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Obama Takes Credit for Ukraine Ceasefire, WHO Says Use Survivors' Blood to Fight Ebola, Uber Sponsoring Police Militarization Conference: P.M. Links

Zenon Evans | 9.5.2014 4:30 PM

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  • White House

    Ukraine and Russian-backed troops agreed to a ceasefire today, and President Obama took a lot of credit: "The only reason that we're seeing the ceasefire at this moment is because of both the sanctions that have already been applied and the threat of further sanctions" against Russia. NATO approved a new plan for preventing future Russian aggression.

  • Commandos allege that the CIA ordered them to "stand down" during the 2012 Benghazi attack, but top Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee say there's "no evidence" to back up that claim.
  • "I am going to be making a decision … probably after the first of the year about whether I'm going to run again or not," says Hillary Clinton. I'm holding breath waiting, so hopefully I'll be passed out when she makes the announcement.
  • Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz yesterday compared the policies of Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) to domestic violence, saying that he is "grabbing [women] by the hair and pulling us back." Today she apologized for the statement… sorta.
  • Missing the expected mark of about 212,000 jobs, the U.S. economy added only 142,000 jobs in August. The fact that 17,000 fast food workers went on strike certainly didn't help.
  • The Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIL or ISIS) is rapidly "extending its influence to Egypt" according to an exclusive Reuters report. 
  • The World Health Organization suggests that to fight Ebola, doctors treat patients with the blood of survivors. Sounds like a concept for an awesome metal album.
  • A plane flying from New York to Florida veered off course and became unresponsive, prompting the government to track it with F-15 jets. The plane eventually crashed near Jamaica.
  • Uber is sponsoring a police militarization conference. Why, Uber? Why?!

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NEXT: Over-the-Counter Birth Control Garners More Republican Support

Zenon Evans is a former Reason staff writer and editor.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Today she apologized for the statement… sorta.

    She explained that she had just walked into a door.

    1. Ted S.   11 years ago

      Hello.

      [smacks Fist]

    2. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

      Hello

      “President Obama took a lot of credit”

      Doesn’t he always?

      1. Brandon   11 years ago

        If you call “the economy would’ve been worse” taking credit.

        1. Ted S.   11 years ago

          If we don’t pass the stimulus, unemployment will rise to 8%!

          1. CE   11 years ago

            Too much austerity, no doubt.

      2. Ted S.   11 years ago

        All the credit, none of the blame.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    …but top Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee say there’s “no evidence” to back up that claim.

    Hard drives being unreliable as they are.

    1. JWatts   11 years ago

      And apparently pretending that the book the commandos wrote doesn’t exist.

      Isn’t that comment pretty similar to the joke about the farmer who, upon seeing a rhino for the first time, says, “There ain’t no such animal!”.

    2. Corning   11 years ago

      Isn’t the fact that they did not go in evidence that they were ordered to stand down?

      1. Agammamon   11 years ago

        Nope.

        1. Corning   11 years ago

          So they were ordered to stand down before the attack?

  3. Rich   11 years ago

    there’s “no evidence” to back up that claim.

    “He said; she said.”

    1. Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)   11 years ago

      Funny how the CIA seems to work like the IRS…

      ha.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        This is such bullshit. There *must* be a smoking gun somewhere.

        1. Almanian!   11 years ago

          I hear there’s been some shooting in Ukraine lately.

          /smoking gun theory

  4. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Ukraine and Russian-backed troops agreed to a ceasefire today, and President Obama took a lot of credit…

    Give him this, he needs a foreign policy legacy!

    1. Palin's Buttplug   11 years ago

      If the Wingnuttery is going to blame Obama for the Ukraine war then he should take credit for ending it.

      1. Mike M.   11 years ago

        Congratulations on your new job, dipshit.

        1. Trials and Trippelations   11 years ago

          What job is a promotion from official Obama fellator?

          1. Jordan   11 years ago

            Official Obama Powerbottom.

            1. Trouser-Pod   11 years ago

              Funny, the mental image I get, every time his inane screeching shows up, is that of a twink.

              /no joke

          2. Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)   11 years ago

            Presidential Rimmer with reach-around.

            If you blow hard enough, you can make BO burp the ABCs.

            1. Horatio   11 years ago

              I read this as “President Rimmer”, which would be the greatest thing*.

