A.M. Links: Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Offline, Interim Ukrainian President Warns of Separatism Dangers, Ugandan Tabloid Names '200 Top Homosexuals'

Credit: antanacoins / Foter / CC BY-SA

• The family of Venezuelan protest leader Leopoldo Lopez say that he is being held in a small military jail cell.
• The Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is offline after apparently losing 744,408 Bitcoins, worth about  $350 million, in a hacking attack.
• Interim Ukrainian President Olexander Turchynov has warned of the dangers of separatism following the removal of former President Viktor Yanukovych.
• A Ugandan tabloid has published the names of the country's "200 top homosexuals" a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-homsexuality bill into law.
• Democratic governors want the White House to do more to sell Obamacare.
• Attorney General Eric Holder has said that his state counterparts don't have to defend gay marriage bans if they think that the legislation is discriminatory.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is offline after apparently losing 744,408 Bitcoins, worth about $350 million, in a hacking attack.

I'm going back to paper money. No one ever steals that.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Good morning, Rufus.

[Doctor Whom]

Hola.

[Lord Humungus]

Happy Kwanzananaaa!

[gaijin]

I thought part of the appeal of bitcoin was that it couldn't be stolen or counterfeited...doesn't Mt Gox have the ability to identify the stolen loot? Sort of like a digital version of those pens that retailers use on $20 bills?

[Bee Tagger]

When will we finally have a law making it illegal to deface bitcoins with digital pens?

[SweatingGin]

Mt Gox should be able to see where it went, but I wouldn't be shocked if they have terrible controls/logs on that. If the coins were really stolen (as it sounds like now), it's because they had a lot of levels of gross incompetence.

They should be able to track which coins they sent to who. After that, though, it probably hits mixers and is near impossible to track.

It's also likely this happened over a long period of time.

[Palin's Buttplug]

FDIC insurance is looking good right now.

[Pavlov's Cat]

You should have read up on FDIC's stabilty before you making statements like that.

[Jordan]

Just shovel more Fed Funbux at it. It matters not.

/Monetarist clown

[Palin's Buttplug]

The FDIC is stable. The fact that they insure trillions with only a few hundred million dollars in the fund is a little disconcerting.

[Protagoronus]

Cognitive dissonance, how does it work?

[Citizen Nothing]

You know who else was a little disconcerting?

[Duke Trshmnstr of Stench]

Felix Mottl?

[Francisco d Anconia]

That clown in Poltergeist?

[Protagoronus]

The nail-head guy in Event Horizon?

[R C Dean]

The FDIC is stable.

Room temperature is also a stable condition.

[waffles]

Admittedly it is harder to steal 350 million in paper dollars than in bitcoins. Do you know how long it takes 3.5x10^6 dollars to pass through my pneumatic tubes?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

This sounds vaguely sexual.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Apparently you never saw Ocean's Eleven.

Anyway, I don't think it was stolen all at once. People can steal a lot of paper money over a couple of years.

[waffles]

It's like you willingly ignore the difference between fiction and reality. I'm here trying to educate you and you prattle on about some decade-old advertisement for Mini Coopers.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Wrong movie, brother.

[Dead or In Jail]

I thought waffles was one of our precious few ladybears? 🙁

[Ted S.]

Michael Caine is better than Peter Lawford.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah but the latter was in the Rat Pack!

[Ted S.]

I was born in 1972, so I'm sick and tired of the whole "the early 1960s are the apotheosis of cool" and the beatification of the Kennedy era bullshit.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ted, we're contemporaries.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

'70 here, you whippersnappers

[db]

I agree, but I.totally want an early-'60s bachelir pad as depicted.in old issues of.Playboy.

[waffles]

Curse my caffeine-deprived dimples. It's almost as if crime movies are a genre of some kind.

[RFID]

Think we can start a fund to keep Mt Gox offline, since they are basically public enemy #1 to bitcoin stability?

[R C Dean]

Anyone want to place odds on whether this hacking attack, which must have been very sophisticated, wasn't sponsored by a sovereign in some way?

[db]

I wouldn't take that bet even in FRNs.

[Juice]

Doesn't the blockchain tell you where all the bitcoins went? Why can't they use that to trace them back to the hackers?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Interim Ukrainian President Olexander Turchynov has warned of the dangers of separatism...

The risk is he loses a tax base?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...following the removal of former President Viktor Yanukovych.

That guy should have stuck to parody songs.

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

*narrows gaze*

Hmmmmm...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You're fired!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....be&t=1m18s

[Francisco d Anconia]

That was very decent of Hannity.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Democratic governors want the White House to do more to sell Obamacare.

Because, you know, the White House isn't so much up for re-election this year.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I have to give this President a lot of credit for effectively removing a lot of the soft power of the Executive Branch. Everyone has been looking at Congress for the last three years, which is where attention should have been directed the entire time.

[Lord Humungus]

Perhaps this explains certain members of our little group:

How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations

Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable. To see how extremist these programs are, just consider the tactics they boast of using to achieve those ends: "false flag operations" (posting material to the internet and falsely attributing it to someone else), fake victim blog posts (pretending to be a victim of the individual whose reputation they want to destroy), and posting "negative information" on various forums. Here is one illustrative list of tactics from the latest GCHQ document we're publishing today:

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Beat me to that one. These tactics are far more appropriate for political goals rather than intelligence goals.

[Warty]

Beat me to it too. The 4 Ds sound about right, don't they?

[Ska]

Dodge, duck, dive, dip - wait, you're against the second dodge?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

May lead to people bleeding their own blood.

[Warty]

Dicks, dongs, dingalings, dorks.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You forgot derps!

[Warty]

Danglers, dinkies, dipsticks, Dingises.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The first comment on there is brilliant and crazy all rolled in to one.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Gee whiz. You think some NSA spooks are on this site? Ya' think?

[Ted S.]

Shreeky and Tulpa?

[The Last American Hero]

I would guess 'Merican or one of those other jerks that comes on an pollutes the page with racist comments, probably hoping to incite some hate crime.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Look at the PowerPoint slides in the article. They read much more Shreek/Tulpa, less American.

[RBS]

Yall want to go build some explosives and kill some pigs?

[SIV]

sharon hodges
25 Feb 2014 at 9:07 am

I worked with criminal investigators for 20 years. My father was counter-intelligence in WWII. I've been around spies all my life. My brother is CIA, he was picked up at Stanford Research in the 1960s. I knew this phony balony business was going online, I figured it out. They left earmarks and red-flags. You can't turn over sophisticated tactics to a bunch of amateur hacks. I left "bait" ? they bit on it, especially on Huff Po and AOL. They also made the mistake of talking to each other and making inside jokes. I played them as many times as they played me. I left false flags all over the place ? two can play this game. Try it sometime.

[Brett L]

Can you still be paranoid even if they are out to get you?

[MJGreen]

But... is SHE with them too? Is this a double false flag? I don't know what to believe!!

[Citizen Nothing]

My bank (JPMorgan Chase) informed me this morning that as of March 3, the government will require I.D.s from those making cash deposits of any size, and will require those making deposits to be listed on the account. I suppose most of you knew this was coming, but it took me completely by surprise.
The part of me that is able to step outside myself and observe is amused by the amount of sheer rage I feel.

[Ted S.]

I presume Big Government is concerned about so-called "money laundering"?

[Citizen Nothing]

So said my teller. I then made the mistake of saying something about Orwell being 30 years too soon.
"Yes. So ... I need to take your cash back to a counting machine" and disappears for several minutes.
They have bill counters at the teller windows.
I did get out with a receipt. And I was probably already on whatever list they added me to.

