A.M. Links: North Korea and South Korea Fire Shells Across Sea Border, Obamacare Site Pages Undergoing Maintenance, GOP Hawks Preparing Anti-Rand Paul Campaign

Credit: Gage Skidmore/wikimedia

• South Korea returned fire after North Korean shells landed in its waters during live fire exercises. According to a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman hundreds of shells were fired in the exchange.
• This morning some pages on Healthcare.gov were down for maintenance. Today is the enrollment deadline.
• Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says that the he's not putting a time limit on the hunt for MH370. Dozens of objects have been spotted in the search area west of Australia, but none have been definitely linked to the missing plane.
• Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Kerry said that any resolution to the situation must include pulling back the buildup of Russian military forces on Ukraine's eastern border.
• Republican donors who don't agree with the non-interventionist foreign policy advocated by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are reportedly preparing for a counter-campaign aimed at preventing Paul from securing the GOP's 2016 presidential nomination.
• French socialists have suffered losses in local elections. The center-right Union for a Popular Movement and the nationalist National Front made gains.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Today is the enrollment deadline.

Buried deep in the text of Obamacare is the phrase deadline-shmeadline.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hellooo.

[UnCivilServant]

Yes, Rufus, we hear you.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Metaphorically or literally?

[UnCivilServant]

Well, if I turn on text to speech...

[mr simple]

Rufus, buddy, I got to tell you something: that voice is played.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I thought it was a given it was expected to be said in Seinfeldian.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Deadlines, like so many other things, are for the little people.

[db]

Question for Sugar Free:

I have some old (1940s) 16mm family films that I have recently been watching on the old Keystone 75 projector I inherited many years ago. The film's have been well kept, and generally are.in.good condition, however, several of them.seem to.be relatively fragile.

The projector came with a splicing kit and I'm tempted to try my hand at fixing them but I'm afraid I'll do more damage than good. Do you know of a good reference for how to do this? Or should I stay away and have them professionally restored and digitally transferred?

Also, do you have a recommendation for a provider of restoration/transfer services, and is it.possible to improve the pictures.of such old films that have under- or over-exposed scenes?

[db]

OMG "film's" s/b "films"

[Trollo]

Was the plumber your grandfather?

[Rich]

The plumber is *everyone's* grandfather. 😉

[SugarFree]

Given the age of the films, some of them might be suffering from acetate degradation syndrome (aka vinegar syndrome.) This is where the film base breaks down into acetic acid and shrinks up to 9% as compared to image layer (the gelatin suspension carrying the silver nitrate particles that react to light.) This causes the film base to become brittle and cloudy and, in extreme cases, delaminate from the image layer. The easiest way to diagnose this is to smell the film itself, especially after opening the can. (If you smell more of a rotted flesh plus bleach smell, that's more nitrate film degradation and a different set of problems (and a fire hazard.)

If it is just a matter of the hot splices or tape splices getting old and becoming brittle, you can fix these yourself. Tape splices are the easiest and don't require anything other than clear scotch tape, a razor blade and a steady hand. Amazon sells pre-cut clear tape just for this. And this page discusses making tape splices.

We use preservation digital transfer places and they are very expensive. You might google around for film to digital transfer places in your area. Almost all of the can handle a certain amount of color correction, at least machine color correction. Hand correction gets very expensive very quickly.

[Tim]

I think that is the most you've written without once mentioning anal rape.

[invisible furry hand]

Really? What does "hot splice" mean then?

[Tim]

Their whole exchange takes on a new dimension when you filter it for pervert code words....

[RBS]

clear scotch tape, a razor blade and a steady hand.

Jesus...

[db]

Thanks, sir. I did not notice an acetic smell at all when handling the.films. one of them broke at thesplice at the leader, and two broke a.couple of.feet.into the reel, typically on a diagonal tear from.one sprocket hole to another. There are some films that seem very robust and others.not so.much.

I did.not.notice cloudy.images or.delamination in the.films so.far.

[SugarFree]

Diagonal tears are usually due to damaged sprocket holes. There's not much you can do to fix them. A badly damaged hole should have the frame it is on excised and respliced.

Running film through a projector is the worse thing you can do to it in terms of long term preservation (heat, light, sprocket damage, scratching.) So if you are planning on watching these (or editing them into a longer work), digitization is some you should spring for.

[Lord Humungus]

splices do/can get weak - learned that from my days as a 8mm filmmaker. Back then there was some doo-dad to hold the two sections of the film together and evenly apply the splice tape.

[SugarFree]

Film splicer

If you had a lot to do, they go for about $20 for low-end models on ebay.

[db]

I have one (thoughtfully provided by an qncestor with the projector).

[SugarFree]

Is it tape or glue? The glue can still be bought as well. I've never really fooled with it, but videos abound on YouTube.

[db]

It has.two glass bottles with brush caps, one of which looks.empty. i.assumed it was some.sort of solvent.glue used to.s9ften the acetate so.it.would stick together.

[alittlesense]

I'm not an expert on film preservation, but if the films are fragile (meaning they tend to break when projected) I would have them transferred to digital. I would not try to splice them yourself. I think transferring 16mm film costs anywhere from 40 cents per foot down to 25 cents per foot.

[Tonio]

I'm not Sug (obviously) but have worked in the photo industry (mostly with still). Many places which offer film developing also offer restoration and transfer services, though most commonly for 8mm film since that was the most common format for home use. Chances are that they will outsource this to a place which specializes in that. Be sure to read the guarantees and disclaimers.

The most important thing is to get a good transfer sooner rather than later; you can always do color (etc) correction post-transfer.

You could also do the transfer yourself by setting up a good quality video camera next to the projector (or editing machine) and recording the projected image. This will yield lower quality results than high-end frame-by-frame digitization.

So, all things are possible with enough money.

[pan fried wylie]

Flatbed scanner and scissors. Write a gimp plugin to convert the pages into individual frames. Get another gimp plugin for batch operations to perform image correction on frame sequences. Finally, use Blender's sequence editor to assemble the frames into video.

40cents/foot my ass.

[pan fried wylie]

(actually, you could do the correction in Blender too using compositing nodes)

[db]

Iteresting idea but I don't really want to destroy the original films. I.have a slide/negative scanner that I could repurpose, but automatically indexing each frame and.controlling the scanner is a project I don't have.time for.

[Tonio]

Or you could rent a film scanner such as a Nikon coolpix. These are marketed for photo negatives, but would certainly work for film positives using the "slide" (aka transparency) setting. However you might have to chop the film into strips since these are designed for negative strips (such as you used to get back from the photo lab), not continuous feed.

I would imagine that someone already has an app for assembling the frames since the task you are doing is not uncommon.

Finally, I don't know if these films were direct positive (ie "slide" film), or whether the movies were shot on negative film and then printed as was done with professional motion pictures. If you have access to the original negatives digitize those and do the reversal with software. The negatives will hopefully be in better shape having been handled less.

[Tonio]

If you do have the negatives and outsource the job, ask them if they can work from negatives. Don't let them charge extra for that. You might also recover some interesting frames that were edited out.

[Lord Humungus]

Police 'rescue' naked Alabama man stuck 40 feet up in a tree

40-year-old Alabamian Michael Howard Long apparently got pretty bored over the weekend.

Emergency personnel responded to a call Saturday evening of a man stuck approximately four stories up in a tree wearing no clothes. When they arrived on the scene they found Long in the tree, but he wasn't interested in coming down. As a matter of fact, he had work to do up there and didn't appreciate police distracting him.

A man will do anything to escape STEVE SMITH.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Pffft. As if STEVE SMITH couldn't just uproot the tree and RAPESQUATCH his victim.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Kerry said that any resolution to the situation must include pulling back the buildup of Russian military forces on Ukraine's eastern border.

But they've given up on Crimea, so there's that I guess.

[invisible furry hand]

Andy Murray's mother is trolling Yoko Ono:

"@yokoono: Attach a card saying SPACE TRANSFORMER to the room and/or object you wish to transform". Did it.....nothing happened. What now?

[Ted S.]

God is Judy Murray an annoying twit. They need to lock her in a room alone with Toni Nadal.

[Snark Plissken]

I was going to say, if you are going to mock someone on Twitter, it helps if the mockery is actually witty. Her jabs at Yoko are like shooting fish in a barrel...and missing.

[Ted S.]

Every time I hear John Lennon's "Imagine there's no possessions", I imagine Yoko Ono not having the IP rights to any of Lennon's post-Beatles stuff and living in penury as a result.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Didn't she squeeze Julian out of his shares of the inheritance?

