ISIS War Gets a Lame Name, Dems Anticipate Election Trouncing, Ebola Patient May Have Sat Next to You on a Plane: P.M. Links

• 

  U.S. Marine Corps

  Prepare to read in the history books about the whupping ISIS took from…Operation Inherent Resolve? Get some marketing folks on that.

• With polling numbers looking crappy and headlines looking worse, Democrats prepare to suffer an Operation Inherent Resolve-style drubbing in the House of Representatives. No, I'm not going to let that go.
• So, there were chemical weapons in Iraq after all. But these were aging leaky ones left lying around the landscape, and not the sort of thing the Pentagon likes to discuss.
• That second Dallas health care worker diagnosed with Ebola reportedly took a commercial flight she wasn't supposed to go anywhere near. I'll bet there's a TSA agent or two having second thoughts about getting gropey with the passengers.
• Worldwide economic indicators look pretty crappy right now. Really? What, no plague of locusts?
• Lockheed Martin says it made a breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and that small reactors may be available within a decade. Which is really cool.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Prepare to read in the history books about the whupping ISIS took from...Operation Inherent Resolve?

Operation Fuck You Nobel

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"Lockheed Martin says it made a breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion,"

Oh sure that they can do but they can't halt global warming or genetically modifying food, HUH?

[Tonio]

Fusion would certainly help reduce the carbon emissions the greens claim to be worried about above all else. They are going to find a way to oppose this, though. Probably because poor countries can't afford ("aren't allowed to have") this technology.

[jesse.in.mb]

Are these reactors doing hydrogen to helium? It could help with our peak helium problem...

[Florida Man]

I think he-3 or something like that to lithium

[jesse.in.mb]

If we have extra lithium lying around we should put it in 7up again.

[C. Anacreon]

And in one fell soda swoop, cure all bipolar disorder cases in America.

[jesse.in.mb]

And increase the general sense of well being of the rest of Americans.

It's a shame lithiating beverages was banned.

[datcv]

Harvest helium from the sun, fusion reactor it into lithium, make batteries with lithium! NAILED IT!

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Isn't He-3 comparatively rare, except on the moon? How CONVENIENT for an aerospace company.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

D-T reactions with the tritium bred from lithium. Sorry. And the amount of helium produced would be pretty small.

[Brian D]

Environut: "You get the fuel for these things from the ocean? OMG SEA LEVELS WILL PLUMMET!!!"

[Mad Scientist]

We're going to need a whole lot of global warming to counteract that.

[CE]

I'll fire up my SUV...

[Juice]

Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project

Who's the editor that wrote that headline and what's their first language? It's not English.

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

You know, Obama will leave office having been engaged in war every single day he was president.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You don't know how the 3rd term is going to play out.

[Brandon]

You don't change horses mid-stream!

[C. Anacreon]

I think the expression is, "you don't stop a horse from urinating mid-stream."

[db]

I'm telling you, the republicans are going to win the Senate, strengthen their presence in the house, and then impeach Obama. Then they will vote to.turn President Biden into Emperor Uncle Joe in exchange for large estates, noble titles, and provinces to reign o'er.

[waffles]

I like the way you start plausible then go full inevitable.

[CE]

I like his inherent resolve.

[Tonio]

In a statement, [Lockheed-Martin]...said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.

While duly skeptical of predictions that R&D will happen on-schedule, this time-frame is far more granular than the "ten years away" claim I've been hearing for most of my lifetime. I suspect that with a claim this specific that they are farther along than they are saying.

Also, the enviros are going to go apeshit over this because 1) zomg teh NEWCLEAR, 2) evil defense contractor and 3) no excuses to ration energy. This is going to be delicious.

[jesse.in.mb]

Options:

We have to boycott it because it's loosely based on Russian concepts and Russia hates the gays.

It would take jerbs from wind and solar.

Fusion is for stars, who are we to play gods?

[Almanian!]

Dey tuk rrrr moleculeszz!!

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Thermal pollution! Unless we limit the amount of power we produce, we could heat up the whole planet like the Pierson's Puppeteers in Ringworld. Then where would we be? Baked alive by unrestrained capitalism, that's where!

[Florida Man]

I read Lockheed was being specific because they need investors to finish the product and share the risk. I'm not really getting the point of fusion over fission. In fission you have radioactive spent fuel. In fusion you get a radioactive facility. Seems like the former is easier to dispose.

[Tonio]

With fission you have both radioactive waste AND a radioactive facility. Plus, facilities are easy, just entomb them in concrete.

[Almanian!]

So let's not go on a "fission expedition", amirite?

[Tonio]

Give him a big hand, folks, he's here all week.

[Almanian!]

Sometimes I quark myself up!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Stop stroking your hadron

[Scarecrow Repair]

You didn't have to lepton it.

[C. Anacreon]

fuck the veal, try the waitresses

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

aka the Sicilian approach to environmental containment.

[Pro Libertate]

Fusion would be such a gamechanger if we really cracked that nut. And if anyone decides that being antifusion is the new thing, well, I might be unhappy with such a one.

[jesse.in.mb]

Will you bat them about the noggin with your cane and tell them to get off your lawn?

[Pro Libertate]

Of course not. I'll phase-modulate them with my fusion, um, multiplex demodulator.

[db]

The change in global standards of living would ensure that any enviro nuts would be marginalized by the massive rush of the 3rd world into the 21st century.

[CE]

Do the investors know the reactor is located directly beneath Wayne Industries?

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Not really. You choose materials that are hard to activate and if activated give off low energy alphas or betas. Easily handled by sticking them underground.

[Fluffy]

3) no excuses to ration energy

They'll switch to biodiversity or whatever environmental cause is next in line.

The environmentalists make no bones about the fact that they will exaggerate one threat if it will help them fight a different, "real" threat.

It wouldn't surprise me if they're ALL doing that, and it's "necessary lies" all the way down.

[Injun, as in from India]

The environmentalists make no bones about the fact that they will exaggerate one threat if it will help them fight a different, "real" threat.

The real threat to them is capitalism.

[Tonio]

Winner, winner, curry dinner!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+1 Naomi "Fuckwit" Klein

[Injun, as in from India]

Remember, Naomi spells iMoan in reverse.

[BakedPenguin]

This is definitely true. GMO crops could mean far less energy is needed to grow them. But Frankenfoods! They MIGHT possibly be dangerous somehow, so fuck that.

[John]

Thomas Friedman said on one of the news shows a few years ago that even if global warming is a lie it is a good lie since it will cause us to do good things.

[C. Anacreon]

I hear this often from my more "reasonable" lefty friends after I've challenged all their poorly-supported beliefs. "Hey, what difference does it make if global warming turns out to be real or not, isn't it important for us to reduce pollution and conserve more? You can't possibly argue against that??"

[JW]

They'd burn books, if they could figure out how to make it carbon neutral.

[lap83]

I've heard that argument for religion too. But at least most religious people aren't deciding public policy.

[Cytotoxic]

Interesting that this announcement comes so soon after Terrestrial Energy's unveiling of their liquid salt reactor. This is friggin' awesome. Suck it luddites; we're winning.

[thom]

Fusion will be to environmentalists the way that vaping is to anti-smoking advocates. They will irrationally oppose it even though embracing it would help their cause.

[Aresen]

I can hardly wait for some luddite idiot starts complaining about the neutrino emissions.

[mr lizard]

Do. Not. Give. Them. Ideas

[db]

A 10x7 foot footprint for 100MW is mad power density. That would be almost unimaginably awesome. It would be a way to completely nullify the climate change watermelons. Not.to mention the massive.and rapid increase in global standards of living.

[waffles]

There is nothing so awesome we can't ruin it with regulation. We've turned fission reactors into a claptrap fucking joke.

[CE]

I could recharge my Tesla like forever in 10 seconds.

[Tonio]

I took "back of a truck" to mean semi-trailer, but I could be wrong. Even the semi trailer is awesome, though.

[db]

The article I read said specifically 10x7. Didn't list a height. Now of course that could be less necessary auxiliaries.

[Scarecrow Repair]

Like cooling towers. Even at 99% conversion to electricity, that's still 1MW heat from a small space.

But hey a physicist nor engineer not language perfessor be I.

[jesse.in.mb]

Not.to mention

Still at work?

[db]

On the pot.

[jesse.in.mb]

Playa Manhattan DOES NOT APPROVE.

[db]

Hey, you asked.

[jesse.in.mb]

I don't have a problem with it, but Playa has had harsh words for me chatting with him after "going mobile."

[jesse.in.mb]

Lockheed Martin says it made a breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and that small reactors may be available within a decade. Which is really cool.

There goes one of the stories I was going to link 🙁

On the other hand, yay!

[Tonio]

Dutch biker gang joins Kurds to fight against ISIS. Dutch government says not illegal, surprisingly.

[Tonio]

Oh, crap, that wasn't supposed to be threaded. Sorry, folks. [prepares offering for skwerlz]

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sigh. I guess it's better than taking on the perpetual in-fighting on the pitch among the Oranje soccer team.

[Suthenboy]

My guess is that they could kick ISIS's ass all by themselves.

[Injun, as in from India]

That's the Sons of Anarchy - Amsterdam chapter.

[Invisible Finger]

Sons of theocracy

[CE]

The Biker Crusade.

[Juice]

"Joining a foreign armed force was previously punishable, now it's no longer forbidden," public prosecutor spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP.

So it wouldn't be illegal to join ISIS?

[BakedPenguin]

No, they mentioned any terrorist organizations were off limits - including the PKK.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Democrats prepare to suffer an Operation Inherent Resolve-style drubbing in the House of Representatives.

Operation It can only help them in 2016 when voters search for someone to blame.

[Coeus]

Goddam Kruggie. Can you be any more of an asshole?

So now we have another milestone: Earlier today the 10-year yield dropped below 2 percent. It's up again slightly as I write this, but all the market signals are saying that once again the big risk is deflation or at least very sub-par inflation.

[jesse.in.mb]

Can you be any more of an asshole?

Dude, don't tempt him. Being more of an asshole is his raison d'etre.

[Cytotoxic]

The fact that deflation and even 'insufficient' inflation are now being treated as THE WORST THINGS EVER is terrifying. The inmates are running this joint. I guess they always were.

[thom]

The inflation has to be coming. When it does it will be sudden and shocking.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Only after another round of deflation. The sheer amount of debt out there demands some more liquidation.

[Cytotoxic]

That is why I am going to buy crypto currency...as soon as I get a job.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The entire system is built around mild inflation at this point. Everything is designed to either directly prop up prices, wages, bank earnings... When the countervailing force of deflation rears it's head, they all freak out and rightly so, because it fucks with their house of cards.

[Coeus]

The inmates are running this joint. I guess they always were.

Since at least 1914.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Worldwide economic indicators look pretty crappy right now.

The Epoch of Recovery is about to begin.

[Almanian!]

Eons of Elevation...to the mean.

[Reverend Mayhem]

Eons of Elevation

Great prog band name.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Worldwide economic indicators look pretty crappy right now. Really? What, no plague of locusts?

As long as whiskey isn't turning to blood, I won't be worried.

[Slammer]

Meet the 6-foot-8 Amazon who escaped poverty by dominating men

It's a "big" rags-to-riches story: A 6-foot-8 woman escaped poverty in Brazil ? by dominating men for money.

Barbosa gets flown around the world in order to squash, wrestle, dwarf and dominate men.

Ana Lucia Barbosa, 30, who goes by "Amazon Cinthia," gets paid thousands of dollars to squash and wrestle wealthy men.
The 200-pound gal gets flown around the globe ? from Japan to New York City ? to perform the private sessions, Barcroft Media reports.
"There's no shortage of willing clients happy to pay me to sit on them, wrestle them, pick them up and generally boss them around," Barbosa said.

[SPG_900]

Meanwhile in Futurama..

[PapayaSF]

Death by snoo-snoo!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised.

[jesse.in.mb]

Good God! We need to hire this woman to distract Warty for the rest of time.

...unless they find love and begin spawning. That could be catastrophic!

[Slammer]

Warty needs a better photo of her thighs first.

[Mickey Rat]

But, what of Ana Lucia? What of Ana Lucia?

[Faceless Commenter]

Jesus God Christ I clicked the link to the Bruce Jenner story on that page. What the ever living HELL.

http://nyppagesix.files.wordpr.....eindex.jpg

[tarran]

Dude! That's not Bruce jenner!!! That's some really ugly chick who kind of looks like him!!!!!

[C. Anacreon]

Kids, beware: this is what eating your Wheaties will do to you.

[lap83]

+1 pink monocle

[Tonio]

That second Dallas health care worker diagnosed with Ebola...

I'm frustrated that it hasn't said what type of nurse she is - RN (more highly trained, especially if also BSN), or LPN (less highly trained). Nobody with either level of training should have violated protocol, but that's more believable with an LPN. Also, flying when she was on the watch list was hugely irresponsible. I hope the media don't paint her as a victim, but rather a reckless endangerer of the safety of others.

[Almanian!]

At least it's not a Naughty Nurse.

We don't want them coming down with anything....well, almost anything...

[trshmnster the terrible]

CNN did a few videos on the CDC recommended procedures RE: ebola. The guy demonstrating the procedure showed how easy it would be to incidentally contaminate yourself while following the guidelines.

[Tonio]

That's the thing about having a BSN, Trashy, you are smart enough to follow the procedures, but more importantly you are smart enough to understand what the risk is, and what the procedures are designed to accomplish.

[C. Anacreon]

In California we call the degree "LVN". In case there is ever confusion. (Apparently this is true in Texas as well).

[PapayaSF]

Apparently "protocol" was not clear, not possible due to lack of equipment, and not followed by a lot of people. It's distressingly common:

Ebola screening: Immigration officers shaking hands with passengers at Heathrow

Sorius Samura, 51, a documentary maker who had spent 10 days in Liberia making a film on the crisis, said the British authorities did not appear to be taking the situation seriously enough.

He said: "I've just come back from via Brussels and our flight was met by an airport official saying we might be screened.

"He even shook our hands. That's something nobody does now in Liberia and infected countries, you have to learn not to."

Mr Samura said that when passengers on his flight eventually got to the immigration desks they were given the option of filling in a questionnaire and being screened, or simply going through.

And then there's the CDC, simultaneously telling people that you can't get Ebola from riding on a bus, but if you have Ebola, you shouldn't ride the bus because you might give it to someone.

[Gray Ghost]

I've asked this of other people wanting to lock down the nurses, and my question is, just how isolated do you want caregivers to be? Are they to be quarantined themselves until 21 days or so post Ebola patient? If so, how do you think you're going to get any of them to show up to work? Traveling on a plane was incredibly stupid of her, when she knew she was spiking a fever, but then again so was going down the street to the grocery store.

[Tonio]

Oh, and it looks like infected nurse #2 is being moved to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta (aka CDC's treatment facility). That doesn't speak well for confidence in Dallas Presbyterian.

[trshmnster the terrible]

If we knew then what we know now about this hospital's ability to safely care for these patients, then we would have transferred him to Emory or Nebraska

An anonymous hospital official agrees.

source

[CE]

Does anyone really need to go to Cleveland?

[Coeus]

Irony seems to be lost on them.

You can't judge Christian films like other movies. Any casual examination shows them to be conventionally terrible without exception. But they are not meant to be good, but rather they are designed to deliver pointed messages, spurring audiences to promote and support established political and religious powers. They are vehicles that carry naked threats for people who believe differently and are threatening reminders to keep believers in line. For those opposed to reactionary religion and coercion, it's important to examine these films to understand the stories this slice of America is telling itself and foisting on the rest of us.

Yep. That's an Inconvenient Truth, ain't it?

[John]

Ignore the 800 Lb liberal anti-war movie sitting in the corner dining on some producer's bank account.

[Coeus]

I think Gasland fits the bill more closely than an an anti-war film.

[John]

There was a whole string of awful anti-Iraq war polemics that were made back when Bush was in office and it was still okay to object to foreign wars.

[MJGreen]

I recall a number of such comments when the food doc "A Place at the Table" received poor reviews. It was generally criticized as being far too one-sided and blatantly manipulative to the point that it's unconvincing and boring.

A bunch of people responded that that shouldn't be held against it, because it was spreading the truth about food deserts and poverty and blah blah blah.

[BakedPenguin]

Anyone with Netflix, take a look at FrackNation. It's a takedown of the anti-fracking BS.

[John]

and foisting on the rest of us.

So the people at Salon are forced to watch these things? That really tells you everything you need to know about how warped these people's thinking is. The fact that someone somewhere is watching a terrible movie that the writers at Salon will never see and would never want to means those people are "foisting their stories on the rest of us".

The people at Salon are seriously fucked up.

[Injun, as in from India]

Foisting = Expressing something they don't like.

[Doctor Whom]

It's teaching necessary for prog salvation that any sane adult making a free choice would necessarily agree with progs on everything. Therefore, anyone who doesn't agree with progs on everything must be (circle all that apply: insane, immature, acting under duress).

[Mad Scientist]

False consciousness!

[Suthenboy]

The only place more overtly religious than Louisiana is Alabamy. My wife and I randomly chose a movie once and discovered it was one of these films. I don't remember the name.

In once scene early in the movie the hero was dressed in a lab coat lecturing a college chemistry class in a lab. When he said to them "If science and the bible disagree, then science must adjust itself to agree with the bible!"

We could not stand it. We got up and walked out. So did the dozen or so other people in the theater. Even here that shit doesn't fly.

[Tonio]

How big was the town where you were?

[Faceless Commenter]

Good lord, do you have little "Last Picture Show" theaters there or something? Sounds like an extremely obscure production that could only get a showing in the teensiest of houses. Where I live in SoCal it's the Hell Plaza Octoplex or nothing.

[Juice]

You obviously have never been to Arkansas. