GOP Wants to Fund Israeli 'Iron Dome', Smokers Live Longer Than Obese, We're Going Extinct: A.M. Links

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Fugure/Flickr Speaking in Los Angeles Thursday, President Obama touted "economic patriotism," which apparently involves keeping companies headquartered here by fiat. The president called on Congress to pass a bill ending the "unpatriotic tax loophole" that allows U.S. companies to acquire foreign companies and "invert" business overseas.
- Exhausted by doing something surprisingly sane last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is promoting GOP legislation providing emergency funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. "Republicans are united in support of our ally Israel," he said yesterday.
- Israeli and Palestinian forces clashed in the West Bank Thursday night, after the Fatah government there called for a "day of rage" in solidarity with Gaza.
- The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Food and Drug Administration in a lawsuit filed by activists seeking to end the use of antibiotics in livestock feed.
- Researchers from the National Cancer Institute found that smokers live longer than the very obese.
- Federal agencies' next college campus meddling may involve transgender student accomodations.
- Scientists say we may be in the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event.
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Speaking in Los Angeles Thursday, President Obama touted "economic patriotism," which apparently involves keeping companies headquartered here by fiat.
Involuntary patriotism is the purest kind.
Straight out of Atlas Shrugged. Can the Anti Dog Eat Dog Rule be far behind?
Someone yesterday suggested capital controls would be next.
We already have capital controls, via the tax code.
Of course, the dumbfucks also included an incentive to keep your capital out of the country.
Equalization of Opportunity bill will probably be first.
Someone needs a checklist version to show how far down the AS rabbit hole we have gone. I'll get to work.
Bless you. That will be *awesome*!
*** wipes anticipatory tear ***
I have to reread the book, so.it may be a while.
Don't forget -- The rest of the movie's out in September!
If you skip the speeches, its only about 300 pages.
Someone on HnR, maybe Fluffy once said Obama must have read Atlas Shrugged, as he claims to have, but thought Wesley Mouch was the hero.
It's where he (or his speechwriter) got the "you didn't build that" line
As I said yesterday, Directive 10-289 is already drafted. They're just waiting for the right moment to sign it.
Certificates of Need already exist.
Hello.
Patriotism is the first refuge of the scoundrel.
Just to reiterate, "economic patriotism" is just a euphemistic rewording of "national socialism".
It sounded a lot better in the original german.
In "that's not a hand roll" news....
Raw deal: Man pinched for stuffing stolen sushi in his pants, cops say
Kid Rock Ordered To Produce Glass Sex Toy In Insane Clown Posse Case
Kid Rock allegedly has an important glass dildo in his possession, and he's been ordered to turn it over as evidence in a sexual harassment suit against a rapping clown duo called Insane Clown Posse.
The duo's former publicist of three years, Andy Pellegrini, filed a lawsuit last year alleging wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation and infliction of emotional distress, the Detroit Free Press reports. Her experience at the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos (the group's fan base, considered a hybrid gang by the Department of Justice), is described in the suit as "a living hell."...
"Gathering of the Juggalos"
*shudder*
I dunno..could be fun!
American Juggalo.
I was just thinking of the DVDs I own:
American Gangster
American Hustle
American Splendor
American Gigolo
American Juggalo would be a nice addition to the collection
It's hilarious and depressing. Skip to the 8 minute mark if you're short on time to watch a dude use spray paint instead of makeup on his face. Lots of language and some nudity throughout, NSFW.
JUGGALOS ASSEMBLE.
Her experience at the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos (the group's fan base, considered a hybrid gang by the Department of Justice), is described in the suit as "a living hell."...
I think attending a Gathering of the Juggalos qualifies as "assumption of the risk", as in, what the hell did she think was going to happen?
Bare-Naked Bandits Burglarize Burgers From Restaurant
Three naked burglars stole burgers from Florida restaurant Doc's Beach House early on July 20, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The three robbers were captured on surveillance video which showed two of them wearing absolutely nothing and one wearing nothing but white underwear....
It's been one week since you stole me....
...please take me out of your underwear.
+1 Million Dollars
I would have excused "buffet" in place of "restaurant."
Now that's a burger shot.
Doc's is about 10 miles from my house. We used to go there all the time on our way home from the beach. These days it's too crowded and full of tourists acting like dickheads, which is much less becoming in a 60 year old than in a college student.
I live in a tourist/resort area too. This time of year is brutal. I don't understand why people seem to also take a vacation from good manners and common sense.
I don't understand why people seem to also take a vacation from good manners and common sense.
You're assuming they have good manners and common sense when not on vacation. I seriously question that premise.
Haha, true. I mean, most of them are from Ohio, PA and WV.
So, disappointed. The headline writer couldn't have thought for a minute and come up with, "bare-bunned"?
Scientists say we may be in the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event.
If it's not because of AGW I want those scientists ostracized.