[Ted S.]

My understanding is that she was rather shabby to Julian, but I'm not that up on just how she was a jerk to him.

[Apple]

I think it was more that she didn't tell him he had anything to inherit. So when he finally came for it and had to sue, she was like, "Oh, I didn't know you wanted any money. You've never asked for it before." I saw an interview where he had a check from the estate for something like 1 penny framed on his wall.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So. She's a cunt then.

[robc]

Well, 1, I agree with the sentiment but not with regard to IP.

2. Even if you accept the need for the IP exception, it was still meant to encourage creation, which John stopped doing, so no need to pass it on.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not getting why Murray is trolling her. Ignore her if you don't like her flaky stuff. Ono sure sees something ethereal about chairs, eh?

[sarcasmic]

Look, no hands... no helmet and not even facing the right way! Police hunt crazy motorcyclist who refuses to play by the rules

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

Chinese police are looking for a trick motorcyclist who has been spotted several times riding backwards down busy roads.

In this video image, the young man doesn't even bother looking backwards as he speeds down the motorway sitting back to front on the motorbike and gazing away into the distance.

[db]

I'd bet he's a gizmologist who outfitted his.bike with R/C capabilities and it's being controlled by a person in a nearby car.

[UnCivilServant]

Sounds like a problem that will take care of itself sooner or later.

[sarcasmic]

My thoughts exactly.

[Tim]

"Self-correcting"

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

"Think of it as evolution in action"

[Tonio]

Natural selection, which is one of the engines which drives evolution.

[Entropy Void]

Hong Kong Dalwin Awards.

[Rasilio]

+1 Oath of Fealty

[Lord Humungus]

Yellowstone National Park rattled by largest earthquake in 34 years

Yellowstone National Park, which sits atop one of the world's largest super-volcanoes, was struck on Sunday by a magnitude 4.8 earthquake, the biggest recorded there since February 1980, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported.

The tremor, a relatively light event by seismic standards, struck the northwest corner of the park and capped a flurry of smaller quakes at Yellowstone since Thursday, geologists at the University of Utah Seismograph Stations said in a statement.

[db]

SUPERVOLCANO, bitches. Calderific!

[Ted S.]

**** you and your "smartphone" that inserts extraneous periods into your comments! 😉

[UnCivilServant]

+1 Irony point for DB not having typoes against you 'supervolacno'

[Ted S.]

The supervolacno is going to blow!!!111!!!

[db]

And that, folks, is why I don't waste time.correcting phone-induced punctuation errors.

[pan fried wylie]

Because, in the end, we're all gonna get Pompei'd?

[Tim]

If this were a movie, this would be the scene where the brave scientist tries to warn everyone to get out and the political boss shuts him down for scaring away the tourists.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Makes me think of War of the Worlds.

[Tim]

Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.

[invisible furry hand]

You sing barracuda, everybody says, "Classic rock"

[Robert]

Based on actual historic events!
But what wa really amusing was finding out Lost was based, albeit extremely loosely & indirectly, on a real-world event: the disappearance of Engine 115 on Sept. 22, 1892.

[db]

Or several real-life NASA accidents.

[Briggie]

I swear this is the plot of every disaster movie ever.

[sarcasmic]

Just two gin and tonics could push you over recommended daily sugar limit

One gin and tonic contains three-and-a-half half teaspoons of sugar
Meanwhile, small bottle of cider is high in sugar, but wine is low
Adults are advised to consume no more than six teaspoons a day
But the average Briton consumes between 11 and 12 teaspoons daily

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

[BardMetal]

Who drinks just one gin and tonic? Especially in the summer is there a more refreshing drink?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Shrubs. With tequila.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

In the summer?

Water and some lime or lemon?

[BardMetal]

You're missing a couple of ingredients there.

[UnCivilServant]

Who drinks just even one gin and tonic?

If I'm not trying to avoid malaria with daily doses of quinine, why would I debase the gin with tonic?

[sarcasmic]

The other night I debased some gin with this. It was pretty good as a matter of fact.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

My brother in law drinks Polar.

I tend to drink gin straight too.

No ice, no thing. Though I like it cold.

[kibby]

This is a fantastic idea. Stealing it!

[Zeb]

If I'm going to drink straight spirits, it is going to be something aged on wood. Gin and tonics are a marvelous summer drink.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I have a new mix: whiskey and iced tea.

[invisible furry hand]

They do say breakfast is the most important meal of the day

[Zeb]

Iced tea is a surprisingly good mixer for a lot of things. Vodka and iced tea tastes dangerously un-alcoholish.

[robc]

Arnold Palmer was aware of this decades ago.

[mad libertarian guy]

Every drink is more refreshing than pine sol.

[Robert]

My bubble mixture has been said to be especially refreshing in cool water (kiddie pool or bathtub)?better than most bubble baths (which tend to be sticky), soap, or even plain water. You don't even have to rinse if you use it dilute like that.

[gaijin]

the average Briton consumes between 11 and 12 teaspoons daily

Explains the teeth

[sarcasmic]

Actually, the teeth are because once they all got socialized medicine, some brainiac in government thought they'd save money by not paying for Novocaine. Needless to say, most people skipped the dentist unless absolutely necessary.

[UnCivilServant]

And they saved money by not having to provide services. He was right by the standards of bureaucracy.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ok. Gotta ask. Is this fact? Or is it an urban myth started because of The Simpsons?

http://www.ukcc.org.uk/why-do-.....bad-teeth/

The article doesn't seem to point to Novocaine - unless I missed it as I speed read it.

[sarcasmic]

'I don't deserve to be raped': Viral photo response to shocking research which revealed 65.1% of Brazilians think women provocatively dressed ask to be attacked

Mass picture protest staged by journalist Nina Quieroz
Men too have began posting the pictures
66.5 per cent of those who answered survey were women

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

[Ska]

Deserve got's nothing to do with it.

Poor timing?

[Ska]

Yes, yes, poor grammar.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Republican donors who don't agree with the non-interventionist foreign policy advocated by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are reportedly preparing for a counter-campaign aimed at preventing Paul from securing the GOP's 2016 presidential nomination.

This would be what a GOP civil war looks like.

[DJF]

Rand should promise to draft all Republican donors for the next war

[Rich]

Nice.

[BardMetal]

The GOP is really trying to make sure I don't waste any time voting in 2016.

[gaijin]

Well if you aren't ready to vote for the right candidate, then we don't want your vote

/GOPEstablishment

[mad libertarian guy]

Well if you aren't ready to vote for the right candidate, then we don't want your vote it's because those eeeeeeeeeeeeeevul libertarians stole it.

/GOP

[Injun, as in from India]

And who are these anti-non-interventionists? Sheldon Adelson and his neocon cronies?

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Adelson, Graham, McCain, et al.

[Lord Humungus]

Euro zone inflation drops to lowest since 2009

Euro zone inflation hit its lowest level since November 2009 in March, a shock drop that raises expectations the European Central Bank will take radical action to stop the threat of deflation in the currency bloc.

Annual consumer inflation in the 18 countries sharing the euro was 0.5 percent in March, with the pace of price rises cooling from February's 0.7 percent reading, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Monday.

[sarcasmic]

Pot-smoking students 'perform better academically' than those who smoke tobacco

Marijuana smokers achieve better grades than cigarette smokers
Teenagers who smoke tobacco are more likely to commit crime, say experts
It is thought as tobacco has become more stigmatised, fewer intelligent students have started smoking it

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hea.....bacco.html

[BardMetal]

Please marijuana supporters, don't use arguments for prohibiting other stuff (ex. Tobacco, Alcohol, etc) to support marijuana legalization. You'll just give the nanny staters more ideas.

[Trollo]

They're so stoned they don't know any better. Some actually say legal weed will make it possible to ban opioids for pain.

[Rich]

It is thought as tobacco has become more stigmatised, fewer intelligent students have started smoking it

"That's why it's not called 'dope'!"

[Fluffy]

I'll bet that in 2014 the income distribution of the families of kids who smoke pot skews higher than that of kids who smoke tobacco. So it's no surprise.

[Pope Jimbo]

To be fair, the pot heads don't have to deal with massive shaming campaigns like the cigarette smokers do.

[mad libertarian guy]

To be fair, the pot heads don't have to deal with massive shaming campaigns like the cigarette smokers do.

No. They only have the treat of being ass raped by a real criminals while in jail for the weekend or being SWATed for having a bag of shake in their sock drawer.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They probably have whiter teeth too?