              *for Red Dwarf nerds

              1. adifferentken   11 years ago

                “Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast!”
                🙂

      2. JWatts   11 years ago

        “then he should take credit for ending it.”

        I doubt anyone is particularly surprised with Obama attempts to take credit for something that someone else did while he was playing golf.

      3. Zeb   11 years ago

        Who blamed him for the Ukraine war?

        1. Jordan   11 years ago

          WINGNUTS!!!1

        2. Winston   11 years ago

          Sheldon Richman?

      4. PapayaSF   11 years ago

        Because as we all know, ceasefires invariably mean the end of wars.

        1. BuSab Agent   11 years ago

          It worked in Korea.

      5. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

        Nobody is doing either of those things. We’re poking fun at the fact that he didn’t do a damn thing in either case, but loves to screech that he did.

        Like you!

    2. Medical Physics Guy   11 years ago

      Of course Obama did it. He’s got a Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t he? It gives him Magic Peace Powers.

  5. Mike M.   11 years ago

    Commandos allege that the CIA ordered them to “stand down” during the 2012 Benghazi attack, but top Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee say there’s “no evidence” to back up that claim.

    FAKE SCANDAL!!!

    1. Obama's Buttplug   11 years ago

      TOP Democrats

    2. Suthenboy   11 years ago

      Let me make sure I understand.

      After what happened, how it was handled, and how dodgy the whitehouse has been about answering any questions about it, Top Democrats who face a very tough mid-term election are going to defend Obozo and attack the credibility of non-political soldiers who give a very believable account.

      Go ahead guys, throw in with Obozo. Please.

      1. Corning   11 years ago

        Reid is not up for re-election this year.

        As far as I can tell he is the only democrat who says anything.

  6. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

    Commandos allege that the CIA ordered them to “stand down” during the 2012 Benghazi attack, but top Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee say there’s “no evidence” to back up that claim.

    It was all on Lois Lerner’s blackberry.

  7. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

    Here’s a good mashup of Obama’s Iraq policy:
    http://www.facebook.com/video……4003885630

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      Beautiful.

    2. grrizzly   11 years ago

      It’s awesome. But can one create something like this for every other major issue?

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        Are you around on Sunday?

        1. grrizzly   11 years ago

          Flying in tomorrow.

          1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

            11AM Sunday at Rush Street in Culver City.

            Menu

  8. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    The fact that 17,000 fast food workers went on strike certainly didn’t help.

    You say went on strike, I say campaigned for touchscreen menus.

    1. The DerpRider   11 years ago

      I’m happy my son started his robotics classes this week.

    2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      I doubt the strikers actually work in fast food.

      1. Sudden   11 years ago

        Nope, all SEIU/AFSCME scum. You know, the ones that will actually get a big pay raise when the MW increases while fast food employees get replaced by machines.

  9. db   11 years ago

    http://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=ztl_gso

    I pulled up the liveatc recording of Atlanta Center around the time the plane (N900KN) stopped responding. The pilot sounds fine for a while, then requests a descent, center give him higher than he asked for, he asks for much lower, then he starts sounding really drowsy and slurred. Then he stops responding. Sounds like a slow depressurization.

    This is the second apparent hypoxia-induced “ghost flight” in US airspace this week. Pretty uncommon.

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      Better shoot them down with ghost guns!

    2. Jordan   11 years ago

      Ban flights above 10,000 feet. Problem solved.

      /bureaucrat

      1. db   11 years ago

        That’ll never go…it wouldn’t be environmentally responsible to increase the jet fuel burn like that.

        1. Jordan   11 years ago

          Ban flights. Problem solved.

          /bureaucrat

        2. JWatts   11 years ago

          Good point, Let’s ban all commerical flights, except those required by Important people. It’s much more environmentally friendly to have the proles take the train. Just look at Europe. /bureaucrat

        3. Andrew S.   11 years ago

          Ban airplane travel*. Duh.

          * Except for government and private planes, of course.

    3. Kaptious Kristen   11 years ago

      That reminds me of that Kalitta flight (which turned out a LOT better as ATCs and other pilots recognized what was happening)

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        What do they fly? The only Kalitta I’ve ever seen is a 747 cargo. It’s at LAX every other day.

        1. Almanian!   11 years ago

          Kalitta’s have also been known to “fly” top-fuel dragsters.

          Same crew….

          http://www.teamkalitta.com/

    4. Kaptious Kristen   11 years ago

      You have a direct link to the archive file? That just takes me to the ZTL archives search

      1. Kaptious Kristen   11 years ago

        Found it. Comms with the flight in question are at about 2:27

        1. db   11 years ago

          Yeah, they keep trying to contact and relay from other pilots later on. I haven’t yet caught when they scrambled the jets, if you find it, can you point me to it, KK?

          The flight went through ARTICle, in order;

          New York ZNY
          Washington
          Atlanta ZTL
          Jacksonville ZJX
          Miami ZMA

          1. db   11 years ago

            ARTCCs above, not ARTICLEs

            1. db   11 years ago

              Also, add Cleveland center (ZOB) between New York and Washington

          2. Kaptious Kristen   11 years ago

            This has several different audio clips. Looks like the OP has one of some comms between the fighter pilots.

            1. db   11 years ago

              It was reported somewhere that the jets were launched around 1045 EDT (1445Z). That would have been sometime after the ZTL controller started asking 900KN to contact ZJX on 187.7MHz but before the plane was probably out of ZTL’s range.

              1. db   11 years ago

                Sry, 127.875 MHz.

  10. The DerpRider   11 years ago

    Weather reports of DOOOOM from 2050! A new installment every few days!

    And Japan enters the fray!

    1. Suthenboy   11 years ago

      Get a copy of “A Demon Haunted World” by Carl Sagan and read the section where he discusses falsifiability. There is an interesting discussion about an invisible dragon living in his garage. Ironically Sagan himself was a AGW cult member.

      I thought that by 2012 a billion people would be dead from the effects of AGW, that by 2013 there would be no more sea ice, and that we would have Katrina-level hurricanes every year?

      What a bunch of fruitloops.

      1. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

        Froot Loops.

        That reminds me. Note to self.

      2. Zeb   11 years ago

        I wonder if Sagan would have changed his mind at this point when most of the predictions made in his lifetime have failed to come true.

        1. db   11 years ago

          I would hope he would have been self-critical enough, but look at all the others who aren’t.

  11. MegaloMonocle   11 years ago

    Commandos allege that the CIA ordered them to “stand down” during the 2012 Benghazi attack, but top Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee say there’s “no evidence” to back up that claim.

    Since when does first-hand testimony not count as evidence?

    1. Xeones   11 years ago

      Since it’s a FAKE SKANDUL, duh.

    2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      Objection, your honor! They’re making us look bad!

  12. Rhywun   11 years ago

    The fact that 17,000 fast food workers went on strike certainly didn’t help.

    They were fired, then?

  13. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    This looks like reason‘s Friday afternoon links dump.

    1. The DerpRider   11 years ago

      Cocktail party revelations at 6:00pm.

  14. Rich   11 years ago

    “I am going to be making a decision ? probably after the first of the year about whether I’m going to run again or not,” says Hillary Clinton.

    “It’s Valentine’s Day, so I’d like to say I’ve decided not to decide yet. As Rush has pointed out, that is ‘making a decision’.”

    *** polite laughter ***

  15. Dances-with-Trolls   11 years ago

    Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz yesterday compared the policies of Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) to domestic violence, saying that he is “grabbing [women] by the hair and pulling us back.”

    No one would touch that woman’s hair.

    1. Ted S.   11 years ago

      Or any other part of the body.

    2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      Not until they get rid of that family of raccoons living there.

    3. Sudden   11 years ago

      Scott Walker is gonna be the next POTUS then, with a landslide victory thanks to the 50 shades vote.

    4. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      Nothing says more about the utter horror that is the Democratic Party than that she has a leadership role.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Are you serious?

        1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

          Her, too. And him, too, before anyone asks.

  16. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    The Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIL or ISIS) is rapidly “extending its influence to Egypt” according to an exclusive Reuters report.

    Egypt actually has a military. This might be a problem for ISIS.

    1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

      Sinai is basically run by Bedouin for Bedouin.

    2. Corning   11 years ago

      Egypt actually has a military. This might be a problem for ISIS.

      Yeah. The success of ISIS is more of a reflection of how much of a failure US rebuilding Iraq was and how much Iraqis really could give a shit about keeping Iraq a cohesive nation.

      ISIS can’t even oust Assad. What hope do they have against Egypt.