Well, after reading the article it seems like we could trivially stop this by exterminating most of the humans on the planet. I'd give it a week or two before that solution is proposed.
It's cause of Warty.
Eat meat, fart with pride, kill the planet
Scientists seem to have a bad tendency to extrapolate current trends into the future endlessly. "The temperature dropped by a degree! It will continue to drop forever!"..."The temperature raised by a degree! It will continue to raise forever!"
We aren't exactly out there clubbing dodo birds anymore.
I would if I could find one.
Seriously. Forget dinosaurs. I wish we could bring back the Dodo because they just seem like so much fun.
Oh waffles, hello! I have been instructed to harass you in the AM when jesse is unavailable. Why don't you tell Miss Nicole all about Mister Bonus and how you're going to send jesse the pics he so desperately craves.
You are the worst. This is dangerously close to broaching the barrier into real life. I'm starting to feel unsafe, like, Amanda Marcotte unsafe.
Extrapolating
before checking the link I KNEW it was xkcd
In other news Voyager is finally leaving the Solar System riiiiiight.... NOW.
Actually it's been recalculated to be tomorrow. It's because the extra heat from global warming stretched out the solar system a little.
A Scottish woman walked around with a five-inch sex toy inside her for 10 years without realising, doctors have reported.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hea.....z38U6y4400
So we know she was faking all those orgasms.
Maybe it helped with that.
"It was a 100-to-1 shot, Doc, 100-to-1."
Buttplug? That you?
I think he's up Obama's ass, not a woman's.
Weigel is a doughy, pimply-faced beta male that has no hope in ever scoring with a cougar like Palin.
He dreams of being her sex toy because that's all he's got.
"Why is your organ so small?"
"I didn't know I'd be playing in a cathedral."
Five inch? Must be white.
Researchers from the National Cancer Institute found that smokers live longer than the morbidly obese.
Also found that they look sexier, too. (As long as they don't smile.)
Or breathe.
Or laugh. A raspy, white-trash smoker's cackle is one of the least attractive qualities a woman can have.
Oh, come on! Who doesn't enjoy hearing it transition into uncontrollable lung-heaving?
"As long as they don't smile"
Anyone who has seen the beautiful Anna Karina after a lifetime of cigarettes and red wine can attest to this fact.
Oh, baby.
Idiot commuters call the cops on a guy dressed as Deadpool, carrying plastic swords and cupcakes for charity
http://www.dailytelegraph.com......7001404525
To be fair Deadpool probably made a snarky comment to them.
He wasn't talking to them, he was talking to the readers.
found that all the "weapons" were plastic fakes and he was dressed as "Spiderman"
Huh?
Scientists say we may be in the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event.
First Massachusetts is responsible for the early days of Obamacare. Now an extinction event?
You are fucking kidding.
If Republicans do this one last thing they will finally get the Jewish American vote.
Nah. Shoring up the evangelical Armageddon crowd.
Maybe the reloads are manufactured in a TEAM RED district/state?
Primary season is over, no more pretending to be fiscally conservative.
This, too.
Why?
They should set it up as a technology transfer payment. Maybe buy the actual systems from the Israelis.
But just giving them money? No.
Look--the Israelis are doing a job that Americans just don't want to do, namely, getting on the ground and killing Islamists.
Give them all the money they want.
the Iron Dome of 5% success? Story at Rooters
...after the Fatah government there called for a "day of rage" in solidarity with Gaza.
Day? Who are they kidding?
Can't really blame them. I forget when was the last time I had a day that wasn't a day of rage.
I think it was that day I lost cable and internet connectivity. No Reason nut punches, no reality TV...
Fatah calls for Lifetime of Rage for West Bank residents!
Is that a television channel aimed at women in the westbank?
The Lifetime Channel does tend to send me into a rage....
A day of rage for me these days opening the fridge to only find Miller Lites that my wife purchased instead of Two Hearted that I asked for. To be honest, it involves more skulking than raging.
You need to train your wife better.
Pretty disappointing, but for some perspective, a woman who loves you did something to please you, but didn't understand exactly what you wanted (side note, you may not always understand exactly what pleases her).
For those of us who haven't had so much as a kind word from a woman for...a few years, now, your situation actually sounds pretty good. And now I'm going to hang myself continue trolling online dating websites for someone mutated and desperate enough to settle for me.
Happy Friday!
Not to pile on, but she is drop dead gorgeous, so I usually let it slide.
Yeah, if my wife picked me up a six pack of anything at this point I'd be pretty happy.
I'm with you Atanarjuat. Before my divorce I hadn't heard a kind word or seen a kind gesture in so long...well, at least now I'm not getting yelled at for buying the wrong stuff at the grocery store.
I've been away from the online sites for a little while. Might try to circle back in the fall. Hope you are having good luck.
