A.M. Links: Obama Sends U.S. Troops to Combat Ebola, U.S. Bombs ISIS in Iraq, Scottish Independence Vote Looms

• 

  Credit: White House / Flickr.com

  President Barack Obama will send 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to help fight the current Ebola outbreak.

• On Monday the U.S. launched airstrikes against ISIS targets near Baghdad.

• According to surveys by regional Federal Reserve Banks, businesses are cutting jobs due to high costs associated with Obamacare.

• The FBI is launching a national face recognition system.

• "Britain promised to guarantee Scotland high levels of state funding, granting Scots greater control over healthcare spending in a last-ditch attempt to shore up support for the United Kingdom before Thursday's vote on independence."

• A Taliban suicide attack on a NATO convoy in Kabul has killed three soldiers and injured nearly 20.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

On Monday the U.S. launched airstrikes against ISIS targets near Baghdad.

Finally, heads will roll.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"Britain promised to guarantee Scotland high levels of state funding, granting Scots greater control over healthcare spending in a last-ditch attempt to shore up support for the United Kingdom before Thursday's vote on independence."

Scots: "And lollipops! Don't forget LOLLIPOPS. Or we walk."

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Haggis lollipops.

[gaoxiaen]

Plaid haggis lollipops. Custom made for each clan.

[Pro Libertate]

Clearly, you know nothing of Scotland. Deep-fried haggis lollipops.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

*throws empty Talisker bottle at Pro L'*

[Pro Libertate]

If it's not Scottish, it's crap!

[Snark Plissken]

On Monday the U.S. launched airstrikes against ISIS targets near Baghdad.

This time it's going to work!

[waffles]

This time it's different. We are at war with Islam.

[gaijin]

As long as we aren't at war with Saudi Arabia...because clearly their beheadings are the good kind

23 Saudi Beheadings Year to Date

[tarran]

Totally different, man! For one thing the Saudis use a sword and not a knife. Secondly, the Saudis don't execute people for being the wrong religion but for legitimate crimes like sorcery.

[tarran]

Oh wait, I guess the Saudis do go after people for practicing the wrong religion.

And they do be occasionally chop their heads off.

So we are left with he major difference between ISIS and the Saudis: when beheading their victims, the Saudis use swords, Isis uses knives.

[ant1sthenes]

No, the main difference is that they don't put a video of the beheading on YouTube. Reasonably, since otherwise they'd run the risk of angry Americans killing the Saudi ambassador.

[Fluffy]

The neocons around here don't care about Saudi beheadings for sorcery or apostasy because the Saudis obey.

Always remember that the real problem they have with ISIS or Iran or whoever isn't a particular policy or atrocity. It's that they won't obey. Keep that in mind, and their comments and behavior are easier to understand.

[tarran]

The Saudis don't obey.

Hell, my guess is that without unofficial but significant support from the royal family, ISIS would still be under the Al Queda banner and be a small band getting its butt kicked by Allawites using Russian weapons.

[l0b0t]

Indeed. IMO, this is just the Mohammedan version of the Protestant Reformation; an internal struggle between Suni, Shia, Suffi, etc. with the Wahabbists taking the role of the Anabaptists/Puritans. The US has no dog in this fight.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Wouldn't they be the Catholic side? NO GOING BACK ON THE ONE TRUE FAITH!!! *swings scimitar*

[l0b0t]

Well, that's the thing; the Wahabbists, like the radical Protestants, are claiming the mantle of the One True Faith with the other flavors of Islam being presented as corrupt, decadent, and straying from The Word much in the way the Roman church was viewed by the reformers. Your mileage may vary; I confess I am just a dilettante when it comes to theological history and I am one of those evul users of the demon weed marihuana. My interpretation may be off.

[Rich]

Not with real Islam.

/John Kerry

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Barack Obama will send 3,000 U.S. troops to West Africa to help fight the current Ebola outbreak.

From the hemorrhagic fever to the sores of infection, we will fight some country's ailments...

[gaijin]

It's a bold plot: create 3000 ebola transmission devices able to deliver a fatal blow to the homeland upon their return.

[WTF]

Obama's fundamental transformation of America continues apace!

[Drake]

Reason told me there's nothing to worry about. Pay no attention to those bleeding orifices.

[Rich]

those bleeding orifices

Nice (girl?) band name.

[l0b0t]

Bow down before the power of the Yeastie Girlz and their debut 7", Ovary Action.

http://youtu.be/pFayUOMXhxU

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Yeastie Girlz What is this, 1991?

[l0b0t]

I have the vinyl laying about somewhere in the stacks but admit this is the 1st time I have even thought of them in 20+ years. I was triggered by 'bleeding orifices'. Why was there no warning?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

We can't drone strike Ebola?

[hamilton]

Are the victims mostly brown people? Challenge... accepted.

[Steve G]

+1 CDC hymn

[Fist of Etiquette]

I ran out of steam after only the three lines.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Britain promised to guarantee Scotland high levels of state funding, granting Scots greater control over healthcare spending in a last-ditch attempt to shore up support for the United Kingdom before Thursday's vote on independence."

Just should have sent liquor.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

AS IF YE CAN BUY US OFF SO EASILY!

....

So...what kind of liquor are ye speaking of?

[Raston Bot]

baith kinds. och!

[tarran]

What's amazing is that everyone recognizes that the English people will be better off not carrying the giant voracious gullet formed by the scots on welfare.

Yet, the English government is panicky-desperate to keep that from happening.

[waffles]

Governments actually love dependents and long as they are docile and controllable. A mass of refugees would be no good, but the Scots are already domesticated.

[Lt Womack]

Same politician ego dynamic that professional sports teams use. Cameron doesn't want to go down as the PM who oversaw the dissolution of the United Kingdom.

[WTF]

Kind of funny that Clan Cameron is one of the major highland clans.

[CatoTheElder]

He needs to review his history to see what he can learn from other leaders who have faced the secession of a part of their realm. For example, what would Lincoln do?

[WTF]

Free the slaves?

[robc]

But just the ones in Scotland.

[creech]

Cause 750,000 deaths to prove a point?

[gaoxiaen]

Should have promised to buy lots of liquor to stimulate the economy.

[Jerryskids]

O'bama can threaten them with airstrikes against the sheep.

[Xeones]

"The English took all of our sheep and all of our women! And then they gave them back, which was worse!"

[Lord Humungus]

Lava flows from Philippine volcano, thousands flee

The Philippines' most active volcano belched out huge lava fragments that rolled about a kilometer (half a mile) down its slope in an ongoing gentle eruption, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of villagers, officials said Tuesday.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert level for Mount Mayon, warning that a "hazardous eruption" is possible within weeks. Increased restiveness was recorded overnight, including the ejection of glowing rocks from the summit and dozens of low-frequency volcanic earthquakes.

[SugarFree]

Global warming.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I would love to one day be able to say I fled a volcano.

[hamilton]

Lots of people would have loved to be able to say that, as it happens.

[gaoxiaen]

Would love to say that I threw my ex-GF in a volcano.

[Lord Humungus]

To appease an angry god?

[l0b0t]

That was funny. +1 Pompeii.

[Ted S.]

Lava flows from Icelandic volcano (one page, several photos)

[gaoxiaen]

See? Iceland and the Philippines at the same time. Internal global warming.

[VG Zaytsev]

So AlGor was right about super hot rocks beneath the surface.

[gaijin]

businesses are cutting jobs due to high costs associated with Obamacare.

This will enable all these people to be free from work so they can pursue their dreams.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Like Sandra said after being laid off because Obamacare her best friend's step-aunt makes $74 every hour on the laptop . She has been fired for 7 months but last month her check was $13218 just working on the laptop for a few hours. look at here ....

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

I have a dream. A dream to mooch off the government and soak up my subsidized health care.

[Bee Tagger]

The FBI is launching a national face recognition system.

Is it too late to ask for a name-rememberer system, too? I'm usually so focused on not saying something stupid when I meet someone that I rarely commit their names to memory.

[Rich]

Racist businesses are cutting jobs due to high costs associated with Obamacare.

FTFY

[WTF]

Wreckers, hoarders, and kulaks are cutting jobs due to high costs associated with Obamacare.

[gaoxiaen]

We need to cut off their orphan supply. Then we could get fifteen dollars.

[Lord Humungus]

Ayn Rand's capitalist paradise lost: The inside story of a libertarian scam

Then there's Hank Rearden, the married man whose sex with the heroine leaves her bloodied and bruised the next morning. To wit: "She saw a bruise above her elbow, with dark beads that had been blood." The morning-after sweet nothings rom Hank include "I wanted you as one wants a whore ? for the same reason and purpose," and "What I feel for you is contempt?"

Vile talk. But then, women are an inferior species in Rand's world, a place where little girls need not dream of growing up to be President. "By the nature of her duties and daily activities," writes Rand, "she would become the most unfeminine, sexless, metaphysically inappropriate, and rationally revolting figure of all: a matriarch."

Rand's creepy mise-en-sc?ne is as ridden with criminality as it is with misogyny and sexual brutality. One of its cartoonish heroes is a pirate named Ragnar Danneskj?ld, who's celebrated for stealing from humanitarian relief ships bound for poverty-stricken lands and giving the money ? I'm not making this up ? to the rich.

[entropy_factor]

dirty talk? Well, gotta chop this morning wood!

zzzzzzzzziiiiipp

[Idle Hands]

Ayn Rand was def. into bdsm. What Do you think is more likely: that Mr. Eskow read it or he was in a barnes & noble toilet and someone had bookmarked the sex scenes?

[SugarFree]

"By the nature of her duties and daily activities," writes Rand, "she would become the most unfeminine, sexless, metaphysically inappropriate, and rationally revolting figure of all: Hillary Clinton."

Fixed it for Rand.

[Idle Hands]

Please, Hillary Clinton eats more pussy than Bill.

[gaijin]

omg...please, someone bleach my mind's eye...

[gaoxiaen]

Channeling Jeffry Dahmer.

[Idle Hands]

Insult to injury

[gaijin]

Evil person you are!

[gimmeasammich]

Please, Hillary Clinton eats more pussy than Bill.

Didn't SF do a story about this with White Squaw? I remember undergarments being cut away with a tomahawk...

[gimmeasammich]

I hate it when I'm right...

http://reason.com/blog/2014/02.....nt_4322178

[SugarFree]

I think that might have a been a nightmare you had.

[Tonio]

Ayn Rand was not a sympathetic figure, her novels were bad literature and her characters unsympathetic. We need a new standard-bearer for literary exposition of libertarian thought.

[SugarFree]

ahem

[hamilton]

He said "libertarian", not "libertine" or "libelous".

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

He also said "thought".

[Lord Humungus]

I'm speechless.

[SugarFree]

And if a man such as yourself would someday find yourself with enemies, they will become my enemies.

[Pro Libertate]

Don Truvialone.

[Idle Hands]

You're definitely not the hero we need, but probably the one we deserve.

[Pro Libertate]

No one deserves that.

[Tonio]

Sug, I love your writing, but the phrase "not ready for primetime" does come to mind, here.

[seguin]

Well, it's definitely ready for Showtime. Or Cinemax, whoever is willing to pick up the Doomcock series.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

SugarFree?

[gaijin]

I think it was implicit that Tonio was looking for a standard bearer to draw people to libertarianism... not send them away screaming in horror 🙂

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Hey, if they cannot take it, we don't want 'em.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

"The trials psychic purges are going well. We will have fewer but better Russians libertarians."

[thom]

I know he deviates from orthodox libertarianism at times, but Heinlein was that for me. I never really liked Rand.

[Juice]

Ayn Rand wasn't orthodox libertarian. In fact she hated libertarians.

[Fluffy]

Wow, that's even more dishonest than usual.

At that point in the story, Rearden is SUPPOSED TO BE WRONG. He's caught up in the grip of the conventional sexual morality feminists supposedly are against.

A paragraph or two later Dagny laughs in his face, precisely because she realizes he's being a dumbass.

[John]

In fairness the author is probably too stupid to understand the literary device. Seriously, I would bet you good money he doesn't understand Rand is repudiating that.

[Idle Hands]

Your giving way to much credit to the author. As if he even read it.

[John]

Fair point. The quote probably came standing alone in his daily journolist talking points email.

[Citizen Nothing]

At that point in the story, Rearden is SUPPOSED TO BE WRONG

Exactly.

[Pro Libertate]

Wasn't Ayn Rand, um, a woman? Did the patriarchy get to her or something?

[John]

She wasn't a woman woman.

[Pro Libertate]

She liked violent sex, that's for sure. It's in at least three novels, if I remember correctly.

[Ted S.]

Isn't that Salon writer quoting Fifty Shades of Grey?

[gaoxiaen]

Hank talks too much.

[gaoxiaen]

I would never get that romantic.

[userve32]

Dont you jsut love the US playing World POlice all the time?

http://www.Crypt-Tools.tk

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Merica, FUCK YEAH!

[Raston Bot]

coming to save the motherfucking day YEAH!

[gaoxiaen]

You misspelled joust.

[Fist of Etiquette]

According to surveys by regional Federal Reserve Banks, businesses are cutting jobs due to high costs associated with Obamacare.

But on the plus side, um... 40,000 more, um... covered... [voice trails off]

[Snark Plissken]

"Britain promised to guarantee Scotland high levels of state funding, granting Scots greater control over healthcare spending in a last-ditch attempt to shore up support for the United Kingdom before Thursday's vote on independence."

It's not a bribe bribe.

[Tonio]

Not actually a bribe which is a payment or gift - a tangible thing. This is an accommodation which can be later reneged upon by the UK. Alternately, the Scots can drag this out by staying in the union and threatening to leave in the future if they aren't further accommodated.

IOW, a long, messy, drawn-out divorce.

[Lt Womack]

This is probably a one-shot referendum. Most of the political parties in the Scottish parliament are against leaving the UK, the Scottish nationalists just happened to get control in 2011.

[Snark Plissken]

Oil for Viagra.

[Lord Humungus]

GAO report shows how Obamacare subsidizes abortion

In a country evenly divided on abortion, there's broad agreement that pro-lifers shouldn't be forced to subsidize abortion. Obamacare shreds this notion of conscience protection.

Again and again, during the congressional debate, Obamacare defenders promised: Obamacare subsidies won't subsidize abortion; customers will be able to choose insurance plans that don't cover abortion; Obamacare subsidies, if they want to pay for abortion coverage, will be billed separately.

A new GAO report shows that Obamacare is failing on these counts.

[Ted S.]

In a country evenly divided on abortion, there's broad agreement that pro-lifers shouldn't be forced to subsidize abortion.

There is?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Well, amongst pro-lifers.

[waffles]

Britain promised to guarantee Scotland high

Fook yer promises and fook the crown!

[Rich]

"Tell me, why should Yoko have to take this kind of shit, shit from those fookin' sons of bitches?"

[Lord Humungus]

Police: Woman chokes husband after he refuses to buy her hat

A woman was arrested Saturday night after an argument with her husband over a hat turned in physical altercation.

Police responded at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville on Lower Broadway where they say Sommer Trent, 33, became angry and assaulted her husband after he refused to buy her a hat.

Witnesses reported Trent then took his hat off his head and threw it into the street.

She allegedly then pushed him into the street and began to choke him.

[waffles]

It was probably a really stupid hat.

[Snark Plissken]

Breaking news: hat tips now illegal.

[Restoras]

*golf clap*

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

How about hat chokes?

[Idle Hands]

Next on the chopping block hat tricks.

[hamilton]

Police responded at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville on Lower Broadway

Stop right there.

[Restoras]

You wanna know right now?

[hamilton]

No, Hammer time, silly.

[Ted S.]

http://xkcd.com/210/

[Citizen Nothing]

So there was a parrot on the hat?

[SugarFree]

"I'm With Stupid"

[Idle Hands]

I'm guessing they found they're lost shaker of salt. But a women's to blame.

[Almanian!]

Mr. Trent was quoted as saying, "It's my own damned fault..."

[DontShootMe]

When is the fashion industry going to address the violence that hats cause to men? Is the salesperson going to be suspended? Undergo counseling? What about the hat designer? We need to get the hat industry to put their considerable financial resources behind changing the culture of violence.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

No more hat speech.

[Almanian!]

-1 e

[Idle Hands]

hen is the fashion industry going to address the violence that hats cause to men?

Obligatory.

[WTF]

This is not possible, I have it on good authority only men commit domestic violence.

[gaoxiaen]

My ex-GF did that to me once, but I was wearing a trash basket (it fit perfectly) and we were already in the middle of the street.

[gimmeasammich]

He was just mad that it didn't come with a free bowl of soup.

[Lord Humungus]

Administration threatens to cut off ObamaCare subsidies to 360,000

The Obama administration announced Monday it will cut off tax subsidies to about 360,000 people if they do not offer proof of their income in the next two weeks.

Officials will send final notices this week to individuals who signed up for ObamaCare with income levels that didn't match government records. The announcement marks the administration's first move to tackle the politically charged issue of income verification, which has remained a key GOP argument against the healthcare reform law.

Those who don't confirm their income levels could lose their tax credit and face higher premiums and higher deductibles.

[entropy_factor]

that's what it is all about- dependency, remove options, then when you need to tighten the leash a bit, threaten to take away the stuff people got dependent on.

Social control 101

[John]

No. This is about incompetance. They set up a system that would never work in the real word. The last thing they want to do is cut people off. You don't get people hooked and then cut them off. You use the threat of doing it. You don't actually do it.

They are not evil geniuses. They couldn't run a proper rat control experiment let alone engage in actual social control. They are just morons.

[PapayaSF]

Yes.

[Jerryskids]

The Obama administration announced Monday it will cut off tax subsidies to about 360,000 people if they do not offer proof of their income in the next two weeks.

Is "proof of income" more or less racist than asking them to show an ID at the polls?

[Rich]

The system includes two new databases. One, called Rap Back, enables FBI authorized entities the ability to receive ongoing status notifications of any criminal history reported on specific individuals.

"Rap Back", eh?

Because "they all look alike"?

[Snark Plissken]

Enhance bling, 27x47, stop.

[hamilton]

Well, their Hollaback campaign didn't really get any traction.

[Tonio]

I suspect that they meant "rap sheet", but perhaps also a pun on the music style.

[Rich]

No! No pun! Entirely "rap sheet"!

[Almanian!]

I agree! Rap is sheet!

Now, Laurence Welk - THERE eez good some music, yes?

[Rich]

"A wonna anna twoah" would be a good sample, yes?

[Obama's Buttplug]

True story, his license plate was A1ANA2.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Tank yew, Tank yew, Tank yew!

[gaoxiaen]

My favorite Lawrence Whelk song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg

[Obama's Buttplug]

That is just so surreal!

[Lord Humungus]

Calpers to Exit Hedge Funds, Divest $4 Billion Stake

The California Public Employees' Retirement System plans to divest the entire $4 billion that it has with hedge funds, saying they're too expensive and complex.

The decision to eliminate 24 hedge funds and six hedge fund-of-funds, isn't related to the performance of the program, said Ted Eliopoulos, the interim chief investment officer. The board of the $298 billion pension, known as Calpers, hasn't decided where to invest the money after the pullout, which will take about a year, he said.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Good luck with that.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Hedge funds are extremely liquid, right?

/Calpers

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

No shit, so the $298B, which isn't enough to cover their current outlays, will go down to $150B when they try to divest it.

Any predictions on what they'll invest in?

California hi-speed rail system?

California municiple bonds?

Lottery tickets?

Pets.com?

Print media?

Maybe a nifty time share?

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Fur bearing trout farm

Jackalope ranch

Detroit municipal debt instruments

IL state bonds

Long term Greek, Portuguese and Italian debt

[Restoras]

California hi-speed rail system?

California municiple bonds?

What better place to invest in then your own home! Think of the jerbs all that 'investment' will create! It's high time the fat-cat money managers starting 'investing' in socially responsible projects!

When the government runs out of that money, it'll come for private retirement accounts next.

[PapayaSF]

It's California, so they will figure out a way to "invest" it in welfare and services for illegal aliens.

[Lord Humungus]

Extent of Antarctic sea ice reaches record levels, scientists say

Scientists say the extent of Antarctic sea ice cover is at its highest level since records began.

Satellite imagery reveals an area of about 20 million square kilometres covered by sea ice around the Antarctic continent.

Jan Lieser from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) said the discovery was made two days ago.

"This is an area covered by sea ice which we've never seen from space before," he said.

[Lord Humungus]

What do we blame?

CEO of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, Tony Worby, said the warming atmosphere is leading to greater sea ice coverage by changing wind patterns.

"The extent of sea ice is driven by the winds around Antarctica, and we believe that they're increasing in strength and part of that is around the depletion of ozone," he said.

He said changes to sea ice levels could have implications for the entire Antarctic ecosystem.

"So the sea ice is a very important habitat for krill in particular and for the reproduction of krill and that forms one of the absolute staples of the diet for many species in the Antarctic.

[Pope Jimbo]

Wait. I thought ozone levels were up?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technolo.....g-25410598

Such is the awesome mystery of AGW I guess.

[Ted S.]

Now that we have "global warming" to blame for the world's problems, we need to send the ozone hole down the memory hole.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Ozone Chaos!

[DontShootMe]

The ice is melting.
- Global warming.

The ice is expanding.
- Global warming.

The warming has paused.
- It's hiding. It'll really go up fast when it stops hiding.

People are eating meat.
- Global warming.

[Idle Hands]

Heads I win tails you lose.

[Doctor Whom]

You think you've got bills? Government could have fined Yahoo trillions of dollars

For an illuminating glimpse of government power in action, it's hard to beat the fines the Justice Department threatened to level against Yahoo if it didn't comply with a secret and sweeping surveillance request in 2008. News coverage of the case, for which documents were unsealed last week, reported the proposed fines as $250,000 a day. But there was also a clause that called for a doubling of the amount each week if Yahoo refused to comply. It was more than enough to bankrupt the company after just a few months.

We don't need no stinkin' 4th or 8th Amendment.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I'm still waiting for a principled player to be willing to risk jail time and expose the activity as it occurs.

[VG Zaytsev]

I'm still waiting for a principled player

Oxymoron much?

[ant1sthenes]

You should ask Joe Nacchio about that, then.

[The Late P Brooks]

According to surveys by regional Federal Reserve Banks, businesses are cutting jobs due to high costs associated with Obamacare.

Unexpectedly.

[Rich]

Ex-official claims Clinton allies scrubbed Benghazi documents in secret session

This could get interesting.

WARNING: Self-starting video

[Snark Plissken]

WARNING: fake scandal.

[Fist of Etiquette]

WHAT DIFFERENCE AT THIS POINT DOES THE WARNING MAKE?

[waffles]

Thanks for the warning. I would have been way to triggered for this early in the day.

[Restoras]

It could - if there was someone in the media that wasn't a left-wing shill and de facto propagandist for the Democratic Party.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

FAKE SKANDULL!!!!!

[Lord Humungus]

Network Evening Reports On Presidential Approval

Obama: 9
BOOOOSH: 124

[John]

But remember, they aren't biased it is just that reality has a liberal biased.

The media really is the worst sort of scum.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

FAUX NEWZ!

[Idle Hands]

The other thing that was big under Bush but I don't recall ever happening under Obama was the daily casualty announcements and body counts from Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama had more people die under him in Afghanistan if we polled Americans what % would even know that? I'm thinking

[Idle Hands]

less than 10%

[MegaloMonocle]

Around 8%, perhaps?

[WTF]

Those stats got put away with the papier mache puppets and war protest signs.

[Stilgar]

Those stats are available:

http://icasualties.org/

you can also subscribe to dod releases at govdelivery.com I have a mail folder set up that sorts just the casualty announcements.

I would venture that I am one of a very few people in the country that has read the names of all those killed. Doing so certainly gives you a different perspective on things.

[Emmerson Biggins]

47% ?

[Lord Humungus]

In this Chinese city, phone addicts get their own sidewalk lane

Some places have lanes for bicycles, others for motorcycles, but there's a place in mainland China that boasts a different type of lane altogether: one for phone addicts glued to their screens. According to a Chinese publication, the cellphone lane above was spotted along a place called Foreigner Street in Chongqing city, one of the five major cities in the country. The sidewalk was most likely painted on for everyone's safety, because, hey, if there's distracted driving, there's also distracted walking, as perfectly demonstrated by the woman in this video.

[Almanian!]

Do they call them "Lark and Tark Ranes"?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Lacist!

[jmomls]

*Foreigner Street in Chongqing city, *

+1 Lou Gramm

[Lord Humungus]

from:

The Highland Regiments have been known for their fierceness in battle, using shock to scare their enemy, and for their unique kilts. Throughout their history, they have been known to engage in melee combat overzealously. During World War I, they still used fierce bayonet charges commonly. This caused the Germans to refer to the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) as the "Ladies from Hell"[1].

http://www.allempires.com/arti....._Regiments

To:

welfare spending and the future of the revered National Health System have formed a central part of nationalist Alex Salmond's case for secession.

[John]

Without the London financial industry to plunder, I wish them luck with their little welfare program. They aren't even waiting to run out of other people's money. They are walking away from it.

[Tonio]

But, back in the days when Britain had an empire to maintain and defend those people who are now on welfare would have been weeded out in battle.

[Steve G]

Ha, reminds me of a conversation I had w/ the 7 yr old yesterday. He asked who would win in a battle between the Scots and the Egyptians. I had him clarify when and where this battle took place

[jmomls]

*He asked who would win in a battle between the Scots and the Egyptians. I had him clarify when and where this battle took place*

In what format is the battle going to be? Nowadays, neither culture is adept at anything but begging for bakshish.

[Rich]

Although it's far from the sort of brain transplant beloved by science fiction enthusiasts, scientists have taken one step in that direction: they have spliced a key human brain gene into mice.

It's a plot to create vast numbers of Demorat voters!

[hamilton]

Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?
The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to pass single-payer health care!

[gaoxiaen]

I thought of a good gene-slicing idea today. I'd like elephant DNA so I could grow new teeth six times.

[tarran]

Barack Obama called a climate summit, and a lot of people decided not to come.

The list of guests not attending:

Australia's Prime Minister,
Germany's Prime Minister
India's Prime Minister
China's Prime Minister
Canada's Prime Minister

Women and minorities will, of course, benefit the most from Obama's latest failure.

[Lt Womack]

It is truly amazing the degree to which Obama has pissed off the rest of the world. Not that Russia and the PRC were going to be our best buddies anyway, but at least the Bush administration (not exactly a model of competence itself) knew how to keep them civil.

[Ted S.]

Obama, Hillary, and Co. sure reset the relationship with Russia.

[WTF]

But...Smart Diplomacy! RESET BUTTON!!

[Ted S.]

Woohoo! I beat somebody to the punchline! 🙂

[WTF]

Dammit!

[CatoTheElder]

Except that the Russian word that the geniuses at DoS used was OVERCHARGE (as in, rip off).

[This Machine Kills 40s]

Barack Obama: We Will Defeat ISIL Just like We Defeated Al Qaeda

I dunno guys, he makes a pretty compelling case!

[Rich]

Our troops have long shown what can be achieved with shifting objectives, no strategic foresight, and vigorous support from the American people who don't have to sacrifice anything.

Well done.

[Lt Womack]

Wasn't Kerry just saying that ISIL is part of Al Qaeda, as an argument for the 2001 AUMF applying to this "major counterterrorism operation"?

[Steve G]

Your meter needs calibration

[CatoTheElder]

American politics is such that it cannot be parodied.

Even the most absurd parody can easily be interpreted to be an accurate report.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Or will eventually become a true report.

[Rich]

"This is my fourth year, and I've never seen a dessert served in the school. The kids like kale here, and they eat broccoli. Really, we've been ahead of the game," [said] Shelley Mathias, principal of Burlington's Edmunds Elementary School

"Unfortunately, the kids are a bunch of liars."

[John]

So the kids haven't been given dessert in four years? Where the hell is CPS?

[Rich]

Vermont is a dessert desert.

[Snark Plissken]

BASTARD!

[Rich]

One gets one's just desserts.

[Almanian!]

+1 ice cream

[John]

Or maybe all the kids are vegan and thus can't have their pudding because they didn't eat their meat?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

CPS is in charge of making sure no kid is seen outside.

[Snark Plissken]

Dessert food desert.

[Tonio]

Self-parody, FTW!

[The Late P Brooks]

Bloomberg just had an amusing segment on the ongoing battle between Amazon and Hachette, featuring some whiny bitch whose argument boiled down to a naked appeal to sentiment and emotion. "Authors are SPESHUL! We deserve to get a fat premium over what those rat fink capitalists at Amazon want to pay us. Books are magic."

Haha, sure they are, you simpering old biddy.

[sarcasmic]

'When a gunnery sergeant tells you to take off your clothes, you better take off your clothes': The male victims of military rape tell their heartbreaking stories

Men who enlist in the U.S. armed forces are ten times more likely to become victims of sexual assault

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

[Almanian!]

That's a lotta butthurt, right there

[John]

Its fucking disgusting and the people who did it should be shot. What I would like to know is are the perpetrators real bull queers or just generic sickos who like to torture people.

[Idle Hands]

but he probably got a reach around.

[sarcasmic]

Leopard that targets drunk men as they stumble home claims its 12th victim

The leopard has terrorised Didihat region of north India since January 2012
It's latest victim was a 44-year-old man as he walked home to Badeth village
Officials have dispatched an elite team of sharpshooters to kill the beast
But their efforts have drawn a blank as the animal continues to elude them
Expert says it is 'even consuming intestines, which is a surprising aspect'

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

[waffles]

This leopard is encouraging drunk driving!

[Pope Jimbo]

Piker. The Panar leopard killed 400. The Champawat tigress had 430 or so before Jim Corbett settled her.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Expert says it is 'even consuming intestines, which is a surprising aspect'

HAGGIS EATING TIGER!!!!

[Xeones]

Expert says it is 'even consuming intestines, which is a surprising aspect'

That is one masochistic leopard, then. I don't even want to be near my OWN intestines after eating Indian food.

[PapayaSF]

LOL

[tarran]

The Energy and Environmental Legal Institute publishes a brief alleging to document the EPA's secretive collusion with green pressure groups.

Improper Collusion Between Environmental Pressure Groups and the Environmental Protection Agency As Revealed by Freedom of Information Act Requests

I encourage everyone to read the executive summary. It's a fucking laundry list of regulatory capture distilled to its purest essence. A typical exerpt:

These relationships go all the way to the top. Current EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says in one email that she is directly corresponding with various green group leaders, which emails EPA has failed to produce despite that they surely are responsive to the requests at issue (this begs whether the correspondence was in fact done by email, or text message, which CEI learned McCarthy increasingly turned to as an alternative to email, each and every among thousands of which she has acknowledged to CEI, through counsel, destroying). Still, other emails do show she gave green group leaders "heads up" on sensitive issues. In one case she
openly stated she was trying to save the group from embarrassment.

[Tonio]

Another fake scandal.

[sarcasmic]

What lies beyond the third chamber? Archaeologists move further inside Alexander the Great era tomb - but will it collapse?

The tomb is situated in the Amphipolis region of Serres in Greece
Its huge burial site is said to date back between 325 and 300 BC
This means it could have been built during the reign of Alexander the Great
Archaeologists have now entered the third chamber of the tomb
However, it is structurally weak and could collapse if they enter further
It is unknown if anything lies beyond the third chamber
Two sculpted female figures, known as Caryatids, were found last week
It is thought they were intended to guard one of the tomb's entrances
Experts hope it holds the remains of a senior ancient official

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

[Tonio]

If only they had, like, some sturdy timbers or scaffolding or something...

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

You...you...may be on to something!

/Greek archaeologist

[thom]

At what point do we no longer consider a tomb to be sacred? Nobody would tolerate archaeologists grave-robbing a 100, or even 500 year old tomb, but two thousand years makes it A-OK?

[sarcasmic]

Sweaty and barefaced Sarah Palin steps out without her wedding ring for first time since family fight

The former VP candidate was pictured running errands in Anchorage, Alaska on Monday
It was her first public outing since a fight broke out at a party which most of the Palin clan were attending this weekend
Source from Palin side claims daughter Willow Palin's ex-boyfriend Connor Cleary started the fight
Sarah Palin's oldest son had four ribs broken and husband Todd suffered a bloody nose

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

[Ted S.]

Do you think they'd use the phrase "sweaty and barefaced" to describe any TEAM BLUE female politician?

[Almanian!]

That's pretty much Debbie Wasserman Schultz, when you think about it - "sweaty and barefaced"

*barf*

[WTF]

Hell, they would never even consider publishing such an unflattering picture of a TEAM BLUE female politician.

[John]

In fairness, every picture of Team Blue female politicians is that unflattering or more. It is not like you have to try to put up a bad picture of Pelosi or Schultz.

[sarcasmic]

Is global warming causing COLDER winters? Melting ice is destabilising the polar vortex, study claims

Polar vortex was responsible for freezing temperatures in the US this winter
It is a large pocket of very cold air that sits over the polar region
Study claim the recent vortex may have been caused by melting polar ice
Warm water melts the ice, and this causes warm air to be released
Warm air destabilises polar air, sending cold blasts into the atmosphere
As global warming continues to heats oceans, freezing winters will increase

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....laims.html
Global warming, is there anything it cannot do?

[Jerryskids]

Keep in mind that the climate models prove that as tropical temperature increases lead to higher-pressure systems in the lower latitudes, the polar vortex is going to be trapped in a tighter area and will not be able to expand in its normal cycle.

I remember finding an interview with Michael Mann from 2006-ish where he was asked about another researchers work that suggested global warming would cause the polar vortex to spread out more and contribute to cooler temperatures across upper North America and Europe. Mann flat said that no, they had already looked at this possibility and concluded that global warming would put an end to the expanding polar vortex cycle.

(I happened to be looking this up last year after the popular press ran with the story that the polar vortex was yet more proof of global warming and noticed that some of the usual suspects in the alarmist community were quick to point out that the polar vortex had nothing to do with global warming and I was curious as to why they were so quick to deny it. They were so quick to deny it because their computer models showed the exact opposite of the real world.)

[tarran]

Keep in mind that the climate models prove that as tropical temperature increases lead to higher-pressure systems in the lower latitudes,

NO! THIS IS VERY WRONG AND YOU ARE LITERALLY WORSE THAN HITLER FOR WRITING THIS!!!!!

Climate models 'prove' nothing!!!!! They make predictions. If they are accurately modeling reality, then observations may match those predictions.

If, as I assert, the models are badly parameterized and are failing to account for all of the significant interactions between the various systems that interact to produce the phenomena we call climate, then those predictions are pretty limited in utility.

There are a class of assertions that a model can prove right or wrong, but those would be related to whether certain things were possible, such as the models prove that a contracting polar vortex is possible given warming in the tropics and temperate zones.

[John]

Their entire model is based on feedback loops. Yet, they never consider the possibility of negative feedback. Assume for the sake of argument that CO2 is "warming the earth". If that is causing warmer temps in the tropics which in turn cause the polar vortex to expand cooling the rest of the northern hemisphere resulting in the same average temperatures, that is a negative feed back loop. It would mean that even if their theory is right, their predictions about it causing overall warming and biblical disaster would be wrong.

[tarran]

John,

It's not so much that they aren't considering the possibility of negative feedback loops as that some of the physical things they are trying to model aren't really understood well.

The bige one is cloud formation. Clouds are really water droplets in the air. To form, moisture in the air has to condense into droplets in close proximity. Generally, the condensation is started around some nucleation source, a piece of dust, an ionized piece of air, some point that is different than the air.

[tarran]

And the mystery is that these potential nucleation sites are often present and sometimes clouds form and sometimes they don't form. And there really isn't any theory that accurately describes the physical distribution of nucleation sites or how clouds will form on a monthly or daily resolution. One exciting (and probably wrong) theory propounded by Svenmark is that that how cloudy the Earth is is in part the product of the intensity with which cosmic rays are ionizing the atmosphere.

My understanding is that the accounting for cloudiness and cloud formation in the major model systems is to essentially use a stochastic process (from the greek for shooting arrows randomly) picking from past observations, hoping that by making numerous model runs that the average will tell you something useful.

But that assumes that the cloud formation is not related to other stuff going on in the atmosphere.

And that's just one system; there are something like 17 other major components of the climate that are in the same boat.

[sarcasmic]

Leaked document reveals Switzerland would shield Edward Snowden from US extradition if he assists the country's investigation into American spying

Switzerland would protect Snowden from U.S. if he assists spy investigation
NSA whistleblower's cooperation would render extradition a political issue
Would therefore not be handed over to U.S. unless a treaty was in place
Details emerged in leaked document from Swiss public prosecutor's office
Officials confirmed leak was genuine but called situation 'purely hypothetical'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....n-U-S.html

[Fluffy]

Right, but he's got to GET there.

[Fluffy]

It's funny - if the Swiss gave him some kind of magic Swiss passport that guaranteed him safe passage between Russia and Switzerland (you know, something like the Maguffin from Casablanca) the US would just ignore it.

Because the US respects international law and the diplomatic rights of other nations even less than the movie-villain version of the Gestapo in the 40's.

[John]

The problem is that we would be doing it to the Swiss. It is one thing to ignore international law when dealing with animals like the Iranians who ignore it themselves. It is something quite different to ignore international law when dealing with a civilized nation that generally abides by it. The former makes you practical. The latter makes you an animal like the Iranians.

[CatoTheElder]

I'm kind of okay with dissing Iran.

However, the US forced down an Bolivian plane because they thought Snowden might be on it, essentially kidnapping the Bolivian president while they searched his plane. And they did that by intimidating Portuguese and Austrian officials.

[John]

And that is a real problem. Those countries are not our enemies and not bad actors on the international stage.

The worst thing about this is that the US has had worse criminals than Snowden lose in the world and has never resorted to such tactics. We forced a plane down to get the Achille Lauro hijackers but turned them over to Italian officials and let one of them continue to Egypt. Those guys were murderers. They are only going after Snowden by any means necessary because he embarrassed Obama. Snowden is nothing. He is no longer an important person now that the information has been leaked. This whole thing is about Obama's personal vindictiveness and ego. What a sorry human being he is.

[sarcasmic]

It's not just Obama. Wouldn't matter who the president was. Snowden exposed federal secrets. That's along the lines of killing a cop. The government will shut down an entire city and threaten to murder citizens for walking their dogs while hunting a cop killer. The law doesn't matter at that point, just as it doesn't matter in their hunt for Snowden.

[Rich]

Bangkok woman kills herself by jumping into a pit of crocodiles at a reptile farm

Sad story, but the photo of the *two-headed baby croc* is totally worth a click.

[gaoxiaen]

Imaginative, thrifty, and environmentally-conscious. A self-recycling human.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Energy and Environmental Legal Institute publishes a brief alleging to document the EPA's secretive collusion with green pressure groups.

INCONCEIVABLE!

[sarcasmic]

They've had the time of their lives! Ghostly remains of abandoned resorts once glitzy Upstate New York hotels (and the setting for Dirty Dancing)

The Borscht Belt is the name given to an area of upstate New York popular with Jewish Americans
At its height the area boasted more than 600 hotels and summer camps, and was the height of Catskills glamour
Now with many of them abandoned, photographers have flocked to document them as they evolve

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tra.....ncing.html
Cool pictures, if you're into that sort of thing.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

"The food is terrible. And the portions - so small!"

Cop pulls over a older couple for speeding. The hard of hearing wife is driving. Wife hands cop her driver's license.
Cop:"New Jersey, huh? I once dated a woman from New Jersey, ugliest woman I ever dated."
Woman: "What?"
Husband: "HE SAID HE DATED YOUR SISTER."

[sarcasmic]

A moment in time: Solid gold Rolex given to Eisenhower for helping save Europe from the Nazis to become world's most expensive timepiece as it emerges for sale

The 18-carat gold timepiece was gifted to Eisenhower in 1951
It is expected to sell for well over ?600,000 at auction tomorrow
It is engraved with his initials, stars, and the date of his NATO appointment
It has been called the most 'important and most valuable' Rolex ever made

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-sale.html

[Knarf Yenrab!]

I wonder what Ike received for sending "advisors" to French Indochina.

(reading lately about how much the early libertarians despised Eisenhower as the destroyer of the old anti-war GOP)

[John]

They never forgave him for defeating the Nazis. Seriously. The old right with Eisenhower is like the old left was with Nixon. The old left never forgave Nixon for taking down Alger Hiss. The old Right never forgave Eisenhower for fighting and winning the war.

[John]

And it is pretty rich for someone claiming to be "anti-war" bitching about Eisenhower. Eisenhower ended the Korean war and got the world through the worst parts of the Cold War without destroying the world. He sent advisers to Vietnam. Big fucking deal. That hardly makes him responsible for what Johnson did later. And he ended one war and kept us out of an imaginably big war.

This is why I hate the old Right.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

He sent advisers to Vietnam. Big fucking deal.

Do you really think no one's going to call that bluff?

If we take the concept of entangling alliances seriously--and we should, provided that the political refusal to accept sunk costs is why Obama is now engaging in another full war in Iraq despite very little real value to be gained from war--then all of Vietnam is traced back to Ike and his idiotic domino theory. Every president who followed him had his hand forced by previous engagement in the same way that Obama feels that his hand is forced politically.

Sticking your head in the sand for the sake of pretending that Eisenhower wasn't a massive disaster for the GOP and classical liberalism is silly even by "conservative" standards.

[John]

So having any alliances automatically means we will go to Vietnam in response to every war. That is fucking retarded. To say we should never have an alliance is as stupid as saying we are world policeman.

The economic realities of the world necessitate our involvement in it. We can't have a rich country and a great economy if we allow the rest of the world to fall into fascist darkness.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

So having any alliances automatically means we will go to Vietnam in response to every war. That is fucking retarded. To say we should never have an alliance is as stupid as saying we are world policeman.

Calling something "fucking retarded" isn't a response. Are you saying that Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon didn't remain in Vietnam because of the sunk cost fallacy? If so, you're 100% wrong.

The sunk-cost fallacy is THE political fallacy.

The economic realities of the world necessitate our involvement in it. We can't have a rich country and a great economy if we allow the rest of the world to fall into fascist darkness.

The United States was in fascist darkness for all of the 1930s and much of the 1940s.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

This is why I hate the old Right.

John, you hate the Old Right because you're not a libertarian or even a proto-libertarian, and you don't value the virtues of radical liberalism. I like you personally, but everything you say makes me think you're a pro-Buckley, pro-Kirk conservative.

[John]

Yes, I am. I hate Rothbard and I hate the paleo right. Ultimately, they would have been happy to side with the Nazis in the name of preserving their ideological purity. I have no patience with idiots who claim the US was at fault for World War II or were wrong for fighting it. And that is what the Paleo right claimed. And I also have no patience for people who were unwilling to fight communism before it got to our shores and started arming our leftist buddies.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Ultimately, they would have been happy to side with the Nazis in the name of preserving their ideological purity.

Nonsense. You're saying absurd things because your blood is up. Mencken and Nock opposed FDR because they knew he was the same fucking character as Mussolini, the sort of person who'd steal and enslave and destroy the whole economy provided that he got to maintain his power.

I have no patience with idiots who claim the US was at fault for World War II or were wrong for fighting it.

Then you're wrong. The "US" wasn't to blame for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of young men who were conscripted (read: enslaved) into the war that FDR slobbered over; the scum who ran the federal government were.

You'll have to spell it out for me. How is bending over backwards to embrace the Mussolini of America over principled anti-war, anti-fascist activists for individualism indicative of the conservative appreciation for individual rights?

[John]

The Germans declared war on us and the Japanese attacked us. The war was their fault not ours. The resulting US deaths are on them not us. Orwell called it, people who were anti-war during the fight against fascism were pro fascist whether they admitted it or not.

And indeed, at least some of the leftover right in the paleo movement I think are secret Nazi sympathizers. See Pat Buchanon as a good example. His is virulently anti-Semitic and has spent his entire public life downplaying and excusing Nazi atrocities while slandering the US. These people are beneath contempt.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

The Germans declared war on us and the Japanese attacked us. The war was their fault not ours. The resulting US deaths are on them not us. Orwell called it, people who were anti-war during the fight against fascism were pro fascist whether they admitted it or not.

Which is why they also declared war on the neutral Swiss, right?

Japan attacked because US entrance into WW2 under FDR was just as assured as American participation in WW1 was under Wilson. The idea that the United States--a major advocate and bankroller of the Allied Powers--was sitting by innocently twiddling its thumbs while practicing principled neutrality is anti-historical. Everyone knew that the United States would be in the war one way or the other if FDR remained president.

FDR was a fascist of the first order, and after performing a coup de grace on the economy, he got the war he wanted, and hundreds of thousands of innocent young men were conscripted (read again: enslaved) and suffered.

The bit about paleos and the Old Right being anti-semitic is risible. FDR kept asylum-seeking Jews out; Mencken wanted them in. Every great liberal/libertarian mind of the 20th century except Hayek was Jewish. Anti-semitism is your "conservative" deal, not ours, and Buchanan the Nixonite is also one of yours, not ours.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Relax Barney,

John has the secret decoder ring that allows him to know everybodies secret inner thoughts. So he is right, and nothing you can say will change his mind.

[SugarFree]

Jezebellians talk about their experiences with sex ghosts.

[Almanian!]

Not. Clicking. Link.

Must.....resist...

[Rich]

Oh, do it. Sample:

If you really want to impress that special ghost set the mood. Nothing says "I'm an available corporeal being looking for sexy new entity" like candle light and maybe a little Dead Can Dance playing in the background. Don't be afraid to get playful. Throw on a silky little shroud and work it. Talking can go a long way. As you saunter forlornly about the house drop a few hints. Say things like "I long for the cold embrace of the afterlife"

[Almanian!]

DEVIL! Get thee behind me!

[gaoxiaen]

Anal bottom with Satan is worse.

[gaoxiaen]

He has those barbs on his cock, too.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Wait, are they attempting humor?

[trshmnster the terrible]

Can't tell if serious!

[MegaloMonocle]

THAT"S NOT FUNNY!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Zorak and Moltar want in on it too

[Carl ?s his ? for ?s]

1. While I don't want to discount Rawson's story

Why not? It's a ghost story, there's plenty of reason to discount it.

2. There are people in the comments non-ironically recounting their (nonsexual, thank glob) experiences with ghosts. Fuck.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

When someone says they believe in ghosts, I keep that in the back of my mind for as long as I know them, so I can remain skeptical of any shit that they say.

[lap83]

Same here. It helps that they're usually very sincere and nonchalant about retelling their ghost experiences, so there's no question about their naivete. You'd think they'd realize how foolish they look and at least qualify it with "oh, I know you must think I'm crazy but I couldn't explain what I saw rationally". Nope. They lost their shoe and saw some mist. It was obviously a ghost. No question.

[Idle Hands]

"ghostly orb that looks like a dildo."

[gaoxiaen]

"inflated condom"

[sarcasmic]

'We sell Big STRAIGHT Ice Cream': Restaurant sparks outrage for hanging 'homophobic' sign in store window

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....indow.html

[Almanian!]

"I WANT ICE CREAM!

No homo...."

[Rich]

"No 'hot fudge sundaes' HERE"

[Juice]

Is the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop heterophobic?

[Lord Humungus]

This will probably interest no one - Philistines! - but I watched this nice documentary on Rowland S. Howard, once guitarist for the Aussie Group The Birthday Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84LqGyirQXg

Once again heroin creates and destroys.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I'm interested. Thanks for the heads up.

Nick Cave, card carrying member of The Sons of Lee Marvin.

[Lord Humungus]

Note: it is a trailer for the documentary Autoluminescent which I bought on DVD.

[Ken Shultz]

The first rule of The Sons of Lee Marvin is: You do not talk about The Sons of Lee Marvin.

[The Late P Brooks]

Switzerland would protect Snowden from U.S. if he assists spy investigation

This would be an excellent way for the Swiss to give the Extortionist-in-Chief a thumb in the eye for all the bank data thuggery.

[Almanian!]

Anything that pisses off the Obamas, Greg Gutfelds and Dana Perinos of the world re: Snowden is good by me.

Switzerland would rise in my estimation. I'm sure they care...:)

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Oh, we...er, they do...

[Andrew S.]

Yeah, but if Switzerland was so easily bullied into the bank data investigations, who's to say that Obama won't be able to bully them into handing over Snowden?

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

It is a way to push back. It is hard to describe how much damage all that bank bullying did to Swiss opinions of the US and the Lightworker.

[Clich? Bandit]

And vice versa. I know of no one now willing to bank in Switzerland. The Swiss have lost their greatest commodity in earnest this time (NAZI pressure and Jewish accounts being seized seems to have been mostly forgotten plus the Germans we actually bordering Switzerland so there was real fear at least). When the Swiss Bank decided to peg the Franc to the Euro I gave up on them being anything but a better heeled lackey to the EU and US manipulations.

[Lord Humungus]

STEM Grads Are at a Loss
Those who claim there's a STEM skills shortage are ignoring the evidence.

All credible research finds the same evidence about the STEM workforce: ample supply, stagnant wages and, by industry accounts, thousands of applicants for any advertised job. The real concern should be about the dim employment prospects for our best STEM graduates: The National Institutes of Health, for example, has developed a program to help new biomedical Ph.D.s find alternative careers in the face of "unattractive" job prospects in the field. Opportunities for engineers vary by the field and economic cycle ? as oil exploration has increased, so has demand (and salaries) for petroleum engineers, resulting in a near tripling of petroleum engineering graduates. In contrast, average wages in the IT industry are the same as those that prevailed when Bill Clinton was president despite industry cries of a "shortage." Overall, U.S. colleges produce twice the number of STEM graduates annually as find jobs in those fields.

[Almanian!]

So what we need is more STEM cell research to clarify all this.

Right?

/Liberal Arts grad

[Fluffy]

Bill Clinton was President in 1998.

That would mean that current wages are just as high as they were at the peak of a previous boom.

This is like complaining, "My Pets.com stock is only at the peak it hit during the Clinton administration - 20 years ago!"

[John]

Maybe. But when they say "same as that" they might mean in actual terms not in inflation adjusted terms. If the wages are the same, they are effectively making less thanks to the Fed.

[gaijin]

Overall, U.S. colleges produce twice the number of STEM graduates annually as find jobs in those fields.

I think that is, in part, because alot of those STEM grads are being recruited to work in non STEM fields...like finance and consulting. Math skills are valuable commodities...whether applied to engineering or not.

[Carl ?s his ? for ?s]

Yes, a lot of physics grads (for example) become quants for investement firms.

[Fluffy]

The other thing you have to watch when these statistics are trotted out is that often dishonest commentators will include community college PCA class graduates as "science" grads.

So when someone takes the home health aide classes at Roxbury Community College but then doesn't get a job because her multiple shoplifting and assault convictions make it impossible for her to pass the CORI check, she goes into the stats as an "underemployed STEM graduate".

[Ken Shultz]

They make for good management trainees.

A lot of them actually get some management training as an undergraduate.

I know civil engineers get economic decision making training, they're trained on team building, communications, and stuff like that.

A lot of them also end up working for government, in various capacities, in jobs that aren't front line making calculations. In most of those civil engineering jobs, after six or seven years, you're often some kind of project manager--overseeing other engineer's work.

[John]

Bad engineers can sometimes make good managers. Good engineers are generally miserable as managers and thus don't do a very good job.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Overall, U.S. colleges produce twice the number of STEM graduates annually as find jobs in those fields.

One wonders how many of say, psychology or english majors, colleges produce per jobs in those fields?

?2? ??2? x as x --- infinity symbol?

[Carl ?s his ? for ?s]

FWIW, there is a counterpoint article linked in the sidebar.

This whole debate is stupid, though, because STEM is far too broad and malleable.

[Clich? Bandit]

If I were classifying:
S = Phys, Chem, Bio, Geo
T = CS
E = ME, EE, CE (although I hate that one)
M = Math

In each there are specialties: Math-Crypto for example. CS-Networking, or CS-Development. Bio-Chem, Petro-Chem, App-Phy.

[John]

Petroleum engineering requires you getting dirty and living in unfashionable places like North Dakota or Houston. Maybe that is why it pays more than jobs that allow you to live in Palo Alto and work from home.

Just a thought.

[antisocial-ist]

If even the STEM grads can't find work, I'd say the bubble bursting is nigh.

[John]

I think it is more that IT folks can't find work.

[Clich? Bandit]

ummm....try again.
Probably the most desired field at the moment...NOT FOR 150k but still 70-120 no problem.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Yeah, I call BS. Graduated in 2011 with multiple job offers. I still have companies cold calling me once or twice a month, and I don't even work in the field anymore.

You have to do your research (aero engineering isn't nearly as good of a market as comp engineering), but there are plenty of top notch opportunities for people with a 2.8 or higher. There are also plenty of average jobs for people with lower GPA.

[John]

I think fluffy called it above. When they say "STEM" they include everyone from you to someone graduating with a masters in Physical therapy to someone who trained to be a nurses aide at a community college or took some Microsoft certification. The category is so broad it is effectively meaningless or at the very least doesn't mean what they claim it does.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Yeah, agreed. That platitude about lies, damn lies, and statistics pops into my head.

This entire debate reeks of degree envy from some lib arts majors who don't understand why they're not taken as seriously as the STEM grads.

[Juice]

Sounds like you went to a top tier school. If you did, you get people begging you to work for them. Outside the list of about 30-40 schools, you don't get any attention. Big companies recruit heavily from a list of top schools. If you're resume doesn't have once of those schools listed, they usually don't want to hear from you.

[lap83]

In fairness the cries of skill shortages are often coming from employers with shitty business sense who don't know how to attract talent. The WSJ has an article every other week interviewing an employer who typically complains about how they can't fill roles involving obscure and narrow skill sets, but they refuse to train or offer better compensation.

Obviously, a liberals misguided solution would be to increase minimum wage or some BS. I don't think that, but I do think that journalists often give too much credence to business owners and not enough to job seekers.

[Idle Hands]

20% of men admit to hitting their significant other.

Dr. Vijay Singh and colleagues used data from a larger national survey. The 500 men were asked: "Over the course of your relationship, how often have you ever done any of these things (pushed, grabbed, or shoved; threw something; slapped or hit; kicked, bit, or hit with a fist; beat up; choked; burned or scalded; threatened with a knife or gun) to your current spouse/partner?" Nineteen percent admitted they had done so at least once, the team reported in Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. "If men could enter responses in a private way, (the percentage) could have been even higher," Singh noted. And that was just physical violence. "It did not ask about emotional abuse. It did not ask about sexual abuse," he said.

The numbers if women were polled would be enormous.

[Idle Hands]

Also there I would say there is a difference between pushing/grabbing someone and burning/scolding/beating up someone.

[WTF]

And how many men have grabbed and held her to stop the woman from hitting him?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"spouse/partner"

Are they going to separate out the data of spouses versus nonmarital "partners?"

[gaoxiaen]

The burning was an accident with a cigarette and she insisted on the knife during a bondage doggie-style.

[XYZ]

Does slapping on the butt count?

[The Late P Brooks]

Opportunities for engineers vary by the field and economic cycle

No

fucking

way.

[Raston Bot]

^what is that from?

[Sevo]

And Venezuela sinks deeper into shortages!

"Venezuela suffers breast-implant shortage"
[...]
""The women are complaining," said Ramon Zapata, president of the Society of Plastic Surgeons. "Venezuelan women are very concerned with their self-esteem.""
http://www.sfgate.com/default/.....757640.php

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

And no toilet paper to stuff in your bra?

The horror! The horror!

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Viva Zapata?

[Horatio]

So did I miss reason's coverage of Watt's cry-baby victim routine being exposed as such? I have a healthy distrust of cops and all, but (1) he was in the right and (2) actresses are worse.

[Fluffy]

I don't see how the cop is shown to be in the right here.

I know what our quisling courts have said about the power of police to demand identification, but it simply doesn't stand up to basic logic.

If you have probable cause to believe I've committed a crime, then you should simply arrest me. If you DON'T have probable cause to believe I've committed a crime, FUCK YOU, I don't want to talk to you and properly have no legitimate obligation to do so.

[John]

He did have probable cause that she was committing a crime. She was having sex in public. The reason why she wasn't arrested right there was the cop worried she might be someone powerful or famous. You can certainly criticize the cop for being hesitant to do his job for fear of arresting "the wrong kind of person". That that doens't let Watt off or make her any kind of a victim. The only reason she and her husband didn't go straight to jail like you or I would have in that situation is because of the power structure of LA. She got away with something that would put a average person on a sex offender list and then whines because the cop was mean to her. And worse fucking lied about it so that the next person who has a legitimate claim of harassment is less likely to be believed.

Fuck her with a chainsaw.

[MegaloMonocle]

She was having sex in public.

I thought she was just making out with her husband. There were exposed genitalia involved?

[Jaybirdmojo]

The argument that she was having sex in public strikes me as something that is easily verified by eyewitness footage uploaded to TMZ.

If there is no such footage, I don't mind coming to the conclusion that it didn't happen.

Smartphones are ubiquitous and celebrity gossip sites are flush with cash. If they were humping, we'd have seen the footage just as sure as we saw the boobage of what's-her-name a couple of weeks ago.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

http://www.foxnews.com/enterta.....franchise/

Rumor has it Damon was holding out for an anti-fracking screenplay.

[Almanian!]

Um, yeah. I've been rather public here in my lust for SP.

These picks have toppled the Morning Bigtop.

Sarah - I am disappoint!

[gaoxiaen]

A normal weekend. So what.

[WTF]

They don't even pretend to be anything other than democrat party organs anymore.

[John]

The chief foreign policy correspondent for HUFFPO was on some news show and he didn't know that Bill Clinton bombed Iraq in 1998.

[WTF]

The Ministry of Truth sent that down the memory hole years ago.

[jmomls]

*The chief foreign policy correspondent for HUFFPO was on some news show and he didn't know that Bill Clinton bombed Iraq in 1998.*

"Dude, like, I wasn't even born yet when that happened."

[John]

His email was actually up on the site. I sent him an email asking him if he was aware the US went to war with Iraq in 1991 or that there was such a thing as the green line and finally, if he had even gone past high school. Amazingly, he never responded.

[Swiss Servator, Lucerneriffic]

Masterful.

http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/09/reflective-belt/