U.S. Doesn't Recognize East Ukraine Autonomy Referendums, Sterling Asks For Forgiveness, Turkey Ordered to Pay Millions For 1974 Invasion of Cyprus: P.M. Links

CherryX/wikimedia

• The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said that the GOP shouldn't field a 2016 presidential candidate if Congress does not pass immigration reform this year.
• Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), John Barrow (D-Ga.), and Walter Jones (R-N.C.) have sponsored legislation that would ban lawmakers from using taxpayers' money to fly first class.
• The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Turkey to pay $123 million in damages related to the 1974 invasion of Cyprus.
• The U.S. does not recognize the outcomes of the autonomy referendums held in eastern Ukraine yesterday.
• Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has asked to be forgiven for the racist comments he made during a recorded call with his girlfriend.
• Gay marriages have been taking place in Little Rock, Arkansas, following a judge overturning the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Some county clerks have refused to issue marriage licenses.

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Comments

[Injun, as in from India]

The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said that the GOP shouldn't field a 2016 presidential candidate if Congress does not pass immigration reform this year.

Meanwhile, I say that the Democrats should not host a candidate if the 16th amendment is not repealed.

[Brett L]

I hope those rent-seekers choke when they rush out to suck the dick of whomever ISN'T Elizabeth Warren after the 2016 primary dust clears.

[DesigNate]

Is it too much to hope a tornado drops a house on them like the Wicked Witch of the East?

[jesse.in.mb]

Spurious Correlations

If you like the correlation between autism and organic food, you'll love this site!

[Injun, as in from India]

Thanks, Jesse. Now I know for sure that the lack of pirates is the root cause of global warming.

[John]

You are a great American Jesse. That is fucking awesome.

[Auric Demonocles]

You guys haven't seen this about a dozen times in the past 2 days? (not that I've seen it on HnR specifically)

[John]

No. I don't get out much I guess.

[Auric Demonocles]

It seems like that would make it more likely that you've seen it. Though you don't appear to be alone here.

[RBS]

Yeah, I don't think this has made the "early 30's with toddlers" rounds on facebook yet.

[Pro Libertate]

Dear Lord! No more organic anything! In fact, I'm getting all of the organic chemicals removed from my body.

[John]

I once took organic chemistry in college. What can do to atone for my sin?

[Brett L]

Take Inorganic/Physical Chemistry.

[Snark Plissken]

Renounce carbon, duh.

[Auric Demonocles]

My dad switched his dairy farm to organic around 2000. Since I had to work it for a couple of years more before I escaped to college, I am well aware how much a waste organic milk is and will never buy it.

[JWatts]

That's just what a Cylon would say.

[RBS]

Outstanding.

[Warty]

Divorce rate in Mississippi
correlates with
Murders by bodily force

I buy it.

[Warty]

People who starved to death in the US
correlates with
Per capita consumption of margarine (US)

Genius.

[PapayaSF]

Nice, Jesse.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

the correlation between autism and organic food,

Nice to finally have my suspicions confirmed! I always suspected that autistic kids were driving up organic food sales.

[Brandon]

But I always thought libertarians didn't like organic food?

[JWatts]

Soylent Green is organic. So clearly you heard wrong. 😉

[robc]

I fail to see what is spurious about the correlation between marriages in KY and people drowning after falling out of a fishing boat.

Oh, and the whole site's name is bogus. There is nothing spurious about the correlations, its only if you try to claim causation that it becomes spurious.

[Spoonman.]

That is AWESOME.

[Injun, as in from India]

Gay marriages have been taking place in Little Rock, Arkansas, following a judge overturning the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Some county clerks have refused to issue marriage licenses.

You're fired, bitches!

[cavalier973]

Yeah, even though technically you're doig your job by obeying "the will of the people" of the voters of Arkansas.

[Ted S.]

For those thinking of emigrating to Chile

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I rarely watch this sort of earnest, 50s or 60s short film without a Rifftrax commentary track.

[Ted S.]

