farm land down in Ruskin. Been going on for years now.

[Swiss Servator, I got nothing.]

Python ranches.

[Pro Libertate]

The hell you say.

[Fluffy]

Napalm is clearly the only answer.

Better burn down the whole county just to be sure.

Is there anything we can use that will insure no remains?

[Ted S.]

Because they realized the way to heaven isn't actually through Missouri?

[Brett L]

Because nobody else will? St. Joe already sold most of their beach land. What's left is mostly sandy pine forest.

[BakedPenguin]

Slash pine, damn it!

[Brett L]

Sorry I meant sandy, pine forest. I'm not sure there's such thing as a sandy pine. But I did learn something. I thought they were called slash pines because they used to milk them for turpentine by cutting slashes.

[BakedPenguin]

Brett, I was kidding, although I do want to kick your ass in fantasy football.

[Brett L]

Shouldn't be any problem to get your wish.

[Atanarjuat]

Actually there is a tree called the sand pine.

[playa manhattan]

Maybe water and transportation rights?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Romney's going to be president of something.

[Medical Physics Guy]

Maybe Elder Kevin Price came in to some money?

[Fist of Etiquette]

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa has not forgotten about the IRS targeting tea party nonprofits and has issued a new subpoena for his investigation.

How many investigations of fake scandals are we going to have to endure between now and the mid-terms.

[Pro Libertate]

Boy, 2015 is going to be fun. Has an entire administration ever been impeached before, in any country?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

France, circa 1790.

[Pro Libertate]

I was thinking more, um, within the system than that.

[Zombie Jimbo]

Spanish Inquisition? No one would expect it.

[KDN]

Do the purges count?

[Mad Scientist]

President Barack Obama promises he's heavily involved in intelligence operations, despite reports that he didn't know that the United States was engaging in direct surveillance of foreign leaders.

Obama could fix all those problems personally, but he doesn't do intelligence.

[Brandon]

He's a better intelligence director than his intelligence director! He's just, you know, busy. And kind of an asshole.

[PapayaSF]

He's heavily involved in all the good stuff, but none of the bad stuff. He's amazing that way.

[Michael S. Langston]

Precisely - in just a few years, he will have helped remotely aimed the weapon that killed Osama, yet still not be able to fix the coding issues as he is busy with other important things.

It doesn't matter anyway that it all sucks - he really really meant well and still believes the right things.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Former prosecutor gets 10 days in jail, community service for sending innocent man to jail for 25 years

A former Texas prosecutor who won a conviction that sent an innocent man to prison for nearly 25 years agreed Friday to serve 10 days in jail and complete 500 hours of community service.

Ken Anderson also agreed to be disbarred and was fined $500 as part of a sweeping deal that was expected to end all criminal and civil cases against the embattled ex-district attorney, who presided over a tough-on-crime Texas county for 30 years.

Anderson faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted of tampering with evidence in the 1987 murder trial of Michael Morton, who wrongly spent nearly 25 years in prison.

Morton was released in 2011 after DNA evidence showed he didn't beat his wife to death. He watched from the front row of the gallery Friday as the man who helped convict him now sat at the defense table, just as he once did. Morton smiled and was hugged by family members after the judge adjourned.

"In a case like this, sometimes it's hard to say what meets the ends of justice and what doesn't. There is no way that anything we can do here today can resolve the tragedy that occurred in these matters," Judge Kelly G. Moore said Friday. "I'd like to say to Mr. Morton, the world is a better place because of you."

Justice is balance. This does not balance.

[Andrew S.]

I don't know what's worse: The joke of a punishment, or that I'm stunned the prosecutor got that much of a punishment at all.

[Brett L]

Yes, I'm happy that we now have a single data point validating that it is, in fact criminal and not just a civil tort to withhold exculpatory evidence.

[Tonio]

Shut your dirty commie whore mouth, Brett. This validates everything Dunphy ever wrote about accountability of the justice system. Everything.

[playa manhattan]

Time for the feds to get involved.

[Scott S.]

Ooh, thanks for this. The case totally slipped my mind despite previous blogging.

[Pro Libertate]

Tell me the guy has at least been disbarred.

[Mad Scientist]

Ken Anderson also agreed to be disbarred...

[Pro Libertate]

Huh. The football player?