Wait, we're supposed to get kind words and not yelled at for not directly supervising the making of outsourced sandwiches?
WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?
Am I the only one who orders the almost right thing on purpose so I don't get volunteered to go to Publix when she wants a sub?
WTF is 'skulking'?
sounds like an evil wizard the Conan will soon cut in half.
I don't think it's the word he wanted, but it is a word: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skulk
And if that gets boring, you can always switch over to see an Islamic mouse get beaten to death by Teh Jooz
Snoop Dogg smoked weed in the White House
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z38U6soyDn
Wait... Snoops smokes weed?!
It used to be those Evil Negro Jazz Players that smoked weed; now it's those Evil Negro Rappers.
I trust that bastard is now on The No Fly List.
Willie did it first.
So what. The Beatles smoked weed at BUCKINGHAM PALACE. In the early 60s.
Not at some debauched party palace in 2009.
Australia's first ever cat cafe opens in Melbourne
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z38U6da1P2
"Cat -- the OTHER white meat!"
Cat -- the OTHER, Other white meat?
Great, not only is every living thing in Australia out to kill you, they are all out to get your cat, too.
Feral cats have wreaked havoc on every other specie in Australia--it's about time the apex predator stepped in and made things right.
I think they have lots of east Asian restaurants.
Can I get accommodations for thinking I am Emperor of Earth?
But you can call me "Ray."
+1 King of the Moon
Fuck Obama and his "economic patriotism". It's Obama's own fucking fault companies are racing to leave.
Selfish prick. Don't you understand all the great things they do with that revenue?
I understand, that's why I'm mad at the government.
Well, in fairness, he's had plenty of help from the other dems.
I guess that is true. It doesn't make me any less mad though. Remember these are the same people who were disturbed by Republican calls of patriotism during the Iraq war, and rightfully so.
You must be one of those "savers."
Hoarder of our money!
Not being in debt up to your eye-balls is hoarding, you un-patriotic wrecker!
I did take half of my "Oh Shit" fund for a down payment on a CPO car.
I looked at it as money that could either be losing value sitting in savings for some yet-to-happen catastrophe, or saving me money on a loan. That's a no-brainer.
President Obama considers giving minors and young adults from Honduras refugee status. Stay tuned for more Reason articles about how the next human wave to hit the border is due to the WOD.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07......html?_r=0
If they are fleeing the country because of violence, how much of that is caused by the war on drugs?
He's giving them an open invitation.
How much worse is the WOD this year than say, last year?
It's always awful, yes, the invitation makes more think about leaving the awful, but it's the awful that is motivating in the first place.
I'm not making a case for him doing that. I strongly disagree with it, especially with the reasons he's doing it for. The guy is totally shameless and I don't know that there's ever been anyone in history who seeks out a pile of victim or dead children to climb upon to make political points.
I'm just curious, if it is so violent there, with gangs, how much of that did the USA cause? Because it also seems pretty hypocritical to create a crisis and then do something like this instead of looking at what the real problem is.
Well, the feds were arming the gangs in Central America, if you remember Operation Castaway.
I understand not wanting to open the floodgates, but jeez, how desperate do you have to be to put your 10 year old kid on a train by himself for a thousand mile trip through some of the most dangerous areas in the world? Seriously, this is not something a parent does for Free Stuff. Time to show some compassion here.
What was the inflection point that caused the spike?
That's the question, isn't it? I doubt we will ever get a good (i.e. non-politicized) answer at this point. It's entirely possible that rumors of open entry for kids are at least partly responsible. Even if one heard that rumor, things at home have to be pretty grim to take the risk. It doesn't really seem like things suck there much worse than they did a year ago, but I don't know the situation on the ground there.
This is pure speculation, but i wonder if parts of Mexico becoming slightly more under control is pushing some more of the prohibition related violence further south.
As I understand it, the violence in Central America has been pretty stable for the last ten years.
So its hard to hang this sudden flood of illegals on that. Gee, I wonder what else may have happened that might result in a flood of illegals, especially illegal minors?
Scientists say we may be in the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event.
It would be cool if the modern day luddites and puritans, now referred to as progressives, would go extinct. Just off yourself now progtards, to save the planet! ButtPlug, you go first, please.
Tony is more the AGW/ClimateChange/Climate Disruption/ClimateChoas warrior - shouldn't he go first?
Why don't they just go together? They both seem like lonely people, so maybe before they jump off that bridge, they can have a first/last moment of comradery?
That is kind of ... poetic. Nice.
"If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces."
Another kind of reset button ....
*slap!*
*slap*
Because Friday, right?
Slap ass Friday!
*SLAP*
As long as it isn't Drop Bear Friday or Strange and Highly Venomous Creature Found Only In Oz Friday.
*slap!*
Too bad no one knew about that a couple years in advance, or they could have sold a lot of Y2K like books.