[invisible furry hand]

Stephany Cohen, 53, supposedly a deity among the Cat People from the Canis Major system, also revealed Labour will win next year's general election.

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/n.....y_/?ref=mc

[db]

Cats worshipping humans? That's how we.know sh3's crazy.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

My daughter is currently on a cat obsession binge.

Fucking annoying.

[SugarFree]

Let her have a cat. They are the most libertarian of pets.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yes they are. Had a couple growing up.

We're talking about it. My wife is allergic to them though.

[SugarFree]

My wife is allergic to them though.

Yeah, that's a big hiccup.

I'm allergic as well, but mine settle down after a week or so with a new cat. Had a new kitten lick me right in the eye once. I looked like The Toxic Avenger for two days.

[invisible furry hand]

Holy Satan, that is just disturbing

[Tonio]

Maine Coons (a breed of kitteh) are OK for most allergy suffers. They don't produce the dander which is the cause of most cat allergy problems. Before promising anything to your daughter, have your wife visit a Maine Coon and see if she reacts.

Also some of the hairless cats - Devon Rex, Cornish Rex.

[db]

This. I have two cats of Maine Coon extraction and they are basically hypoallergenic (slbut shed a lot). They also have very friendly personalities and are affectionate and generally not neurotic.

[db]

They have 9 lives and hoard them. Seriously, how much more.libertarianly selfish.can you get?

[WTF]

Canis Major? Shouldn't they be dog people, rather than cat people?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The cats conquered that system but changing all the signs would have been a hassle.

[Trollo]

See all our native-american place names.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

+1 Oconomowoc, WI

[WTF]

+1 Hoboken, NJ

[Rasilio]

+1 Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

[sarcasmic]

Protesters storm Albuquerque police HQ as Anonymous targets department over killing of homeless man by 'cold blooded' officers that was caught on video

Hactivist group Anonymous called on locals to protest homeless man James Boyd's killing
Boy was killed March 16 after having a run-in with police in the Albuquerque foothills where he was camped out
At least 500 gathered at Albuquerque Police headquarters around noon before moving on to Civic Plaza and the University of New Mexico Campus
Police showed up in riot gear to contain the protest, and released tear gas on the demonstration around 9:30pm when the participants became violent
Police made several arrests as they attempted to quell the crowd
UNM students were told to shelter in their dorms while locals were advised to avoid the area

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

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Boyd's killing was bullshit, but the protestors didn't do anything to endear people to their side of the issue. Throwing rocks and blocking traffic is just going to make people say "oh well" when the police toss out the tear gas.

The main organizer said "I didn't think this would morph into what it did." Well, sweetie, that's what happens sometimes when you have a bunch of twenty-somethings looking for an excuse to raise hell.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The police chief is using the standard 'they did nothing wrong' line I see.

Right. They shot a potentially dangerous homeless guy in the back. Pats on the back all-round.

/shakes head.

[DJF]

"""""after North Korean shells landed in its waters """"

The North Koreans were provoked by the fact that the South does not follow North Korea's official hair style.

[Lord Humungus]

Florida man accused of going on drunk machete rampage after vomiting on cellphone

The woman told emergency dispatchers that Campbell had come back drunk, vomited on his phone and then held a machete to her neck after an argument.

At some point he also allegedly put a shotgun in his mouth and threatened to kill himself. When his wife pulled the gun away, Campbell fired a round into the ceiling.

When Sgt. Richard Schichtel arrived, he began negotiating with Campbell via his cellphone. "We had a good dialogue going with him, next thing I know the phone goes dead and a round is discharged," Schichtel told 12 News. The round went over the head of one officer and nearly lodged itself in another one's chest.

[Rich]

Florida man shot after altercation involving swimming pool sex

[Fluffy]

And that's the 65 year old Florida Man - so it's like a guest appearance by one of the previous Doctors.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

+1 Tom Baker

[sarcasmic]

'No one will be untouched': Climate change will lead to war, famine and extreme weather, claims IPCC report

Report said we have seen impacts of global warming on every continent
Experts warned people are ill prepared to cope with the dramatic change
It predicted violent conflicts, food shortages and infrastructure damage
Extreme weather will increase poverty and damage animal and sea life
One of the report's contributors has accused the IPCC of being too 'alarmist' ? and demanded his name be withdrawn

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....eport.html

The Four Horsemen of Climate Change! Run for your lives!

[UnCivilServant]

However, the NIPCC report says that even if things get warmer, we'll be better off.

I've adopted a wait and see attitude. Any attempt to [pre-empt nature by regulation will be opposed.

[Hyperion]

When it's warm enough that I see coconut palms out my window here in Murlan, it's warm enough. Until then, it's still too damn cold.

[WTF]

Of course, there has been no warming since 1998, which has falsified the AGW hypothesis the models were based on. And wouldn't warmer climate be better than the start of another ice age, which we are basically just about due for?

[gaijin]

'No one will be untouched'

You know who else said this?

[BardMetal]

A priest?

[Ted S.]

Warty, of course.

[TANSTaaFL]

Woody Allen?

[WTF]

STEVE SMITH

[invisible furry hand]

The IRS?

[Ted S.]

I listen to various international broadcasters, and pretty much all of them had this report as one of their top stories this morning as the gospel truth.

But no, there's no media bias at all.

[sarcasmic]

Well, duh! There's a consensus! Who needs the scientific method when you've got consensus?!?

[Suthenboy]

Who was that half-wit Canadian that claimed 1 billion people would die from the effects of global warming by 2012?

I wrote the guy an inquisitive email in January 2012 and received a Tonyesque reply.

How long can they keep this bullshit up? There is NO FUCKING WARMING. Not a single one of their predictions have proven true. Not one.

[sarcasmic]

Because their premise is their conclusion, no amount of logic or reason can defeat it.

[Ted S.]

David Suzuki?

[mad libertarian guy]

How long can they keep this bullshit up?

It's not a matter of how long they can keep it up, but a matter of how long until they can come up with the next Malthusian fantasy to take its place.

[Hyperion]

The Four Horsemen of Climate Change! Run for your lives Get out your wallet!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Run for your LIVES!

The Tasmanian Devil is on the LOOSE!

[UnCivilServant]

? They're so inbred and lacking ingenetic diversity that they are just about the only species where cancer is a communicable disease, and they spread it by fighting. There is literally a plague of facial cancer among tazmanian devils going on.

Oh wait, you meant to toon.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Wild turkey surprise.

[jamesrk]

The horsemen are drawing nearer on CO2 they ride they come to take your iccceeeee.

[Ivan Pike Trolle]

John Kerry met with his Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Is this supposed to read this way? I didn't know Kerry had a Russian Foreign Minister.

[invisible furry hand]

He's rich enough to have a collection of Franklin Mint Foreign Ministers of the World. He keeps them in their original boxes so that when he puts them on eBay he can get top dollar

[Atanarjuat]

Saw this political gif on Facebook. In case you were wondering, Organizing for America is sticking with the "Obamacare didn't get you laid off, it gets you more free time!" spiel.

[WTF]

Faux News!!111!!

[Suthenboy]

That is some thoroughly Orwellian bullshit there.

[Ted S.]

Projection (and bad grammar) for the win!

[sarcasmic]

Bella Thorne shows off her silly side as she shoots some hoops while dancing on the LA set of Mostly Ghostly 2

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....tly-2.html
Youth is wasted on the young

[Fluffy]

Dude, she's like 15.

[Restoras]

And your point is?

[Lord Humungus]

China seizes $14.5 billion assets from family, associates of ex-security chief: sources

Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from family members and associates of retired domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is at the centre of China's biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades, two sources said.

More than 300 of Zhou's relatives, political allies, proteges and staff have also been taken into custody or questioned in the past four months, the sources, who have been briefed on the investigation, told Reuters.

The sheer size of the asset seizures and the scale of the investigations into the people around Zhou - both unreported until now - make the corruption probe unprecedented in modern China and would appear to show that President Xi Jinping is tackling graft at the highest levels.

[gaijin]

Good news when China appears to be fighting graft and corruption in its "authority" class. Glad we don;t have any of that in the USofA

[DontShootMe]

you're right, there is no fighting of graft and corruption here, just acceptance.

[Marshall Gill]

Is this the continuance of the millennium old Chinese practice of punishing people to nine degrees of kinship?

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

[Fist of Etiquette]

The center-right Union for a Popular Movement and the nationalist National Front made gains.