[playa manhattan]

He has 30 years of Civil Service, so it's not like being disbarred is going to hurt him in the pocketbook...

[Pro Libertate]

It's positively sickening how little accountability there is for prosecutors. Not surprising, since the same is true for most other politicians.

[Ted S.]

I hope every defense attorney starts asking for 10-day sentences in evidence- and witness-tampering cases.

[Derpetologist]

Tales From the Derp

Prog tells me the the reason people shop at Wal-Mart is false consciousness. I reply that false consciousness is Marxist bunk. Prog says nuh uh. I send wiki link. Prog replies that FC is Marxist but is not bunk. I say "I will say this in the nicest possible way: it is clear you have spent very little if any time examining your own beliefs or those of others." Link to Economics in One Lesson sent.

Same prog was also trying to argue that capitalism ruined Mexico. Evidently, prog was unaware that a socialist party has been in charge of Mexico for nearly a century.

[playa manhattan]

So when I'm paying $2 less per box of cereal at Wal-Mart, it's only in my imagination?

[mad libertarian guy]

So when I'm paying $2 less per box of cereal at Wal-Mart, it's only in my imagination?

No.

It means that you aren't aware that paying more for cereal is SOCIAL JUSTICE and is better for everyone, especially you.

[playa manhattan]

I guess it's true then. I certainly was not aware of that.

[mad libertarian guy]

So when I'm paying $2 less per box of cereal at Wal-Mart, it's only in my imagination?

No.

It means that you aren't aware that paying more for cereal is SOCIAL JUSTICE and is better for everyone, especially you.

[Tonio]

Yes, because you are paying more for that cereal in WELFARE PAYMENTS to that SINGLE MOM WITH TWO KIDS. See, if you forced Walmart to pay a LIVING WAGE then she would be off WELFARE and you wouldn't have to pay as much TAXES you teathuglican.

[Tonio]

/prog

FWIW, I actually did see this argument on FB today, with more whining about how this was "corporate welfare".

[PD Scott]

Wait, you mean the Institutional Revolutionary Party isn't Capitalist?!

[Corning]

I read the Wikipedia thing about false consciousnesses to see if it means what it think it means....and came away more confused then when i went in...horrible fucking mess.

Want to rewrite it?

[Brett L]

And the always controversial pregnant alcohol consumption topic.

Data indicate that mothers are healthier and children are unaffected where women drink in moderation while pregnant.

[Brandon]

What does the data say about circumcisions and who is the best Star Trek captain?

[Protagoronus]

Janeway seems like a pretty mediocre prison cook, but otherwise...

[William of Purple]

What does the data say about expectant mothers eating deep dish pizza?

[playa manhattan]

Eh, alcohol is a pretty potent teratogen in the first trimester. 2nd and 3rd trimesters are open for debate.

[Zeb]

That has always seemed to me something that got blown way out of proportion.

People figured out that serious alcoholics' children had various developmental problems because of constant heavy drinking during pregnancy. So of course people concluded that having any alcohol ever while pregnant is very bad.

[Max Power]

53 drug convictions dropped due to corrupt Philly cop.

In addition to the Walker cases, prosecutors since December have dropped more 300 cases filed by six other narcotics agents who were ensnared in yet another federal investigation. Those officers were pulled from their drug unit in December but are still working on the force. No charges have been filed against them.

[Brandon]

53 down, 84 million to go.

[Brett L]

From the previous thread: Obama invokes Nemesis.

President Obama wanted to go in himself and fix glitches that have plagued HealthCare.gov since its rollout last month, he told a crowd Friday at the Port of New Orleans, "but," he added, "I don't write code."

[playa manhattan]

But he really wanted to! That counts for something, right?

[Brandon]

No shit. Vapid Emptysuit has one skill, spouting bullshit, and he's not particularly good at that.

[db]

That is so fuckj g hilarious. I wish I could be drinking right now.

[Lord Humungus]

I'll do your drinking for you. Right now it's a Cream Ale that I brewed a few days ago. I prefer the darker beers, but this batch is being used for stocking stuffers for various weak-kneed extended family members.

[Ted S.]

Right now it's a Cream Ale

You drink Genesee Cream Ale? What kind of a monster are you?