It's from 1937. Note the movie theater marquee in Santiago, which on the side is advertising the Sonja Henie movie One in a Million, and on the front is advertising "y un viaje de FitzPatrick". 🙂 (James A. FitzPatrick, of course, being the one who narrates all these Traveltalks shorts.)

[Juice]

ahem

[Ted S.]

Sorry, Juice.

[Atanarjuat]

Wow, skeet shooting? I wonder if that's on the itinerary for the Reason cruise.

[The Late P Brooks]

The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said that the GOP shouldn't field a 2016 presidential candidate if Congress does not pass immigration reform this year.

Whatever.

[Pro Libertate]

Seriously, what's the big deal? Everyone has been winking at each other for many years about the cheap, illegal labor. No government, regardless of the ruling party, has done shit about that. Now it's urgent? The fuck it is.

[John]

I always figure the more crazy the rhetoric is the less strong their actual position. That statement tells me that immigration reform is pretty unlikely. If it were likely, the Chamber of Commerce would be acting conciliatory trying to rebuild relationships with the opponents not going insane.

[Brett L]

Like I said upthread, the US CoC is so rent-seeky at a Federal level that nobody takes them seriously. Watch them stomp their tiny feet and command the waters recede.

[Pro Libertate]

I saw something earlier today about Brookings finding in some study that business failures exceed business start-ups. That strikes me as exceedingly bad news, if accurate. And much worse news than whatever is going on with illegals.

[robc]

Craft brewery failure rate has been running about 10% for the last decade.

Its actually insane how low the failure rate is.

[BakedPenguin]

Suck it, Sam Adams!

Seriously, that's insanely low.

[Brandon]

Since when has the Chamber of Commerce given half a shit about business start-ups? That's just competition for their rent-seeking members.

[Pro Libertate]

No doubt. It's all about destroying the market, these days.

[Brandon]

I always figure the more crazy the rhetoric is the less strong their actual position.

Kinda like how the further you are from being an alpha male, the more obsessed you become with "beta males?"

http://reason.com/blog/2014/05.....nt_4506784

[cw]

Like how climate change was so urgent back in the aughts, that if we did nothing to decrease CO2 output by 2012 it would be too late to "reverse" catastrophic warming? And yet they issued a report this year about "urgency" again and how "it's not too late"? And how they keep moving the timetable forward when their predictions don't pan out?

Yeah, that's the quality of policy advocates we get to deal with.

[R C Dean]

if we did nothing to decrease CO2 output by 2012 it would be too late to "reverse" catastrophic warming?

Welp, too late now. I guess we're doomed, and there's no point in passing cap and trade and/or a carbon tax.

[Injun, as in from India]

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Turkey to pay $123 million in damages related to the 1974 invasion of Cyprus..

And finally, Pres. Obama recognizes the Armenian Cypriot genocide.

[Coeus]

Why are so many white men trying to save the planet without the rest of us?

Public opinion research in the US suggests women, Latinos, African-Americans, Asians and Native Americans are more concerned ? and more directly affected ? by climate change than other populations. Doesn't it make sense to include those who are most at risk in decisions about how we fight the defining challenge of our time?

Personally, I'm all for A.A. in environmental lobbying organizations.

[John]

My guess is Latinos, Africans and Asians are generally more concerned about paying the electric bill than your average white upper class twit.

[Mad Scientist]

That's why they need the help of upper class concern trolls TOP MEN!

[Ted S.]

They may be more concerned, but that doesn't necessarily mean their more at risk from "climate change".

If anything, they're more at risk of being further impoverished by the increase of the State necessitated by these risky schemes to fight "climate change".

[Coeus]

the White House released a landmark climate change report, underlining that "[c]ertain people and communities are especially vulnerable, including children, the elderly, the sick, the poor, and some communities of colour." According to the even more landmark IPCC report, that goes for the developing world and rich countries alike.

[Atanarjuat]

The same White House where a certain fellow named Barack Obama told Africans they couldn't have AC units or cars because that would cause the planet to boil over.

[RBS]

and more directly affected

How so?