Too bad our political parties don't have such awesome names.

[DJF]

Splitters!!!!

The Popular National Front is the one true party.

[BardMetal]

The People's popular front of Judea.

[TANSTaaFL]

+1 EX-parrot

[invisible furry hand]

Many years ago there was a Party Party Party Party here in Australia

[WTF]

Was there a Very Silly Party?

[invisible furry hand]

Does Sun-dried Tomatoes Party count?

[WTF]

Yeah, I think so.

[BakedPenguin]

Yes, Labor.

[BakedPenguin]

Sorry, Labour. Because they're really just outgoing Brits with good teeth.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sounds big tent.

[sarcasmic]

Moment good Samaritan who risked his life and IGNORED police orders to stay back plucked baby from Washington mudslide as mother lay helpless with two broken legs

Picture has emerged of the moment that five-month-old Duke Saddarth was plucked from the aftermath of the Washington landslide by a good Samaritan
Kody Wesson was driving along a road and escaped the slide by seconds
He rushed to climb onto the debris field - ignoring the commands of a state trooper
Found little Duke lying injured and drew attention to his mother Amanda for other rescuers
Put the baby in his coat and rushed the child to safety
Duke is currently listed in serious condition but is improving at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle
His mother's legs were broken but she is expected to make a full recovery
The death toll for the tragedy now stands at 21 with 30 still missing

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....aster.html
He's lucky he wasn't shot.

[db]

Cops made it home safe from their.shift. All tha5 matters. Heroes.

[TANSTaaFL]

Good for him. One thing was kind of weird though - the statement from the family of mother and baby.
"We are so grateful to all the responders who jeopardized their safety in order to pull Duke and Amanda out of the debris. Words alone cannot tell you how thankful we are. Our hearts and support continue to go out to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy."

Not only doesn't acknowledge the guy but basically ignores him and thanks the "responders" (i am assuming she means the emergency responders) who tried to stop him from rescuing her and her baby.

Unless I'm reading this wrong, seems pretty ungrateful and almost bitter that he rescued her instead of leaving it to the "brave" first responders.

[invisible furry hand]

It might be a swipe at the first responders as they didn't jeopardize their own safety

[Zeb]

I think you are reading too much into it. It was a statement made later by the family. And there is no reason to assume that they didn't consider the non-uniformed volunteers "responders".

[Tonio]

^This

[pan fried wylie]

Duke Saddarth

I for one welcome our nascent ducal overlord.

[Warty]

The Action Hero Championship Belt

Obviously you know who the champion is, but it's a fun writeup of all the awesome shitty action stars since Steve McQueen invented it.

[Rich]

HHS spokeswoman ... said a version of the queuing system is working, so people can leave their information and be informed when the system comes back up. That counts as "getting in line," so people who do so will be able to sign up after the midnight deadline, she said.

WTF? I thought all you have to do is check a box whenever claiming you tried to enroll!

[gaijin]

said a version of the queuing system is working, so people can leave their information and be informed

So here's what I'd do if I were an administration apparatchik...I'd preload the phone book in every major city, claim those in line are enrolled, then spend the next 8 months robocalling everyone pre-loaded with political messages and chants of Hail to the Glorious ACA.

[Rich]

Don't forget this trick as well.

[gaijin]

wow. Next up "We've gone ahead and prevoted for you...to free up more time for you to pursue your dreams."

[SugarFree]

Warty Hugeman and The Doomcock of Doom

Chapter Eight

"Track that fucking animal," Warty told the timesuit.

All around him people and creatures were disappearing as they took advantage of the exclusion field collapse to travel away from The Ball. Most just blinked of out of the local reference, but some dissolved, took a step sideways out of time, wavered in and out like a badly tuned viewscreen, ascended into a column of sourceless light, were seemingly consumed by a bolt of lightning with all the attendant thunder or opened a gaudy wormhole to step through?creating pressure differentials that caused dust devils of party trash to swirl around all over. After a few seconds, Warty was alone.

"Unable to resolve temporospatial coordinates of Steve Smith," the suit said.

"Track Sven's Time Axe. It has to have some sort of energy signature."

"Sensors cannot detect anything beyond threshold of Time Axe temporal portal."

"So that thing could be anywhere or anywhen with a fully functional Time Axe?"

"Correct."

Warty stepped around to the other side of the shimmering wound in time left by Steve Smith's exit. There was sunlight from an ancient star on the other side and something that might have been a dwelling.

"The temporal portal is closing."

With no other path through which to wreak his vengeance, Warty Hugeman stepped though the tear in time.

Continue reading

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

I'm afraid for Warty!

[Pro Libertate]

Do not fear, Nicole. SugarFree would never harm his greatest creation.

By the way, did you hear that George R.R. Martin is guest-writing the next installment of Warty Hugeman?

[SugarFree]

now with 50% more rape...

[Pro Libertate]

And 90% more death.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

How much more deathrape?

[mr simple]

Still not quite enough death or rape for HBO, though.

[gaijin]

crotchular region

So Will Ferrell will be playing Warty in the film adaptation?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think I would have left via wormhole. Exit with flair, I always say.

[tarran]

Penis to Hand Combat!

Fricking genius!

[WTF]

Isn't that what Tony and Shreek do in their mom's basements?

[Lord Humungus]

Gay by Genes or by Choice?
Even asking the question in public stirs up a hornets' nest.

"Many people do feel as if their sexuality is something they were born with, and I have no reason to disbelieve them," Ambrosino wrote on The New Republic's website on January 28. "But as I and other queer persons will readily confirm, there are other factors informing our sexualities than simply our genetic codes."

Uh-oh.

"Judging from the reaction, you might have thought Ezra had hired Rick Santorum," wrote columnist Andrew Sullivan. As Robert Stacy McCain details on The American Spectator's website, Ambrosino has become a heretic for not echoing the liberal "gay = DNA" incantation. A "rhetorical lynch mob," in Sullivan's words, has hunted down Ambrosino. His new position triggered such headlines as Slate's: "Vox's Unbelievably Terrible New Hire." In an Americablog piece titled "Hipster Homophobia: Ezra Klein's Vox hires Falwell-loving gay-bashing 'gay,'"

[Warty]

Ezra should know his audience better than that. Idiot.

[BardMetal]

Just wondering. Where do all the many thousands upon thousands of fetishes come from? Genes or choice? Maybe both?

[Jensen]

Genetics, environmental factors, choice, neurological development, probably all of the above.

[gaijin]

^Seconded.

[Tonio]

Uh, you're really equating orientation with a fetish? Srsly?

[BakedPenguin]

Do the proponents of "gay is a choice" realize that they're proposing that God (since they're mostly Christian) creates everyone as a bisexual?

[BardMetal]

I think they are saying that everyone is born hetrosexual and some people choose to deviate from that norm.

Perhaps no different then someone choosing to do something kinky?

[lap83]

People who would say that everyone is born heterosexual are not getting that from the Bible. Otherwise, how could anyone, such as Paul, choose to be celibate?

The Biblical view is that any sex you have is a choice, and only a relatively narrow type of sex is ordained by God.

[SugarFree]

No. Just as they don't realize that their religion is also "just" a choice.

Homosexuality is mostly like a mix of nature and nurture and choice--like everything else--but somehow we've made it to a place that people's choices are the least legitimate reason for anyone to do anything, and the last thing anyone wants to respect.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Their religion is immutable Sug!

[John]

Why does it imply that? God creates people who have free wills and choose to do things. People choose to be gay just like they choose to have any other kind of sex.

Like any issue that implicates free will, it is a tough debate. If you say gays have no choice, you make it impossible to judge their behavior but also rob them of moral agency. For a long time gay objected to the idea of homosexuality not being a choice. They viewed it as a way of saying gays were defective or mentally ill, which it frankly was.

Gay isn't a choice only became vogue when gays realized that it would allow them to get on the civil rights gravy train.

[lap83]

I've met a couple of gay people who acknowledge that their lifestyle is a choice, but their view is that they don't give a shit that some people don't like it. That seems the most intellectually honest approach to me.

[Fluffy]

Not precisely, John.

What's up for debate here isn't the choice to engage in conduct. It's the experience of preference.

You can't choose to like the taste of dog shit. You just don't like it. (Or maybe you like it. But if you do, it's not because of choice.)

The question is whether, for gays, liking gay sex and not liking straight sex is analogous to liking or not liking the taste of dog shit - or whether it's more analogous to liking or not liking eating bugs (where your early life experience will have a huge impact).