[playa manhattan]

I'm going to pop open my last Pliny The Elder come 3pm PST. God, I hate their stupid rules.

[Ted S.]

Your typing skills make it look as though you have been drinking.

[Zakalwe]

This is what happens when Anonobot actually achieves sentience.

[db]

That may be the.nicest thing ayone has said about.me today.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

When it comes to educating your daughters about rape, Amanda Marcotte is on it!

The letters also highlight something that's critically important to understand about rape: Rapists plan their crimes, often meticulously, and that plan usually includes strategies to avoid justice. That's why it doesn't make a lot of sense to suggest that avoiding drunkenness is an effective way to fight the scourge of rape. That might reduce an individual's chances of being raped, but it doesn't do anything to reduce the overall rape rate. Rapists are determined people who put a lot of time and effort into finding victims, raping victims, and trying to use rape myths?including the myth that women are to blame for rape because they drank too much or sent "mixed signals"?to convince the victims not to report and to convince the police not to take accusations seriously. To fight rape, we need to educate the public on how disingenuous and manipulative rapists are, so that we're less likely to fall for the inevitable excuses that they trot out for their predatory behavior.

That's right, if doing X won't eliminate rape for everyone no one should think to do it.

[Brandon]

If it reduces an individual's chances of being raped, if many individuals do it, how could it possibly not reduce the overall rape rate?

[playa manhattan]

I've had it with your male logic!

[PapayaSF]

Mansplainer!

[kinnath]

It not about the drinking!

[Fluffy]

She seems to be arguing that if one woman refrains from getting drunk, that merely displaces her potential rape on to someone else.

There are huge problems with that argument, largely because it fails to account for the fact that date rapists generally do not channel switch to abductions in the park at gunpoint if the girls they hang out with drink a little less on the occasional weekend. It's two entirely different rapist pools...except to Marcotte.

[PapayaSF]

You're right. It's a "rapists gotta rape" assumption which undercuts her entire argument: if they're going to rape anyway, then what good does all this "consciousness-raising" do?

[KDN]

That's some grade A derp right there. USDA Choice.

[playa manhattan]

If Marcotte is a vegetarian, I wholeheartedly support the ranking of her bullshit according to the USDA beef grading system.

[trshmnstr]

Using the same logic, gun control doesn't work.

[Rasilio]

"That might reduce an individual's chances of being raped, but it doesn't do anything to reduce the overall rape rate"

So, if I'm teaching my daughter about rape my first concern is to lower HER chances of being raped. I'll worry about the societal incidences of rape later.

"Rapists are determined people who put a lot of time and effort into finding victims, raping victims, and trying to use rape myths"

This is true in only a very small percentage of rapes. The overwhelming majority of them the rapist does not even believe he is committing a rape, he thinks the girl is as into it as he is or that she owes him the sex. If he realized that he was committing a rape he would stop. In otherwords most rapists are not predators, they are self absorbed morons with entitlement issues.

[JeremyR]

The rape that most feminists seem to be going on about today is what happens when a women gets drunk, says yes, then wakes up the next day and regrets it.

That is now considered "rape", even though at the time the woman was willing. But apparently they can't consent to sex if they are drunk....

[Entropy Void]

I'll just put this here:

3D Printed .45 from powdered metal ...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2.....quivalent/

[Entropy Void]

And this can go here:

http://mentalfloss.com/article.....tro-pizzas

[PapayaSF]

There are already fresh pizza vending machines.

[BakedPenguin]

Jesus. We'll have Star Trek replicators in less than a decade.

[Brandon]

So, do the gun grabbers give up and go home, or do they double down? I know what my money's on.

[Corning]

In the video the gun seemed to "stick".

Did they oil the thing properly?

Is it just tight because it is new?

Am i just seeing things?

[Zakalwe]

Some tech site said the same thing, but that it got smoother as time went on. He thought sintering would cause a more porous and a "rough" microscale construction that got smoothed out as it fired.

[db]

I am an avid reader of the RISKS mailing list. For those of you who do not know, it is an ad hoc group of computer and engineering/tech professionals, some who have been in the business since the advent of the internet (alas, Al Gore is notably absent). The purpose of the group is to identify and discuss the "RISKS" of integrating technology and social systems. Basically, the dangers of relying on tech when major economic or health and safety concerns are on the line.

The discussion is usually lively and wide ranging, but the contributors thend to swing lefty, as you might suspect. Usually, no subject.is taboo, and there have been plenty of discussions of failed government IT programs, especially European ones.

The conversationmon Obamacare, however, has been muted if even noticeable. None.of the.usual suspects who beat up on.bad projects have stood up to write more than a few words about it, and one even speculated that Republican/Libertarian wreckers had DDOS'ed healthcare.gov or otherwise sabotaged it for.political reasons.

The credibility of the group is suffering mightily in my eyes.

[Corning]

The government has been pretty mum about how and what and why it is broken...could be silent for lack of technical information about the subject.

[PapayaSF]

That's because there are almost too many things wrong to list. The overall site architecture was hugely ambitious, integrating scores of pre-existing computer systems. Then the site itself was messed up in numerous ways, through political meddling, lack of time, and incompetence.

[Sevo]

Was it you who linked that schematic several times, showing the interconnections required for the thing to function? Anyone who has watched gov't IT efforts knew that wasn't going to happen.
They'll make it 'work' as several have mentioned with tons of SEIU clerks doing data entry (on PUNCHCARDS?!), but the original plan was fantasy.
BTW, how are the state exchanges tied into the IRS? Did the IRS allow some sort of non-secure portal to some data?

[Zombie Jimbo]

Lois Lerner set it up, that was why she had so much contact with the White House.

[PapayaSF]

Lerner also had to do all those verbal-only reports on how the Tea Party persecutions were going.

[PapayaSF]

Yes, I kept posting that diagram because it looked like a nightmare to implement.

I have no idea how the state exchanges are interoperating. I have read that some of the data transmission is insecure, contrary to HIPAA regulations. Also, insurers are reporting getting garbage data.

[Sevo]

..."one even speculated that Republican/Libertarian wreckers had DDOS'ed healthcare.gov or otherwise sabotaged it for.political reasons."...

I keep hoping and then I'm reminded that Obots will make total asses of themselves to avoid admitting that they got snookered by a slick-talking, lying con-man.

[PapayaSF]

What I hope for is a big reality check for the big government types. That may be too much to hope for, but at the very least I'll expect that a lot more moderates will be less willing to swallow the message of "Just let the feds do it! It'll be far better and more efficient that way."

[playa manhattan]

Re: the DDoS- I'm surprised that the Obama administration hasn't insinuated as much. Yet.

[Tonio]

No, because that would lead to questions about IT infrastructure intel and defense. They can't pin it on someone else without making themselves look worse. See also, painting oneself into a corner.

[Michael S. Langston]

Yep - better to gets lot of different pundits to spin lots of fantastical reasons it failed (other than it's the government's fault).

That way - all those who still believe the emperor really is divine can pick their favorite one to believe.

After all - had he known better, he would've just learned to code earlier in life and fixed this whole thing anyway.

[Michael S. Langston]

Slight edit - and it's unfair of me to say "had he known"...

Because really, he did know coding would be useful, he just knew he what the people really needed was for him to get a legal education on the US Constitution.

That way - he'll be well prepared for when he destroys it by arguing things like murderdroning people is perfectly consistent with Constitutional principles.

[The Other Kevin]

President Barack Obama promises he's heavily involved in intelligence operations, despite reports that he didn't know that the United States was engaging in direct surveillance of foreign leaders.

Is this a "promise" promise, or one of those "nuanced" promises that looks like a lie to everyone who has any grasp of reality?

[BigT]

"Heavily involved" = reads articles clipped for him from NYT, WSJ, WaPo and SI

[Brett L]

Oh look, the statists see opportunity to use trans-fat ban as a model. Also, the entire whitewashing of the research-industrial complex. Fuckers.

[Ted S.]

30 years ago, when the forcing people not to all smoking on their private property thing was really getting going, there were people who said that the next theing you know, the government would be telling us what we could and couldn't eat.

The "reasonable" people said they were crazy. Look who turned out to be right.