I'm confused. The story you linked doesn't explain how solar flares are caused by global warming.
I'm too lazy to link to it, SF -- but I'm sure you recall the Plan 9 alien's explanation.
Not the dreaded solaronite bomb!
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
You just have to assume that it's caused by global warming, everything is, duh!
The story you linked doesn't explain how solar flares are caused by global warming.
Or by Bush. Everything bad is the fault of one or the other, we all know that.
SO WHICH IS IT?
Thank God this didn't happen. Can you imagine the kind of Orwellian hellhole our "leaders" would have set up after something like that.
Idiot's guide to inequality.
Unfortunately, equal opportunity is now a mirage. Indeed, researchers find that there is less economic mobility in America than in class-conscious Europe.
We know some of the tools, including job incentives and better schools, that can reduce this opportunity gap. But the United States is one of the few advanced countries that spends less educating the average poor child than the average rich one. As an escalator of mobility, the American education system is broken.
There's still a great deal we don't understand about inequality. But whether or not you read Piketty, there's one overwhelming lesson you should be aware of: Inequality and lack of opportunity today constitute a national infirmity and vulnerability ? and there are policy tools that can make a difference.
Nicholas Kristoff is that idiot.
Does he argue for school choice for the US's poor then?
....let me guess, just throw more tax dollars at it.
Nick, that's because teacher's unions are stronger in poor cities and siphoning off more of the money.
I'd like to see how he came to this conclusion.
That could only be true if he's talking about how the rich children go to private schools and the poor children go to public schools.
I'm guessing he pulled it out of his ass. As noted elsewhere, we often spend far MORE on the poorest children - but as we all know, most of that extra spending never makes it into the classroom.
If there was so much more economic opportunity in Europe than the USA, we'd be seeing a lot of people relocating there. But despite so many proggies here claiming that everything is so much better in Europe, almost no one is moving there.
If there is any increasing lack of opportunity today in the USA, it's because of cronyism and the government trying to convince everyone that they are the answer to everything and getting people to actually believe that.
Want to decrease inequality? Get the government the fuck out of most of the things they are meddling in.
Income taxes may be progressive but so many other taxes are regressive and the poor bear the brunt. That is before talking about the regulatory burden and how that favors established players. I tend to think politicians know this and so they promote all sorts of wealth transfers, but then I realize they are likely just doubling down on stupid.
I tend to think politicians know this
I don't give them that much credit. Their specialty is kissing babies and ass, it's what gets them elected.
I think it's part of the reason we'll never see a flat tax. Not enough opportunities to game the system to their advantage.
The really stupid thing about US tax and welfare programs is how they impose insanely high marginal tax rates at the low end. The abrupt phase-outs of EITC, food stamps, Medicare, etc. create huge practical barriers that deter low-income people from improving their lot.
The abrupt elimination of the ObamaCare subsidy at 400% of poverty line is particularly odious. In my own case, it imposes a 700,000% marginal rate on the dollar that increases my income from 399.9% to 400.1% of poverty line (around $63000).
It's so insane that one wonders whether it's an intentional barrier to deter self-employment as well as economic mobility.
If there is less economic mobility in the US, on average, it's probably because most major progressive strongholds (California, Detroit, Chicago) have a vast lower class who stays mired there. Not because Europe is a better place to look for a good job.
most major progressive strongholds (California, Detroit, Chicago) have a vast lower class who stays mired there
Which of course is the goal, since this vast lower socioeconomic urban class provides a pool of reliable Team Blue voters.
That's right Hyp. The flow comes this way. French citizens are escaping France by the buckets.
You can judge the quality of a paper by the quality of comments in the threads. To wit:
"Thank you, we need a Piketty for Dummies primer. It's good he's getting publicity, but he isn't the greatest salesman for his ideas. I've listened to his interviews and found it hard to follow him, and the thick French accent, while so charming, gets in the way after a few long paragraphs explaining economic data.
(cont.)
I watched the video of Eliz Warren and Piketty discussing inequality at the Huff Post event recently. One thing puzzled me. After Warren went through her hard-hitting, persuasive critique of the US trillion $ student debt problem, the moderater asked Piketty, isn't French university tuition free? He said yes, but you don't always get what you pay for, and it's complicated. That ended his input, and no one asked him, what do you mean by that exactly? I was surprised at his cryptic answer from the author of the best selling book on global inequality. Lost chance for a comparison.
I wonder do the French want to change to our soaring tuition system, putting their grads in life time debt? That would work beautifully to lower their living standards and restrict higher education quite efficiently.
I heard a comment from someone whose son studies in France?that if they ever tried to impose US style high tuition in France, the students would demonstrate and protest until they shut the whole country down.
Aren't we lucky we don't have to suffer such disruptions? We have enough voters who are nice and passive, accepting the excuses for the downward spiral."
Behold the genius NYT commenter.