[Raven Nation]

Wonder if they have those wipes in the back room that TSA uses to check for explosives and/or drugs.

[Citizen Nothing]

Exactly my thought, RN

[RBS]

When are they going to require tellers ask where the cash came from?

[Pro Libertate]

You're on the OFAC list now.

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

Yeah, good luck getting insurance...

[VG Zaytsev]

Which this won't do anything to address.

The marginal impact will be more holding of cash by households and businesses - I can't imagine that is the outcome that the government wants - but it will inevitably happen.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I put my drug money on Amazon gift cards at numerous stores in different parts of the city.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

You're hitting a little close to home there, NEM.

[gaijin]

Time for everyone to start making multiple deposits in the amount of $1. Overwhelm the system with its own idiocy.

[Doctor Whom]

If the government can ban structuring, it can ban that. For your own safety, of course.

[gimmeasammich]

It's just like when the Pirate Bay got sued a few years ago. The firm representing the plaintiffs was set up to accept money to pay the fine (or something, I don't recall all of the details). People were "encouraged" to donate one Swedish Krona to put towards the fine. The downside (for the law firm) was that the account was only allowed 1000 free transfers, after which time they would have to pay to accept the further money. Not sure what the final outcome was, but the law firm was spooked enough that they closed down the account.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ne.....,7816.html

[gimmeasammich]

By "just like" I mean "sort of similar, but sounded neat and I wanted to interject myself into the discussion."

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Wait what? I was in getting a new debit card not long ago (also Chase) and they did go through a "we have to ask you some more questions from the government that you didn't answer when you opened the account" that really pissed me off. Including my "occupation." But this...

[The Last American Hero]

I usually answer occupation with "legitimate businessman".

[db]

When you buy/transfer a registered machinegun you have to fill in a block.on.the.form for "purpose." I put "any lawful purpose."

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Chase is lying to you. That's not the government's rules; that's Chase's new internal policy.

Uh, in other news, fuck Chase. Hard.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

JP Morgan Chase will always be the first bank to support any governmental overreach that fucks the taxpayers.

[SweatingGin]

There are a couple of bitcoin exchange businesses that have the model of: find an account of someone willing to sell, place the order, deposit cash into their account at whatever bank it is, and then they send the bitcoin.

I'd say that model is about done.

[PD Scott]

Any size? Time to start making $1 deposits. Lots of them.

[MJGreen]

How would this apply to depositing at an ATM? I haven't spoken to a teller in years. If they're going to make me start, it may be time to move to Citi or some other bank.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick - despite excelling at scandals and derpiness - is open to running in 2016. Is America sophisticated enough to take in a Warren/Patrick ticket?

Woo-hoo!

[Ted S.]

Electors have to vote for at least one person not from their state, so the VP candidate on that ticket isn't getting Massachusetts' 11 electoral votes.

[Raven Nation]

Plenty of time for one of them to relocate to New Hampshire or Vermont.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

What, no love for Rhode Island, Connecticut or Maine?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The Massachusetts electors can't vote for fwo Bay Staters...other electors can.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Wha, did you say two Bay Statists?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I didn't, but shoukd have.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

So, what you're saying is the Green party will finally get an electoral vote?

[Ted S.]

There's the theoretical possibility of a party getting an electoral college majority in the presidential election, but not in the VP.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A Ugandan tabloid has published the names of the country's "200 top homosexuals" a day after President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-homsexuality bill into law.

Just when you thought the UK had the worst tabloids in the world.

[Ska]

I know, they didn't even list the 200 bottoms.

[Shirley Knott]

So tomorrow's list will be the "200 Bottom homosexuals"?

[Bill Dalasio]

I can't help but ask, what's a "top homosexual"? Or is that something I don't really want to know?

[SugarFree]

Top is someone who prefers to penetrate and bottoms prefer to be penetrated.

[Fist of Etiquette]

SugarFree means emotionally.

[Ted S.]

Vintage traffic accident photos, Helsinki, Finland

[Warty]

Ah, Finland.

[Raven Nation]

Vintage tram accident 'photo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....rash_1.jpg

[Fist of Etiquette]

How do you say crumple zone in Finnish? Apparently, you don't.

[Warty]

Rutistaa vy?hyke. I was hoping for more umlauts, but as long as the R is rolled aggressively enough, I'm OK with the phrase.

I can't be the only one who's fascinated by the Finno-Ugric languages. Rolled Rs everywhere.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

You know Tolkien was particularly into Finno-Ugric languages, right (along with others, of course)? Finnish was among his faves overall, IIRC, along with Welsh (not, obviously, Finno-Ugric). Anyway point being a lot of stuff in the Tolkien-world languages is modeled after stuff in Finno-Ugric, like vowel harmony. I think his languages have a large number of cases as well, though I don't remember that as clearly offhand.

Finnish is cool but Hungarian is cooler.

[Warty]

I did not know that. Awesome.

Now I am going to teach you how to say "strike" in Finnish. ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE

[Elspeth Flashman]

I could count to ten in Finnish when I was little. Now ix, gox, goosamen is all I remember (and I'm not sure that's accurate even.)

[Lord Humungus]

Duuude...

Study: Fatal Car Crashes by Marijuana Smokers up 300% over Last Decade

he study draws its conclusions from statistics on more than 23,500 drivers who died within one hour of a crash between 1999 and 2010. The toxicology tests were performed on victims from six states including: California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and West Virginia. While alcohol related traffic fatalities remained steady at 40% throughout the decade, drug related deaths soared from 16% in 1999 to a whopping 28% in 2010.

whopping?

[Yegg Central]

That really should read "drug related."

[Ted S.]

Reason covered this some time back and debunked the study.

[Brett L]

Florida Woman calls 911 over raw waffles.

[Bee Tagger]

Minutes later an irate Whole Foods shopper called for the opposite reason.

[waffles]

Nobody understands me.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Some of us like it raw.

[SugarFree]

Damn girl, food poisoning looks good on you.

[Pro Libertate]

I find this entirely reasonable.

[Brett L]

It was a Village Inn, so I don't understand why she expected edible food.

[Pro Libertate]

Look, if the government can't enforce waffle standards, what purpose does it serve?

[Mickey Rat]

Raw waffles are batter. They served her a colloid?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

"The family of Venezuelan protest leader Leopoldo Lopez say that he is being held in a small military jail cell."

Jesse Myerson approves.

[waffles]

The demise of Gox can't kill bitcoin, but it certainly can keep it out of the mainstream. Bitcoin has been an excellent hobby for me. I can't imagine the stress of having Bitcoin be your bread-and-butter. Guaranteed there's more than a handful of people who are left destitute in the wake of this event.

Ah, the epic drama continues.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Attorney General Eric Holder has said that his state counterparts don't have to defend gay marriage bans if they think that the legislation is discriminatory.

Jury nullification from the other side?

[creech]

Does this apply to enforcing, say, the Civil Rights Act too? Or "No Child Left Behind" or Medicaid mandates?

[gaijin]

No. It only applies to the things that the DOJ says are on the approved list. Things that Generalissimo Holder has personally approved.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Related: Federal court to decide to uphold (or not) Michigan's same-sex voter-approved marriage ban.
http://www.freep.com/relart/20.....-parenting

Also reported on my blog.

[Juice]

There's no jury involved. It's just straight nullification.