[a better weapon]

"The FDA is back," Nestle told the Times reporter?and the agency has indeed been AWOL when it comes to matters it should be regulating faster and more forcefully, some of them, like food safety inspections, excusable because of constantly shrinking budgets

Behold the conviction of his dogma! What Corby is too fucking lazy to look up is that the FDA budget increased from $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion from FY12 to FY13. What a mendacious twat.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Libertarians are confused about capitalism

By contrast, wrote Rothbard, "elementary libertarian justice required not only the immediate freeing of the slaves, but also the immediate turning over to the slaves, again without compensation to the masters, of the plantation lands on which they had worked and sweated."
[...]
Oh, forget raising marginal tax rates ? that's catnip for liberal suckers and people too dumb to put their money in tax shelters. Instead, distribute property that has been unjustly acquired directly to the people. Give property titles held by bailed-out banks to the people those banks are currently foreclosing upon. Pool together the salaries of Fortune 500 CEOs and distribute the money equally across the land.

Libertarians don't have to agree on where all this ends (it ends with workers seizing the means of production), but they should understand that no matter what one replaces it with, dismantling an unjust system requires addressing the injustices that system created. If you don't, then your idea of "freedom" will be attacked as the freedom to be exploited by the same people running the world today. And with good reason.

Well if Rothbard said something vaguely redistributionist...

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not sure many libertarians go around saying that ending slavery--which does mean taking "property" from slaveowners--was a moral wrong. Leaving aside questions about the way it happened in this country. Just the part about liberating slaves.

[Brett L]

No, its worse. This guy then goes on to say that because people cheat the current regulatory environment to get rich, obviously what we need is more regulations.

I think. Its hard to follow his stream of thought.

[Mad Scientist]

Its hard to follow his stream of thought.

Coincidentally, it takes the exact same course as his stream of wishes. One flows downhill, the other up.

[Pro Libertate]

So he wants a lot of wealth in the hands of just a few? Huh. Wonder why?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Well I'm sure those people mean well and only have the best, most selfless intentions.

[Pro Libertate]

Personally, I would give people total power over me. I mean, what could go wrong?

[Brett L]

Libertarians don't have to agree on where all this ends (it ends with workers seizing the means of production),

Wow, no working backwards from your desired ends here.

[Pro Libertate]

It's too bad no one has ever tried that out to see how it works, huh?

[Brett L]

Why can't these idiots understand that Marx fundamentally miscalculated the effect of technology on production costs? Anyone who can't reconcile the fact that you have to be cheaper than the cost of developing and producing robots to do your job with Marxist labor agitation is completely lacking in credibility as an economist.

[Pro Libertate]

Like I said somewhere else, logic and perception of reality are not these people's strong suits.

[Juice]

Hey, Marx was wrong on just about everything. I haven't heard one Marxian theory that wasn't 180 degrees backwards.

[BigT]

"Religion is the opiate of the masses." - Marx

[Fluffy]

dismantling an unjust system requires addressing the injustices that system created

The problem with this is that it suffers from the Proudhonistic fallacy.

If all property arrangements arising in an unjust system (even property earned by your own labor) are invalid...

...then the slaves weren't the victims of any property (including earnings) injustice. In fact, there have been no victims of property injustice since some time in the Neolithic.

For a victim of a property injustice to exist, there have to be valid property claims. But if all property claims arising after an injustice are invalid and must be undone, then there have been no valid property claims since before the dawn of recorded history.

And since you can only be paid for your labor in property to which there is no possible valid claim, then no one has lost any property by being a slave. There was no valid property anywhere in existence for them to be paid with.

[Max Power]

The Ghostery plugin blocks the entire article every time I click a Salon link. This is good because I usually reconsider my desire to read the article.

[Juice]

Yeah, voluntarily taking a job in exchange for money and benefits is just like slavery.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Economists surprised by study suggesting government regulation of the credit card industry worked

The study came to a conclusion that surprised Mr. Mahoney and his colleagues: The regulation worked. It cut down the costs of credit cards, particularly for borrowers with poor credit. And, the researchers concluded, "we find no evidence of an increase in interest charges or a reduction to access to credit."

The study, whose other authors are Sumit Agarwal of the National University of Singapore, Souphala Chomsisengphet of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Johannes Stroebel of New York University's Stern School of Business, estimates that the law is saving American consumers $20.8 billion a year.

"Looking at the data forced us to rethink our understanding of the effects of regulating consumer financial products," Mr. Mahoney told me. "The data changed our view of the world. That is what's so exciting about being an empirical economist."