1. One of the greatest things about America compared to Europe is that we don't shut shit down every two days because somebody wants a raise, or a 41st vacation day.
2. What are students striking/protesting going to shut down? Coffee shops?
That sounds like fun - sorry I missed it.
If you want to still experience the effects of the video, simply drill into your temples with a 2" bit.
But the United States is one of the few advanced countries that spends less educating the average poor child than the average rich one.
What a load of happy horseshit. The so-called Abbott Districts in New Jersey (such as Newark) spend considerably more per pupil than many other school districts, and a lot more than most districts in the country. Per pupil spending is not an indicator of academic achievement.
Absolutely, DC spends what, $30K per student a year
Yeah, it is funny but when you include all spending on K-12 education (Federal, State, and Local) it equals the military budget that everyone likes to bitch about and that doesn't even touch all the money parents pour into private schools.
Government funding of K-12 education is running north of $600 billion a year right now for a student population of 50 million or over $12,000 per student
Well, plus I really kinda doubt that rich parents in other advanced countries don't spend a nickel of their own money on their kids, or that the schools that their kids go to are funded exactly the same as the schools in the slums and ghettos.
I severely doubt that, unless you exclude any money that rich parents personally spend on educating their kids. No rich kids in England go to private prep schools? Almost by definition rich kids get more spent on X than poor kids.
Also, I was a poor kid in the US. Now I'm making well above the median household income, by myself. There's plenty of upward mobility if you are willing to work for it, and do so in an area that other people want help (i.e. not puppet shows).
do so in an area that other people want help (i.e. not puppet shows)
You're just a neurospastist.
I'm just following my passion!
The federal government is investigating how detailed information about migrant children being held at two American military bases wound up in the hands of con artists who are using it to lure unsuspecting relatives into paying hefty sums to reunite their families.
It just gets better and better!
If any private sector organization lost data like this, the media and grandstanders like *uck Schumer would be screaming bloody murder.
"Scientists say we may be in the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event."
Seen as a positive by libertarians. Natural elimination of progs.
Hero doctor stops hospital shooting rampage
First do no harm, motherfucker. I guess somebody must have taken down the gun free zone sign that day.
Mordin was a fuckin' bro. RIP buddy.
Brought tears to my eyes, what a hero.
Tribe member is a bonus. Good on him.
Proof that gun control laws work!
[/sarcasm]
"When talk therapy fails ...."
Silverman was grazed in the temple during the gunfight in his office,
That's what he gets for taking the law into his own hands. If he had called the police instead - professionals who are trained for these situations - he'd likely not have sustained any injuries.
That explains all he police helicopters yesterday. I'm a block away from there.
I can say without any expertise in that field, I would be a CCW if I were a psychiatrist. Too much potential for bad things to happen. Gun free zones be damned.
FB facepalm of the day - a friend shared an Alan Grayson whine about how those evil Koch brothers are saying mean things about him, so send money now. From the comments:
The family of the Koch brothers had people make lampshades from jewish skin back in Germany. (paraphrased)
These people are completely unhinged.
Trolling, maybe?
We should ask Alan who else might have aided the Nazis.
Walter Duranty?
Vidkun Quisling?
George Soros?
Neville Chamberlain?
I thought they baked bread from the blood of Muslim babies. It's so hard to keep up with the Kochs these days.
The Kochs are so powerful they can do it all.
Including making Steve Gutenberg a star?
He had a strong showing in Amazon Women on the Moon opposite Rosanna Arquette!
I used to post at Politico, before I finally couldn't stand the stupid anymore, and I would tell them that I worked for the Koch Bros and how huge my checks where. I said they paid me to drive a H2 around all day and leave it running even at night to boast global warming. Not only did they take this seriously, they went completely bat shit foaming at the mouth crazy. Easiest idiots to troll ever, but eventually the fun gets old.
Life's too short, to waste it on unrecoverable imbeciles.
Reverse blood libel, Alan Grayson, making Jews everywhere uncomfortable.
And then there's this: http://pando.com/2014/07/24/as.....ial-issue/
Is this by the same creep who wrote the article claiming reason supported apartheid back in the 80s?
Mark Ames, idiot extraordinaire
And child rapist, apparently.
Doing a issue on revisionist history and inviting a writer of revisionist history to talk about his work automatically means your an anti-semite and agree with everything they say or write.
The Koch they are referencing is this fine lady.
It's still a hatchet job and in the poorest of taste (like saying anyone with the surname of Bundy is a relation to the famous Ted), but when have little things like taste and fair play ever stopped Progressives?
NYC Reasonoids
Interest in a meet-up tomorrow appears limited. I propose we adjourn to the vaping event on Monday and make another attempt in the fall when people may not be so busy.
Aye, the interest from a few weeks ago appears to have evaporated. But that's fine for me, as I may be meeting with a special lady friend tomorrow night anyway.