I tend to find the entire question irrelevant, because no aspect of my opinion on the matter is dependent on whether being gay is a choice.

[lap83]

But preferences absolutely can evolve from habit.

[Zeb]

I tend to find the entire question irrelevant, because no aspect of my opinion on the matter is dependent on whether being gay is a choice.

Yup. It's a somewhat interesting scientific question, I guess, but it has no bearing on what I think of anyone or anyone's behavior or what the law should say on the subject.

[BakedPenguin]

You can't choose to like the taste of dog shit.

Exactly. A large part of what we are attracted to is determined by things out of our control. If they are arguing (as Zeb points out below) that the sexual behavior / acts is/are the choice, then that's a lot more rational.

[John]

Saying "I can't help my preference" is just another way of saying "I like it". Sure, we can't control what we like. But we can control what we do. Calling it an uncontrollable "preference" just begs the question of whether an a choice is something that should be condemed.

Pretty much anything people do, good or bad, is done because the person does it prefers it that way. All your telling me is "gays like to be gay and can't help but like it". True, that doesn't mean they can't choose to be otherwise. I like to eat nutella, but choose not to because it makes me fat.

[Calidissident]

I think you're glossing over the importance (to the broader argument, I personally wouldn't care if it was purely a choice) of whether or not having an uncontrollable preference for the same sex is important, regardless of the fact that there's always a choice to act on it. If anti-gay people acknowledge that being gay (again, as in simply having the preference, regardless of whether or not one acts on it) isn't a choice, then they have to acknowledge that they're basically asking gay people to either pretend to be heterosexual or be celibate their entire lives. Basically, it would force them to be honest about what they're advocating, and give reasons to justify something that extreme. Which would basically boil down to "You're going to Hell otherwise!"

[John]

No. They are objecting to gay's behavior. No one can control their preferences. It would make me very happy to beat the living shit out of about 10 different people that come to mind. But, even though that is my preference, I choose not to do so because beating people up is both illegal and immoral.

If you are going to say people cannot by definition condemn gays because they "can't help but be gay", then you have to say that being gay is some kind of inborn trait that cannot be changed like your race or your height.

Saying it is an "inborn preference" is just begging the question, since all preferences are inborn. If it is wrong to condemn the gay preference, why isn't it also wrong to condemn any other choice?

Think of it this way. Some people are born with a natural preference and affinity for religious belief. Yet, I don't here anyone on here saying that you can't criticize religious believers because they can't help what they like. That logic is invalid when it comes to choice of religion and equally invalid when it comes to choice of sex partner, assuming the best you can do is say "gays can't help what they like".

[Calidissident]

"No. They are objecting to gay's behavior. No one can control their preferences."

Are you obtuse or have you seriously never heard people make the argument that gay people choose their sexual preference (and not just the actions)?

[John]

Are you obtuse or have you seriously never heard people make the argument that gay people choose their sexual preference (and not just the actions)?

I have heard that but that statement has no bearing on what we are talking about. Who cares if they choose their preferences or not? The issue is can someone choose not to act on those preferences, however they were arrived at or is it the case that being gay is not just a preference but an inborn behavior that certain people will engage in no matter what. If it is the former, than being gay is just like any other behavior and people can rationally condemn or praise it based on their set of moral values. If it is the latter, than being gay is like being black or being tall and is not something that anyone can rationally make a moral judgement upon good or bad.

That is the entire debate. Fluffy above is arguing that not being able to control your preferences is morally the same as not being able to control your behavior and thus someone's preference for being gay is above moral judgement. And I disagree. Everything we do is the result of a preference. If it being a "preference" makes it above moral judgement, then nothing is susceptible to moral judgement.

[Zeb]

People choose to have gay sex, certainly. Whether people choose to be gay is rather more debatable.

[kbolino]

Gay isn't a choice only became vogue when gays realized that it would allow them to get on the civil rights gravy train.

While this is absolutely true, it's not a refutation of BakedPenguin's point.

Having sex with someone of the same sex is definitely a choice, but why do people do it?

Sure, there's people who do it because it's edgy and still somewhat verboten. But there are people who engage in this behavior throughout their lives, who do so for reasons other than social rebellion, and who don't seem particularly interested in the opinions of others, one way or the other.

So either there is some common explanatory factor for this latter group, or else they are simply acting within the normal variation of human behavior.

If you are going to rule out a common factor, then you have to accept universality. In other words, if gay is a choice, then it's a choice that all are equally likely to make.

Ultimately, though, SugarFree is right and this argument is irrelevant as far as the law is concerned. If you're not violating someone else's rights, you have the absolute prerogative to make whatever choices you want.

[mad libertarian guy]

Gay isn't a choice only became vogue when gays realized that it would allow them to get on the civil rights gravy train.

Agreed.

[Snark Plissken]

It's really quite simple. Gender is a social construct. The gender(s) you want to fuck are totally hard-wired by your genes. Also, everyone is exactly equally good at mathematics.

Is that so hard?

[lap83]

Hmm, that's a ideological contradiction that never occurred to me. We're hard-wired to fuck a social construct?

How do liberal minds not implode upon themselves?

[Snark Plissken]

We're hard-wired to fuck a social construct?

Ha, yes, nice way to put it.

[kbolino]

Back when libertarianism was an edgy political label rather than a sincere set of beliefs for me, I pointed out this contradiction inherent in the gay-transgender alliance. One side is arguing that sex and attraction are biological, the other side is arguing that they are not. This fairly obvious point was not well received.

[Calidissident]

That's a bit of a straw man, because (most of) the people advocating the argument you're trying to portray would use the term "sex" and not "gender" the second time you used the latter word.

[kbolino]

The argument still boils down to special pleading. Biology is deterministic in one case, and irrelevant in the other.

[Calidissident]

I don't think you're actually understanding their argument. They're arguing that gender (as opposed to sex) is not biological. Whether or not you agree with that, you're not accurately presenting the argument they're making.

[kbolino]

When you undergo a surgical operation to change your genitals, is it a sex change or a gender change?

Framing this as a biology debate when it should have been a freedom debate was wrong from the start, but when you have to do mental gymnastics to make the biology argument then it ought to become clear that it was not the correct argument to make.

[Lord Humungus]

Romanian man swallows fork in drunk bet

male resident of the Romanian city of Bacau, 25-year-old Radu Kalincesku, was admitted to hospital after he had a drunk bet with a friend of his. The young man said that he would be able to swallow a fork without any consequences for his body. However, the man felt ill immediately after the trick.

The man originally told doctors that he felt pain in the esophagus - he preferred to conceal the actual reason that caused the pain. When the doctors did an X-ray examination, they found an image of the foreign object in the man's body.

[sarcasmic]

I heard that. Didn't the doctors opt to let it pass naturally rather than operate?

[BardMetal]

I think passing the fork will be a more impressive feat.

[Rich]

"If you come to a fork in the road, *eat* it."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Romania is hard core.

[BakedPenguin]

It's the Florida of Europe. Romania Man!

[Lord Humungus]

Why Is President Obama's Foreign Policy Unpopular?

Let me suggest a third possibility. If you actually look at the trajectory of the president's foreign policy approval ratings last year, you'll see two notable nosedives: One last June, coinciding with the Snowden affair, which took him from favorable into unfavorable territory, and then another when he was contemplating strikes against Syria, when his numbers went from single-digit to double-digit negatives. (They subsequently recovered slightly, but have dipped anew with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.) The ideological valence of both debates was complicated: The Snowden defection highlighted cases where Obama had taken (or the intelligence bureaucracy had taken, with his blessing) what's generally seen as a "hawkish" line on national security, while the Syria debate involved a Congressional backlash against a hawkish position that the president then found a way to tiptoe away from himself.

But rather than trying to read the public's response in ideological terms, maybe it's more reasonable to look at what the two stories had in common: They both made the White House look incompetent.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Obama is feckless and weak. Passing up wars in Syria, Iran, and now Ukraine is proof of it.

We need Christian Crusadin' GOP man!

[Fluffy]

The real problem is that we suffer the fecklessness and weakness and stupidity, but don't get the benefit of any increased honesty or morality.

[gaijin]

Red lines don't draw themselves you know.

[Don Mynack]

Because Libya turned out so well, Americans finally saw the Light-Bringer as mostly incompetent, and wisely feared how badly he would screw the pooch in Syria.

To their credit, our administration realized that Syria is just too complicated for them to handle, and walked away. A man's gotta know his limitations.

[mad libertarian guy]

To their credit, our administration realized that Syria is just too complicated for them to handle, and walked away. A man's gotta know his limitations.

They didn't walk away. They were given an out by sheer dumb luck, and saved by Putin coming in an saving the day for Obama.

[Lord Humungus]

Health care spending growth hits 10-year high

Health care spending rose at the fastest pace in 10 years last quarter, a development that could foreshadow higher costs for consumers this year.

Expenses for health care rose at a 5.6% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said last week. The jump triggered a sharp upward revision in the government's estimate of consumer spending overall and accounted for nearly a quarter of the economy's 2.6% annualized growth in the last three months of 2013.

Driving the increase was an $8 billion rise in hospital revenue ? more than the previous four quarters combined, according to the Census Bureau and Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS economist Omair Sharif says the increase in hospitals' income was puzzling because the number of inpatient days dipped 1% during the fourth quarter.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

RBS economist Omair Sharif says the increase in hospitals' income was puzzling because the number of inpatient days dipped 1% during the fourth quarter.

Yeah, that's a real puzzler, all right.

[Fluffy]

"EHR will lower costs!"

Yeah, right. Taking control of charting and billing out of the hands of humans who make mistakes and putting it into the hands of tireless machines with perfect memory of what previous claims survived adjudication and what claims were denied will reduce costs. Right.

[John]

And those EHRs won't be fucked up or anything. You just say the magic words and the system appears.

[Rich]

LOL

And "Omair Sharif", indeed.

[db]

Sharif, he don't like it.

[Rich]

"I Shot The Sharif"

[gaijin]

Rock that cashbah

[Kaptious Kristen]

He should just go back to playing bridge.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

"You are angry, English".

[Jensen]

Author of the 'Gaia hypothesis' says modern environmentalism has become a religion.

[gaijin]

haha. There can be only one true religion!

[John]

He was one of the holy prophets of it. So he should know.

[Jensen]

So this is his Muad'Dib moment? He's at least somewhat reasonable, I like the fact that he lists nuclear and fracking while shooting down renewables for their obvious problems.

[John]

They will just throw him over the side. The founder of the Sierra Club has said pretty much the same thing. Hell, the founder of MADD quit her own organizations. Fanatical movements take on a life of their own at some point such that the original creator no longer matters.

[Jensen]

He gets to hang out with Patrick Moore in the sinners corner.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Can we just talk for a minute about what a RIDICULOUSLY CUTIE PIE Rand Paul is I mean look at those curls?!?!

[invisible furry hand]

Yes. He will make a fit and proper sacrifice to Odin once Ragnar Lo?br?k conquers Kentucky

[Rasilio]

I'd vote Ragnar for President, he'd be better than anyone we've had in quite some time.

[Warty]

His wife is quite milfy, too.

[Fluffy]

The fact that he somehow scored his wife without being a Navy SEAL or professional athlete is actually a good reason to have confidence that he will get the job done.

[Palin's Buttplug]

But that could be said of Dennis Kucinich too.

("could" is the operative word)

[Fluffy]

Rand wasn't in elective office at the time. That's the difference.

How much respect would you need to give Kucinich if he had seduced Red while he was, I don't know, making keys at a hardware store?

[gaijin]

hey, he's a dentist. His wife will always have pearly whites.

[General Butt Naked]

Yeah, 'cause women hate young, rich, good looking doctors who spend their free time bringing sight to underprivileged children. I don't know how he did it.

[Fluffy]

OK, so that is a little better than a hardware store job. You got me there.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Who said we were talking about her?!?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

You're right though, she's cute too.

THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER AHH

[Rich]

What are Mr. and Mrs. Chris Christie, chopped liver?

[gaijin]

Foie Gras

[General Butt Naked]

Foie gras resents that remark.

[Briggie]

I am a follower of his campaign 2016 group on Facebook. Several months ago he posted a picture of him and his wife on their wedding day. Everyone's response was pretty much "Nice pull." or "Score!".

[Palin's Buttplug]

Another wingnut lie laid bare: Torture did not help find bin Laden.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A hotly disputed Senate torture report concludes that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods provided no key evidence in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to congressional aides and outside experts familiar with the investigation.

The CIA still disputes that conclusion.

From the moment of bin Laden's death almost three years ago in what was America's biggest counterterrorism success, former Bush administration and some senior CIA officials have cited the evidence trail leading to the al-Qaida mastermind's compound in Pakistan as vindicating the "enhanced interrogation techniques" they authorized after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

[John]

Oh, so the CIA, which is run by Obama, denies it. Well, that settles that issue.

[Pro Libertate]

Shows what you know, John, because the NSA has confirmed the story with a double-pinky swear. You LOSE, sir!

[Jordan]

After unsuccessfully petitioning the NHS to amputate his mangled hand for 2 years, a British man built a guillotine in his basement and chopped it off himself. I thought that sort of can-do spirit had vanished entirely from Airstrip One.

[Rich]

Good Lord.

[invisible furry hand]

Did he hold his severed hand aloft and cry "Behold the hand of a traitor!"?

[gaijin]

HE should wear the severed hand around his neck, ala Jaime Lannister.

[Ted S.]

The authorities caught him red-handed.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Red-unhanded, sir!

[invisible furry hand]

red-stumped

[General Butt Naked]

I'm reminded of this.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Was that hand squeaking?

Hi-larious, Smithers!

[Lord Humungus]

An angry vengeful god needs sacrifices to stay appeased:

1 person missing after being swept out to sea

A 43-year-old man who was reportedly swept out to sea at the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve during a baptism ceremony this morning, had not been located as of 6 p.m., according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

The man was swept out with two other people just before 10 a.m., according to Mauro Cervantes, the pastor of the Santa Maria church Jesus Christ Light of the Sky.

The other two people were able to return to shore, he said. Emergency crews responded to the beach and began searching as a group of participants in the baptism ceremony, most of whom were speaking Spanish, waited in the parking lot.

[John]

How do you get swept out to sea during a baptism? They just have to get the guy wet? They must have tried it during 30 foot swells or something.

I guess God decided to thin the herd.

[SugarFree]

He is with The Drowned God now.

[John]

Neptune.

[gaijin]

The UnderToad is one true God of the shores.

[Lord Humungus]

I beseech thee, oh Aqua Buddha, save me from the tumultuous waves.

[Warty]

Mauro Cervantes, the pastor of the Santa Maria church Jesus Christ Light of the Sky

"Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind."

[The Late P Brooks]

If your union punter shanks a couple of kicks, and you bench him and let the cornerback kick punts for the rest of the game, will the union file a grievance?

[Lord Humungus]

Bread...Butter... and all that...

U.S. Seniors Have Realigned With the Republican Party
Seniors move from a reliably Democratic to a reliably Republican group

U.S seniors -- those aged 65 and older -- have moved from a reliably Democratic group to a reliably Republican one over the past two decades. From 1992 through 2006, seniors had been solidly Democratic and significantly more Democratic than younger Americans. Over the last seven years, seniors have become less Democratic, and have shown an outright preference for the Republican Party since 2010.

[BardMetal]

Is this due to seniors actually switching parties, or did over the last 20 years Republican voters grew up to become seniors?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Bushcare was designed as free stuff for the elderly back in 2002.

[General Butt Naked]

Yeah, no one needs to hear about your pubic hair trimming ritual.

[WTF]

BUSHPIGS!!111!!!CHRISTFAGS!!11!!!!

[Restoras]

Based on my sample size of four, it is a combination of things, including the rising national debt, too much spending on free shit, Democratic wobbling on Israel, the outright lies published as fact and the blatant ignoring of stories detrimental to Democrats by the MSM, and an economy increasingly difficult to build a life in. There are other things as well and I don't think that my sample size believes Team Red is much better, just that Team Blue has had too much sway for too long.

YMMV.

[mad libertarian guy]

It's due to old fogies finally understanding that they have shit to take.

[invisible furry hand]

Rehabilitation!

Anger as number of criminals recruited to NSW Police increases

[SugarFree]

Once again, Clockwork Orange predicts the modern age.

[Rich]

Right on.

I thought that when I first saw that film, and each passing year confirms it.

[Tim]

What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again.

[Rich]

"Oh my brothers ...."

[Jensen]

Why am I imagining a bunch of Chopper Reads in uniforms? I think my idea of Australia may be entirely based on stereotypes.