How can that be? One answer may be that financial services are peculiarly suited to deception, particularly of relatively unsophisticated consumers. Reduce or eliminate the possibility of deception and you may allow competition to work to the benefit of consumers.

I don't use a credit card, so I have no idea about any of this.

[playa manhattan]

Did the study take into account that most formerly "free" credit cards are now charging an annual fee?

[PapayaSF]

Now, now, don't spoil the fun the nannystaters are having, now that they finally found something to counter all the "this regulation did not work/made something else worse" studies.

[playa manhattan]

Dude, you need a credit card. Not for credit, but for the rewards. I'm flying my family to Hawaii on miles next month...

[PapayaSF]

There are many things you simply can't do without a credit card, like rent a car.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I bought a TV from Wal-Mart on credit. Paid it off in 10 months at no interest.

Other than that I don't think I'm financially stable enough to take on credit card debt.

[trshmnstr]

Nah, it's all about charging your monthly expenses to the card, and paying 100% off each month. You get the perks (points, cash, miles), and you have not a single penny of debt.

Plus, if you get in a bind one month, you have an option to carry a balance. The hard part is to have enough self-control to not abuse that.

[playa manhattan]

Don't carry a balance. Just use it like you would use a debit/check card.

[playa manhattan]

or, what trashmonster said.

[Apatheist ?_??]

You're throwing away free money. Spend like you currently do and set it up to automatically pay your full balance each month. I too paid for my last vacation with rewards points.

[Juice]

What about the annual fees?

[Thane of Steelport]

There are plenty of rewards cards without annual fees. Plus if you have a rough idea of how much you are going to spend you should be able to calculate whether the rewards will be greater than the fee.

[Brett L]

Umm. Any word on whether banks just started denying credit to the people they used to be able to fleece with changing due dates and random fees?

[Sevo]

"Reduce or eliminate the possibility of deception and you may allow competition to work to the benefit of consumers."

There is no lack of 'deception' in the CC business any more than there's a lack of 'deception' in womens' cosmetics.

[Pro Libertate]

What? All the last couple of rounds of regulation did was shift costs around for consumers. Banks aren't any better than they ever were. They may be worse, since they know the government will always bail them out.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Joss Whedon versus the word 'feminist'

The problem, he says, is that "you can't be born an ?ist. It's not natural." Therefore, he says, "feminist includes the idea that believing men and women to be equal ... is not a natural state." The word "feminist" suggests that "the idea of equality is just an idea that is imposed on us." But Whedon argues that equality is natural; that we're born with it, like the prelapsarian innocents Rousseau wrote about, and it's only when evil society gets its hands on us that we get rape culture and pay discrimination and whatnot.
[...]
This is why feminists are feminists?it's why there needs to be a name. Social, political, and economic equality is not the default. The reason Whedon can stand up at the podium and say that equality is natural is because all these feminists he doesn't talk about, from Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth on up, have fought exhausting battle after exhausting, grinding battle to get to this point. "Feminist" is a movement, a history, a faith, and a hope for change?as Firestone says, "if there were another word more all-encompassing than revolution we would use it." Saying equality is natural sounds like a good thing, but Whedon uses it rhetorically to ignore the entire history of feminism

[Corning]

Did he say anything about why SHEILD is such a horrible mess?

[Brett L]

You didn't see this coming after the 3rd season of Buffy?

[Lady Bertrum]

Two words: Doll House.

[Lady Bertrum]

Ok, actually should be one word: Dollhouse.

[Brett L]

Probably a fair point, I figured it would be a disaster and took a pass. In objective fairness, Firefly would have quickly degenerated into a similar mess.

[Corning]

Firefly would have quickly degenerated into a similar mess.

The revers never made any sense to me...that said they are no worse then say stuff found in X-files or Star Trek.

Every episode of Firefly that exists are solid TV.

There are only like 13 of them...still SHIELD is already fucked and it is only on episode 6.

[Corning]

I liked that show...I have no idea how it ever got on TV or how the premise could have ever lasted longer then it did.

I look at that show like a good TV mini series...the ending was probably one of the best TV show endings ever made.

[kinnath]

"we find no evidence of an increase in interest charges or a reduction to access to credit."