[Lord Humungus]

Grocery truck fire extinguished on Hume Highway, firefighters dodge exploding baked bean tins

Fire crews were hampered by exploding tins of baked beans as they worked to extinguish a large truck fire on the Hume Highway near Gunning, halfway between Yass and Goulburn.

The NSW Rural Fire Service said they were notified of the single truck accident in the northbound lanes near Oolong Road shortly after 6:00am.

No-one was injured but the driver of the B-double lost one load of groceries and the prime mover itself in the blaze.

It's like the Aussies just make words up.

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

Like the flora and fauna aren't deadly enough down there, now you have to worry about being aced by an exploding can of beans?!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Roll that beautiful bean footage!

[Brett L]

So I guess the New Orleans Pelicans really are an NBA team and they have a terrifying Mardi Gras mascot.

Search for "King Cake Baby" on Twitter and you will find a large number of tweets that include the word "nightmare," descriptions like "hauntingly weird" and a general sense that many people will be losing sleep over a shared experience.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Sounds like too many yankees/protestants have relocated to New Orleans.

[Don Mynack]

New Orleans tradition? I live in Houston, and you can buy king cakes at every grocery store this time of year. There is probably one in the break room right now.

[Lord Humungus]

Harsh weather tests optimism over U.S. economy

Unusually cold weather will take a bite out of U.S. economic growth this quarter, but a rebound seems likely on the horizon and expectations for stronger growth this year have not changed.

Economists estimate that freezing temperatures and the ice and snow storms that have blanketed much of the nation will shave as much as half a percentage point from gross domestic product in the first quarter.

That comes on top of the drag from efforts by businesses to sell off bloated inventories and a one-time hit from the expiration of benefits for the long-term unemployed.

[gaijin]

but a rebound seems likely on the horizon

Just in time for "Recovery Summer, Part IV"

[John]

Success is just around the corner just like that next five year plan really is going to increase tractor production.

[BigT]

Just in time for "Recovery Summer, Part IV"

"Endless Summer"

[waffles]

It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life.

[gaijin]

^Well played and timely.

[Ted S.]

Shouldn't that be "unexpectedly cold weather"? 😉

[Lord Humungus]

Naked man walks the Rickenbacker Causeway; motorists get eyeful

Motorists on the Rickenbacker Causeway Sunday afternoon got an eyeful - and it wasn't the breathtaking waterfront view.

A naked man, within view of east and west traffic, was seen walking on the bridge headed toward downtown Miami.

It's unclear how the man got on the bridge, or if he was making a statement.

[Citizen Nothing]

Ironically, that bridge will soon be the only place he's allowed to live.

[Brett L]

Winner.

[Doctor Whom]

President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-homsexuality bill into law.

It must be the doing of some huge Ugandan corporation or the Ugandan equivalent of the Kochtopus. Politically correct LGBT people tell me that government never does anything bad except at the behest of the evil plutocrats.

[Bardas Phocas]

According to the Proggies at 'The Nation' - American SocCons are the font of all the anti-homo feelings around the world.
http://www.thenation.com/artic.....mily-right

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

ruh ro. Look for Bo Cara to pimp this article for the next week.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Sno Conez!!!!!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

This is my favorite thing for the day.

[Duke Trshmnstr of Stench]

So KhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAns!

[Rhywun]

tl;dr but it looks like they were only talking about Russia.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Why We Lost the War on Poverty
...In 1965 we launched a War on Poverty. And as the graph shows, in the years that followed the portion of Americans living in poverty barely budged. In 1965, 18% of the population lived in poverty. Today we are at 15%, or 50 million Americans. That's after spending $15 trillion on antipoverty programs and continuing to spend $1 trillion a year....

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The answer is obvious, we didn't spend enough.

/Krugabe

[Jordan]

Because the Fed and regulatory state were busy fighting on the other side.

[John]

That and the people who wage the war on poverty constantly move the goal posts to justify their jobs. By the standards of 1966, today's poorest family is middle class. But since poverty went from being an objective term based on actual resources to a subjective term based on relative inequality, poverty will until the nirvana of ideal equality is reached, which will be never.

[Citizen Nothing]

I honestly wonder about that. How does the standard of living for the "poor" in the U.S. of 2014 compare to that of those in 1964?

[John]

Not even close. There were millions of people in 1964 who didn't have indoor plumping or electricity much less access to a phone or any kind of emergency services.

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah. My own mother didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing in her house growing up, and didn't get it until her family moved out of the 'holler and did the whole readin,' writin', Route 23 thing.
In later life, she blamed government "anti-poverty" programs for trapping her less ambitious kin in the poverty that still clings like a miasma to eastern Kentucky.

[Citizen Nothing]

She also says her family never considered itself as "poor."

[John]

My dad, in monetary terms definitely grew up poor. His father died when he was 5 in the days of no workman's comp or life insurance. But you never see a picture of my dad or his two brothers where they were not clean and neatly dressed. They didn't wear expensive clothes and the clothes they had were often old, but they were always clean. Now I see people who are much better off than he was who are dirty, sloppy pigs. No one is so poor they can't wash their clothes or bathe. We have a cultural problem in this country not a poverty one.

[John]

Or to give another example, I saw plenty of kids in Iraq who lived in nothing more than huts. But they almost always looked better looked after and happier than many American kids I see.

[Brett L]

What the fuck? Isn't poverty described by living for more than a year in the bottom income quintile?

[Steve G]

The study in the link really seems to shred the idea of a minimum income. Why does this have traction among libertarians/Friedman disciples. No snark, just genuinely curious.

[Citizen Nothing]

The attraction for me is the elimination of all other programs/subsidies, and the social engineering that goes with it. Without that, it doesn't work. (Not that it "works" at all, but would work better than what we got.)

[BigT]

The attraction for me is the elimination of all other programs/subsidies, and the social engineering that goes with it.

The attraction for me is the herd of unicorns dancing under neverending rainbows, and the perpetual happiness that goes with it.

FIFY

[Citizen Nothing]

Ah. But politically, offering such a trade makes the progressives show themselves to be more interested in the social engineering than in actually helping the poor. So, even if it is impossible to implement, just throwing it into the mix is politically astute.
I feel the same way about a revenue-neutral carbon tax. Ok, progs. You really think the CO2 is the problem? Then you should happily agree to trade the income tax for a carbon tax. Oh, wait. It seems you are more concerned about control than "the environment," after all.

[Steve G]

yeah, it would go along way towards the progs' goal of "equality"

[califernian]

It's also after constantly redefining poverty upward

[gaijin]

A fun 3 minutes on the topic of "Authority"

About Authority

[Lord Humungus]

Nando's confession: We removed Bowen's Big Mango

In a media release the company said they would like to thank the people of Bowen.

"The disappearance of Bowen's Big Mango has generated quite a lot of attention over the last day or so? and we confess? Nando's was behind moving the three storey high, ten tonne tourist attraction," the media release states.

"Nando's would like to thank the people of Bowen for being good sports about us 'borrowing' their beautiful mango.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Cop Harasses Photographer, Steals His Cellphone Battery And Attempts To Get YouTube To Pull The Incriminating Video
...Although the subject was injured, which was probably not the intention, the way the person acted, from the very begining, is similar to harassment. The police officer might not have had the best of idea by getting involved in it's game, but the simple fact the person takes the time to show the distance between him and the officers, way before the altercation, clearly show, in my mind, he had little interest in what was happening, but instead, hoped to prove something different. He challenged the police officer to arrest him and was demeaning from the very start. There's a middle ground, in each situation and in this case, the responsability seems to fall on both....