Ah, finally, I'm on when one of these threads shows up. I'm an NYC Reasonoid and would be glad to hang out.
Speaking of the "Libertarian Moment", I think Radley Balko was an advisor for the new Transformers movie. The bad guys were a federal SWAT team who performed warrantless searches and put a gun to a girl's head.
Also, Optimus Prime riding a giant robotic Tyrannosaurus = AWESOME
What the government keeps when you travel overseas.
Is anybody really surprised?
With all due respect, is there *anything* the government does not collect?
Competence.
Is it possibly a good thing that they store south data? In that maybe in the vastness of the data stuff about us gets lost in the mix?
** so much data
They're just waiting a few years until they have the new-tech computing power.
*ALL* those dots will get connected then, so brace yourself.
This. We can finally make it work!
This suggests that US transportation security officials are inefficient, incompetent, o[r] using the data for other, undisclosed purposes.
The explanation is much simpler than any of those three choices. They collect the information because it's all they can do. The collection of data serves no function beyond the collection of data. It's "doing something" about terrorism the same way that praying or stroking a lucky rabbit's foot or conscientiously avoiding stepping on sidewalk cracks is "doing something" about having cancer. The government bureaucracy is pathological in a very real way.
Bureaucrats have one rule:
Don't get fired.
Any action or choice they make will always be in accordance with that rule. How does a bureaucrat get fired? By taking risks, by bucking the system, by putting their heads up over the rest of the crowd. Accordingly, they will always take the past of least risk to them. Don't throw that data away, we might be able to use it someday. Don't complain about anything. Don't question authority. Just do what the rulebook says.
Gawker finally finds an unborn child they are pro-life about.
On the one hand, the guy is a badass. On the other, he might have shot a pregnant lady.
I'm conflicted.
Gee, I guess pregnant ratchets shouldn't break into other people's homes.
Tough luck.
Amash challenger loans himself $800k for primary fight.
At first I misread that as 'Amish Challenger' and wondered if there was really that much money in handmade quilts.
Have you seen how much Amish furniture goes for these days?!
There are a surprising number of quite well to do Amish.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2.....d-see.html
In congressional testimony as far back as November, U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials made clear that the United States had been closely tracking the al Qaida spinoff since 2012, when it enlarged its operations from Iraq to civil war-torn Syria, seized an oil-rich province there and signed up thousands of foreign fighters who'd infiltrated Syria through NATO ally Turkey.
The testimony, which received little news media attention at the time, also showed that Obama administration officials were well aware of the group's declared intention to turn its Syrian sanctuary into a springboard from which it would send men and materiel back into Iraq and unleash waves of suicide bombings there. And they knew that the Iraqi security forces couldn't handle it.
Either Obama is utterly negligent and incompetent or he is on the other side or both.
C'mon, John, you gotta admit the whole Kobe Bryant jersey/JV team meme was brilliantly executed though!
Krugabe says California is a paradise on Earth.
So what do we learn from the California comeback? Mainly, that you should take anti-government propaganda with large helpings of salt. Tax increases aren't economic suicide; sometimes they're a useful way to pay for things we need. Government programs, like Obamacare, can work if the people running them want them to work, and if they aren't sabotaged from the right. In other words, California's success is a demonstration that the extremist ideology still dominating much of American politics is nonsense.
There's a heapin' helpin' of "fun with numbers" in there.
Higher taxes and regulatory micromanagement are the keys to economic growth, America! Throw off the chains of individualistic kkkapitalism.
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
I guess if you live in the Central Valley, where the unemployment rate is 25% in some places, Krugabe hates you.
Sad Beard is a straight up authoritarian progressive. If not for the DC bubble he'd be laboring in obscurity in academia somewhere.
He is a nasty little retard
Isn't California still expecting a shortfall this year? Isn't LA near bankruptcy? Are California businesses not racing to relocate to other states?
According to our illegal accounting practices, we're flush with cash!
- Gov Moonbeam.
Government programs, like Obamacare, can work if the people running them want them to work,
"With sufficient political will, even the laws of reaity shall be as nothing before the might of the Party!"
Ah, that is an excellent translation from Progderp into English.
The California "Comback" is every bit as ethereal as the Summer of Recovery. They pushed $6 billion in pension obligations of the books.
of = off
Fuck. Comback = Comeback.
'CumBack' would be appropriate as well, since lots of ass-fucking of CA taxpayers is involved.
Ah, following the Illinois playbook - no worries, that never catches up with you!!!
Didn't he do that column last year as well?
Yeah, I could swear he's said this two or three times now.
California's success is a demonstration that the extremist ideology still dominating much of American politics is nonsense.
California's success is a demonstration that bipartisan cooperation can work wonders when bipartisan cooperation is the leftists and the really leftists and the really really leftists all agree to work together and get rid of those extremist non-leftists.