Another astoundingly stupid mother fucker. I had three cards triple the interest rate within weeks of the effectivity date of the new law.

[Juice]

I had this one card that I never used. Only for emergencies. It had a $14k limit and like 3.99% APR IIRC. The second those regs hit, it was canceled.

[Michael S. Langston]

From the WH: See, the law worked. Your interest rates decreased.

[Cytotoxic]

Couple things of interest:

1) BTC is going stratospheric again.

2) The Kurdish self-protection units of Syria Rojava took a border crossing with Iraq late last month and then seized 20 villages from ISIS and other crazies in Syria. Just one long continuous rolling victory against the 'elite of the Jihadists. They-the Kurdish YPG-now control 10% of the country and apparently intend on expanding their control westwards.

Interesting side point: ISIS fights with and beheads more moderate rebels and chases them out of towns in Northern Syria-but the moderates are still willing to work (and die) with ISIS to stop those Kurds from ever having freedom, even if it means getting ass-pounded on the battlefield over and over again. Glad we're not sending significant aid to these fuckers.

[Zakalwe]

ISIS fights with and beheads more moderate rebels and chases them out of towns in Northern Syria

"How is this my fault?!"

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

"Well what's the word for it Lana? You freaked out when I said 'quadroon!'

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Karate? The Dane Cook of martial arts? No. ISIS agents use Krav Maga."

[Pro Libertate]

I used to watch that show. All I remember is some woman who somehow had Isis powers and some guy who had one of those cool Volkswagen Things.

[JeremyR]

Go Kurds!

The Iraq war was worth it IMHO if only because it gave them a chance at their own self-determination.

For the all the PR the Palestinians get, the Kurds have probably had a rougher time.

[mad libertarian guy]

Feds Don't Have Solution for Health Plan Cancellations

You don't say . . .

[Cytotoxic]

Another couple of things:

1) Please donate to Dark Wallet on Indiegogo. This is an opportunity to really advance freedom.

http://www.indiegogo.com/proje.....ark-wallet

2) Reasons website keeps switching to an obviously fake 'Please update java' web-page and it is totally unacceptable. Fix it or I won't donate any money to your site.

[Thane of Steelport]

For #2, I'm not having any trouble, even using a browser without any extensions installed.

You might want to check to make sure your computer doesn't have any adware on it.

Also, when you see an objectionable ad you should consider screencapping it and sending it to Reason. Almost all of their ads are served by Google, which allows site owners to blacklist certain ads.

[Suthenboy]

"President Barack Obama promises he's heavily involved in intelligence operations, despite reports that he didn't know that the United States was engaging in direct surveillance of foreign leaders."

Serial liar gets entangled in his lies. No one saw that coming.

As for your apology about Ocare and your assurances, Mr. President, if you like your apology you can keep it.

[PapayaSF]

*Sigh* I've already explained this above: He's heavily involved in all the good stuff, but none of the bad stuff. He's amazing that way.

[Killazontherun]

President Barack Obama promises he's heavily involved in intelligence operations, despite reports that he didn't know that the United States was engaging in direct surveillance of foreign leaders.

He thinks they listen to him and he commands them. Bwa!hA!hA!ha! The guy that designs the Presidential Intelligence Briefing Paper Trapper must have done an outstanding job.

[Michael S. Langston]

Who knows - but I bet even the act of say planting an electronic recording in a high level government official of another country requires very high level approvals.

Aside from that - don't most people who have even a slight understanding of intelligence operations assume that we try to spy on foreign countries and their leaders (because who else do you spy on to learn Russia's secrets? Russia's retail employees?)?

But the omnipotent uber genius wasn't aware?

He gets to personally select certain people for death from above, but cannot be bothered when a foreign leaders are being surveilled?

Just wow...

[Cytotoxic]

Rand Paul is teaming up with a Dem to stop sexual assault in the military. Smart pre-emptive strike against the 'War on Women' and the right thing to do. Funny first paragraph

William Wilberforce once said, "Having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you didn't know."1 (Note to self: Don't forget to footnote this.)

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-P.....VEMENT-ACT

[Juice]

He just plagiarized that from the Dems.

[JidaKida]

Sounds to me like they might be onto something.

http://www.Privacy-Road.tk