[Ted S.]

Somebody has a sad that people aren't RESPECKING COPZ' AUTHORITUH!!!

[Lord Humungus]

Hiring of Law Grads Improves for Some
Offer Rates for Summer 2013 Interns Approach Pre-Financial Crisis Levels

But things are looking up for the class of 2014, at least by some measures, according to figures released last week by the National Association for Law Placement, a nonprofit group that tracks legal employment figures.

About 92% of law students who worked as summer associates last year received job offers. In 2007, before the financial crisis upended the legal profession, the offer rate was about 93%.

The hitch, of course, is that summer class sizes remain smaller than they were back in the boom years, so the overall number of job offers hasn't returned to prerecession heights.

[Yegg Central]

Good thing you said "for some," considering only a small percentage of students go to BigLaw.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Chart: What Americans drink and how they vote

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

All I gathered from that chart is that Don Julio drinkers are too hung over to make it to the voting booth.

[Shpip]

OT: Mrs. Shpip and I are heading up to DC for a week (Wednesday-Sunday in National Harbor, Sunday-Thursday at a little place near Dupont Circle). I haven't been to the District in a few decades. Any suggestions on places to have a cocktail, take in supper, or interesting out of the way stuff to see would be appreciated. A friend who works at State is taking us out to Udvar-Hazy, and the local congresscritter arranged a tour of the big building where folks argue and spend money. Other than that, we have no real plans. Let me know here or email me at the address in my handle.

[Kaptious Kristen]

My advice: cancel and go somewhere fun instead.

[John]

You are so cynical and bitter Kristen. I love that about you.

[Bardas Phocas]

The Monocle!
http://www.themonocle.com/

[John]

Depends on how much money you want to spend. For a casual place, the Pizza Paradisio near Dupont has good food and an enormous beer on tap selection.

If you have a car, the Firehouse on St. Asaph street in Alexandria is probably my favorite upscale without costing hundreds of dollars restaurant these days.

The Old Ebbit Grill is a decent place to have a drink but go there in the afternoon. It turns into a meat market full of disgusting hill rats at night. But during the day it is an old school elegant bar that has actual bar tenders instead of drink slingers.

There are a million places around DuPont. But I am old and don't get out as much as I used to outside of my sort of go to places. So I couldn't tell you which ones are the best.

[Kaptious Kristen]

C'mon, you don't need a car for Old Town - King St. Metro + trolley (if you're opposed to walking).

My one favorite place in the whole DC region closed last year, so I got nothin'.

[John]

Try the firehouse. It is down in your area. You will like it.

[BigT]

Doesn't matter much where you go, but go packing.

[Steve G]

La Tomate on Connecticut and R is pretty nice, but then again Conn is full of nice cocktaily places, just window shop.

I'd offer a tour of the Pentagon, but you'd lose 20 IQ points just walking int the door

[Steve G]

*in the door. I rest my caes

[Bardas Phocas]

The Pig.
http://www.thepigdc.com/

[Steve G]

Speaking of suids:
http://www.eathoneypig.com/
Good atmosphere if you like korean food

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Harvard writer: Free speech threatens liberalism and must be destroyed
..."If our university community opposes racism, sexism, and heterosexism, why should we put up with research that counters our goals?" asked Korn in her column.

The column's subtitle was even more direct: "Let's give up on academic freedom in favor of justice."...

[Yegg Central]

From the "pro-science" party, of course.

[VG Zaytsev]

You mean that haven't already done so?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Sandra Y.L. Korn '14, a Crimson editorial writer, is a joint history of science and studies of women, gender and sexuality concentrator in Eliot House. Her column usually appears on alternate Mondays.

'nuff said.

If I were instituting a new communist regime, I would gather my most vicious lackeys from among the ethnic studies majors.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

When did "major" become "concentrator"?

[Brett L]

Major is vaguely military, can't have that at Haahvaahd.

[SugarFree]

She's a minority. "Major" suggests she has privilege.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

It seems like microaggression against those with ADD, to me.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Didn't notice that, WTF is a concentrator?

[Kaptious Kristen]

I learned from 30 Rock that Harvard has "concentrations", not majors.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

At my school, they were "major concentrations" and "minor concentrations," but we still just said "major" and "minor" as verbs.

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

Have they camps as well?

[gaijin]

Well done. Blasted refresh!

[gaijin]

WTF is a concentrator?

Sort of like a counselor...at a very special camp.

[wareagle]

when someone realized that calling grievance studies a "major" was an embarrassment to serious academics.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Coming from small-town central New Jersey, Sandra has spent much of her time at Harvard learning about the amazing city of Boston. She is a leader for the First-Year Urban Program, a pre-orientation program for incoming Harvard first-years, and a member of the Harvard Student Labor Action Movement. On campus, she also writes for the Harvard Crimson and has played in music ensembles ranging from the Bach Society Orchestra to an Eastern European folk music band. This year, when she's not in class, at Harvard Hillel, or giving tours, you can probably find Sandra at her sunny desk on the second floor of Widener Library, working on her senior thesis on feminist biologists in the 1970s.

I'm sure she's got a great personality and is a lot of fun at cocktail parties.

[SugarFree]

GIS shows that she really puts the ED in co-ed. [shudder]

[Brett L]

his year, when she's not in class, at Harvard Hillel

JAP. This makes so much sense now.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I'm sure she considers herself a modern day Emma Goldman.

[Bill Dalasio]

And where does Ms. Korn think she'll hide when the popular passions turn in favor of a Santorum or a Gingrich.

Stupid and shortsighted. Honestly, I'm starting to think that, to gain admission to college, every student should be required to recite the "Devil speech" from A Man for All Seasons and prove they understand it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDBiLT3LASk

[SugarFree]

NHTSA roadblock survey secretly tested drivers for alcohol without their consent

In addition, NHTSA has admitted in their 2007 roadside survey results that while the surveys and tests were voluntary, survey-takers were secretly testing stopped drivers using "passive alcohol sensors" to help get as much data as possible before more detailed breath or blood tests could be done: P

As part of the program, to protect survey participants and the public, it was important to know the extent of the drivers' drinking. To this end, a passive alcohol sensor (PAS), attached to the PDA with VelcroTM, was used to collect mixed expired air from approximately 6 inches in front of the driver's face [...] The PAS was held within 6 inches of the participant's face, and when the subject spoke, the interviewer activated the small electrical pump, which pulled in the exhaled breath from the participant.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Nice. God what motherfuckers.

[John]

All I can think of is that CS Lewis quote about the worst tyrant being the well meaning tyrant.

[Lord Humungus]

Rick Santelli: "It's The Government"

Guest: Where would we be without the government?

Santelli: (begins)... We would be way better off! The problem is the government. They're not here to help... They're here to make healthcare more expensive, college more expensive... everything they touch is more expensive

[Rhywun]

In the eighties you could talk like this and get elected President.

Now, it comes off like the ravings of a lunatic.

[Andrew S.]

Mt. Gox is apparently offline permanently.

I'm not sure I ever understood the appeal of Bitcoin, except as an easy/cheap way to transfer money without it being watched. It's a currency backed by absolutely nothing, isn't it?

[gaijin]

It's a currency backed by absolutely nothing, isn't it?

Faith is something 😉

[Palin's Buttplug]

It is just a "faith based" currency.

[Fist of Etiquette]

What isn't?