Kazakh teen volleyball player is turned on by her own teammates because she is so attractive nobody watches the sport anymore
They aren't using "turned on" in that sense, you pervs.
She's okay. Where the press just really bored?
Just okay? I must disagree.
Disagree all you want, she rates an average.
It's all relative. Who knows what the average Kazakstani woman looks like?
Well, not Gabby Reese hot, for sure. And not the prettiest girl on my HS's volleyball team.
Obsession: An anime-style picture of Miss Altynbekova made by one of her millions of fans
Obsession, huh? I hate to rain on the daily mail's parade, but some people just draw people because they are new, interesting, or the flavor of the month.
Is the girl attractive? Yes. Is she break-your-own-neck-looking attractive? No.
But you have to admit that there's some real obsession there when even the Daily Mail takes time out from its extensive coverage of the Asian Under-19 Volleyball Championships to focus on how the local media focuses on just this one girl.
I see what you did there.
You have to admit, she is a fine looking, asian looking, big girl. That makes her an exotic oddity; especially to be appreciated in that region of the world.
Boy that headline is a double entendre.
Hey if she needs someone to console her she is more than welcome to head over here
If US companies shouldn't be allowed to move overseas and do business in the US while not paying corporate taxes here...
...Why are overseas companies allowed to do business here?
Wouldn't ALL overseas companies that are doing business here be "taking advantage" and "not paying their fair share" or whatever?
What's so distinctive about the inverters? The fact that they used to be American companies? So what?
It's truly fascinating how quickly the US is descending on the scale of freedom in the name of 'patriotism'.
You could see it coming in the boomer nostalgia for World War II. The actual World War II generation, while proud of what they did, understood how nasty and wasteful it was. The boomer liberals are full on fascist and think FDR war socialism would be great.
Is any of this real though? Seems like all this crap really is all top-level political stuff. Just high level politicians taking shots at each other. Talk to your average guy on the street and he doesn't give two shits about this stuff. It's not anything like after 9/11, when the patriotism/nationalism stuff actually was really scary.
He may not give two shits about it now, but when he wakes up in 10 years?
Capital controls? State-run healthcare? NSA spying? IRS speech control? Currency devaluation? 2A restrictions? 4A erosion? Militarized police forces? TSA searches?
Sure the US is still much more free than average but it is also increasingly less free than 10, 15, 20 years ago and the trajectory does not appear promising.
Yeah - I get that. But where the nationalism/patriotism stuff really starts to scare you is when average people radicalize themselves around this stuff. Nobody's getting into screaming matches about this stuff in restaurants or at work. I'm not seeing bumper stickers. It seems like government can only go so far without the rabid, irrational support of the masses. I'm probably wrong. I guess I'm an optimist.
I just don't think your average American gives a shit anymore.
STOP GIVING THEM IDEAS, DAMMIT!
Plus, the line "US companies shouldn't be ALLOWED..." is just evil in itself.
Socialists build walls.
Its the inevitable end game.
Mises covered it well.
Maybe all this immigration hysteria is just to panic the right into building the walls of their own prison.
My mom is looking to sign up on the federal Obamacare exchange. She had cancer a few years ago and is self employed and purchases her own insurance, so she is maybe one of the few people who actually benefits from the law. Her premiums on her current catastrophic plan went up $80 this month, so she created an account on the Obamacare website so that she could compare prices. The next day she got over 70 spam emails hawking various medications and health services. She also received over 40 telemarketing calls concerning health insurance and discount medications. In one day.
I see two possibilities: either the information that people enter into the Obamacare website is being deliberately distributed by the government, or the website has been so thoroughly hacked that the information that people enter is being accessed and sold within a few hours of signing up. Has anyone else experience this or heard of stories like this? This seems like it would be big news...
I haven't heard of anything like this, but cybersecurity experts testified before Congress that the site is an insecure pile of shit, and to go ahead with launching it exposed its users to enormous risk.
I highly doubt they've fixed any of those issues since launch.
It would be big news if it were a privately run operation but since it is government run only the good intentions matter.
If she put that $80/month into an account, she'd have the catastrophic deductible in no time at all.
It never ceases to astonish me how much Obamacare has fucked up the system.
It sounds like she didn't benefit from Obamacare.
Government is good at one thing: It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, "See, if it weren't for the government, you wouldn't be able to walk." - Harry Browne
Murg, you need to be peddling this story to the news media. Somebody might pick it up - its good human interest stuff that people can easily identify with.
This suggests that US transportation security officials are inefficient, incompetent, on using the data for other, undisclosed purposes.
Who could possibly have seen that coming?
When Jim Crow was ascendant many prominent African-Americans elected to live in places, like France, which seemed less oppressive. Were they traitors to 'cultural patriotism?'
If you don't think the US is the best in every regard ever dreamed of, than yes, you are a traitor.