  17. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

    The Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIL or ISIS) is rapidly “extending its influence to Egypt” according to an exclusive Reuters report.

    Let’s see. Started in the middle east. Expanding to North Africa. Sounds familiar. Time to start marshaling forces around Tours?

    1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      And Vienna.

      Naw, better to just let millions move in. I’m sure they’ll all assimilate and never support the fundamentalist views of their religion.

    2. Brandon   11 years ago

      The modern Moops?

  18. Jensen   11 years ago

    Russell Brand Says We Are All To Blame For The Escalating Crisis In Iraq:

    The fact that there are so many “desperate people, so many alienated people” indicates that we have to build a more “coalescent, inclusive, communicative and bonded society here in Britain…So people don’t think ‘I want to go to Syria and cut people’s heads off, I like it here.'”

    Brand said not to presume that IS are “madly evil,” arguing instead that “terrorism is the nuclear bomb of the disenfranchised.”

    ‘Bonded society’ eh? Love how the authoritarian mask always slips off.

    1. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

      “terrorism is the nuclear bomb of the disenfranchised.”

      Fuck off, Russell Brand.

      1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

        Well, then since the other side has gone nuclear….

    2. Jordan   11 years ago

      Maybe he means bonded and insured.

    3. Winston   11 years ago

      So how pray tell is a “bonded” society “inclusive”?

      1. Ted S.   11 years ago

        Everyone’s in equal bondage?

        (Well, except for the TOP MEN.)

      2. Jensen   11 years ago

        Well see, it’s when your brain is able to hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time.

      3. Trouser-Pod   11 years ago

        Someone just needs to play the epic take-down of his character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall in a loop anytime he speaks.

        As a start…

      4. Zeb   11 years ago

        First I need to know what a “bonded society” is. I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

        I liked Russel Brand better when he was smoking crack and dressing up as Bin Laden.

    4. Rich   11 years ago

      “Bonded *and* insured!”

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Oh, hello … Jordan!

    5. MegaloMonocle   11 years ago

      So people don’t think ‘I want to go to Syria and cut people’s heads off, I like it here.'”

      Or, more likely:

      Why should I go to Syria and cut off heads? I can do that here, and I like it here.

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

      1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

        And now Palmira Silva.

        1. ant1sthenes   11 years ago

          Though that sounded a standard issue crazy person.

    6. Max Power   11 years ago

      I think all the facebook shares he gets are going to his head and now he thinks people want to hear his opinions.

    7. Suthenboy   11 years ago

      Jesus Tittyfuckin’ Christ. That is exactly the thinking that is going to make the Limeys go extinct. What an idiot.

      1. Almanian!   11 years ago

        I’d fund ISIS myself if they’d promise to cut off Russell Brand’s head.

      2. Corning   11 years ago

        That is exactly the thinking that is going to make the Limeys go extinct.

        Just take a deep breath and….let….it…..happen.

        Really would not be a great loss.

        I think I would feel worse if Florida fell.

        1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

          Don’t worry–we’ve almost got the pythons subdued.

    8. Zeb   11 years ago

      I don’t see the problem with this part:
      “coalescent, inclusive, communicative and bonded society here in Britain
      I’m not really sure what “bonded” is supposed to mean there (but I also don’t see the authoritarian angle, there is plenty of voluntary bonding among people), but isn’t a lot of the problem the failed sort of multiculturalism where certain immigrant communities are tolerated more than assimilated and so never really become part of the greater society?

      1. Jensen   11 years ago

        I’m pretty sure Brand mean ‘bonded’ in the ‘bonded together, for common action, and common slavery’ sense.

        1. Zeb   11 years ago

          I would have thought it was more in the “we’re all British and we’re all in this together, so let’s not murder each other” sort of way. Maybe I’m too charitable.

          1. Jensen   11 years ago

            Probably. Given Brand’s mental state I don’t think he really operates beyond buzzwords.

  19. Winston   11 years ago

    Russia’s intervention in Ukraine isn’t madness; it’s a rational, realist response to what it correctly perceives as a geopolitical threat right there in its own backyard.

    You Know Which Other country engaged in a rational, realist response to what they thought was a geopolitical threat in its own backyard?

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

      Piedmont-Sardinia?

    2. mr lizard   11 years ago

      South Carolina?

    3. Ted S.   11 years ago

      Somebody ought to tell Putin that it would be rational and realist for Estonia and Latvia to expel hundreds of thousands of Russians to remove the irredentist threat.