[Citizen Nothing]

Without Masonic symbols, it ain't shit.

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

+1 eye-pyramid

[Citizen Nothing]

Render unto Benjamin Franklin what is Franklin's.

[Bill Dalasio]

It is just a "faith based" currency.

As is the dollar and just about any other major currency.

[Citizen Nothing]

I have a theory that the prettier the bank notes are, the less stable the currency.

[Citizen Nothing]

For example, I keep at my desk a lovely one hundred trillion dollar note from teh Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe that features delightful pictures of Victoria Falls and a water buffalo

[PD Scott]

I don't know, unless Fraktur really excites you Weimar Germany had some really ugly notes.

[Rhywun]

You would be surprised how hard it is to find a decent Fraktur font (i.e. one that resembles what was actually in use rather than some American's idea of gothicky-looking).

[The Last American Hero]

One of the purported advantages is that is couldn't be inflated at the whim of a central bank.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Obamanomics end game, economic failure is good for the Earth:

Sierra Club Touts Economic 'De-Growth': 'We have to de-grow our economy' to 'temper climate disruption, and foster a stable, equitable world economy' ? 'WORK LESS TO LIVE MORE'

[Jordan]

WORK LESS TO LIVE MORE

Hell yeah, bro. When I think of easy living, I think of subsistence agriculture!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Sierra Club leadership has lost their goddamn minds.

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

I respond best to leadership by example, so I propose the Sierra Club go first.

[John]

They had already lost it 20 years ago when I was working in environmental law. They are just being more honest these days. The environmental movement during the 1970s transformed from a conservation movement that held that man had a duty to manage and preserve nature to an "environmental movement" that viewed man as an invasive species whose effects on nature of any sort were to be limited all times and by any means necessary.

I have thought for a very long time that if the 21st Century produces the kind of genocide that the 20th Century did, environmentalism is likely to be one of the ideologies whose name it is committed under. These people hate the human race. Say what you want about the Nazis, but at least they liked Germans. These people don't even like themselves.

[Brett L]

Thanks for this. I have an environut lawyer friend who will spend the rest of the day defending this watermelon book.

[The Late P Brooks]

Democratic governors want the White House to do more to sell Obamacare.

The circular firing squad is assembling.

[Steve G]

do more

This of course assumes they've actually been holding some cards up to this point...through all the roll-out drama and public backlash. Even the WH knows they can't double-down

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Cut Off Harvard to Save America
...The eight Ivy League schools have less than 1 percent of U.S. college students but almost 17 percent of all endowment money. The top 3 percent of schools ranked by endowment size have more than half the funds. Five schools (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford University and one public institution, the University of Texas) had endowment increases last year of more than $1 billion, exceeding the total endowment of more than 90 percent of the schools (including virtually all the larger ones) publicly disclosing information.

Do rich schools use their wealth to promote upward economic mobility by disproportionately accepting low-income students? No -- just the opposite....

[Brett L]

Umm. That's weird. UT let in everyone with a 1200 or better SAT score in the mid-90s and everyone in the top 10% of their class in the 2000s for a while.

[Spoonman.]

Yeah, UT pretty much does "promote upward economic mobility by disproportionately accepting low-income students".

[Auric Demonocles]

If you're doing what Brett described you aren't disproportionally accepting low income students.

[Brett L]

That's fair. However, they do not in any way discriminate against poor people and the state mightily subsidizes tuition to make it attainable to anyone.

[Auric Demonocles]

Given the correlation between economic class and test scores, if anything having high academic standards would have the effect of disproportionally accepting high income students.

[Brett L]

IIRC, I was the first class of high schoolers (1997) not guaranteed entry based on SAT (and it may have been 1000 or better 1200 is too high), although some programs were and are more competitive about whom they accept. There was about a 10 year window where they tried a bunch of different criteria to increase minority enrollment at the main campus. After losing a lawsuit by a white student denied entry, they switched to the entirely color-blind policy of guaranteeing admission to the flagship schools (UT and A&M) if you graduated in the top 10% of your class. So whether you came out of Houston-Eisenhower or Katy-Taylor, you were accepted. You are probably correct that it still skews richer than the population.

[Auric Demonocles]

Sort of tangentially, while I was in undergrad at the University of Vermont they were desperately trying to increase minority enrollment. At the time minorities made up 10% of undergrads.... while making up 5% of the state's population.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Not weird at all, the endowment is from oil money.

[Brett L]

And guys like Red McCombs who will drop $300M on a building, saving the endowment for other things.

[Apatheist ?_??]

True, but also true of other big state schools. The point is the reason that UT (and A&M, the second largest public school endowment) have healthy endowments is quite different than the Ivys.

UT also has a much larger student body. I noticed that they changed to the endowment per student statistic later in the article when it suited them.

[Brett L]

In other Texas higher education news, the state of Texas has published all the information it has about the cost of getting an education in the state, and the earnings potentials of a degree in a field from a particular institution. I know the state of Florida already has that for its juco system and is mandated by the legislature to get the state universities online, too.

[R C Dean]

My recollection is that UT is funded by oil money. Its a land grant college, and lots of its land has oil under it.

Plus, their trustees don't go in for that social responsibility investing BS.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yes the UT and A&M systems, per the constitution. SLD but it's not a bad funding system and in addition gives the government an incentive to keep the oil industry flowing.

[Auric Demonocles]

Do rich schools use their wealth to promote upward economic mobility by disproportionately accepting low-income students?

Why would I ever expect them to?

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

Eh, just fun to wave a contradiction in their faces. None of my business who they admit.

[BigT]

Do rich schools use their wealth to promote upward economic mobility by disproportionately accepting low-income students?

Affirmative action is strong in them, so YES, they disproportionately accept low income students. At many of these the financial aid is inversely proportional to the family income, and unconnected to qualifications. So from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs in action.

[Steve G]

Uh-oh, inequality in a lib institution. Don your faceshields, heads are going to start exploding.

Why can't the ivy leaques pay their fair share!!

[The Last American Hero]

Those darn one percenters are at it again!

[Brett L]

Irish were slaves, not indentured servants? I guess. This seems a little sensational to me, but fuck it. It has everything! Evil oppressor Brits, good Catholic girls being bred to Africans. I'm totally writing up my erotic historic fiction novel for Amazon tonight.

During the late 1600s, writes Martin, African slaves were far more expensive than their Irish counterparts - Africans would sell for around 50 sterling while Irish were often no more than 5 sterling.

The Irish were further exploited when the British began to "breed" Irish women - or girls, sometimes as young as 12 - with African males

[gaijin]

British began to "breed" Irish women - or girls, sometimes as young as 12 - with African males

Perhaps this would explain the disproportionate prevalence of "red head and black guy" p0rn that my friends are always telling me is available online.

[Ted S.]

Sounds like more Irish whining to me, like all that NINA shit.

[Drake]

I need a lot more source material than that article to believe it. Slavery was practiced in Ireland for a long time, but not by the British.

During the Dark Ages - St. Patrick was a Romanized Briton captured by Irish raiders and used as a farm slave for several years before he escaped.

A couple of centuries later, Viking raiders would round up Irish and sell them in the Middle East slave markets. They built the port of Dublin to ship out captured slaves.

[John]

They were not generational slaves in the way Africans were, unless of course they had the misfortune of being in Southern Europe and getting captured by the Ottomans.

[lap83]

The Irish women were exploited? How about the African males who had to sleep with them!

