A.M. Links: Senate To Hold Hearing on Digital Currencies, Google Implements Anti-Child Porn Software, Deadly Tornadoes Hit the Midwest

Credit: zcopley-cc-by-sa

• The Senate is holding its first ever hearing on how to regulate digital currencies today. It will take place before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
• Google is implementing software to block links to child pornography. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt explained that Google as well as Microsoft and other corporations already work with law enforcement to eliminate illegal images.
• Mary Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, criticized her sister and Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney for her opposition to gay marriage.
• Tornadoes tore across the Midwest yesterday, killing at least six in Illinois, injuring many more, and leveling towns.
• Israel has indefinitely detained an alleged Al Qaeda weapons specialist for over three years without charges or a trial.
• A gunman opened fire today in the building of left-wing French newspaper, Liberation, leaving one man seriously injured.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mary Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, criticized her sister and Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney for her opposition to gay marriage.

Someone needs to push for government recognition of a family's dirty laundry.

[GILMORE]

Are you suggesting that they kick them when they're up, then kick them when they're down?

[Snark Plissken]

The Senate is holding its first ever hearing on how to regulate digital currencies today. It will take place before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Who didn't see this coming a mile away?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ban it.

[waffles]

For whatever reason the USD/BTC exchange rate has been climbing 10-20% daily. I doubt much substance will come of this hearing, but unless this is the dumbest market ever I doubt there will be bad news.

[waffles]

Or it could be the best-est digital pump and dump ponzi scheme ever. Do senators and representatives ever get investigated for insider trading? I recall that they seem to universally find ways to enrich themselves in office, but is it all clean?

[Brett L]

They are exempt from reporting requirements.

[wareagle]

60 Minutes did a story on that some months back. Much yawning ensued.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The foretelling association of Homeland Security and the regulation of currency is not lost on me.

[Ted S.]

Don't forget that the Secret Service was originally part of the Treasury Department, since its main task was discovering private sector quantitative easers.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Is the Secret Service under the DHS now? I thought it was still in the Treasury.

[Ted S.]

I think it got moved sometime after 9/11 and the creation of DHS. (OT, but I hate the word Homeland.)

[VG Zaytsev]

I do too, it sounds so Soviet.

[Lord Humungus]

In Soviet Russia, Homeland is you!

[Killazontherun]

The kind of place where you would have to have a certificate of need for essential things like MRI scanners.

[WTF]

I hate the word Homeland

They should change it to "Vaterland".

[Killazontherun]

That sort of honesty in our government would cause us massive shock. We would not know how to deal with it, as we have so little experience with it.

[CE]

I tink da film was called Vater Vorld.

[Rich]

Homephobe!

[CatoTheElder]

Well, "Defense Department" was already taken by the war department.

[Gene]

private sector quantitative easers

Euphemism of the day.

Well.... so far, it's early.

[CE]

But that was the main plot point of Wild, Wild West (the movie). They had to stop the bad guys from printing lots of currency and destroying the dollar and the economy. Even though what the bad guys were planning to do was a tiny fraction of what Bernanke and Yellen do now.

[waffles]

So who wants to bet that they're going to say digital currencies are super cool and may replace the USD as the world's reserve currency?

[gaijin]

+1 trillion Zimbabwean dollars

[UnCivilServant]

So... half a cent.

[Citizen Nothing]

I've got a One Hundred Trillion Zimbabwe Dollars note on display at my desk. I hope to proudly fly a similar banknote from Venezuela soon.

[PM]

You'll probably be flying a similar banknote from the federal reserve in your lifetime.

[GILMORE]

No, he will have traded it for sea shells and beads by that point.

[Ken Shultz]

"The Senate is holding its first ever hearing on how to regulate digital currencies today."

So, I guess the question of whether they should regulate them at all was already debated by another committee?

[wareagle]

FYTW clause

[CatoTheElder]

For once the Congress is doing something it is actually authorized to do, kind of:

"to Coin Money, and Regulate the Value thereof".

[R C Dean]

Ya know, when I see "coin" money, I think that authorized Congress only to make, you know, coins. And, if one must stretch it, paper equivalents (the old gold and silver notes).

So, since the reference to regulating is back to the "money" that the Feds themselves "coin" (and in the next phrase, foreign coin), I don't think the feds have any authority over any fiat currency or digital currency.

Even if you stretch "coin money" to include fiat, it only includes the (1) the fed's own currency and (2) foreign currencies.

So, no, I see no Constitutional basis for Congress to regulate bitcoin at all.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Also : regulate = define weight and purity of a dollar. Not much else.

[Rich]

The question of jurisdiction will remain up in the air until Washington can settle on a definition for bitcoin. Is it a security? A currency? A commodity?

A floor wax? A dessert topping?

I suspect most members of the committee have essentially no idea how digital currencies work, so what Fist said.

[UnCivilServant]

I have no idea how digital currencies work. So I don't involve myself with them. Sadly, legislators are less prudent.

[Ted S.]

And they're helped by a culture that implies that once you get elected to office, you immediately become an expert on every topic under the sun.

[Root Boy]

No, they rely on those young, hill rats just out of law school who are biding their time until they can get a cush dig with a lobbying firm and monitize their experience.

[R C Dean]

The less you know about something, the easier it looks. is supposed to be a warning, not an invitation.

[gaijin]

What will they do when someone creates digital numbers?

[Rich]

'God created the natural numbers.
Everything else is the work of man.'

-- Leopold Kronecker

[Suthenboy]

I am certain that the fuckwits will screw things up beyond my wildest imagination.

Do any of them even understand what digital currencies are and how they work? I am guessing not.

[Lord Humungus]

'Just put me down as f---ing drunk' Oklahoma man tells police after crash with school bus

An Oklahoma man accused of driving his car into a school bus full of high school students early Saturday morning refused to take a sobriety test - instead telling police "just put me down as f---ing drunk."

Joe Garen Chapman, 33, of Pawnee, was driving on a local highway in Cleveland Oklahoma around 12:15 a.m. when he looked down in his car to grab a CD, crossed over the center lane and struck a school bus carrying 28-members of the Cleveland High School band, police chief Clint Stout told The News Saturday.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The CD he grabbed was Tom Haverford Mixtape.

[SugarFree]

DJ Roomba has a posse.

[Atanarjuat]

Honesty is an under-rated quality sometimes.

[Ted S.]

Joe Garen Chapman, 33, of Pawnee, was driving on a local highway in Cleveland Oklahoma

So the Browns let him down one last time?

[Hillary's Clitdong]

He sure let down those students.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Tornadoes tore across the Midwest yesterday, killing at least six in Illinois, injuring many more, and leveling towns.

It was a conspiracy to ruin the only momentum the Ravens offense has shown in weeks.

[Some call me Tim?]

When asked about Roger Goodell's involvement with the storm, Terrell Suggs had no comment.

[Lord Humungus]

Swedish hotel made from ice told to get fire alarms

Beatrice Karlsson, spokeswoman for the Ice Hotel in Kiruna, said officials with the National Housing Board told managers they would have to install fire alarms at the hotel, which is built every year using chunks of frozen water from the Torne River, The Local.se reported Friday.

"We were a little surprised when we found out," Karlsson said. "But we do understand. Safety is a primary concern for us. There are indeed things that can catch fire, like the reindeer skins, the mattresses, and the pillows."

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Smoke alarms would seem more appropriate.

[DJF]

Flooding and high temp alarms would seem even more appropriate

[pan fried wylie]

"Attention, the building is melting, please evacuate."

[UnCivilServant]

Hrmmm... I wonder if they have a time lapse video of the annual melts.

[Snark Plissken]

"Ve-a vere-a a leettle-a soorpreesed vhee ve-a fuoond oooot," Karlsson said. "Boot ve-a du understund. Seffety is a preemery cuncern fur us. Zeere-a ere-a indeed theengs thet cun cetch fure-a, leeke-a zee reeendeer skeens, zee mettresses, und zee peelloos."

[Elspeth Flashman]

+1 sveedish shef, Meester Pleekssen.

[KDN]

One thing I've noticed from my years as a hockey fan is that Swedes have basically no accent. It's easier to understand Adam Larsson than Patrik Elias despite the former being a 19 year-old rookie from the Swedish hinterlands while the latter has been living in NJ for a decade and a half.

[Killazontherun]

It's easier to understand almost all continental Europeans who speak English than a large segment of the English population born into some semblance of it.

[Cdr Lytton]

Bork bork bork!

[Matrix]

maybe they should have to install sprinkler systems as well...

[Rich]

"Safety is a primary concern for us."

Well, *there's* your problem.

Safety should be *the* primary concern.

[CE]

I'm pretty sure you can only have one primary concern, by definition.

[db]

Now if they had made the hotel out of dry ice...

[AlmightyJB]

The entire building is a fire alarm.

[invisible furry hand]

Not content with interfering in fund-raising barbecues, the ACT government's food safety bureaucrats have turned their attention to school fetes, telling parents they cannot sell their homemade quiches any more.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.a.....z2l0Q7bsmB

[Brett L]

What about roo jerky?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

What the hell happened to Australia?

[Drake]

Their voting habits.

[invisible furry hand]

Their voting habits obligation.

FIFY

[db]

I guess when you make it a crime to not vote, you guarantee that the stupid and apathetic will rule.

[Citizen Nothing]

Half the people are of below average intelligence. Q.E.D - you are correct.

[Ted S.]

ACT = Australian Captial Territory, which is Canberra, where something like 99.9% of the workforce is government sector workers.

[invisible furry hand]

Canberra does have a thriving private sector - mostly IT and sex workers

[Ted S.]

Which one are you? :-p

(This is why there are no female libertarians....)

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

Sexy IT?

[PM]

I thought the entire point of the internet was to remove that dichotomy?

[WTF]

The same thing that's happening to America.

[Killazontherun]

They heard about this super cool concept called socialism, and thought it sounded like something they could use to improve their society.