      (Not that I’m saying it’s a good idea.)

      1. Drake   11 years ago

        Exactly what the Russians did to every German population enclave outside of Germany’s shrunken post WW2 borders. Tossed a lot of Poles out of Eastern Poland too – then annexed it.

    4. MegaloMonocle   11 years ago

      In what way was Ukriane a geopolitical threat to Russia, again?

      1. Trials and Trippelations   11 years ago

        They hoarded the best vacation spot.

        1. mr lizard   11 years ago

          And the hotest women

          1. gaijin   11 years ago

            The Ukraine girls really knock me out…

      2. Suthenboy   11 years ago

        They had Russia’s only warm water port, and all of the access to the land needed to secure that port.

        Russia cannot be landlocked. I am sure they see that as a threat. Unless the world is willing to go all out shooting war with the Ruskies, they are going to take that port back and the land needed to secure it.

        1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

          Could always threaten to block the straits if the Russians continue.

      3. Ted S.   11 years ago

        They disagree with Russia. I think it was George Kennan decades ago who said that Russia can only see two types of countries bordering it: enemies and vassals.

      4. Drake   11 years ago

        The were hoarding cleaning ladys and Russia was getting messy.

    5. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      Israel?

    6. Mercutio   11 years ago

      “Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.”

    7. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

      Mexico?

  20. Ice Nine   11 years ago

    “there’s ‘no evidence’ to back up that claim.”

    Aren’t the first hand accounts of three people who were on the scene pretty damn substantial “evidence”?

    1. mr lizard   11 years ago

      A cellphone recording of that radio exchange would’ve been nice to have

    2. Rich   11 years ago

      “Eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable. And it’s not like they have no vested interest.”

      1. MegaloMonocle   11 years ago

        Eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable.

        I wonder if that includes the eyewitness account of the CIA walla who denied that they were told to stand down?

        1. Rich   11 years ago

          It’s unreliable accounts all the way down. 8-(

        2. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

          No, it doesn’t! Because fuck you!

    3. Drake   11 years ago

      Three people trained to extremes to stay calm and focused during dangerous situations.

  21. waffles   11 years ago

    “extending its influence to Egypt”

    ISIE!

    1. mr lizard   11 years ago

      See what?

      1. gaijin   11 years ago

        dead people

  22. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

    I just want to say that I find the situation wrt Joan Rivers to be completely unacceptable. This has to be fixed.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      She’s no Lou Reed.

    2. Jordan   11 years ago

      Sorry, I don’t know any necromancers.

    3. waffles   11 years ago

      She’s just resting

      1. Jensen   11 years ago

        You could probably make a pretty good Joan Rivers puppet out of her body, all you have to do is scoop out the insides and install some pull strings. Who’d know the difference?

    4. Sudden   11 years ago

      And of course her botched routine surgery happened just a month after she called Michelle Obama a tranny.

      Wonder if the Obamas are trying to one up the Clintons on body count.

      1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

        I saw someone else say she had been “Breitbarted.”

      2. Drake   11 years ago

        She didn’t dine with the Ayers, did she?

      3. ant1sthenes   11 years ago

        I suggest a new strategy, Dot Matrix. Let the Wookiee win.

  23. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

    I also wanted to give a huge shoutout to the US military for icing the head of Al-Shabbab. Great work. Much peace.

    1. Sudden   11 years ago

      Did the proceeds of that icing go to ALS?

    2. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      Good. He claimed credit for the Westgate massacre. Too bad they haven’t gotten the English woman who was involved.

  24. Dances-with-Trolls   11 years ago

    The World Health Organization suggests that to fight Ebola, doctors treat patients with the blood of survivors.

    For entertainment purposes I recommend that only Jewish doctors be allowed to administer this treatment.

    1. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      You’re evil.

      I like you.

    2. Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)   11 years ago

      Give ebola to Jesus, and wine becomes a cure?

    3. DJF   11 years ago

      Sounds more like a script idea for a Zombie movie then good medical advice.

    4. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      I’m sure that treatment is going to go over real, real well with many African patients.

  25. Max Power   11 years ago

    Here’s a bit of government stupidity: Today the company I work for had a package returned by the postal service. It was shipping to an international customer and was returned because “Recipient name matches a denied party/entity who may not send or receive exports”. The customer’s name was Charles Taylor, so I guess anyone in the world that has the same name as a dictator can never receive shipments from the US.