[cw]

Remember this future headline:

End of the world occurs; women, minorities hit hardest

[Sidd Finch]

Climate Change: Women and Latinos and African-Americans and Asians and Native Americans Hardest Hit

[Michael S. Langston]

About a decade ago or so they started printing these "studies" purporting to show minorities will be be screwed over more by global warming than others.

They proved this essentially by assuming global warming will hurt and will make weather more severe.

They then "proved" historically those with fewer resources (the poor) have more difficulties adjusting to catastrophic weather events than hose who have more resources (the non-poor) at their disposal to use to mitigate any negative affects.

& Voila! Instant proof of privilege!

[Michael S. Langston]

About a decade ago or so they started printing these "studies" purporting to show minorities will be be screwed over more by global warming than others.

They proved this essentially by assuming global warming will hurt and will make weather more severe.

They then "proved" historically those with fewer resources (the poor) have more difficulties adjusting to catastrophic weather events than hose who have more resources (the non-poor) at their disposal to use to mitigate any negative affects.

& Voila! Instant proof of privilege!

[LynchPin1477]

The architecture of the European Court of Human Rights is itself an assault on human rights.

[Juice]

I thought it was a picture of a waste processing facility.

[LynchPin1477]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if a single waste processing facility has done more good for the world than the European Court of Human Rights.

[Stormy Dragon]

They titled the bill the "If Our Military Has to Fly Coach Then so Should Congress Act."

*BARF*

[Juice]

Meanwhile, on Air Force One...

[John]

The military flies coach because it looks bad to the public when they don't. I think that rational applies doubly to Congress creatures.

Moreover, what is wrong with using mawkish appeals to patriotism in the cause of sticking it to Congress?

[RBS]

The idea that everyone in the military is super special simply by being in the military turns some people off.

[John]

That is not the argument. The military is part of the government. If they have to fly coach, shouldn't everyone in the government?

Saying the military is a special part of the government is different than saying they are special from society. The bill doesn't say you can't fly coach, just Congress.

[Mad Scientist]

I think a better way to handle this, that avoids all the BS about appearances without actually doing anything, is for each congressman to have a travel budget. You can fly first class X times within your budget, or you can fly economy X*4 times.

[John]

Fuck that. Make them take Amtrak if they want to travel on the government dime.

[RBS]

Scheduler: "Sir, I called Amtrak, there isn't a seat available until May 28th."

[DesigNate]

of 2028.

[Mad Scientist]

No, that will backfire since they'll pass even more bullet train initiatives.

[Pro Libertate]

Why pay for them to travel anywhere? Fuck that.

[Brandon]

The Constitution was passed when the horse and buggy was the fastest mode of transportation available. If it allows for Congressional travel at all, then that should be the extent of it.

[Pro Libertate]

Precisely. Certainly, no one is preventing members of Congress from traveling freely on their own dime.

Frankly, why are they even being housed in DC? Why not a virtual Congress?

[Brandon]

Stop right there. I'd rather pay a few million to fly the fuckers to the swamp than let them spread a few more trillion around to campaign contributors in exchange for a barely-functional website that does less than GoToMeeting.

[DesigNate]

Nice!

[Pro Libertate]

Well, we could constitutionally mandate the form of the Destructor--I mean, of the virtual Congress.

[Tejicano]

It doesn't need to be virtual. They can have sheap accomodations in DC. Just issue them all fold out cots for their offices.

[Pro Libertate]

Sheep accommodations. Tell me more.

[Stormy Dragon]

I don't disagree with the goal of the bill. I just hate blatant emotional appeals.

[Injun, as in from India]

Where the heck is Fist, by the way?

[jesse.in.mb]

He's been swallowed by by space whales.

[Brett L]

Is that a euphemism for a sex act?

[jesse.in.mb]

Why would Fist be involved in a sex act?

[Mad Scientist]

Warty has some odd predilictions.

[Brett L]

Now you're just trolling. Like there's anyone here who isn't familiar with German porn.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Like I don't have a life.

[jesse.in.mb]

You're funny, Fist. We all know you're just a gremlin in the Reason server room.

[Coeus]

It's odd. Krugman honestly seems to believe that inflation is a moral good.

So Europe's low and falling inflation isn't a problem because it might turn into deflation ? it's a problem because of what it's doing right now.

Oh, and a word on Sweden, where the central bank is indeed on the edge of deflation but say never mind because output is currently growing. Um, does the bank have an inflation target or doesn't it? Yes, the economy can expand some of the time even if inflation is below target ? but because the inflation rate is low, there isn't as much room to respond to adverse shocks. So missing the target is a policy failure whatever the current output indicators.

Anyway, back to Europe: it's not that something could go wrong, but the fact that it already has gone wrong.

[John]

Maybe in cases where assets or commodities are over priced, deflation is a good thing? Just a thought.

[Brett L]

No, see inflation of necessary goods like food, fuel, and living space is good, but deflation of ancillary goods like cable, televisions, and cell phones is good. I think there's a problem here.

[robc]

Deflation is a good thing.

I dont need any qualifiers.

[BakedPenguin]

Gentle deflation is always a good thing, since it encourages people to be smart with their money, and to create more wealth.

[Injun, as in from India]

Umm. Yes. The 100 Trillion Zimbabwean Dollar bill says so.

[Hydra]

Without inflation, people allocate their wealth in ways that are best for them, rather than just spending mindlessly.

[jesse.in.mb]

Crocodiles jumping out of the water to rend flesh in slow motion.

It's like being in Warty's basement with 72% less rape-rape.

[Mad Scientist]

Jaguar hunting crocodiles.

[LynchPin1477]

Although a member of the crocodilia order, caiman are not crocodiles. Crocodiles are the baddest mutha fuckers on the planet.

[Ted S.]

Crocodiles are the baddest mutha fuckers on the planet.

I thought that was John Shaft.

[Mad Scientist]

Shut yo mouth!

[R C Dean]

Err, not on my leg. Nice crocodile . . [reaches for .44 Magnum].

[Brandon]

Physically unchanged for 100 million years, because it's the perfect killing machine-- a half-ton of cold-blooded fury, with a bite force of 20,000 Newtons, and stomach acid so strong, it can dissolve bones and hooves.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

With friends like the Jewish Daily Forward, circumcision doesn't need enemies:

"Rather than contest the facts, liberal Jews seeking to defend irrational Jewish practices must confront the difficult facts head-on, and then inquire into and communicate the underlying values in play. Circumcision is barbaric, primitive, irrational, bizarre, pleasure-reducing, possibly painful, strange, nonconsensual, patriarchal and essentially permanent. And it is ancient, sacred, profound, familial and foundational to Jewish maleness, Jewish identity and Jewish religious practice. Both-and, not either-or."

http://forward.com/articles/19.....on-and-ka/

[John]

Whatever they do, don't defend parents' rights and sovereignty over their children. We can't have that.

[DesigNate]

If you're even more sensitive, wouldn't that preclude you from lasting longer?

...I'm asking for a friend.

[Joshua]

Nope. Takes me forever.

[Sidd Finch]

Gillespie gives us THE DEFINITIVE ARGUMENT for open borders

I'll say this again: it's the issue of immigration itself. It's not the writer. Something about this issue just takes intelligent folks' brains and temporarily destroys their reasoning ability. I probably like, enjoy, and respect in excess of 95% of the writing of Nick Gillespie (and Bryan Caplan for that matter). But when they get to the subject of immigration they just turn into naive first-week college-freshman ranting and raving in the student union. Reason goes out the window. Tempering and hedging one's claims goes out the window. Blow smoke, change the subject, muddy the waters. Propagandistic language and straw-men, mischaracterizing and demonizing one's opponents' views and motives, become the order of the moment.

It's striking: Why is unlimited immigration, alone among public-policy issues, so important that it turns the Nick Gillespies of the world into Michael Moore?

[Mad Scientist]

Drink?

[RBS]

Reason goes out the window.

Drink!

[robc]

Kellerweis.

[Juice]

The main problem with Gillespie's argument is that it's utilitarian instead of just focusing on freedom of travel and freedom of association. Those are the only real reasons to support open borders.

[Sidd Finch]

Even by utilitarian standards, it's just terrible.

[Cytotoxic]

Whiny nativist can't argue with facts and logic; writes puerile screed instead. News at 6.

Tempering and hedging one's claims goes out the window. Blow smoke, change the subject, muddy the waters. Propagandistic language and straw-men, mischaracterizing and demonizing one's opponents' views and motives, become the order of the moment describes this entire screed

[Sidd Finch]

"Something about this issue just takes intelligent folks' brains and temporarily destroys their reasoning ability."

However, if you start out with Cytotoxic's brain ...

[rts]

David Cameron: Taxes will rise unless we can raid bank accounts

Taxes will have to rise unless officials are given new powers to raid people's bank accounts, David Cameron has said.

The Treasury select committee warned that allowing HM Revenue and Customs to remove cash from bank accounts without court orders is "very concerning" because of its history of mistakes.

Very concerning because of mistakes... never mind the theft aspect of it, oh ho.

[John]

If the only way to collect a tax is through draconian measures, maybe the tax is too high?

[cw]

Sounds like a false dichotomy: what about cutting spending?

[gaijin]

Taxes will rise unless we can raid bank accounts

I suspect that they will end up doing both!

[Brandon]

How are they different?

[R C Dean]

I thought collecting taxes was raiding bank accounts. What am I missing here?

[DesigNate]

There's a pretense of agreeing to paying the taxes?

[trshmnster the terrible]

I don't know if this is new or not, but it is pretty awesome. Trey Gowdy taking media to task for sucking.

[John]

Maybe if the media had done its job, we would already know what happened and wouldn't need a Congressional investigation.

[jesse.in.mb]

Damn Switzerland, that's cold.

For wannabe thieves, nothing is more tantalizing than an empty street and a vulnerable ATM. Soon, though, they could be facing more than just failure. Taking design cues from mother nature herself, researchers are building ATMs that fend off thieves with a spray of hot, steaming foam.
[...]
Researchers at ETH Zurich University took cues from the deadly beetle and built two chemical filled honeycomb chambers. Except this time, hydrogen peroxide was paired with manganese dioxide. Since the two are only separate by a thin sheet of lacquer, any tampering will cause the chamber to break immediately, triggering a reaction that produces water vapor, oxygen, and heat.
[...]
Even though the thief might not walk away with a half-eaten face, this is a much more effective way of rendering ATM-theft useless. The oozing foam from the reaction will be laden with dye, marking the banknotes (rendering them useless) as well as the thieves themselves.

Get back to me when ATM users can spit acid at muggers.

[PapayaSF]

I thought burglar traps were generally illegal.

[cw]

They are in the U.S., well, at least any trap that could cause grave bodily injury or death.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Not in Switzerland, if a bank does it.

[Coeus]

Only potentially fatal ones, at least in Texas. Not sure about elsewhere. dying them orange would be kosher.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, first of all, that's U.S. jurisprudence. Might not hold true in Switzerland.

Second, if they did that here, could you imagine the surprise of the customer who got zapped this way with their entirely legitimate ATM transaction? Not to mention the following litigation.

[jesse.in.mb]

I think they have to physically break into the machine to get sprayed. It's mechanically triggered like the acid trap in one of the Mummy movies.

[Pro Libertate]

Except when it malfunctions.

[jesse.in.mb]

I guess, but if it's designed to only activate if the case is cracked open you could design it so there was no direct pathway for the stuff to spray. At that point you'd only hit people who are opening the case licitly, not regular customers.

[Pro Libertate]

There are also the lawsuits from ATM maintenance guys.

[jesse.in.mb]

I believe the formula they are using is just designed to make a mess. I don't think they're spraying an acid like the bombardier beetle the design emulates. It would basically just make you and the money you've pulled out easily identifiable like bursting dye packs at banks.

[Pro Libertate]

Look, just tell me who to sue?

[jesse.in.mb]

Probably still the Swiss. They're flush with Jew gold still, no?

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, excellent. Your honor, Nazis. The plaintiffs rest. . .uneasily, in their mass graves.

[Marshall Gill]

You must be one damn fine attorney!

[Pro Libertate]

You can't lose when you can smear the other side as Nazis.

[R C Dean]

Except when it malfunctions.

Its Swiss. It doesn't malfunction.

[Pro Libertate]

Ah, ha! Since it can't be an error, the assault on my client must've been intentional! And Nazis! We'll accept a settlement of $1 billion, your honor. In Nazi gold.

[Coeus]

Sweet.

Hunters in Alabama will soon be able to kill their prey without disturbing neighbors thanks to rules that allow the use silencers on weapons.

In a unanimous vote last week, Alabama's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Board agreed that hunters should be able to begin to start using suppressed weapons as early as next fall.

now they just need to make silencers legal without a trust.

[Brandon]

Hunters in Alabama will soon be able to kill their prey without disturbing neighbors thanks to rules that allow the use silencers on weapons.

And add "how silencers work outside of movies and cartoons" to the long, long list of things that Raw Story writers need to actually learn before writing about them.

[Coeus]

I'm willing to bet that even those who know that they only lower the volume don't care. Cause those horrible hunters should be deaf as penance.

[Hydra]

I thought silencers suppressors were basically equivalent in decibel reduction to wearing a good set of earplugs. Should be enough to protect your hearing if you're outside.

[Coeus]

They are. But if you are stalk hunting, you can't wear ear protection. So cans can help preserve your hearing.

Well, you can wear earplugs, but your hunting will suck.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"American Christians pledge solidarity with persecuted Christians in Egypt, Iraq and Syria...

"Some 200 Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leaders have signed on -- from Catholic Cardinal Wuerl, to National Association of Evangelicals' chair Leith Anderson, to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church to Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Oshagan Cholayan....

"[the petition says] "...the Egyptian, Iraqi and Syrian Christian communities, under the additional scourge of intensifying religious extremism, are experiencing a sudden, massive exodus of their members from the region."

"With the rise of Islamist extremists, this situation has become so acute that, regarding the Christians, it is not only individuals who are threatened. The presence of the entire Christian community in the region of its birth is at stake. The pledge emphasizes:

""Since these communities account for most of the indigenous Christians in today's Middle East, the continued presence of Christians in the region where Christianity originated 2,000 years ago is threatened.""

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion.....gypt-iraq/

[John]

Middle Eastern Christians are too brown for the Republicans to care and too Christian and not black enough for the Democrats to care. They are basically fucked.

Notice the reaction to black Christians being terrorized in Nigeria is so different than the reaction to the fate of Middle Eastern Christians.

[PapayaSF]

Middle Eastern Christians are too brown for the Republicans to care

Actually, I have seen a great deal of concern for Middle East Christians expressed on conservative sites.

[John]

Some have. But a lot haven't.

[Stormy Dragon]

"American Christians pledge solidarity with persecuted Christians in Egypt, Iraq and Syria...

Persecuted non-Christians can get bent.

[John]

Yeah because showing solidarity to one group is totally the same as endorsing the persecution of all groups.

DERP!!

[Stormy Dragon]

When Christians are persecuting Muslims (e.g. Central African Republic), they don't seem all that concerned.

[R C Dean]

The little I know about the CAR, that's more in the nature of the local Christians getting fed up with (radical) Muslim depredations and deciding (regrettably, perhaps) to "drain the ocean."

[Stormy Dragon]

Yes and while I can certainly understand why the anti-balaka militias formed, they've long since gone from protecting their communisites from the Selaka militias to outright ethnic cleansing.

Presumably we should find that as disturbing as the ethnic cleansing of Christians we're seeing in Syria and Egypt.

[Redmanfms]

One can't express sympathy for one group of people being slaughtered because some other group thousands of miles away is also being slaughtered - Stormy Dragon, Master of Fallacy.

[Hydra]

If the Seleka are getting safe harbor from Muslim villages I can understand the anti-balaka activity.

[JWatts]

"Persecuted non-Christians can get bent."

Yep, that's definitely a DERP comment.

[Coeus]

'Point of no return': NASA says the ice sheet collapse in West Antarctica is 'unstoppable'

Oh no!!

Ice is melting in the western Antarctic at an "unstoppable" pace, scientists said Monday, warning that the discovery holds major consequences for global sea level rise in the coming decades.

The speedy melting means that prior calculations of sea level rise worldwide made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will have to be adjusted upwards, scientists told reporters.

Oh no!!

"It will raise sea level by 1.2 meters or four feet," said Rignot, whose paper appears in the peer-reviewed Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

Oh no!!

"All of our simulations show it will retreat at less than a millimeter of sea level rise per year for a couple of hundred years, and then, boom, it just starts to really go," Joughin said.

Oh.

[Bam!]

If it's unstoppable, there's no need to spend money fighting it.

[John]

It is almost like there are these enormous natural forces that are beyond our control or something.

[Pro Libertate]

There you go. Time to prepare for post-apocalyptic America. Leather outfit? Gas tank wired to explode? So many things to think about.

[Hyperion]

Keep in mind, that although they are calling for Doomsday, no way to stop it, if you actually start to prepare for it, they will label you a prepper extremist and send out a paramilitary squad to raid your shelter. Makes about as much sense as everything else the government does.

[Pro Libertate]

Okay, so I should do all my preparation on the inside then?

[Hyperion]

Do you have more than 7 days worth of canned food in your home? Yes? What about a Ron Paul sticker or copy of Atlas Shrugge? Yes again? TERRORIST!

[Brett L]

Four feet? With 200 years warning? Maybe Rotterdam or Amsterdam might have some technological insights.

[Auric Demonocles]

UN. STOPP. ABLE.

[Joshua]

four meters when all is said and done.

[Warty]

Global warming alarmism
inversely correlates with
Membership in millenial churches

[Coeus]

That's not spurious, though. They've already got a religion, so they don't need CAGW.

[robc]

Bad news for Bevins, I saw my first McConnell yard sign today in Bowling Green. Only 100:1 ratio or so now.

Also, fittingly, the sign said "Team Mitch". Yup, thats all you need to know.

[Cytotoxic]

Isn't Bevin a nutcase to some degree? And didn't TP candidates get their clocks cleaned out last Tuesday? I'm calling time on the TP.

[robc]

Isn't Bevin a nutcase to some degree?

Probably. In comparison to Mitch? Not at all.

[The Late P Brooks]

"All of our simulations show it will retreat at less than a millimeter of sea level rise per year for a couple of hundred years, and then, boom, it just starts to really go," Joughin said.

If we were able to accurately model a chaotic system over centuries, wouldn't the results vary wildly from run to run, making the whole thing UTTERLY POINTLESS?

Or do you just keep running simulations until you get the one (nonreproducible) result you're looking for, and then pull the plug?

[Brett L]

Forget it, P. It's climate change.

[Cytotoxic]

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Turkey to pay $123 million in damages related to the 1974 invasion of Cyprus.

This is...interesting. I guess this is the EU's way of saying 'nope' to Turkey regarding the latter's interest in joining the EU.

Turkey saved a ton of people from second-class status and possible genocide by invading Cyprus. They should be congratulated.

[Rhywun]

I guess this is the EU's way of saying 'nope' to Turkey regarding the latter's interest in joining the EU.

I hear Russia is looking for new members.

[Hydra]

I'm still puzzled why the Cyprus govt was admitted to the EU when they don't even control their entire country.

[jesse.in.mb]

Hijras do charming PSA about wearing your seatbelt.

[Coeus]

High school student's "rape culture" artwork banned from showcase for being "inappropriate"

So apparently, all the horrible things that feminists say that pictures of titties are, completely disappear when you call the piece "rape culture". Brilliant.

I'm about to start a XXX website called "rape culture". I expect heavy linkage from feminist sites.

[Cytotoxic]

No money until your commenting system is fixed Reason. Not. One. Penny.

[Coeus]

The unbearable whitness of liberal media.

So what happens if you stress diversity and still end up with an applicant pool that is almost exclusively white? "If you care about a diverse newsroom, you need to constantly be looking down the pipeline," says Ann Friedman, former deputy editor at the Prospect. "It requires you to be actively looking for new staff members, not just perusing the r?sum?s that roll in." That means looking outside one's existing social network and actively asking minorities to apply.

"Hey, you. Yeah you. Black guy. Wanna write in a newspaper? No? OK. Hey! Asian chick!"

[Hyperion]

Fuck it, just go outside the building to the street and grab the first non-white person you see and say 'You're hired!'. And if the person refuses the job, let the beatings commence until they accept, for equality!

[Rhywun]

I find it encouraging that "minorities" aren't as obsessed with racial minutiae as this idiot no doubt thinks they should be.

[110 Lean]

DHS Emails Reveal U.S. May Have Terrorist "Hands Off" List

The Obama administration appears to have a terrorist "hands off" list that permits individuals with extremist ties to enter the country, according to internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents obtained by a United States Senator.

It's unimaginable that any government would do this, but it seems like the Obama administration is constantly breaking new ground. The disturbing details of this secret initiative were made public this week by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who has obtained DHS electronic mail discussing what could be a terrorist "hands off" list. The exchange includes a 2012 email chain between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asking whether to admit an individual with ties to various terrorist groups. The individual had scheduled an upcoming flight into the U.S., according to an announcement issued by the senator.

The person was believed to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a close associate and supporter Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the mail exchange obtained by Grassley's office.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm trying to come up with a not-evil reason why they'd do this.

[Fluffy]

CIA asset.

You have to put them on the list, for authenticity's sake.

But you don't want them to actually suffer the consequences of being ON the list.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, if that's the case, then they're all going to die soon, right?

[Hyperion]

Look, DHS only has so much resources. They need to concentrate on the more serious threats, like Mexican women crossing the border to do the laundry at Best Western. THEY TOOK OUR JERBZ!

[Juice]

IIRC, they were pretty hands off with Mohammed Atta.

[R C Dean]

I'm waiting for the Congressional inquiry into the trainload of Stinger missiles we sold to the Muslim Brotherhood. As in:

(1) Why?

(2) Where are those missiles now?

And, if time permits, a third line of questioning:

(3) How fucking stupid do you have to be to send man-portable anti-aircraft missiles to a terrorist organization?

[widget]

The USG, not the military, has purchased two bullets for every mam, woman, and child in its jurisdiction. Don't worry, be happy.

[Stormy Dragon]

The person was believed to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a close associate and supporter Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the mail exchange obtained by Grassley's office.

Given the two Iranian backed groups in that list and the two Saudi backed groups in that list have been trying to kill each other for decades, this sentence makes no sense.

[RishJoMo]

Sometimes man you jsut have to smack em down dude.

http://www.YourAnon.tk

[juris imprudent]

Too lazy to look, but someone did condemn the building housing the EU Court of Human Rights as an offense against human rights, right?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Blazing Saddles would not be made today.

http://adf.ly/mh9Bv

[Mad Scientist]

Hello, is this the CEO of United Airlines? Hi, I'm (Representative|Senator) Sleeze's secretary. We'd like you to know that there's important legislation moving through congress that affects the airline industry. The congressman wants to do the right thing, of course, but lately he's been losing sleep due to his hectic travel schedule and cramped economy seating.

[Brandon]

And the next bill coming out of Congress would be mandating that all airline seating be first class, followed by one to correct the market failure of skyrocketing airline ticket prices, followed by bailing out the poor struggling airlines that had been so badly mistreated by the free market.

[Ted S.]

Gotta love the smiling natives in the cart, and the way these shorts are always targeted at upper middle class interests, like those outdoor cafes selling the horrible fruity consuela cocktails.

[GILMORE]

"Mongo only pawn in game of life"

Alex Karras was later Webster's Dad.

I didn't realize that until fairly recently.

[Ted S.]

I was too young when Blazing Saddles came out, but not too you for Webster.

Karras later married Susan Clark, who played Webster's adopted mother.

[Ted S.]

There's a Traveltalks short from about a year later called Valiant Venezuela that leaves me sad thinking about what Chavez's "Bolivarian socialism" did to the country; that one doesn't seem to be on Youtube, though.