[Matrix]

Look, they are trying to protect people, okay. I mean, average people are too incompetant to cook. We really should have government approved meals given to every individual all over the country. They will be prepared according to regulation, and everyone will have their nutritional needs met--so long as their nutritional needs are exactly the same as what the government decides is the average.

[Steve G]

I'm anxiously awaiting this virus to spread through the school districts here. I've heard talk of some random schools banning packed lunches due to BS health concerns and the only recourse is a doctor's note. When/if this happens, it's f-ing game on. My kid is not participating in the govt-sponsored carb-fest just to get fat like all the other 7-yr olds.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

They would be banning packed lunches because they get a kickback from the state and federal government for every child poisoned by the crap they peddle.

[Zeb]

If I recall correctly the school that banned packed lunches was private. I doubt that would fly in a public school. Though nothing would surprise me at this point.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's coming. My niece's school is talking about it now. It has everything to do with the money they get from the State for every lunch served.

[Fluffy]

They're going to get it done using the ADA.

Your lunch from home is an existential threat to some kid who's allergic to everything. And the ADA dictates that we run everyone's lives for the convenience of the one kid with an "instant death in response to everything" gene.

[Steve G]

Well, if it comes down to a doctors note, I've got that covered...

paleophysiciansnetwork.com

[Root Boy]

The dickheads running my kids public school keep trying to get all the kids on publicly funded lunches. I keep shit-canning the form since I'm a wealthy bastard (at least compared to the illegals they bus in)and they keep sending it. Then they said school lunches were free for some reason.

Wife still packs the kids their lunch since they hate school food. I did ask my kids if they could get free milk with lunch and they said no. School logic at work.

[Clich? Bandit]

ACT party, well thats not confusing. Since the Kiwis have a party called ACT that I doubt would support such things. Unless my info on the south pacific is too old.

[Ted S.]

OT: Anybody else hate when websites do a redesign, and break all the %@!%^$! URLs people have bookmarked to?

[Brett L]

Yes

[Rich]

If *only* there were something that could, like, "redirect" to stuff within the redesigned site.

[invisible furry hand]

Don't get me started. Every so often my employer's web team runs a broken links search, and I get the fun job of deciding whether we track down the new URL or say "bugger it". The main culprits are, of course, government websites which usually become even shitter. One major department did such a crappy job it even managed to misspell its own minister's name on the homepage

[Ted S.]

This was a quasi-governmental website (Deutschland Radio). The links in question were podcasts. One of the programs that airs on Sundays worked just fine yesterday, and today all the podcasts were broken. I had to go to the site, look up each individual program, and find the new podcast links for people who use generic RSS readers (fucking government broadcaster wants to push its own specialized media player on people). Most of the programs had information of what the podcast URL is for people who use iTunes, and for people who use generic RSS readers. But one of the programs had the same boilerplate text -- without the URLs.

At least I got some good practice trying to write in my second language at 7AM as I fired off an irritated email. The only bad thing is that I learned German before there was an Internet, so my knowledge of all the Internet terms is rusty. 🙁

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Drunk Squirrels

[sarcasmic]

Pete's Wicked Ale? Blech!

[Ted S.]

If you're feeding beer to squirrels, why give a shit what crap beer they're drinking?

[Killazontherun]

I like squirrels, I wouldn't give one a half piss beer.

[Killazontherun]

caveat, I've never had Pete's Wicked, but I would try it to see if it was half decent before giving it to a little forest buddy.

[sarcasmic]

I've never had Pete's Wicked

You're better off that way. The shit is nasty.

[Bobarian]

I rather enjoy Pete's Wicked Summer Ale, but the standard Pete's is less than tasty.

[RBS]

The worst hangover I ever had was after a night of Pete's and MD 20/20.

[Killazontherun]

Honey mead man, felt like I could use a laser sccapel to get that shit out of my brain the next day.

[SuperDuperParatrooper]

Killazontherun, whoever made it did something wrong. I've got 10 gallons aging in carboys.
It's a little woody right now due to it coming off of secondary fermentation (I left it on the oak longer than usual), but the vanilla from the oak and the cinnamon, along with the blackberries are starting to come to the forefront daily, while the woody taste is retreating. This will end up as good as any premium wine, a little dry, 18?V. The aftertaste isn't bad at all. It is still a bit hot, though that will mellow as it nears time to bottle it.

Or just drink more when you wake up.

[SuperDuperParatrooper]

That would be 18 percent ABV, fucking squirrel overlord says I should de-link the e-mail from the handle...

[Bobarian]

MD 20/20?

WTF?

Why not just drink sterno?

[Suthenboy]

It is not uncommon to see this on the side of the highway in Louisiana. Third pic down.

http://katespikesspot.blogspot.....sippi.html

[VG Zaytsev]

Is that you riding the cow in the top pix?

[Lord Humungus]

Iran unveils attack drone 'with 2,000 km range'

Iran on Monday unveiled a missile-equipped drone with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The Fotros drone has an operational range of 2,000 kilometres and can fly at an altitude of 25,000 feet, with a flight time of 16 to 30 hours," Defence Minister Mohammad Dehgan was quoted as saying.

Dehgan said the new drone could carry out reconnaissance missions or launch air-to-surface missile strikes.

[Suthenboy]

How many spray painted plywood fake drones have they unveiled now?

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

Pseudodrone gap!

[UnCivilServant]

If the brits got plywood planes to fly in WWII, I'm sure the Iranians could build a plywood drone now.

[Killazontherun]

Saw a Military Channel show on a Nazi jet plane built of only wood, designed to allude radar. One of the big defense contractors was reverse engineering it as it still had value in that respect.

[Rabban]

ellude?

[Killazontherun]

Fuck, I did it again! It's a homophone to my ears.

[Snark Plissken]

A gunman opened fire today in the building of left-wing French newspaper, Liberation, leaving one man seriously injured.

Authorities have the hate-filled right-wing hellhole of 1963 Dallas at the top of their list of suspects.

[Atanarjuat]

I blame Sarah Palin. Her website had a picture of crosshairs on it.

[WTF]

It's obviously the hate-filled Tea Party racist ratfuckers.

[Killazontherun]

Would it be profitable to sell little rat whores at Tea Party events?

[Lord Humungus]

In 2010, Administration Predicted 'Majority' of Employer-Based Health Plans Would Disappear

"It is projected that more group health plans will transition to the requirements under the regulations as time goes on," DOJ lawyers wrote in response to court challenge to the law's requirement that insurance plans provide coverage of contraception. "Defendants have estimated that a majority of group health plans will have lost their grandfather status by the end 2013."

The DOJ cites the June 17, 2010, edition of the Federal Register, which acknowledges that within the first year of Obamacare's employer mandate, the insurance plans offered by many employers will be canceled because their policies will not be grandfathered under the administration's regulations. "The Departments' mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small-employer plans and 45 percent of large-employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013," the Register says. "The low-end estimates are for 49 percent and 34 percent of small and large-employer plans, respectively, to have relinquished grandfather status, and the high-end estimates are 80 percent and 64 percent, respectively."

[WTF]

Obama lied, policies died.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Americans overwhelmingly prefer firearms to Obamacare
...During the same time period that only 106,185 people signed up to purchase Obamacare, a total of 1,687,599 background checks for firearm purchases went through the NICS system, according to the FBI. This means that the American people prefer buying a gun to being forced to purchase health insurance by a nearly 16 to 1 margin. Furthermore, considering that only 27,000 signed up on Healthcare.gov, an amazing 62 people went through a background check to purchase guns for every one health care plan sold through Healthcare.gov. It should also be noted that a NICS background check can cover the sale of multiple guns, so in all likelihood, far more than 1.6 million guns were purchased in the month of October....

[gaijin]

so many bitter clingers!

[CatoTheElder]

More evidence that Americans just are not worthy of the Anointed One.

[sarcasmic]

'I'm just floored': Patriotic restaurant owners ordered to take down flags honoring U.S. troops

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....roops.html
Petty tyrants.

[WTF]

And this doesn't violate the First Amendment because..? Oh, yeah, Fuck you, that's why.

[Snark Plissken]

I'm just shocked sarc isn't jumping up and down for joy, since one of the owners is a cop.

[sarcasmic]

^^retard^^

[Ted S.]

Shouldn't government sector workers be the first people fucked over by the laws they promulgate?

[sarcasmic]

The law should be applied differently depending upon who it is applied to? That's not very libertarian.

[Snark Plissken]

Sarc's a big fan of the rule of law, unless it's, say, a 25-year-old getting murdered in his driveway in front of his family. That guy deserved because he was a cop.

[sarcasmic]

Someone must have taken something very personally. Poor baby. Want a lolly?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Sarc's a big fan of the rule of law, unless it's, say, a 25-year-old getting murdered in his driveway in front of his family. That guy deserved because he was a cop.

Guilt by association is very libertarian, Snark. Haven't you heard?

[Snark Plissken]

Guilt by association is very libertarian, Snark. Haven't you heard?

I believe the argument was: no one just shoots a cop like that in broad daylight unless they deserve it.

[Snark Plissken]

Personally? Naw, I'm just giving you shit for your cop rageboner. And I will continue do so on occasion because it it's kinda fun.

[sarcasmic]

Well if you don't want a lolly you can join Tulpa in sucking some cop cock.

[Snark Plissken]

Is that what turned you so bitter?

There's a difference between disagreeing with your cop rageboner and defending cops or whatever it is that Tulpa does, mostly he just likes to play contrarian. You might want to look up false dichotomies.

[sarcasmic]

The slurping sounds are annoying. Would you mind shutting the door?

[Snark Plissken]

What's the sound of butthurt? I think I'm hearing a lot of it right now.

[Raston Bot]

a boot in mud but wetter.

/dave attell

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

What turned sarc so bitter is that he's in an unfortunate personal situation with a cop, apparently.

[Snark Plissken]

What turned sarc so bitter is that he's in an unfortunate personal situation with a cop, apparently.

Well that sucks. And yes most cops like to engage in abuse of their power and basically suck. I've had tons of bad experiences with cops myself, certainly no fan.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

And now he's downthread trying to double down on his own brand of evil.

[SugarFree]

Can I get a cite? I'd like to read the original story and the first 8 pages on Google for (cop shot driveway unarmed) are people the police killed.

[Snark Plissken]

Sorry, it was a while back, a ML thread probably.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

He was actually a prison guard.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/st.....ighborhood

[SugarFree]

I remember that now. Thanks.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Becuase back in the 1930s it was decided that the government's power to regulate "the economy" was essentially unlimited.

[Zeb]

And this doesn't violate the First Amendment because..?

It does. But we have sign ordinances none the less.

[VG Zaytsev]

The code enforcement officer considered the flags to be the same as signs under city law

[Steve G]

just not a lot of places out there honoring our men and women that serve

Uh, say what? I thought everybody had gotten into the act.

[Fist of Etiquette]

But a code enforcement officer considered the flags to be the same as signs - a violation under city law.

They are signs - signs for FREEDOM. So take them down.

[Juice]

Yeah, when I look at the US flag, the state flag of Georgia, and the flags of the US armed forces, I immediately think FREEDOM.

[Killazontherun]

Nice going, dip shits. Next time a foreign invader comes marching through your town, the military will remember this little stunt, and look the other way.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama's Flip Flop Health Fix Means Higher Premiums

Insurers say it's too late to retract the cancelled plans without creating new problems for the industry. The main concern is that through the new rule, many healthy people will likely opt to stay on their old plans, since they tend to be less expensive than those offered through the insurance exchanges. This could result in higher premiums since insurance companies had priced their 2014 policies with the assumption that everyone would be buying plans in the new market, which was, at that time, required by law.

[Suthenboy]

What? You mean when the king issues a new edict every day changing major policies in unpredictable ways it has a deleterious effect on the economy?

Who knew?

[sarcasmic]

'Yes we can!' Forget booze in a box, canned wine is the next big thing in drinks
Wine producers are selling booze in cans to save on packaging costs and appeal to more consumers
Oregon-based Union Wine Company selling Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris in an eight-ounce can to make wine more accessible
Some wine connoisseurs say the flavor isn't affected

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....rinks.html

[waffles]

"some"?

Well I'll admit I can imagine a crowd it will appeal to.

[Brett L]

The Sofia Coppola crowd?

[sarcasmic]

All snarks aside...

There's lots of places where you're not supposed to have glass that you can bring cans. Camp grounds and stuff. Round my way a company called Baxter Brewing pioneered putting craft beer (that's normally in glass bottles) into cans. They're making millions.

[Brett L]

Yes, Oskar Blues and Cigar City are both making more money off canning operations than a similar-sized money press could print in the same time.

[Snark Plissken]

All snarks aside...

Now this, THIS, I'm taking personally.

[Zeb]

I love good beer in cans. Great for any place you have to carry out your trash.

[BakedPenguin]

You could always bring a box.

[Killazontherun]

21A does it, and several of my favorite brews come from those guys.

Personal favorite:

http://21st-amendment.com/beer/monks-blood/

They are suppose to start up the brewing for it again soon, but if they don't I might have to do something drastic, like have sex with Nancy Pelosi to put pressure on some brewers who live in her district.

[UnCivilServant]

Some wine connoisseurs say the flavor isn't affected

It tasted like crap in bottles, it still states like crap in cans, the taste was unaffected.

[Steve G]

Sheeeit, I was in the checkout line the other day and some cougar behind me checked out w/ 3 containers of merlot that are basically the same cardboard, twist-off, ~12 oz types that the meal replacement shakes use.

[Root Boy]

And you didn't ask if she needed help carrying those to her Volvo (or convertible Mercedes as it were)?

[Outlaw]

Frank Reynolds was prophetic.

[sarcasmic]

'Expose all rats': Teen who posted 'witness names and court documents on Twitter' to expose police informants is arrested

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....olice.html

The 'no snitching' culture is pervasive in many inner-city neighborhoods, where mistrust of the police runs high.

I'm sure that that lack of trust has nothing to do with the actions of the police themselves. I mean, they're like totally trustworthy and stuff. Only a bigot could possibly think otherwise.

[Ted S.]

Posting court documents on Twitter? I presume the teen is trying to uphold somebody's 6A rights.

[sarcasmic]

Intergalactic storms on the way as sun does a flip: Magnetic field change could interfere with satellites and cause radio blackouts
Phenomenon which sees the sun's magnetic field flip happens every 11 years
Could cause geomagnetic storms - which can interfere with satellites
North and south pole swap expected to complete in the next few weeks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....s-way.html

[Rich]

Now, *that* is how science reporting should be done.

[Ted S.]

Because radio was blacked out 11, 22, and 33 years ago.

[WTF]

Because radio was blacked out 11, 22, and 33 years ago.

Well, no, but it could totally happen THIS TIME!! DOOOOM!!!!11!!!!

[Zeb]

Apparently such events do happen pretty regularly (or that's the prevailing theory anyway), but rarely enough that it hasn't happened yet while we have a huge and complicated electrical infrastructure. But solar storms do have the potential to really fuck shit up.

[Root Boy]

While I like doom fiction and movies, I wouldn't want a true EMP-type event, but I could get into seeing everybody's smart phone and tablet go down for a week just to see the panic and withdrawal from all the addicts. Plus I could get some work done for once.

[Clich? Bandit]

Why does no one remember the x-class flare that dropped half of Canada?

[CatoTheElder]

Intergalatic?

[sarcasmic]

Planetary!

[Killazontherun]

Intergalactic, shit, imagine a comet made of anti-matter squeezing through a wormhole and headed right. straight. at. the. EARTH!!!!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

HealthCare.gov goal is for 80% of users to be able to enroll for insurance
The Obama administration will consider the new federal insurance marketplace a success if 80 percent of users can buy health-care plans online, according to government and industry officials familiar with the project.

The goal for how many people should be able to make it through the insurance exchange is an internal target that administration officials have not made public. It acknowledges that as many as one in five Americans who try to use the Web site to buy insurance will be unable to do so.

The measure is the first concrete performance standard in the 31/2 years since the government began to design the health exchange...

[Brett L]

A friend of mine spent all of Friday trying to find FL policies. Either there are none OR the website couldn't display any. (And he's target market. Single, probably 150% of poverty line income, existing condition.)

He, though, had no faith to lose in the government. So for us it was just a good laugh.

[CatoTheElder]

I still can't get the stupid Healthcare.gov website to validate my identity, four weeks after sending copies of ids to HHS.

The system is fucked up, I tell ya!

[Jordan]

$500+ million for a website that fails 20% of the time? I guess that's pretty ambitious by government standards. Good lord.

[Ted S.]

It was supposedly a national crisis that ~15% of people didn't have health insurance, and we're going to consider it a success if, after this law, we have 80% of pepole insured?

[Brett L]

You think we can get back to 80%?

[Lord Humungus]

The Three Burials of Obamacare

The welfare state's ability to defend itself against reform, however, carries a cautionary message for Obamacare's critics as well. What isn't killed outright grows stronger the longer it's embedded in the federal apparatus, gaining constituents and interest-group support just by virtue of its existence even if it doesn't work out the way it was designed. And as disastrous as its launch has been, if the health care law can survive this crisis in the same limping, staggering way it survived Scott Brown and the Supremes, then it will be a big step closer to being part of the status quo, with all the privileges and political strength that entails.

So yes ? it's possible that this brush with death will be fatal, possible that the law will fall with the lightest, most politically painless push. But it's still likely that Obamacare will be undone only if its critics are willing to do something more painful, and take their own turn wrestling with a system that resists any kind of change.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Vateffer does not kill me makes me zhtronger!

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

I always wished that someone who really beleived that would have all their limbs removed, eyes put out, and then asked - "Stronger now?"

[Juice]

It is one of the dumbest "old sayings" out there.

[UnCivilServant]

"Whatever doesn't kill me can still cripple me for life."

[sarcasmic]

GWAR covers Kansas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baExq6xNhQ8
Funniest thing ever.

[sarcasmic]

"Carry on my wayward unemployed son... Get off the couch and get a goddamn job!"

[Lord Humungus]

Woman's Ear Turns Black And Dissolves After Poisonous Spider Bite

Dead tissue caused by a bite from a Mediterranean recluse spider. (Credit: Marieke van Wijk et al)
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AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (CBS Atlanta) - A 22-year-old Dutch woman came back from an Italian vacation with an unwanted souvenir?a bite from a venomous spider, according to LiveScience.com..

She sought treatment at an Italian hospital for pain in her ear and swelling on her face, but was unable to find relief.

Once she got back home to The Netherlands, her ear got worse: part of it turned black, meaning the skin and cartilage was dead.

Doctors determined the culprit was a Mediterranean recluse spider, whose bite is known to destroy skin and underlying fat.

Victims are often disfigured for life, but this is the first known case of the recluse spider's venom causing damage to human cartilage.

In this case Dr. Marieke van Wijk was able to reconstruct the ear by removing the dead tissue and recreating the ear with cartilage from the woman's rib cage.

[Brett L]

Do Mediterranean recluses have the fiddle back, too? The wee brown ones in the US are no joke.

[Lord Humungus]

apologies for the extra text.

[Suthenboy]

"Victims are often disfigured for life, but this is the first known case of the recluse spider's venom causing damage to human cartilage."

What? bullshit. I know a woman who lost an ear, her nose, and several digits from a recluse bite.

And what the hell? Dont the Italians have government healthcare? Why, oh why, would she have to ccome back to the US to get effective treatment?

[UnCivilServant]

A lot of single payer systems have a "Sorry furrinr, no treatment for you" clause in addition to the rationing and queueing.