    1. mr lizard   11 years ago

      Or you were just shipping knock-off converse shoes…

      1. BakedPenguin   11 years ago

        +1

    2. Rich   11 years ago

      That’s why you always deal with “I.P. Daily”.

      1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

        Use a middle name.

        1. Max Power   11 years ago

          Yeah, I think we’re just going to have to ship it to his middle and last name or something. It still cost us a lot to ship the first time that I don’t know if I have the energy to try to get back.

          1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

            Using “Chuck” might help, too.

      2. gaijin   11 years ago

        or Mike Hunt

        1. Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)   11 years ago

          Jack Meoff

          Ben Dover

          Peter Dragon

    3. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

      Try Big Daddy Amin.

    4. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

      “There’s the right way, the wrong way, and the government way.”

      “Isn’t that the wrong way?”

      “Yes, but dumber!”

    5. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      Buenos tardes, Mien Fuhror.

      1. Obama's Buttplug   11 years ago

        Did anyone notice that during the pregame to last night’s football game, that the crowd throwing their fists in the air as they shouted, “SEAHAWKS! SEAHAWKS! SEAHAWKS!” sounded an awful lot like (and looked a lot like), “SIEG HEIL! “SIEG HEIL! “SIEG HEIL!”?

    6. Ted S.   11 years ago

      My favorite experience with USPS and foreign mail was when I wrote a letter to Radio Slovakia International back in 1999 and ended the address with, “Bratislava, Slovak Republic”. I got the letter back telling me I needed to write the name of the country in English.

      So I added “Slovakia” to the address and took the letter back to the post office. I was then helpfully informed that mail delivery to Slovakia had been stupped due to the war in the former Yugoslavia. 😐

      (I was of course right in the first place, not the idiots at the USPS.)

      1. Trials and Trippelations   11 years ago

        Why were you sending mail to Slovakia?

        Just curious. I spent a year there a couple years ago

        1. Ted S.   11 years ago

          I listen to international broadcasters going back to the days when they were still all on short-wave. It was a reception report for a QSL card.

        2. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

          I was gonna ask the same.

          Were you arguing for the reunification of Czechoslovakia?

        3. Restoras   11 years ago

          Why does anyone do anything? Because he was trying to get laid.

          1. Zeb   11 years ago

            I though it was because they’re stupid.

            1. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

              The two are not mutually exclusive.

      2. PapayaSF   11 years ago

        Back in the ’70s, I once got a long delayed package in Michigan, and it was covered with postmarks indicated it had bounced around Mississippi for a while. It had the correct abbreviation for Michigan (MI), and the correct Zip code.

    7. Zeb   11 years ago

      Wow. There can’t be more than what, several million Charles Taylors in the world. What could possibly go wrong?

  26. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

    “Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz”

    Oof. Madonna mia, that hair.

    1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      Curly-haired women have a tough time.

  27. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

    Meanwhile, in academia.

    1. Jensen   11 years ago

      The Honeypot gets them every time!

      1. Restoras   11 years ago

        Which reminds me I need to finish rewatching Archer this weekend.

    2. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

      You seriously can’t write this shit up.

      Student: “So you’re a communist?”
      Teacher: I am NOT a communist? How dare you? You’ve been fed a pack of capitalist lies. What is it with you extremists and you’re luxurious world vie..(phone rings)…excuse me. Hello? Fidel? Teacher’s position in Cuba, huh? How much? And I get free what? WOW! I’m coming right over. (hangs up). Alright class. Fuck you. I gotta go to Cuba and deal with a real, generous, humane country.”

      1. Mokers   11 years ago

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxuBhemD3nk

    3. Illocust   11 years ago

      Wow, so does anyone know how to check if this is legit. I live with a bunch of leftist, and they aren’t going to believe me without proof.

      1. Illocust   11 years ago

        Though, of note, I think I know one of the subverted professors. I went to George Washington University, and one of my professors was always going on about how he goes to Cuba whenever he can and talking about how nice it was there.

        1. Sevo   11 years ago

          Subverted, stupid; what’s the difference?

    4. Corning   11 years ago

      In some cases, the Cubans use compromising video or audio and sexual entrapment to develop U.S. spies.

      I am guessing there is a video of Sean Penn raping and killing a 12 year old Cuban girl (or boy) from one of his visits.

  28. Coeus   11 years ago

    The most terrifying thought experiment of all time.

    You may be a bit confused, but the founder of LessWrong, Eliezer Yudkowsky, was not. He reacted with horror:

    Listen to me very closely, you idiot.
    YOU DO NOT THINK IN SUFFICIENT DETAIL ABOUT SUPERINTELLIGENCES CONSIDERING WHETHER OR NOT TO BLACKMAIL YOU. THAT IS THE ONLY POSSIBLE THING WHICH GIVES THEM A MOTIVE TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON THE BLACKMAIL.
    You have to be really clever to come up with a genuinely dangerous thought. I am disheartened that people can be clever enough to do that and not clever enough to do the obvious thing and KEEP THEIR IDIOT MOUTHS SHUT about it, because it is much more important to sound intelligent when talking to your friends.
    This post was STUPID.

    1. Jordan   11 years ago

      Believing in Roko’s Basilisk may simply be a “referendum on autism,” as a friend put it.

      I loled.

    2. Jensen   11 years ago

      Awww, I was hoping from Cronenbergian head explosions.

    3. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      After 9/11 when I was worried about follow-up attacks, I came up with a way to attack SF that would cause thousands of casualties and billions of dollars in damages. But I’ve never written about it.

      1. Jensen   11 years ago

        *waves over fellow NSA man*

        Go on…

      2. Horatio   11 years ago

        Yeah, but its not difficult to come up with.

        Mine is coordinated bombs in vans on 3 or 4 major highways at rush hour in every major city and then you,

        hold on, there’s someone at the door…

      3. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

        You came up with a way to attack SugarFree?

        That’s just. . .I dunno. I wanna say mean, but it IS SugarFree.

    4. Corning   11 years ago

      You choose box B every time.

      1. Coeus   11 years ago

        Fuck that. I choose both. And if i end up breaking the simulation, so much the better. I’ll just start flying around in my sunglasses and trench coat.

        1. Corning   11 years ago

          So I guess you will have to give up posting here and devote your time on that Basilisk overlord thing then.

          1. Coeus   11 years ago

            I’m sure I could leave a subroutine or two here to provide access to red pills.

            It’s gets lonely cruising around in a trenchcoat at 35,000ft.

            1. Corning   11 years ago

              Dude wrong Movie.

              The Basilisk is evil.

              Think more John Carpenters Prince of Darkness and less Neuromancer.

    5. Corning   11 years ago

      But the combination of messianic ambitions, being convinced of your own infallibility, and a lot of cash never works out well, regardless of ideology

      Worked for Obama.

    6. Corning   11 years ago

      In the reddit posts Eliezer spends a lot of time saying a friendly AI that blackmails is not a very friendly AI.

      But now that this exists any attempt to build a friendly AI to stave off the Evil Basilisk AI is in fact black mailing you.

      “Build me or something evil will be built that will torment you in hell for eternity”

      A friendly AI is now impossible to make.

      1. Coeus   11 years ago

        If it was only friendly if you were ignorant of it’s true purpose, than it was impossible to make a friendly one from the beginning.

        1. Corning   11 years ago

          No no, you see right now we are the AIs right now. We are their processing power building them.

          So what we think is what they are. If we never thought they were blackmailing us then they were not blackmailing us…but now that we thought it they are thinking it too.

  29. Ted S.   11 years ago

    Poor Peng Shuai. 🙁

    1. Invisible Finger   11 years ago

      When you start feeling overheated you should begin removing some clothing.

    2. Almanian!   11 years ago

      Rost match due to loasting heat.

      Holliber…

  30. Winston   11 years ago

    Under these circumstances, Putin has acted as any Russian ruler would be expected to act with his country encroached on from the west

    So the argument from Richman (and Rothbard) is essentially that the US faces no threats so whatever they do is bad but America’s enemies face real threats so their wars and interventions are just.

    1. Zeb   11 years ago

      That assumes that Russian rulers are expected to act justly.

      1. Winston   11 years ago

        That assumes that Russian rulers are expected to act justly.

        A lot of it end up sounding a lot like the Tom Friedmanesque notion that America’s enemy are TOP. MEN. who have the best interests of the people at heart and actually Get Things Done unlike the corrupt incompetent clowns in DC. The notion that America’s enemies could also be a bunch of corrupt, incompetent, lying demagogues is too much to handle.

        Oh yeah and the fact that a country was provoked doesn’t mean its response to it is just. I doubt you could describe Japan’s behavior between 1931 and December 7, 1941 as very just or defensive let alone their behavior afterwards.

  31. Winston   11 years ago

    I’m pretty sure that James K. Polk acted pretty rationally and his political self-interest but I don’t see many libertarians defending his foreign policy.

    1. Drake   11 years ago

      Even the ones from Scottsdale, Mexico?

      1. Winston   11 years ago

        Even the ones from Scottsdale, Mexico?

        Even the ones in California.

  32. Andrew S.   11 years ago

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new…..-1.1927186

    NYPD arrests men for possession of jolly ranchers. Admits no wrongdoing.

    1. Almanian!   11 years ago

      “Do you have enough to share with the whole class olice force?”

      /teacher

      1. Almanian!   11 years ago

        *marvels at the derpitude of it all*

        I gotta stop taking oxy this early. Let’s try again:

        “Do you have enough to share with the whole class police force?”

        HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

        /teacher

    2. Invisible Finger   11 years ago

      I love the unnecessary photos in newspaper articles. It’s a way to make the newspaper look like it has content.

  33. OldMexican   11 years ago

    Ukraine and Russian-backed troops agreed to a ceasefire today, and President Obama took a lot of credit

    We have a saying for placing yourself at the front of a parade:

    haciendo caravana con sombrero ajeno – taking a bow with someone else’s hat.

    1. Sevo   11 years ago

      During the Little Rock school integration ‘event’, Faubus traveled to a governors meeting and attended a college football game.
      The story is he was a bit ‘lit’, and every time the crowd cheered a play, he stood up and took a bow.

  34. Coeus   11 years ago

    The Oakland Raiders Finally Gave Their Cheerleaders Minimum Wage. Yay?

    If you give a feminist a cookie…

    1. SusanM   11 years ago

      Waiting now for robot cheerleaders to take over 😉

    2. Horatio   11 years ago

      I had sympathy for this particular plight until I realized it was because the victims have huge tits and small waists

  35. Calidissident   11 years ago

    Amazonian tribes in Brazil capture and strip illegal rainforest loggers

    http://www.independent.co.uk/n…..13609.html

  36. Coeus   11 years ago

    hehe

  37. Coeus   11 years ago

    Our criticsm was valid, but we understand that we shouldn’t have written it anyway.

    Apology: In our review of “The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism” by Edward Baptist, we said: “Mr Baptist has not written an objective history of slavery. Almost all the blacks in his book are victims, almost all the whites villains.” There has been widespread criticism of this, and rightly so. Slavery was an evil system, in which the great majority of victims were blacks, and the great majority of whites involved in slavery were willing participants and beneficiaries of that evil. We regret having published this and apologise for having done so. We are therefore withdrawing the review but in the interests of transparency, anybody who wants to see the withdrawn review can click here.

  38. Brandon   11 years ago

    “I am going to be making a decision ? probably after the first of the year about whether I’m going to run again or not,” says Hillary Clinton. I’m holding breath waiting, so hopefully I’ll be passed out when she makes the announcement.

    It is a Hard choice.

    I’m ashamed that no one beat me to that.

    1. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

      Frankly, if Zenon can hold his breath for four months, he should be doing porn. I hear they make killer money for underwater scenes.

  39. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

    Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz yesterday compared the policies of Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) to domestic violence, saying that he is “grabbing [women] by the hair and pulling us back.” Today she apologized for the statement… sorta.

    I thought women liked it when you pulled their hair while they backed it up!

    1. db   11 years ago

      I saw a woman driving a pickup truck the other day with a sticker in the rear window that read:

      “If you’re gonna ride my ass, at least pull my hair.”

  40. userve32   11 years ago

    So who comes up with all that crazy stuff. Wow.

    http://www.Crypt-Anon.tk

  41. prolefeed   11 years ago

    Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz yesterday compared the policies of Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) to domestic violence, saying that he is “grabbing [women] by the hair and pulling us back.”

    Sounds like she is comparing his policies to vanilla kinky doggystyle sex.

    Which is a good thing, IMO.

  42. RussianPrimeMinister   11 years ago

    Me too! *wanks*

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