[John]

http://www.bloombergview.com/a.....ond-repeal

McArdle lets the mask slip and engages in a little wish fulfillment. Is Obamacare beyond repeal now because it is just so dreamy to its participants? Ah no Megan. The best part is this.

Does that mean that Obamacare will basically be beyond repeal, as its supporters hope? It certainly makes things harder. But we still don't know how many of these people are newly insured, or how many of the previously insured like these policies better than their old policies -- nor how much pressure it is going to end up putting on the budget.

Outside the Beltway Hive Megan, they are making a pretty solid guess that the answer to that is "nearly all of them are people who used to have better health insurance and are now signing up for shitty Obamacare policies because that is all that is available.

If it were otherwise, the popularity of the program wouldn't be in the tank. But Megan still dreams.

[Rich]

But we still don't know how many of these people are newly insured, or how many of the previously insured like these policies better than their old policies

With all due respect, does HHS track *any* data?

[John]

No. They don't. That in itself is telling. If there really were all of these people getting great health insurance that couldn't get before, HHS would be tracking it and would be telling us all about it. They only say "we don't know" because the actual facts are so bad.

Megan McArdle is living proof living and writing in Washington will eventually make most people stupid.

[Ted S.]

They outsource it to the NSA.

[Palin's Buttplug]

As usual you are full of shit, John. The CBO estimates that only 10,000 with cancelled policies could not find cheaper ones on the exchange.

"Nearly all"?

[John]

The CBO estimates that only 10,000 with cancelled policies could not find cheaper ones on the exchange

Because every CBO estimate reflecs reality. And of course "cheaper" always means "better". Beyond that, saying it is "cheaper" is just juding it on the cost of the premiums. That says nothing about the deductable or what is actually covered.

I could have a policy that cost more, but had a lower deducable and cover more. So the Obamacare policy being "cheaper" is meaningless.

You are retarded Shreek. Stop trying to make arguments when the adults are talking. Just go back to cutting and pasting talking points.

It is really astounding how stupid you are. You just can't make basic rational connections. Tarran says you are a nuralnet. I don't believe it. I could create a nuralnet that is smarter than this. No net is this stupid. Only humans are this stupid.

[General Butt Naked]

I guarantee that if this thing was a hit for anyone outside of the FSA crowd we'd be hearing concrete numbers being repeated ad nauseam by this administration and their sycophantic media lap dogs.

The lack of info being released is more telling than any massaged stats you get from the gov.

[John]

Exactly GBN. If it were possible to even make up numbers that made this pig look good, they would do it. Them saying "we don't know" is them admitting "we can't find a single good thing to report or even lie about".

[Palin's Buttplug]

As always, I have data and you don't.

[John]

You have meaningless data and are too retarded to understand why it is meaningless.

[Restoras]

Funny, that's what Bush said before we went to war in Iraq.

[Lord Humungus]

double-secret probation data?

And any CBO estimate is not, by it's very nature, hard data. That's why the word "estimate" is in there. It can be useful for trying to project the future, but until some hard numbers are out there, it's anybody's guess.

Seeing that 4 out of 5 sign ups are getting subsidies would result in "lower prices", but a policy with a - let's say - a $10K deductible isn't going to save your average consumer any money.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

8% more data!

[Don Mynack]

Why was it a nearly trillion dollar "emergency" to get a bunch of adult deadbeats to sign up for Medicaid? Because that is the real legacy of Obamacare, and what it truly was about.

[The Late P Brooks]

Health care spending rose at the fastest pace in 10 years last quarter, a development that could foreshadow higher costs for consumers this year.

Another successful boost to GDP.

RECOVERY!

[Lord Humungus]

The deadline is midnight Monday to sign up for private health insurance in the new online markets created by President Barack Obama's health-care law. So far, about 4 of every 5 people enrolling have qualified for tax credits to reduce the cost of their premiums.

[Rich]

The government says it will ... take as much time as necessary to handle unfinished cases on HealthCare.gov.

Emphasis added.

*** facepalm ***

[db]

Chapter I

Ignorance is Strength details the perpetual class struggle characteristic of human societies;[5] beginning with the historical observation that societies always have hierarchically divided themselves into social classes and castes: the High (who rule); the Middle (who work for, and yearn to supplant the High), and the Low (whose goal is quotidian survival). Cyclically, the Middle deposed the High, by enlisting the Low. Upon assuming power, however, the Middle (the new High class) recast the Low into their usual servitude. In the event, the classes perpetually repeat the cycle, when the Middle class speaks to the Low class of "justice" and of "human brotherhood" in aid of becoming the High class rulers.

[mad libertarian guy]

They lose with with every transaction but will make it up in volume!

Or not.

[John]

[Jordan] Klaffer is a gun owner who frequently fires his gun at objects on private property. On May 1, 2013, Jerry Bledsoe, a police officer, confronted Klaffer while responding to a noise complaint. Klaffer videotaped the interaction, where Bledsoe issued an ultimatum to Klaffer to surrender his guns or be arrested. Klaffer refused to give up his guns and was arrested for disturbing the peace.

To express his opinion that Officer Bledsoe was using his position to harass him for exercising his Second Amendment rights, Klaffer posted recordings of the May 1 encounter on YouTube and Facebook. And, on Instagram, he posted a picture of Bledsoe alongside a photo of Saddam Hussein, with the caption "Striking Resemblance."

Officer Bledsoe retaliated by obtaining a court order that prevented Mr. Klaffer from posting videos, pictures, and text data criticizing Officer Bledsoe on the Internet. "A government order prohibiting criticism of government is the worst kind of censorship," explains Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri.

"Gun advocates who fear the government is infringing on the Second Amendment have every right to broadcast their beliefs," says Jeffrey A. Mittman, the ACLU of Missouri's executive director. "The ACLU will always push back against government censorship."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....e-officer/

[Ted S.]

Mr. Bledsoe made it home safe. That's all that matters.

[General Butt Naked]

What a fucking cum stain that cop is. Gawd.

I hope his fucking life is ruined by the constant online harassment he's likely to face from pissed off gun owners.

[Ted S.]

Oh, those wacky antipodeans:

Tourist hitch-hikers in New Zealand attacked; attack linked to body of murder victim found in her own car trunk

Two hitchhikers seriously injured in an attack on the West Coast have been flown to Christchurch Hospital, as police probe the homicide of a woman found stuffed in the boot of her car.

Meanwhile, a man arrested over the violent attack yesterday afternoon is himself being treated for injuries, including dog bites, and police were asking the public to help them pin down the movements of two vehicles.

The 38-year-old man was arrested about 3am today after a 90-minute chase and a five-hour stand-off near Franz Joseph - during which the man doused himself, his vehicle and the road with petrol and threw things out the window that he had lit on fire.

[John]

This idiot, who is an editor at the Atlantic actually writes this without irony.

It turns out that wealth inequality isn't about the 1 percent v. the 99 percent at all. It's about the 0.1 percent v. the 99.9 percent (or, really, the 0.01 percent vs. the 99.99 percent, if you like). Long-story-short is that this group, comprised mostly of bankers and CEOs, is riding the stock market to pick up extraordinary investment income. And it's this investment income, rather than ordinary earned income, that's creating this extraordinary wealth gap.

The 0.1 percent isn't the same group of people every year. There's considerable churn at the tippy-top.

The headline of the article is How You, I, and Everyone Got the Top 1% Wrong. Ah, no not everyone Derek, just stupid people like you and the rest of the hacks masquerading as journalists. The rest of us always knew this.

http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.....ng/359862/

[gaijin]

SOunds like he is trying to narrow the targetting down to the Koch brothers.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It is investment income and taxing it only hurts those who are trying to build wealth.

[mad libertarian guy]

It is investment income and taxing it only hurts those who are trying to build wealth.

Impossible. I mean I totally deserved to be knocked up in to the next tax bracket because of the $17k I got from capital gains last year.

[VG Zaytsev]

I'm guessing that he still ignores the role of government enriching the top .01 percent.

[John]

Oh course he does. He works for the Atlantic. Admitting that people get rich manipulating big government is just not something decent people do.

[DEG]

"1%"/"0.1%"/"2%"/what-have-you is the gift that keeps on giving for the proglodytes. What happens after they eliminate whatever group it is they're targeting? What happens to the next top "1%"/"0.1%"/"2%"/what-have-you?

[The Late P Brooks]

But we still don't know how many of these people are newly insured, or how many of the previously insured like these policies better than their old policies -- nor how much pressure it is going to end up putting on the budget.

Let me help you with that, honey.