[Emmerson Biggins]

what can you actually do for a recluse bight anyways? I got one on my arm once. Just rode it out.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Most Shocking Obamacare Revelation
...Obamacare is the single most important initiative of his presidency. The website rollout was, as the President himself has repeatedly stated, the most important element of the law's debut. Domestically speaking there was no higher priority for the President and his staff than getting this right. And the President is telling the world that a week before the disaster he had no idea how that website was doing.

Reflect on that for a moment. The President of the United States is sitting in the Oval Office day after day. The West Wing is stuffed with high power aides. His political appointees sit atop federal bureaucracies, monitoring the work of the career staff around them. The President has told his core team, over and over, that the health care law and the website rollout are his number one domestic priorities.

And with all this, neither he nor, apparently, anyone in his close circle of aides and advisors knew that the website was a disaster. Vapid, blind, idly flapping their lips; they pushed paper, attended meetings and edited memos as the roof came crashing down....

[Brett L]

This only surprised the people who really believed that there was no way for our system to allow an empty suit to rise to the Presidency.

[Rich]

Nice essay. Thanks, Johnny!

It will be interesting to see whether President Obama thinks that the people whose serial incompetence got him into this mess are the people who can get him out.

*Pretty sure* that's already been seen.

*** pops more popcorn ***

[Drake]

I would have been surprised if it had not turned out this way. It would have been a shock if a group of inexperienced intellectuals had succeeded in turning the most complex legislation ever passed into a properly functioning process.

[Brett L]

There are those who work with complex systems and those who think they aren't that complex.

[Rich]

Simply provide affordable health care for all!

[Brett L]

"Go back, sea. I command thee."

[Drake]

Those who manage and those who speak out their asses.

[CatoTheElder]

The Anointed One leads with the Audacity of Hope?.

His message of Hope'n'Change? inspired millions at home and abroad. He had every reason to believe that His people would not let Him down.

[Lord Humungus]

In many states, the recovery is making the income gap worse

The income gap in America has been widening for decades and the modest three-year recovery did little to change that, according to new Census data.

The new data suggest that despite modest recoveries in many states, the middle class has been shrinking while households have been added in the lowest and highest income brackets. The state-by-state data compare incomes from a pair of three-year periods: 2007 through 2009, a span that included the Great Recession, and 2010 through 2012, a period that included the ongoing and modest recovery.

[Jordan]

Oh, you mean having a central bank siphon wealth from the lower classes to the already wealthy increases inequality? *SHOCKED FACE*

[Drake]

There's a recovery?

[CatoTheElder]

Nominal GDP is up due to the stimulus. The BLS calculation of the GDP deflator systematically understates inflation so, yes, technically the economy is out of recession.

[Fluffy]

Again, for most of that time period we had a temporary SNAP payments boost, including an eligibility change that allowed single adults (i.e. 1 person households) to get benefits.

I am willing to bet that when the census data comes in we will discover that this resulted in another round of household size shrinkage. And when households shrink, their average income drops.

The poor didn't get poorer. We just paid them enough to split into more households.

[Root Boy]

His alternate examples are ND - Private land Oil Boom reduces inequality and Michigan - more inequality.

Don't think the WAPosters will get it though (I didn't see a comment thread on that. Would have been good posting material I'm sure)

[Longtorso, Johnny]

At least they had a ready source of pall bearers:

They Died Crawling: And Other Tales of Cleveland Woe by John Bellamy II

[Lord Humungus]

Arne Duncan: 'White suburban moms' upset that Common Core shows their kids aren't 'brilliant'

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of state schools superintendents Friday that he found it "fascinating" that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from "white suburban moms who ? all of a sudden ? their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were."

Yes, he really said that. But he has said similar things before. What, exactly, is he talking about?

[gaijin]

Has Arne Duncan just declared a War on (white) women?

[DJF]

What do you expect from a guy so racist that his black childhood friends are listed on Wikipedia but no white, asian or other childhood friends

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Duncan

[VG Zaytsev]

Every child in America should thoroughly understand das Kapital

[UnCivilServant]

I understand it's a lovely piece of utopian fantasy. Never read it, too much of a doorstopper for a genre I don't care for.

[CatoTheElder]

Not really. It's a poorly written treatise on economics that bears little resemblance with the way business actually functions. The utopian fantasies are in Marx' other works.

[invisible furry hand]

and indeed all the works of the Marx Brothers

[Marshall Gill]

some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from "white suburban moms who ? all of a sudden ? their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were."

What is really sad about this is the fact that, from what I have heard, Common Core often lowers educational expectations. It doesn't seek to lift anyone up, only to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

[Root Boy]

I haven't read much, but I read a few Twitchy posts including this one which scares the shit out of me:

http://twitchy.com/2013/10/04/.....-day-pics/

(I know you all hate Malkin, but she does some good reporting).

[Rob M]

That is pretty much how it is. Everything has 3 or 4 steps when 1 or 2 would be much easier.

Sometimes I have to reread things twice just to understand what they are asking. For fairly simple 3rd grade math.

[Root Boy]

The second picture makes a little sense to me as I naturally break up math problems and try to teach that to my kids, but the first picture looks like one of those feelings math problems.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

When the Obama Magic Died
...In 2008, seeing the Obama crowds in Portland, Denver and St. Louis spurred memories of the spectacles that had attended the rise and fall of Arab political pretenders. I had lived through the era of the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser. He had emerged from a military cabal to become a demigod, immune to judgment. His followers clung to him even as he led the Arabs to a catastrophic military defeat in the Six Day War of 1967. He issued a kind of apology for his performance. But his reign was never about policies and performance. It was about political magic.

In trying to grapple with, and write about, the Obama phenomenon, I found guidance in a book of breathtaking erudition, "Crowds and Power" (1962) by the Nobel laureate Elias Canetti. Born in Bulgaria in 1905 and educated in Vienna and Britain, Canetti was unmatched in his understanding of the passions, and the delusions, of crowds. The crowd is a "mysterious and universal phenomenon," he writes. It forms where there was nothing before. There comes a moment when "all who belong to the crowd get rid of their difference and feel equal." Density gives the illusion of equality, a blessed moment when "no one is greater or better than another." But the crowd also has a presentiment of its own disintegration, a time when those who belong to the crowd "creep back under their private burdens."...

[Root Boy]

Best comparison of Obama to a foreign country leader I've heard. Better than the South American ones.

[Entropy Void]

I still prefer comparasons to Il Douche ... the both had a boner for trains, putting their cronies in charge for corporations, etc.

[Lord Humungus]

Handily beating Obamacare

Sony sells 1 million PlayStation 4 units in first 24 hours

Sony Corp said on Sunday it had sold 1 million units of its new PlayStation 4 gaming console in the first 24 hours that it was available in the United States and Canada.

The console, which Sony is counting on to kick-start a revival of its consumer electronics business, went on sale on November 15.

[Brett L]

Uh, blue line of death?

[Juice]

On the video the idiot unplugs an HDMI cable connected to two powered devices. That's a recipe for disaster. People don't realize how fragile HDMI boards are. The slightest static can totally fry them. I wonder if, before he shot the video, he plugged or unplugged the HDMI while the PS4 was powered and now the HDMI board is fried.

[Entropy Void]

Git yer lazer pointers ready ...

http://gcn.com/blogs/pulse/201.....rones.aspx

here's where the drones will be ...

You're welcome.

[Entropy Void]

More Dronz Info ...

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/11/bat-plane/

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Christian arrested for calling homosexuality a 'sin' warns of 'real-life thought police'
Tony Miano, 49, a former senior police officer from the US, was held for around six hours, had his fingerprints and DNA taken and was questioned about his faith, after delivering a sermon about "sexual immorality" on a London street.

Mr Miano, who served as a Deputy Sherriff in Los Angeles County, said his experience suggested that the term "thought police" had become a reality in the UK.

He said he was amazed that it was now possible "in the country that produced the Magna Carta" for people to be arrested for what they say.

Mr Miano, who was provided with a solicitor by the Christian Legal Centre, was arrested under the controversial clause of the Public Order Act which bans "insulting" words or behaviour. ...

[Brett L]

Can they all lose?

[DJF]

If Mr Miano loses, what's to stop you losing next?

[Brett L]

The fact that I'm not a subject of Britain, to start with.

[DJF]

Yes, the British Police are looking into the insulting words or behavior called the Revolutionary War and wish a word with you.

[Fluffy]

If I was a subject of Britain, I'd already be in the Tower for trying to kill the Queen.

So little quibbles about speech would never even come up.

[Cdr Lytton]

My pulled out of my ass wager is that U.S. judges both cite and apply the Magna Carta and English common law more often than U.K. courts.

[Ted S.]

I wonder how long it will take for H&R to do a Brickbat on this.

[Lord Humungus]

2-3 days, or 2-3 weeks as an outlier.

[Ted S.]

Who's zoomin' who?

[Matrix]

This really should be a Brickbat.

Mr. Oliver, get on it!

[invisible furry hand]

Like many consumers who have had a bad experience, Jen Palmer wrote a review online in 2008 after the Christmas presents her husband ordered from Kleargear.com never arrived. Years later, thanks to her online review, the couple is facing a damaged credit score and a $3,500 fine.

more

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I'm certain they can find somebody to countersue on that one and make bank.

[The Late P Brooks]

I'm sure you'll all be relieved to know the Geithner family will no longer be forced to eat discount brand cat food and doughnuts from the day old bread store.

[Lord Humungus]

Last night I finished up the amplifier - at least to the point where I could test it out. After checking the wiring, bias supply voltages, and filament, I plugged in the rectifier tube. And everything worked!

Photo in the gloom:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ddJw...../amp_1.jpg

[sarcasmic]

Where's the guitar jack?

[Gene]

Sweet.

[db]

If Clyde Bruckman met our Humungus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afwYMdN43Mc

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Andre Johnson wins any fight with Matt Schaub: Case Keenum, No. 80 both deserve much better
It ends with Matt Schaub ? who showed less emotion than Kenny Powers' robot back when he actually deserved to be an NFL starting quarterback ? screaming at the longest-suffering Houston Texan, the brilliant receiver he held back for so long. No wonder why Andre Johnson walks right off the field and into the tunnel, leaving Schaub and the unfinished game behind....

[Brett L]

Kubiak and Schaub will not be returning next year. They can let Arian Foster go, too. Dude skips the pre-season and wonders why he's never quite healthy? Gone. If we're going to be 2-14, lets weed out all non-hackers.

[Ken Shultz]

I'm not sure that's Schaub's bad.

Can somebody please explain to me what the reasoning was for pulling Keenum?

He threw his first and only INT in the NFL? So, freaking what?

Why does that justify sending in Matt "Pick Six" Schaub?

[Ken Shultz]

In other words, blame the coach.

[Brett L]

It just gives us a good excuse for getting rid of a mediocre QB, who, even at his best, was just good enough to lose playoff games. He's even less mobile since breaking his foot. If that were possible. Let him go.

[Ken Shultz]

Your coach is out of his mind.

If it wasn't Schaub her put in there, wouldn't it have been someone else as equally ridiculous?

[Lord Humungus]

Dispute Over Gay Marriage Erupts in Cheney Family

The situation has deteriorated so much that the two sisters have not spoken since the summer, and the quarrel threatens to get in the way of something former Vice President Dick Cheney desperately wants ? a United States Senate seat for Liz.

Things erupted on Sunday when Mary Cheney, a lesbian, and her wife were at home watching "Fox News Sunday" ? their usual weekend ritual. Liz Cheney appeared on the show and said that she opposed same-sex marriage, describing it as "just an area where we disagree," referring to her sister. Taken aback and hurt, Mary Cheney took to her Facebook page to blast back: "Liz ? this isn't just an issue on which we disagree you're just wrong ? and on the wrong side of history."

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Good evidence that people don't even scan the Morning Links before they comment.

[Lord Humungus]

just saving the users time by letting them bypass the Reason link to a link. Yeah, that's it.

[mr simple]

at home watching "Fox News Sunday" ? their usual weekend ritual.

There's your first problem, right there.

[The Late P Brooks]

The welfare state's ability to defend itself against reform, however, carries a cautionary message for Obamacare's critics as well. What isn't killed outright grows stronger the longer it's embedded in the federal apparatus, gaining constituents and interest-group support just by virtue of its existence even if it doesn't work out the way it was designed.

See also: Transportation Safety Administration.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

See also: Entire Federal Government

[Root Boy]

See also: why Cruz was right to try to kill O-care.

[Lord Humungus]

S.E. Cupp: Why Dems better hope Obama's lying

There are two possible scenarios here:

One, the President is lying, and quite effectively. If he knew that the website wouldn't be up to snuff, or that millions of Americans would not, in fact, be able to keep their insurance plans if they liked them, then he simply made a calculation that many politicians make: Lies aren't necessarily fatal. Except when they are. Just ask Richard "I'm not a crook" Nixon, George "Read my lips" Bush, or George "WMD" Bush.

Or two, Obama is hopelessly out of the loop. Whether it was the IRS scandal, the NSA spying program or these ACA collapses, no one in his immediate circle appears to have felt it necessary to inform the President of looming problems that he might have to answer for, let alone solve.

[invisible furry hand]

Two scenarios, one Cupp

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

this is why there are no libertarian wome...wait...

[Lord Humungus]

go on...

[Fluffy]

I think it's actually that Obama is living out his fantasy of being an Ayn Rand novel villain, and is bound and determined to not plan anything out in advance, but just loot one day at a time.

So as long as his actions get him through today, he doesn't give a shit what happens tomorrow.

Lots of things he does - the most recent waiver, for example - make much more sense in such a context.

[SugarFree]

Slate bangs the drum for Basic Income. The comments are entertainingly incoherent.

Better than Everybody Else 7 hours ago
From 1979 to 2007 the top 1% have seen over a 120% increase in income.

The rest of us from 1979 to 2007 have seen little to no increase in income.

What this means is the people we work for have been making record-breaking profits but haven't given their employes a raise and the Republicans are no help because they are afraid to ask for one.

If it weren't for the stupid Republicans we would all be making twice what we are making now and there would be a hell of a lot less poverty.

[Brett L]

This is where the smart progressives are going, now that it is evident to most thinking people that the inevitable result of government backed social engineering programs is failure.

So they scale back, take 10 years of lumps, and start the graft fresh with "guaranteed minimum income".

[KDN]

I don't know about you, but I would accept a basic minimum income in return for Medicare/aid, Soc Sec, unemployment insurance, SNAP, etc being phased out and their attendant bureaucracies dismantled. A substantial amount of deregulation, particularly in the heath "insurance" sector, would be necessary as well.

It's not the purist thing to do, but I think it's a vehicle that could help pare back leviathan if we get in front of it. But if the progs use it as the rallying cry of the inevitable return, it's going to be implemented in the dumbest way possible and cause the maximum possible distortion.

[Brett L]

Nah. I'll hold the line. Once they decide what the minimum income is, they'll just keep destroying the economy by doing things like: setting the minimum wage equal to AMI/1500 hours. Then raising the AMI or lowering the denominator.

The problem with our system is that even if we pruned all of that back, it would just start to grow new shoots of corruption and special interest carve-outs.

I think laws should cost lawmakers. Every vote they hold costs them 0.1% of their salary, and have the only Constitutionally mandated activity setting spending every year. One law per bill, with the omnibus spending bill being counted as one law, if they wish. Then see how many votes they want to hold.

[KDN]

I agree with everything you wrote, but I believe that the starting point for new corruption and special interest carve-outs will be significantly better than what we have now. In 25 years? Probably not, but I'll take the improvement where we can get it.

The mechanism for AMI is important, too. In my mind it's used to pay taxes up to a break-even point, not just a flat fee. Would go into detail, but running to a meeting.

[waffles]

Honestly, even comments 'round these parts have made the case that guaranteed income is better than the bureaucracy of competing welfare programs. I do find the agitators for this "give money" program to be morally loathsome but the pretense of social good engineered through government benefits is just a veil. If we really could cut the waste and just call it what it is would it not be better than what we have now?

After all, boozy-mister-drinks-under-a-bridge-all-day isn't going to change his behavior because a social worker is assigned to meet him for 15 minutes a month. We can call a spade a spade and let indigents shamble along in peace.

Convince me I'm wrong?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

You get more of what you subsidize.

[SugarFree]

I think there is a case for it, but I also think the downfall of a GMI is that there will be a permanent sizable voting block agitating to increase the dole and that there is no evidence the FEELZ crowd will actually let the stupid and lazy suffer the consequences of their actions.

I also question whether the political will be in place to dismantle the welfare apparatus, or if GMI will just be slapped on top of it all.

[Fluffy]

I remain convinced that without the vanguard elite of the left's army of bureaucrats fighting their political battles for them, the "dole voting bloc" will degenerate into the political equivalent of the Washington Generals and we can squeeze their dole gradually down to zero.

[waffles]

I agree. I think the real "welfare queens" are the administrative workers who gain power by having a bigger budget for their slice of government social welfare spending. My guess is that the people receiving the benefits by and large would rather just have the cash.

[SugarFree]

But it wouldn't be just the $0 earners that would support it, potentially it would be everyone not paying more in taxes than the GMI is worth. How many people right now pay less than $11,500 in federal taxes? That's your voter bloc.

[SugarFree]

Just to be clear, I'm on the fence about GMI, but firmly convinced that implementing it "safely" would be a disaster in current politics. Those bureaucrats aren't going to go quietly.

[Drake]

Watching Stossel last week gave me an almost uncontrollable urge to tar and feather bureaucrats.

[waffles]

Well you can't just line them up and shoot them. This is the next best thing.

I know it's fantasy. I think if we ever did have a GMI it would be in addition to the current levels of waste spent on public welfare. The most ardent supporters of GMI always seem to be the chronically unemployed.

[Brett L]

Its the same as the income tax versus consumption tax. Sure, I'll consider sales/VAT/"Fair" tax, right after the repeal of the 16th Amendment goes through.

[SugarFree]

What Brett said.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I'm theoretically, OK with it in a lesser-of-serveral evils way. Big caveats though:

1) HAVE TO get rid of all the other crap. The only way it makes sense is if GMI is replacing other looting redistribution mechanisms. If it's adding to the existing theft, it's making the problem worse, not better.

2) I think it has to be structured in a way so that if the economy suffers, so do those on the dole. E.g. everybody with a job pays a 5% tax. Everybody over 18 gets a equal share of that pool.

since I know nothing like these conditions would ever be a part of real discussions with those obstructionist leftists, that's about as much thought as I probably need to waste on it.

[Ted S.]

Slate bangs the drum for Basic Income.

I don't want to work,
I just want to bang on the drum all day.

[Brett L]

Nice.

[Lord Humungus]

What Castro Knew About Lee Harvey Oswald
The official narrative skips tantalizing signs of a Cuban connection.

In November 1963, Cuban intelligence officer Florentino Aspillaga was posted in a little hut near a Cuban beach where he operated listening equipment trained on Miami and CIA headquarters in Virginia. On the morning of Nov. 22, Mr. Aspillaga?who would defect to the U.S. in 1987?said that he was ordered "to stop all your CIA work, all your CIA work." He was instructed to "put all of my equipment to listen to any small detail from Texas. They told me Texas."

Did Castro know that Lee Harvey Oswald was about to assassinate President Kennedy? Brian Latell, a veteran CIA Cuba analyst who spent 15 hours interviewing Mr. Aspillaga for his newly revised "Castro's Secrets," (Palgrave MacMillan), makes a strong case that he did.

[Ted S.]

Who cares? It's Kennedy shit. God I can't wait until next week after all this 50th anniversary garbage is over with.

[UnCivilServant]

The only 50th anniversary this year I'm regconizing is for Doctor Who.

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

You and my kids - we ganged up on my wife to upgrade our cable to include BBC-A...now she's hooked on a couple shows, heh heh. Kids and I get the Doctor, I get more sports channels (rugby!!!!) and she gets dramas.

Thank you, Dr. Who!

[Brett L]

Its the 50th Anniversary of one of my mother's birthday anniversaries. So I'm going to celebrate a little extra that he's dead.

[Lord Humungus]

Robert Kagan: A changing world order?

If, however, by the normal measures of relative power things have not changed as much as some predicted, the international order certainly has entered a period of uncertainty and flux. In the United States in recent years, a great many Americans are questioning the nature and extent of their nation's involvement in the world. It is not just the Great Recession or even unhappiness with the U.S. experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan that are driving disenchantment with what Americans used to like to call their global leadership. The old rationale for that deep global involvement, which took hold in the wake of World War II and persisted through the Cold War, is increasingly forgotten or actively rejected by Americans who wonder why the United States needs to play such an outsize role on the world stage.

[DJF]

Being a great power is not worth the cost, at least to me, unfortunately a lot of people make money off of it.

[The Late P Brooks]

Jim Rogers was on Bloomberg this morning badmouthing Janet Yellin and Quantitative Easing, to Infinity and Beyond!

Chickenshit cocksucker "Bloomberg Senior economist" waits until Rogers is gone, then "refutes" him with a bunch of vacuous society has decided hogwash about the necessity of bailing out the banks. What a worthless douchebag.

[Root Boy]

They should have thrown in Mark Zandi for good measure. Never right on anything since 2008, but is sure Fed and Obama are doing things right.

I bet he's still introduced as a former McCain adviser to get him bi-team cred.

[Rich]

A terrifying new 'game' that's already caused deaths in Syracuse, St. Louis and New Jersey is sweeping the nation, and it preys upon unsuspecting people walking the streets, anywhere.

I know *just* the punishment for any playa.

[Brett L]

Was it Sad Beard who got brain damage from this?

[SugarFree]

Yes. Suderman let him in his house, for some reason.

[Brett L]

This is why the writers hate us, Shug.

[SugarFree]

Welch was chummy with STEVE SMITH at one point.

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

Did the Jacket shield him from STEVE SMITH RAPE?

[SugarFree]

Is Nick allowed in Welch's home?

[Suthenboy]

Holy shit. Matty uses that as an excuse to argue for denser cities?

What a douche.

[Brett L]

No, he's just brain-injured. We should be celebrating that he is self-supporting.

[SugarFree]

Self-supporting? SadBeard has a right-nice 1.2M condo.

But property is a myth, so I guess he'd be fine if we all slept over. Forever.

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

Dibs on the liquor cabinet!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That's been going in Philly for a couple of years now.

[Floridian]

But I thought George Zimmerman should not be in fear for his life and just take the beating like a man. You mean people die from being punched in the head a single time, much less from repeated blows. I'm shocked.

[Ken Shultz]

A member of the officiating crew in the Redskins/Eaglets game apparently called Trent Williams a "disrespectful motherfucker" during the game.

According to the story at CBS Sports, the linemen were miked up during the game, so it may have been recorded.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/e.....atory-name

I don't that's appropriate during a game and probably suggests bias, but in the ref's defense, sometimes Trent Williams can be a disrespectful motherfucker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl4ViIwy7KA

[Eduard van Haalen]

"The past few weeks have seen a spate of articles about the downsides of abortion and contraception. There was Ann Friedman's "Why the Abortion Pill Didn't Change Everything" in the Cut?an explanation that included the fact that some women who take mifepristone experience a pain "so intense that it's hard to really remember." Then the Cut's parent publication, New York Magazine, ran a harrowing cover story recounting 26 women's abortion experiences?including a teenager who "wanted to keep the baby" but was pressured by her boyfriend to terminate, and a mother of two who says her abortion provider was "grotesque" and describes overwhelming guilt and shame about her decision. Finally, this month's Elle features a story by Virginia Sole-Smith about the drawbacks of the birth control pill, which for some women include blood clots and depression. (For Sole-Smith, the pill's effects masked an undiagnosed case of endometriosis for years.)

"...A woman who wished she hadn't had an abortion wrote an apologetic essay in Feministing a few years ago, afraid that her emotional pain made her a bad feminist. "Maybe it's not okay that the pain of abortion still hurts, four years later," she wrote."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_.....ntrol.html

[Eduard van Haalen]

Religious fundamentalist publications exaggerate the harms of abortion and birth control!!!1

[Ken Shultz]

Well, they do, but that doesn't mean there aren't any downsides.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The point is that New York magazine and its subsidiaries, Elle, and Jezebel are not right-wing fundamentalist publications.

[Fluffy]

"Because people sometimes regret the decisions they make, we should stop letting them make any decisions."

[Eduard van Haalen]

If someone regrets their abortion, that may be a sign they feel guilty, which raises the possibility that abortion is objectively wrong. It's a matter of protecting a human being from the bad decisions of someone wanting the kill that human being.

[Fluffy]

If someone regrets their abortion, that may be a sign they feel guilty, which raises the possibility that abortion is objectively wrong.

No it doesn't.

That's rank emotivism, dude.

If that was true, every single emotion out there people feel in support of the welfare state would raise the possibility that income transfers at the point of a gun were objectively right.

Just think of all the emotions that were felt in support of the Cultural Revolution. Wow, Maoism must be objectively right.

Please.

[John]

It raises the possibility that having one might be self destructive for some women. That definitely affects the issue of parental consent. Do you let a 14 year old child do something that could be very damaging to her mental health later in life without consulting her parents?

[Root Boy]

Gotta have special laws for women and girls only. And only about abortion.

[Kid Xenocles]

The only possibility it raises is that someone made her feel bad about it. People feel guilty for all sorts of stupid stuff, and the subjects of any two people's guilt may well totally oppose each other. All guilt means is that you personally have accepted the moral precept you violated. I have no guilt whatsoever for eating meat yesterday, but a committed vegan may well feel guilt for eating meat accidentally. Who's right?

[Eduard van Haalen]

I repeat, "that may be a sign they feel guilty, which raises the possibility that abortion is objectively wrong."

Our sense of right and wrong isn't fully arbitrary. If it were arbitrary, how could libertarians defend their moral beliefs?

If you're a hard-core feminist Jezzie, and you feel guilty about something which you were trained to believe was no more problematic than cutting your fingernails, then it's hard to claim society manipulated her into guilt.

That's why I said it's possible that the guilt is the inward sign of an external, objective reality.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Huffpo:

Hawaii's Throwback Uniforms are Symbolic for teh Gayz!

[Ken Shultz]

Gay rights stories are getting to be really boring.

I don't know what all those reporters are going to replace gay beat stories with, but they've beat the controversy to death--and there just ain't much more blood in that turnip.

If you're gonna have a gay story that really grabs people's attention these days, you gotta have a redneck in it somewhere. Meanwhile, these reporters on autopilot are putting their readers to sleep.

I saw a story the other day about how Lily Tomlin had come out of the closet, and I was like, "Who gives a shit?". Who even notices anymore? It's just a boring subject now. All the transgressive vibe is so over--I bet gay bars are now the most boring places on earth.

BOOOOOOOrrrrrrrrrriing!

[DJF]

I must have missed the story about homosexuals inventing the rainbow?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

It's true, and rainbows only appear after storms because gay love trumps all.

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

Well, Noah was on the boat for a while...

[SugarFree]

Who Is Murdering The Barely-Talented Actresses of Hollywood?

Brittany Murphy did not die of natural causes, lab report shows

Shocking new developments in the re-investigation of Brittany Murphy's untimely demise confirm her father's long-standing suspicions of a possible poisoning. Angelo Bertolotti never believed the conclusion of the LA Coroner that both Brittany and her husband Simon Monjack died of natural causes (pneumonia and anemia), five months apart.

After years of litigation and obstruction, Brittany's father secured the release of her hair, blood and tissues for independent testing. Based on the symptoms exhibited by Brittany and Simon shortly prior to their deaths, Mr. Bertolotti ordered testing for heavy metals and toxins. The Office of the Los Angeles Coroner admittedly did not test for any poisonous substances.

[Brett L]

It stands to reason that if both died from the same (heavy metal toxicity), it was as likely unintentionally in their environment as intentional poisoning.

[db]

Whoever is living in the ill-fated couple's former digs would be well advised to get some blood tests done.

[The Late P Brooks]

Also, via Bloomberg: I caught the tail end of an interview with the head of some large hospital chain. He said, to the visible stupefaction of the interviewer, a lot of small hospitals will be driven out of business by the Obamacare. Or, presumably, be rolled up into the large centralized providers. Shocking, and completely unforeseeable, I know.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It will be an acceleration of the trend that's been going on for well over a decade now. Medical conglomerates have been swallowing up doctors and clinics all over the place as the cost of compliance with regulations and insurance billing (including Medicare) has skyrocketed.

[Jordan]

And that's exactly the way the government wants it because it makes it more difficult for providers to opt out of Medicare/Medicaid.

[Root Boy]

Is that why they banned doctors from owning hospitals and clinics? I assume that rule is driving some of that.

[Swiss Servator craves R?sti]

Wouldn't that make it the opposite? A big chain can say "No Medicaid Welcome Here", right?

[Brett L]

Much of the work I'm doing is chart extraction as a practice management company rolls in about 200 individual and partnership practices they bought out. Guess who has the easier time complying, the people who can employ 15 individuals to do compliance for 400 practices, or the person who has to employ one whole person for their practice?

[Cdr Lytton]

Just hope that one person knows their stuff and doesn't fuck you over.

[John]

That is okay, those small hospitals are mostly in rural areas. So it will just be the bitter clingers who will be dying from lack of medical care.

[Cdr Lytton]

Or, as it's already happening, declare those areas medical deserts and ramp up another government program or two to encourage and subsidize healthcare professionals to work in them.

[John]

So much for the liberal talking point that no one is going to die because of this.

[Cdr Lytton]

http://www.hrsa.gov/shortage/

Subsidies to clinics, increased medicare/medicaid payments, visa waivers, and scholarships/loan repayments.

[Loki]

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy a whole lot of revenge.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Dude needs a monocle to go with his thin mustache.

[Lord Humungus]

Husband's online ties to a female employee define 'emotional affair'

My husband of over nine years has become "friends" with a female employee. He has texted this girl sometimes 50 to 100 times in a day, 200 to 300 times a week and 1,500 or more texts in a month. I have seen some of the texts. They talk about everything from music to movies to her boyfriend problems. He once spent over an hour on the phone with her while we were away visiting our friend, discussing her cheating boyfriend.

Of course, he maintains they are still "just friends." I have asked him multiple times to develop a more professional relationship with her. Finally he got fed up with me asking, I guess, and did quit texting.

However, I found out that he started chatting with her on Facebook, telling her it was a "safer" option.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

They talk about everything from music to movies to her boyfriend problems. He once spent over an hour on the phone with her while we were away visiting our friend, discussing her cheating boyfriend.

And this guy is married and he's still doing this. He must be a FriendZone Guru by this point.

[Rasilio]

I don't know, maybe his wife is a shrew that nags him all the time and he's glad to just have someone to vent to regardess of which set of jiggly bits they have betweeen their legs.

Contrary to popular belief sex is not the only motivating factor for men.

[Ebriosa]

As we all know, men and women cannot be friends. Everything is cheating!

I moved about a decade ago to another country after I got married. I used to have a ton of guy friends, but for some reason when I find a guy who I think would be a cool friend, if he isn't single eventually I find him completely backing off or only being friends with my husband and communicating entirely through him. Then again, most of the women I meet here are incredibly sexist, so there's that.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

1500 texts with someone is excessive.

[Rasilio]

1500 texts in a month? Sure that sounds excessive. But then each text is 1 or 2 sentences at most which would translate to around 6 - 8 pages of text (in the pre internet days basically 2 average letters) or about 60 minutes of conversation

[Lady Bertrum]

It's not a emotional affair. The dude wants sex with the co-worker and she's stringing him along because she can. The wife's an idiot.

[John]

What is an "emotional affair" anyway? Either he cheated or he didn't. I don't get why we have to make this complex.

[RBS]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure my wife would just consider that "cheating".

[Lady Bertrum]

The guy is aggressively pursuing a woman not his wife and calling it friendship. Texting 20-50 times per day isn't friendship unless you're 13 years old. The wife needs to hold him accountable for his b.s.

[John]

That is not an emotional affair. That is the guy trying to cheat on his wife.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Yup, this struck me as the dude trying to hit on the woman, but being embarassingly incompetent at it.

[Cdr Lytton]

Not surprising. Spending 8+ hours a day with the chick who showers him with attention or a couple hours with the nagging wife who's looking through his phone and facebook account.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

The chick isn't showing him with affection, she's spending hours complaining to him about her boyfriend problems. It's like the husband never outgrew that middle-school "Wow, the girl I like is talking to me" phase. That gets kind of pitiful when the guy is a grown adult.

[Cdr Lytton]

I doubt their entire time is spent on her relationship issues. The snip above from the wife says they talk about everything. I'll go out on a limb and guess that the boyfriend conversations aren't her just bitching about her jerk but rather fishhook "what's wrong with me"/"why can't I find a nice guy like you" lines.

[SugarFree]

Naked "Goddess" Takes Over Chicago Train [mildly NSFW]

After jumping the turnstile at the Granville station of Chicago's Red Line ? the Chicago Transit Authority's busiest line ? and slapping several commuters, a fully nude woman announced that she was taking over the train and was heading to the front to drive it.

Calling herself "The Goddess of the Train" according to eyewitnesses, the unidentified 31-year-old ordered all passengers off, causing a 15-to-30-minute delay in service this past Saturday.

DNAInfo Chicago reports that police arrived at the scene around 12:45 p.m, and escorted the woman off the train.

She was subsequently transported to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston for evaluation.

A police spokeswoman said the woman suffers from a mental illness, but would not specify.

[WTF]

Let me guess, she's a professor of Womyn's Studies at a local college.

[SugarFree]

About 200lbs light for that job.

[Brett L]

Way better than I thought.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Finally, a woman fit for Warty.

[db]

Actually, once Warty was successful in removing Marissa's Brainarchy-implanted subdermal time organs, he did as he promised and abandoned her in a 2013 Chicago train station.

[SugarFree]

Excellent.

[invisible furry hand]

So much to think about with this...

Garry Trudeau talks to Dave Weigel about his new TV satire of Senate Republicans, now airing on Amazon.

[Snark Plissken]

It's truth to power squared.

[WTF]

It doesn't seem to occur to idiots like Trudeau that at this point they are actually speaking on behalf of power.

[Snark Plissken]

It's always 1968 for those guys.

[Root Boy]

Should have ended back then. I see his comics every now and then and seems his latest schtick is wounded vets from AFG/IRQ. A regular friend of the little guy is he.

[Killazontherun]

Who just so happen to share his views on gun control and pretty much everything else.

[Fluffy]

Exactly how long does Cynthia Nixon have to be rich, famous, employed in a competitive field, celebrated, AND married before we get to stop hearing about how fucking oppressed she is?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

???

[Fluffy]

Cynthia Nixon is on Trudeau's new show.

Fighting the good fight against evil teathuglicans who oppress her so horribly.

[John]

And don't forget she walked away from her husband to run with her Lesbian lover. I am sure her kids are happy to grow up in a broken home so mom can find herself. But Cynthia is the one who is oppressed.

[John]

And she also is set for life on residuals from Sex in the City. If there is a better way to hit life's lottery than to be an actor on a TV show that is successful in syndication, I can't think of it.

[The Late P Brooks]

Who Is Murdering The Barely-Talented Actresses of Hollywood?

I read that as "barley-talented". My acting usually gets worse when I drink a lot of beer.

[SugarFree]

"What kind of party serves barley?"

[Entropy Void]

My first read of it was "barley-tainted" ...

[The Late P Brooks]

I also think the downfall of a GMI is that there will be a permanent sizable voting block agitating to increase the dole

The simple (and unfortunately impossible) solution is to simply offer the check in exchange for suffrage. I personally do not believe anybody who receives income from the government should be allowed to vote.

Cue But- but- First Amendment!! huffing and puffing.

[sarcasmic]

Those who rob Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

[Lord Humungus]

Joan Jett switches from Macy's South Dakota float after ranchers protest

Rock star Joan Jett was removed from a parade float representing South Dakota in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade after ranchers protested her appearance, saying she's a vegetarian and a critic of their livestock production.

Jett is a supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the world's largest animal rights group that promotes a vegetarian diet and condemns factory farms and ranches.

"I've decided to switch from South Dakota to another float because people's political agendas were getting in the way of what should be a purely entertainment driven event," Jett said in a statement Saturday. "I will remain focused on entertaining the millions of people watching, who will be celebrating a great American tradition."

[UnCivilServant]

I side with the ranchers. Your state should not be represented by someone diametrically opposed to such a large segment of your economy.

[Drake]

But we are all represented by Obama.

[UnCivilServant]

But we are all represented by Obama

Shortly after taking office, he defacto declared that he would only represent those people who voted for worshipped him, so I fixed your statement for accuracy.

[Lord Humungus]

"Just today I was riding in my carriage and they shouted, we hail Prince George, we hail Prince George!"

Blackadder: "We hate Prince George. We hate Prince George."

[UnCivilServant]

+1 Cunning Plan

[KMA Too]

And, a "wibble" to boot.

[sarcasmic]

Thug beats off-duty NYPD cop to within inch of his life by slamming his head against pavement outside Queens restaurant... and then tries to attack his terrified wife

Sergeant Mohammed Deen, 40, was attacked outside restaurant in Queens
He was repeatedly punched, kicked and had his head slammed on ground
Thug then tried to attack his terrified wife, who was sat parked BMW
Victim has been placed in medically induced coma following 5.30am brawl
Hayden Holder, 29, has been remanded in custody on felony assault charge

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ueens.html
sarc fails to make a sad face.

[UnCivilServant]

How is a cop from one of the most expensive places to live paid enough to have a beemer?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

There is something seriously wrong with you.

[Snark Plissken]

Did anyone violate his right to put a flag on his restaurant?

[SugarFree]

CallMeGracie
This is one time when I am all for the brotherhood of officers doing us all a favor and taking care of this piece of shit street thug in the right fashion. Come on boys, give this asshole the kind of treatment we've come to expect from the NYPD, at least he deserves it. 6 minutes ago

Charming.

[Juice]

I'm guessing all procedures were properly followed.

[Kid Xenocles]

I love how in this very thread an hour ago you were protesting that you aren't like this.

[sarcasmic]

I'm at a loss for pity when someone who makes a career out of inflicting violence finds themselves on the receiving end.

[Kid Xenocles]

So you've read the guy's file then? I read the same articles here that you do, and those cops are almost always worthy of whatever violations might come their way. But we should not cheer for them when they do happen, and it seems like we should at least withhold the sort of malice you have until we know that this particular guy had it coming. I doubt his wife did.

[sarcasmic]

A lack of pity does not equate to cheering.

[Snark Plissken]

But mocking you for this in any way equates to being a cop apologist.

[Troy muy grande boner]

I start with the rebuttable presumption that this LEO probably deserved what he got. Should evidence arise that this LEO is a human being, I will happily change my position.

[sarcasmic]

He'd been on the force for eighteen years. He likely cast away his humanity a long time ago.