That means this is a nation of 310million traitors, because there's no one with that attitude. You will always find a disapproving category.
309,999,999 traitors, and one patriot, God-President Obama.
But he's already said he doesn't like most of the country, and wants to change it, therefore he doesn't think the US is the best in every regard and must also be a traitor.
Nope.
Either Obama is utterly negligent and incompetent or he is on the other side or both.
He reminds me of people I've worked with in the past; so filled with hubris they considered themselves the smartest person in any room they walked into.
Personally, I think it is a combination of arrogance and ignorance mixed with a Leftist ideology creating day after day of inevitable failure.
But that is just me.
*sigh* Threading fail. That was for John.
I think you have it about right.
Throw in the human predilection for treating a belief structure 'religious' in nature and it s perfect brew of shitstorm.
Incompetence is probably the answer, but has this guy ever done anything that didn't advance the cause of Islamism in the ME?
It seems an astonishing coincidence that the only possible explanation for saying that his policy has been a success is if you assume that his goal has been to help the nutters.
WTF happened to Evangeline Lilly?
She got too skinny and a stupid haircut
Holy fuck, she needs to go back to the island.
Bangs. The Destroyer of Hotness.
I have to think it's more than that, though bangs do suck.
An Alabama man who went in to a hospital last month for a circumcision awoke after surgery to find his penis had been amputated
"My client is devastated," said Banks' attorney John Graves.
A spokeswoman for the hospital's parent company said in a statement that Banks' allegations were without merit.
Note: This is *not* the start of YA circumcision thread. It's about "he said, she said".
Does the guy have a penis any more? It seems as though it would be a simple matter to take pictures, assuming there are any before pictures.
This is the second or third story that went this way.
Why do doctors keep failing to do the patient the courtesey of waking them up, explaining the problem they spotted and getting actual concent?
Why do doctors keep failing to do the patient the courtesey of waking them up, explaining the problem they spotted and getting actual concent?
Its pretty standard, and covered in (most) hospital consents, that if they have you opened up and find another problem (or a bigger problem than they thought), they can address that problem.
This one is a borderline case for that, but typically the worst thing you can do is button up a patient and then put them through surgery again.
How does the guy not know the exact date that he went in for a circumcision and ended up without a penis? Seems like a pretty basic thing.
When Obama said, "If you liked your penis, you can keep your penis," he only meant if said penis was up to the federal standards of penises. Everything else gets amputated under Obamacare.
No religious exceptions for Jewish penises!
This is some horrid 'journalism'. There is almost no detail or back-ground in the story.
Also, maybe he forgot about eating at Wongburgers?
"Sudanese Christian Who Refused to Renounce Faith Meets Pope
"Mariam Yahya Ibrahim and her family landed in Italy en route to a new life in the U.S."
http://time.com/3028454/mariam.....christian/
Mark Steyn has a well written article about this on his web site. Makes some interesting points. Need I say it isn't very complimentary towards Obama or John F'ing Kerry?
" the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event."
So are there other types of extinction events? Mineralogical? Hydrological? Radiological?
What they also do not say is why we should care. Short of some kind of astronomical event (meteor strike, massive solar flare, nearby supernova, etc.) or something of our own devising like a bio engineered plague we will not be going extinct anytime soon (and I mean soon in geological terms) and if 90% of the planets diversity goes extinct over the next 1000 years so what, the earth will do the same thing it did the other 5 times, repopulate with species better suited to the new environmental conditions.
Correct. The objective here is to become the species most suited for survival and to control our environment accordingly.
It's not the strongest but the most responsive to change that survives.
"It's not the strongest but the most responsive to change that survives."
Not sure. Cockroaches?
As a species, yes. They're a dead-end when it comes to evolving a true, individual intelligence and a good stomping does any given one in but they've (and insects in general) survived and adapted to any extreme this planet has to offer. And they keep changing to survive any attempts humans make to wipe them out.
Also look up what's been living in the Berkley pit or Ground Zero in Chernobyl. Organisms as species adapted to the changing environment and survived.
Being change is bad. Always. Duh.
Typos, not just for Reason anymore. They pop up in this CNN/Money article on The Economist's Big Mac Index
It used to be India with it's Big Mac substitute, the Maharaja Mac - a chicken sandwich
I wonder if CNN/Money will fix it?
Hard to find the good guy here (Khosla's an econ ignoramus), but the story is interesting in the extent of unfunded 'courtesies' the state demands from a water front property owner.
"Vinod Khosla blames costly demands for Martins Beach trial"
http://www.sfgate.com/science/.....645423.php
Even if you buy the property rights claim by the State here (that beach below the high tide line is public access property), I don't see how that entails any obligation on the landowner beyond not evicting people as long as they stay below the high tide line. You should be able to build a ten foot razor wire fence one inch above the high tide line, if you want. Grow any trees above the high tide line that you want, etc.