The people whose premiums are now being paid in large part by SOMEBODY ELSE are happier. The ones who have been forced to go through a lot of needless aggravation only to end up with higher costs are not.

And I didn't even go to Princeton.

[John]

Even the ones who are having some of it paid for by someone else are not happy. They didn't have to pay anything before. They just showed up at the hospital and demanded treatment and never paid for it.

Now they have to pay for insurance or sign up for medicaide. That is not an improvement.

You really have to reach far to come up with someone who is happy. It is basically anyone who has a chorinc, expensive condition who is poor enough to qualify for the subsidies. That is is. Anyone else is getting fucked.

[Lord Humungus]

whoops...

Maryland set to replace troubled health exchange with Connecticut's system

Maryland officials are set to replace the state's online health-insurance exchange with technology from Connecticut's insurance marketplace, according to two people familiar with the decision, an acknowledgment that a system that has cost at least $125.5 million is broken beyond repair.

The board of the Maryland exchange plans to vote on the change Tuesday, the day after the end of the first enrollment period for the state's residents under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

[Rich]

Marylanders will be able to use the exchange even as it is being overhauled.

Right.

[NoVAHockey]

Listened to local news radio this morning about people in Maryland showing up for help at various enrollment centers, only to be turned away after waiting for hours because the staff was either overwhelmed or didn't show at all. Bonus - people waiting to sign up for obamacare were parking illegally and had their cars towed.

[The Late P Brooks]

Here's a data point for your Gaia Hypothesis. I'm sitting here looking at about ten inches of fresh snow.

[gaijin]

I'm sitting here looking at about ten inches of fresh snow.

Extreme weather created by AGW!

[SugarFree]

Weather isn't climate until August, ratfucker!

[Pro Libertate]

"Man, it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Biloxi Blues.

I'm onto you.

[Pro Libertate]

"You would need three promotions to be an asshole."

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

"Will you tell your story walking? Its too hot."

[DEG]

While poking around cnn.com, I found this article on Kowloon Walled City.. I chuckled when I read this quote on the slideshow captions:

Architect Aaron Tan wrote his graduate thesis on the Walled City 20 years ago, a process he says humbled him. "We started to see that people could be more intelligent than us, the designers," he says.

[John]

Architects are some of the most loathsome top men. For the past 100 years the entire architectural establishment has basically hated human beings and designed buildings that treat the people who use them at best patronizing and at worst with outright contempt.

It is the architectural establishment that killed ornamentation on buildings and gave us giant brutalist highrises that dehumanize everyone who has to live and work in them.

[Pro Libertate]

Ayn Rand has sad face.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Hey! They're renovating the exterior of the Hoffman Center! (the Alexandria City jail, which is just down the street, is more attractive).

[gaijin]

Architects are some of the most loathsome top men...basically hated human beings and designed buildings that treat the people who use them at best patronizing and at worst with outright contempt.

It reads well, but I think you are overgeneralizing on this one. You could say that the schools or architecture have promoted such things, but my experience with architects as individuals is quite the contrary.

[invisible furry hand]

When does John not overgeneralize?

[mad libertarian guy]

When he speaks of the horrors of a night with Warty?

[John]

Here.

[John]

I said the "architectural establishment". I didn't generalize at all. I was very specific to the very group you admit is like I say they are.

[Calidissident]

You preceded that by saying "Architects are some of the most loathsome top men." It's not surprising that he interpreted it the way he did.

[John]

Only if you assume he doesn't understand the meaning of the word "some" and didn't read the rest of the post.

[gaijin]

I understood your post. you said 'Entire Architectural establishment"...who specifically is that? The AIA? The NAAB? Those are some specific instances of " Entire Architectural Establishment" and they do not, in my experience, uniformly exhibit the disdain for people you claim for them.

[Calidissident]

You could say virtually any group contains "some" of the most loathsome top men.

[lap83]

I thought the load-bearing capabilities of steel and a need to maximize space gave us highrises. But it turns out it's just architects being evil?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Addressing a conference of rabbis in Budapest, a spokesman for the Hungarian government pledges to resist European attacks on circumcision and Jewish ritual slaughter.

""In the past couple of years there has been a surge of legislation in Europe, mainly bans on circumcision and ritual, kosher slaughter," Natan said, then asked if it could also happen in Hungary.

""You can quote me when I say that no, for sure not," Kumin said. "It's not on the agenda and if it's put there, we will stop it.""

http://forward.com/articles/19.....ish-rites/

[John]

You have lit the Dick Lantern GKC.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Guess who? Newspaper article from 1993 says "Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road for peace" (from Twitter)

http://bit.ly/1hbtxeQ

[General Butt Naked]

It's hilarious that all those smartasses think they're being so clever responding to the lady asking if it was after the trade center was bombed THE FIRST TIME. They're so fucking smart that they forgot that 9/11 was the second attack on the world trade center.

[Lord Humungus]

a response from that feed: "this was in the 80s, when the CIA financed him"

question that I've never seen properly answered - not that I spent that much time caring - but how much did the U.S. support Bin Laden in the Russian/Afghan war?

[mad libertarian guy]

Big Gov hasn't done much to to discourage smoking despite anti-liberty campaigns, but you can bet they will take the credit for the free market's success.

The plain truth that has not been admitted by public health campaigners and is being ignored by politicians that believe they have to be seen to be "doing something" to have any credibility on health policy, is that tobacco control policies are failing.

[...]

It would be possible to reduce the smoking rate quite considerably [...] by allowing the use of SNUS, those tobacco pouches you put in the mouth. We know this because they are allowed in Sweden (where they remain popular) and the smoking rate is about 15 per cent.

We also know ? because we can see it before our very eyes ? that many smokers are switching to e-cigarettes and that the manufacturers of e-cigs see this as their prime market. The advantage of e-cigs is that they allow some (but certainly not all) smokers to enjoy their nicotine in places that are now banned or may be banned in the future (such as in their own homes or cars). They do not give exactly the same sensation as smoking, so they will never replace smoking completely, but they will, without any government incentives, replace a sizeable proportion of those who smoke cigarettes. This means that they will drive the smoking rate down.

(cont)

[mad libertarian guy]

They would drive it down considerably more if e-cigs were not being restricted by the European Union, train companies and alls sorts of groups who think there's a health risk (currently nothing other than mere superstition) or that they are a gateway to smoking (again, no evidence) or it makes their 'management' lives easier (so much for the customer's always right!)

But even with these restrictions e-cigs must and will have an impact on smoking rates. But here's the rub. They will not be given the credit for any fall. They will continue to be demonised by the public health campaigners because they are in fact the biggest threat to their empire and their expensive and expansive tentacles that pervade every aspect of society where the public sector can intervene.

Indeed the coming fall in smoking rates ? for there will be one ? will be claimed to be a result of the latest smoking bans and restrictions; the ban on smoking in cars when children are present, the restrictions of tobacco displays and no doubt the plain packaging (when it comes) and the ban on smoking outside pubs (which will follow) and the ban on smoking at home with children present (never for a minute doubt that is a target).

All of these things will come and all of them will breed a new hardened groups of recalcitrant rebels dedicated to smoking. The bans and restrictions will be counter-productive ? but the smoking rates will fall because of e-cigs.

[Sevo]

Next time someone pushes for taxpayer-funded campaigns, you can tell them this:

"Suspended state Sen. Leland Yee could have a healthy defense fund thanks to the $653,000 in campaign donations he amassed for his now-defunct run for secretary of state."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....361844.php

[Vampire]

So Rand Paul supports non intervention, based upon historical evidence throughout history that all of this intervention results in resentment and retaliation. Many have warned about interventionism, to include the founders that many of these neocons mention when it is convenient. Yet they haven't an effing clue about freedom, not liberty, and their blatant advocacy for war is despicable.

For those of us who serve pray for peace. While the politicians sabers rattle, it is we the soldiers and sailors that are ready to fight and do battle. This should never be at the whim of a politician, but through voluntary actions of people to secure individual freedom and liberty. Standing armies are a grave threat to liberty. Look at the 100's of millions POS's like Sheldon Adelson are looking to spend to promote war mongers. Christie never served a day, but would have no problem sending us to fight bs wars on his behalf.

"Can he win Iowa, yes. Can he win New Hampshire, yes. Can he win the nomination, maybe ? and that's scary," says one former Mitt Romney bundler. Scared of freedom and liberty are you? Oh, being held accountable for your actions scares you? No more power over others through standing armies? FU little bitch bundler, we're coming.