[Lord Humungus]

Last French beret maker fighting for survival

Laulhere became the country's sole maker of traditional berets after it recently bought Blancq-Olibet, its only French competitor, which was almost 200 years old. Cheaper knockoffs from China, India and the Czech Republic made survival hard for local makers of berets, which have been as much a symbol of France as baguettes and Gauloises cigarettes.

Based in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, where the round and flat woolen hat was invented by shepherds to protect themselves from the Basque region's damp, Laulhere has joined the frontlines of the battle for the "Made in France" label as foreign-made berets steal an increasing share of a shrinking market. On its website, Laulhere says: "To us 'Made in France' still means something."

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

Laulhere says: "To us 'Made in France' still means something."

To everyone, it apparently means "too expensive".

[gaijin]

"To us 'Made in France' still means something."

Looks like they misspelled merde.

[Drake]

Fighting or whining?

[Lord Humungus]

Best use I've seen so far:

Welfare Money Goes to Pot In Colorado
Thousands of dollars in public withdrawn at marijuana-shop ATMs.

During the first month of Colorado's experiment with legal marijuana, welfare beneficiaries withdrew thousands of dollars in public-assistance cash from ATMs at weed shops, according to records obtained by National Review Online.

At least 64 times, public-assistance benefits were accessed at businesses selling marijuana. A total of $5,475 in public benefits was withdrawn at ATMs in establishments that sell pot. This figure includes medicinal dispensaries, recreational stores, and at least one place that combines the two. Some of these establishments sell groceries as well as pot, so there is no way to know exactly how much welfare money was spent on marijuana.

[Steve G]

Top of the page on Drudge in 3, 2, 1...

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

He's too busy giving Merkel a Hitler stache

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

He's too busy giving Merkel a Hitler stache

[R C Dean]

64 times in the first month works out to about twice a day. For the whole state.

Yawn.

[Brett L]

@GSElevator writer exposed. I love that guy.

[waffles]

The fact that Goldman Sachs even bothered to investigate lends credence to the idea that GS employees are as portrayed in this twitter. I love it.

[Brett L]

They do seem to have some sense of humor about it:

A Goldman spokesman, after being told that @GSElevator had been unmasked, said in a statement, "We are pleased to report that the official ban on talking in elevators will be lifted effective immediately."

[lap83]

He sounds cool. Down to earth with no agenda. Makes sense that he's not from NYC.

[Lord Humungus]

Liberals vs. the IRS
Even the left doesn't want the tax man regulating speech.

The media have remained quiet about the IRS targeting of conservative nonprofit groups and even quieter about the proposed IRS rule to restrict their political speech. Maybe our colleagues will snap out of their slumber now that the objections are coming from liberals.

The comment period for the new IRS political-speech rule is open until Feb. 27, but already there have been more than 69,000 comments, the majority negative. That's far more than the normal reaction to a new regulation?only 7,353 comments on the Keystone XL pipeline, according to Regulations.gov?and it shows how much anger and concern the rule has generated across the political spectrum.

[SugarFree]

Conor Oberst shouldn't fight against false rape allegations, but just lie back and take one for the team.

The worst part? I have to be on Conor Oberst's side.

[Brett L]

The contortions are awesome. "How could ruining some man's life if he's falsely convicted of rape possibly compare to the horrors experienced by that woman he didn't rape?"

[Bill Dalasio]

So, pretty much the feminists' stance is that they have an unmitigated right to destroy someone's life regardless of whether they've done anything wrong.

Christ Almighty. That kind of gall just makes me hate.

[Cyto]

That logic [dropping the case] makes a whole lot of sense, but Right to Speak Out in its statement twice said Oberst "raped" Faircloth, which, again, he has denied. Emily Davis, a spokesperson for the group, explained in a telephone interview: "Typically there is this idea of innocence until proven guilty, and in this case the lawsuit has actually been filed against Ms. Faircloth. Using that standard presumption we would presume that she is innocent of libel and that these were true statements, that was talking about those experiences from a point of truth, until proven otherwise."

yikes

[R C Dean]

Right to Speak Out in its statement twice said Oberst "raped" Faircloth, which, again, he has denied

I think we know who will be added to the libel suit, don't we?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

You're right about the worst part.

[Duke Trshmnstr of Stench]

I love all the comments about "he should make this a teachable moment about real sexual assaults" as if he's Mr. Rogers.

I'm pretty sure that if he's been falsely accused of rape, he wants absolutely nothing to do with the "rape around every corner" feminists.

[Brett L]

Seems like he totally is making this a teachable moment, for at least one woman, about the downside of falsely crying rape.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I saw Oberst in concert last summer. It kinda' sucked. Thao and the Get Down Stay Down (opening act) was pretty good.

[SugarFree]

Oberst is a sort-a-friend of a friend. My friend says he's a really nice guy to have a drink with and shoot the shit, but that "it doesn't make me like his music any better."

[John]

Read Darkness at Noon sometime. These people haven't changed. Darkness at Noon is based on fact. There were communists who confessed and willingly condemned themselves to death during the terror. They didn't do so because they were tortured, though they certainly would have been had they not been so cooperative. They did so because the party told them that it didn't matter if they were innocent, that their conviction and death were necessary to cause since acquitting them would embarrass the party and empower reactionary forces.

This is the same thing. It doesn't matter if Oberst is innocent. Letting him go will harm the cause so it is his duty to confess and accept his punishment.

[Lord Humungus]

It's Official: 65% of Small Firms Face ObamaCare Premium Hikes

Released into a news black hole last Friday, an official Obama administration report finds that ObamaCare will push premiums up for two-thirds of small businesses. Cross off another ObamaCare promise.

The report came from the actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ? which means it's from the administration's official ObamaCare number cruncher.

What it found was that 65% of small businesses that offer insurance will likely see their premiums rise thanks to ObamaCare. That translates into higher insurance costs for 11 million workers.

[Jordan]

Lies! Only 1-2% of people are affected!!1 Derp.

[Auric Demonocles]

Listen, it was never supposed to be about making care more affordable. It was supposed to be about expanding coverage.

Wait, what?

Oh, it was never supposed to be about expanding coverage, it was about punishing those deadbeats without coverage to stop them from freeriding.

[Brett L]

Look, everyone knows that bill titles are Orwellian opposites of what the bills do. Like the Patriot Act.

[Andrew S.]

Every loan agreement I work on (I'm a corporate lawyer) have a Patriot Act clause in them, because they have to for some absurd reason. Every time I write them I make sure to give the act its full Orwellian name (the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the "USA PATRIOT Act"))

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

(the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the "USA PATRIOT Act"))

Somewhere the ghost of Leonid Brezhnev smiles...

[Mike M.]

Liberals simply don't care a whit about how much health care in America costs, especially if someone else is paying for it.

[Lord Humungus]

ah, remember all the BS flying around about "lowering the decifit" and "bending the cost curve." Good days, good days...

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

TREASON< SETTLED LAW OF THE LAND....oh, wait...

/derp

[Auric Demonocles]

It's only treason is lawmakers try to change the law. If the president changes the law it's just common sense pragmatism.

[Brett L]

Remember, the State will never take your children if you seek to have them treated for a diagnosed condition that another doctor disagrees with.

A year ago, Justina Pelletier was still ice skating as she underwent treatment for mitochondrial disease ? a rare and controversial disorder where the body's cells can't produce energy, triggering chronic fatigue and severe digestive problems.

Gordon Russell's wife died from it. "This girl is in trouble," he says. "And we are all standing around watching her deteriorate."

Trouble began when the Pelletiers brought Justina into the Children's Hospital ER last February where they say doctors quickly cast aside her diagnosis, instead concluding her problems were of psychiatric origin.

[John]

It sounds radical I know. And when I had a law professor tell me this, for many years I rejected it as too radical, but now I agree with him. CPS and child welfare laws need to go. They don't save children from their parents and they cause incredible harm to innocent people. Fuck the state, restore the autonomy of the family and end CPS.

[tarran]

CPS (or DCF as they are known here in taxachusetts) are modern day witchfinders. Literally.

And, in the past five years when I have made that characterization to people involved in the divorce/custody dispute industry, about 90% of the time, my interlocutor has given a knowing smirk and nodded before moving on to a new topic.

[John]

If you are a lunatic who is going to beat or murder your child, the threat of CPS isn't going to stop you. Worse still, if you really are dangerous CPS is unlikely to fuck with you since that might be dangerous. Better to pick on some poor law abiding bastard in a custody dispute or with a psychotic neighbor who turned them in for letting their kid play outside alone.

All they do is go after innocent people.

[Marshall Gill]

A couple of years ago there were four children in New York who were found to be grossly malnourished. The oldest, 17, was something like 6' tall and weighed less than 100 pounds. There were SIX social workers assigned to this families case.

CPS is nothing more than the socialist attempt to replace the family with the State. They would round up and send parents to a gulag if given the opportunity.

[John]

Cases just like that and worse all over the country. People don't just wake up one day and murder their children generally. Cases of parental murder of a child almost always involve years of abuse that CPS never bothered to stop.

[The Late P Brooks]

It's a currency backed by absolutely nothing, isn't it?

FULL FAITH AND CREDIT

[Andrew S.]

My statement was not to defend fiat currency, which obviously has its own problems. Was just wondering why Bitcoin was any better.

[Palin's Buttplug]

It is a good question since Bitcoin is being "mined" - or created from nothing like critics of the USD say about it.

[Jordan]

Of course, Bitcoin has inherent controls on it, whereas the dollars are created at the whim of politicians. And yes, the economic illiterate clowns who run the Fed are politicians.

[R C Dean]

Was just wondering why Bitcoin was any better.

The theory is that it is a decentralized, bottom-up currency not controlled by a central bank or government.

On the one hand, a central bank or government can "back" its currency with tax revenues. On the other hand, central banks and governments have strong incentives to manipulate/inflate the currency.

[Bill Dalasio]

Democratic governors want the White House to do more to sell Obamacare.

Yeah, because the big problem with Obamacare is that it hasn't been sufficiently sold to the public.

[Lord Humungus]

Needs more speechifyin'

[R C Dean]

When all you've got is a hammer . . . .

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Gawker writes hit piece on Conde Nast intern lawsuit while being sued for exactly the same thing.

Best parts:

From the affidavit of Jessica Coen, editor in chief of Jezebel?

The interns performed a wide variety of tasks in order to give them an understanding of how the site works as a while. They would crunch numbers for fashion week, which consisted of counting the number of models of color who appeared in the fashion shows? Simply observing what it is like to work at a place like Gawker is valuable, and internships at Gawker sites are good for a person's resume? It is an invaluable experience to work with any editor directly, and several Jezebel interns had the opportunity to work with editors one-on-one.

One particular highlight can be found in the testimony of former intern Quinton Ma. When invited by Gawker's own attorneys to outline the "experience" he gained at Gawker, Ma replied?

The internship was a good experience for me because I learned that I did not want to pursue a career in editorial work.

[SugarFree]

They would crunch numbers for fashion week, which consisted of counting the number of models of color who appeared in the fashion shows

Doing God's work on some of the toughest catwalks in America.

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

+1 mean streets of Lowell, MA

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

The internship was a good experience for me because I learned that I did not want to pursue a career in editorial work.

Mwhahahahahaa I LOVE IT

[SugarFree]

Engagement has made you mean.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Wait till she has Kerry Howley's children

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

I was nice before?!? Shit.

[Auric Demonocles]

I think the ring has just allowed him to stop getting distracted by your.... other aspects.

[SugarFree]

My affection for nicole is undying, unwavering and undiminished. That she is to marry another matters not.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Awwwwwwww, Sug!

[SugarFree]

I'm like all romantic and shit.

[waffles]

Shit, I got engaged too. I didn't believe them when they told me it was highly infectious.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Congrats, waffles!

[Brett L]

Goddamn. H&R is just a hotbed of betrothals. Congrats.

[Auric Demonocles]

Congrats and all, but I better go get a vaccine.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Congratulations!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

It's a Christmas miracle! Congratulations.

[SugarFree]

Engaged? You guys are really putting a lot of pressure on Warty and Episiarch.

May your marriage only know enjoyable strife.

[Marc F Cheney]

Unless someone's pregnant or will be pregnant in the near future, you're both wasting your money.

There, I said it.

[Marc F Cheney]

I take that back.

Green cards are a valid reason, too.

[Warty]

Maybe one of them has an inheritance and the other wants to get his/her filthy mitts on it.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

You guys - such incurable romantics!

[Marc F Cheney]

I am a romantic. Just not about legal arrangements.

Or catering, for that matter.

Unless someone else is catering to me.

[Marc F Cheney]

Three. There are three good reasons to get married.

Love is not one of them.

[The Late P Brooks]

During the first month of Colorado's experiment with legal marijuana, welfare beneficiaries withdrew thousands of dollars in public-assistance cash from ATMs at weed shops, according to records obtained by National Review Online.

Good.

[Auric Demonocles]

How much alt-text did the hackers make off with?

[Swiss Servator, mehr K?se!]

ANY IS TOO MUCH!!!!

[The Late P Brooks]

Was just wondering why Bitcoin was any better.

I'm not going to pretend bitcoin is "better", but it's not as if you can walk into a bank and trade your Treasury Notes for the gold which backs it.

Any fiat currency is essentially an intellectual construct. It is merely a ledger entry; a yardstick of the relative value of real things. Bitcoin is an attempt to bypass the various costs and barriers imposed by government intermediation, which is always good.

[Andrew S.]

I'm still hoping for government intermediation to force you to use threaded comments.

And I don't disagree. Which is why I mentioned its used for easy, cheap transfers of money without government intermediation. But that doesn't make it, it my mind, worth its hype.

But others disagree. And if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Personally I'm investing all of my money in Dogecoins*.

* Not really.

[Auric Demonocles]

Anyone else going to the Reason Happy Hour tomorrow in Harvard Square?

[Palin's Buttplug]

When I heard that Google's Eric Schmidt had sat down to chat with a curiously trendy-looking Glenn Beck, I was hoping for questions like: "C'mon, Eric. Are you a commie?"

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1785.....eed&subj;=

[Warty]

Big kitty

[SugarFree]

Husky really wants to play with cat

[Brett L]

Does that cat have a false face on its left side?

[Warty]

I hope someday I can learn to say "fuck you" as loudly as that cat did there.

[SugarFree]

This going to be my house this weekend. My sister-in-law's dog just wants to love my cats, and they are all like "fuck this shit."

[Duke Trshmnstr of Stench]

The whole cat-dog dynamic is fun. My cats harass the hell out of my wife's dogs. They just randomly go up to the dogs and smack them in the mouth. The tortie likes to taunt the dogs by rolling around like she wants to play, and then smacking them on the nose, hissing, and running off.

[SugarFree]

The tuxedo is fairly chill, only freaking when the dog get close, but our Maine Coon hisses like a tea kettle and growls from some high perch.

[John]

My cat finally topped out at 15lbs. She is just a monster.

[Warty]

That is a lot of calico to deal with. I have a 10 pound one and she's enough of a handful.

[John]

It is. She is actually pretty chill most of the time. And she is friendly in the sense that she follows me around and likes to hang out where I am. But she does not like to picked up and follows the strict rule of "I will allow my human to pet me exactly until I grow tired of it at which time I will roll over and bite the shit out of him." And every evening when I go to bed she jumps on the bed and attacks my hand and tries to kill me.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

And every evening when I go to bed she jumps on the bed and attacks my hand and tries to kill me.

Have you tried playing with her before bedtime to burn off some of that energy? Giving her something to chase for about 15-20 minutes might make her stop treating your hand like a bedtime snack.

[John]

Yes. Cats have pent up hunting energy around ten o'clock. And in fairness to the cat, I don't exactly discourage her trying to kill me. I don't mind playing rough. I am not allergic and she never scratches too much or really bites me.

[John]

She has my wife in contrast, completely intimidated. She doesn't attack my wife. But she knows that if she needs to she can always bully my wife and get what she wants. I am more of a challenge, which I think is why she has decided I am her person.

[SugarFree]

Mine is 16lb, but it is all fat. Sweet, fat tuxedo cat.

[John]

My last cat was a tuxedo. She was tiny and only weighed about 7 lbs. Sweetest cat ever. Even people who didn't like cats wanted to take her home. We would have our Christmas party and have like 25 people on our first floor and she would be right in the middle of it on some strangers lap. I have never seen a cat be that sweet and that chill around strangers. Must be a tuxedo thing.

[Brett L]

Bad big kitty

[Mickey Rat]

NFL mulls penalizing teams for player using the N-word

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/st.....use-n-word

"I think it's going to be really tough to legislate this rule, to find a way to penalize everyone who uses this word," Ryan Clark, a Pittsburgh Steelers safety who's spent 12 years in the league, told ESPN's Bob Ley during an "Outside The Lines" special report. "And it's not going to be white players using it toward black players. Most of the time you hear it, it's black players using the word."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Nancy-boy? Nihilist? Notorious?

[Andrew S.]

Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

National Socialist?

[Mickey Rat]

"Nihilist?"

Ye, they plan to ban Rust Cohle.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

"Most of the time you hear it, it's black players using the word."

duhhhhhh

god who are these people who don't know that already?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I figure that if a white player used it, we'd hear about. He would issue a public apology...from the hospital.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

I figure that if a white player used it, we'd hear about. He would issue a public apology...from the hospital.

Or he could do it, say, incognito.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

We did hear about it from Riley Cooper last year. And it was a BFD for weeks.

[Mickey Rat]

The player pointing that out was doing so in the context that he does not see how this is going to be applied evenly.

[Mike M.]

I don't know who Fritz Pollard is, but he and his "alliance" are really starting to get carried away with the power the NFL has given them.

[Andrew S.]

First black player and first black coach in the NFL. He's been dead for a long while, so it's his alliance, not him.

[Warty]

The XFL has a golden opportunity to relaunch.

[Duke Trshmnstr of Stench]

"XFL: We still allow our players to use the N-word and put custom names on their jerseys!"

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"And it's not going to be white players using it toward black players. Most of the time you hear it, it's black players using the word."

The first thing I thought when I heard about this was that the games were going to take five hours, just to compensate for all the black guys calling each other "nagger" when they trash-talk between plays.

[Juice]

Don't they usually use fines for that sort of thing?

[The Late P Brooks]

I'm still hoping for government intermediation to force you to use threaded comments.

Millions for defense, not one cent for threading!

For the record, I am not a bitcoin participant. Too much volatility.

In fact, somebody a few weeks ago posted some concurrent price quotes from Mt Gox and some other bitcoin sites, and the range of prices was startling. Not a good sign, in my estimation.

But conceptually, I am in favor.

[The Late P Brooks]

Every loan agreement I work on (I'm a corporate lawyer) have a Patriot Act clause in them, because they have to for some absurd reason.

What, no Loyalty Oath?

I am disappoint.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"If Jesus came back to the Middle East today, I think he would look a lot like the Reverend Canon Dr. Andrew White, the Anglican Chaplain in Iraq and Vicar of St. George's Church. The "Vicar of Baghdad," as he is called, carries out his work in one of the world's most dangerous cities....

"...Not so long ago, Iraq could count some three hundred Christian churches. Today only a few dozen are left in the entire country....

"...he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that has affected his speech and left him walking with a cane. His own sufferings have made him more sensitive to the sufferings of others. St. George's Church is not only a center of worship; it is also a medical clinic, a pharmacy, a dentist's office, and a food distribution center. "We give food relief?a bag of groceries for each person after prayers," White said....

"When asked where he stood theologically, White replied: "Islamic leaders are very orthodox, and they want to know that you are as serious about your faith as well. The fact that I am orthodox in my faith means that I can get a lot further with Islamic leaders. I believe in God; I believe what the Bible says; I believe in everything I'm supposed to as an orthodox Christian." The one group within his own Christian community that seems to irritate him most are those he calls "wooly liberals.""

http://www.firstthings.com/web.....of-baghdad

[Sevo]

Repost from last night:
"UAW plans to keep trying on Tesla workers' representation"
In this epic battle of rent-seeker vs rent-seeker, who will win YOUR money?!
http://www.sfgate.com/business.....263864.php

[waffles]

If I must choose, I'm for Tesla. At least one group will put new and interesting vehicles on the road.

[Sevo]

Plus, we have a noted slaver holder and lay-about advising people who actually accomplish something:
"Dalai Lama advises business leaders on compassion"
http://www.sfgate.com/politics.....263726.php

I'd suggest he and the commie Pope could bore each other to death and the world would be a better place!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"commie Pope"

Hmmm...what is your definition of commie and how does the Pope meet it?

[Sevo]

"what is your definition of commie and how does the Pope meet it?"

Shoulda known...
He thinks Marxism is just groovy! Commie pope. Got it?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

He approved Marxism? I must have missed that.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

You can call him a statist without assuming he likes the Marxist variety of statism.

[RishJoMo]

Should be interesting to see what happens to bitcoin now lol.
http://www.Anon-Works.com

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Is this the formal closing of the thread?

[Dances-with-Trolls]

This is the after thread, the actual thread died with the vicar of baghdad nonsense just above it.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

*smooches*

[Elspeth Flashman]

OT: headed to defend some people today. I have 3 people charged w/ domestic violence, and 1 charged with possession of MJ & attempted resist/obstructing. Should be fun!

[John]

Good luck. Just a guess, but I bet at least two of the three DV cases involve mutual combat and the resist/obstructing charge on the MJ possession is complete horseshit and amounts to the guy not voluntarily giving over his pot when the cop asked him if he had any.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Yes on 2/3 DV cases from what I've read on the police reports. The other of them is on tape though (at Sam's Club!) and has three witnesses.
The MJ possession I might be able to get a deferral on b/c the defendant is under 21. And he actually ran away from the cop, not just acted uppity.

[John]

I made three guess and got two of them right, though I think running from a cop should not count as obstruction. God are these cases predictable.

[Brett L]

This is why possession laws suck. Hey kid, welcome to probation where you can go for a felony for doing nothing.

[Brett L]

Give the State Hell!