[The Late P Brooks]

Guess who has the easier time complying, the people who can employ 15 individuals to do compliance for 400 practices, or the person who has to employ one whole person for their practice?

I was just thinking about that the other day. We hear recurring stories about "where have all the family practice doctors gone?" Even if some young and motivated new doctor wanted to hang out a shingle like an old-timey GP, how could he possibly afford the back office operation necessary keep- the thing float?

Better just be a salaried affiliate of some mega-corp.

[John]

The irony is that some day they are going to forgive a big chunk of the student loan debt. And they will do it based on "fairness" and thus give it to people with no income and doctors will not get any relief. If you wanted to increase the supply of doctors and make medical care cheaper, forgive loans for doctors.

[BladeDoc]

Boutique medical practice, cash only. It's happening a lot. It will be banned eventually

[Matrix]

Male lion kills female lion at Dallas Zoo as families look on

gotta make teh bitchez respect his authoritah!

[SugarFree]

All those violent lion videogames they let him play are to blame.

[John]

Good education for the kids. Teach them nature is not Disney.

[#]

It must be the lion patriarchy!

[The Late P Brooks]

Male lion kills female lion at Dallas Zoo as families look on

At least she wasn't killed by some rich white woman on a voyage of self-actualization.

[Matrix]

Video shows officer firing weapon at minivan full of kids after traffic stop

OFFICER SAFETY IS PRIMARY CONCERN!

[UnCivilServant]

"It looked like the kid had chicken pox! He was assaulting me with germs to trigger a shingles attack!"

"That was acne."

"But it looked like!"

"Okay, procedures were followed."

[invisible furry hand]

A popped zit can be deadly

[John]

WTF is up with New Mexico cops?

[Juice]

The story never says why they were pulled over in the first place.

[Juice]

Ah shit it was staring me in the face.

[RBS]

I heard on the news this morning that the cops found 2 bowls in the car. Of course, this makes the story worse. Everyone would be better off dead/motherless/childless...

[sasob]

Seems odd that she would attract attention to herself by doing 71 in a 55 mph zone, if she were carrying drugs or drug paraphernalia.

[Root Boy]

Driving 71 in a 55. Supposedly wanted her to drive back to their town or pay the fine now with cash.

Sounds like the cops were dicks and escalated things. Lots of video though so full story will come out, but cops will be fine, so it's all good.

[RBS]

Sounds like she may have had a part in the escalation too. That being said, it's a speeding ticket let her go. Shooting at a car full of kids is insane.

[Root Boy]

Showed her teenage son get out to try to defend mom, but that is what I would have done.

From what I know about deadly force, the cops were clearly wrong since they can't even try to claim she was going to run somebody over, which is the usual excuse for shooting at a car.

[Matrix]

The REAL ending to Breaking Bad

[Steve G]

boo, sony pulled the vid

[Matrix]

fortunately I saw it last night...

[The Late P Brooks]

Come on boys, give this asshole the kind of treatment we've come to expect from the NYPD, at least he deserves it.

"The kind of treatment we've come to expect from the NYPD"?

So, the cop deserved it, then? Unsurprising.

[np]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-porn.html

This is because computers can't reliably distinguish between innocent pictures of kids at bathtime and genuine abuse. So we always need to have a person review the images.

Aren't Google committing crimes themselves by viewing the images? Also, how are they going to determine age? One problem I see is that they'll take the conservative approach and automatically include sites with images of anyone who doesn't appear to be at least in their mid-20's by Western standards.

So Google plans to second computer engineers to both the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) here in Britain and the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). We also plan to fund internships for other engineers at these organisations.

The IWF being a UK organization is notorious for being over broad, including obscenity (violent smut, art, etc) as well as including "Level 1" images (UK law) in their blacklists. These are people posing erotically, without any sexual activity, who may not be nude, who might be up to 19 years old from IWF's own admission. NCMEC is less problematic but still so because they also include reports of drawings.

[John]

Aren't Google committing crimes themselves by viewing the images?

Yes. And they are, at least according to the social workers who do this stuff, victimizing the child.

The problem is sexuality is in the eye of the beholder. The picture is what it is. It only becomes sexual because the person looking at it makes it so. Not being a pedophile, I see a picture of a naked six year old running around his parents yard playing in the hose and don't think anything sexual. A pedophile does. So you tell me how google or anyone else tells what is porn and what is innocent. I can't see how.

[sarcasmic]

Not being a pedophile, I see a picture of a naked six year old running around his parents yard playing in the hose and don't think anything sexual. A pedophile does.

Kinda makes you wonder about those who enforce these laws. Or was that your point.

[John]

That was my point. I think child porn laws are crazy. We should hang people who molest kids. But the idea of making possession of a picture illegal leads to some really unjust and irrational results.

[The Late P Brooks]

as well as including "Level 1" images (UK law) in their blacklists. These are people posing erotically, without any sexual activity, who may not be nude, who might be up to 19 years old from IWF's own admission.

i get turned on by photos of fully clothed girls with big happy smiles on their faces. I guess I should just turn myself in.

[John]

Pedophiles find kids sexually attractive. So, in the same way your or I find a picture on the Daily Mail of some Hollywood Starlet in an evening gown arousing, a pedophile finds a picture of a child arousing even if the child is dressed. Any picture of a child is porn to those weirdos.

[Warty]

The annoying Jennifer Rubin says the obvious about Obamacare, True Believers get teh mad.

gatorbite
10:10 AM EST
Perhaps had the Republicans been working with the President rather than against him and been open to making sensible changes along the way as opposed to blocking them we wouldn't be in this situation.

BTW will Republicans allow those who have bought plans they like under PPACA keep them or will they get cancellation notices
Like ? Reply ? Share ? Report Abuse

[RBS]

They need some new talking points.

[Warty]

"You should have known I'd fuck everything up! This is all your fault for not stopping me!"

[John]

Here is what is going to be hilarious. As this thing gets worse, panicked Dems are going to start voting with Republicans in Congress of various fixes. But Obama is such a jackass and knows that any fix is going to destroy what is left of his program that he will veto all of them.

So we are going to watch Obama veto various bipartisan bills to try and save people's insurance. And both sides in Congress are going to tell voters "I tried to save your insurance but that bastard in the White House vetoed the fix". You think he is unpopular now, wait until that happens.

[sarcasmic]

Why does the emperor need legislation to fix the ACA? Can't he just issue a decree?

[John]

Sure. But the problem is that none of the insurance companies are dumb enough to trust him. So he can say "we won't prosecute you for not obeying the law as written" all he wants. But no one is going to believe him.

[CatoTheElder]

Even if the insurance companies could trust the Obama Administration, they'd be insane to issue insurance that does not comply with PPACA.

Sure, Obama has said his administration will not litigate against insurers offering such plans. However, what happens when (not if) an insured in a non-compliant plan sues an insurer for not providing all the benefits of a PPACA plan? This is a huge problem especially for the low-cap healthcare plans that arguably are "junk insurance".

Here's a scenario: Guy is insured under a low-cap plan, gets in car wreck, and laid up for six weeks in ICU. His insurance covers the first $10,000 of a $600,000 bill. Who pays the difference? The providers are going to sue. The guy is going to sue. And, typically the courts will side with a consumer who has been "victimized" by an illegal contract.

The Obama Administration still cannot arbitrary overturn rulings by the courts.

Facing the prospect of liabilities that far outweigh the actuarial basis for determining premiums, it would be insane to offer non-compliant policies unless I'm missing something.

[sarcasmic]

Police shoot dead man in wealthy Bel Air neighborhood outside Los Angeles

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....geles.html

When officers arrived, the man refused to drop his weapon. They opened fire, killing him.

Notice it doesn't say he threatened them with the weapon. Only that he did not drop it on command. Seems like every week the cops kill someone for refusing to obey.

[Warty]

"Yo homes, smell ya later!"

[SugarFree]

"I can't believe that replaced 'goodbye.'"

[The Late P Brooks]

Perhaps had the Republicans been working with the President rather than against him and been open to making sensible changes along the way as opposed to blocking them we wouldn't be in this situation.

"It's a shame those guys don't have any ideas we approve of."

[Root Boy]

Wait, what you say....

/Romney

[Fatty Bolger]

Yeah, I think the numbers were 37 votes in the House related to Obamacare - 6 of which were full repeal, 8 that passed the Senate and were signed into law by the President, and the rest blocked by Democrats because they insisted on maintaining the fantasy that the core idea behind Obamacare was going to work out just fine.

[The Late P Brooks]

Police shoot dead man

STOP WASTING AMMO!

[Cytotoxic]

Bad news: evil socialist bitch Bachelet won the first round of the Chilean presidential elections. She wasn't bad as president 2006-2010 but she's gotten more radical and wants to fundamentally change Chile. As in 'free' education-with central 'coordination' from the national government! Just like America!

Consolation: she didn't get enough to avoid a second round.

Good news: her Coalition of Evil-which includes fracking COMMUNISTS-didn't get enough votes to change the constitution. They don't even have a simple majority in one of the two houses. Chile's founding father-Pinochet-was very wise in creating a vote distribution system to frustrate would-be Allende's like Bitchelet.

[Killazontherun]

Why would you go soft on communist with the milquetoast neologism 'frack'? If dad, wihf, ever caught me saying the word 'communist' un-appended by 'Goddamned' or 'fucking', he would have suspected me of treason.

[Cytotoxic]

I was having a self-censor moment because I thought H&R was too crude, which admittedly seems silly.

wihf = women I have to fuck according to Urban Dictionary. Seems odd where you've put it.

[Killazontherun]

War In Hell, Forever.

[Killazontherun]

And, yes, the UD version would be very odd and inappropriate.

[janet101]

Google is paying 75$/hour! Just work for few hours & spend more time with friends and family. On sunday I bought themselves a Alfa Romeo from having made $5637 this month. its the best-job Ive ever had.It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don't check it out http://www.Buzz95.com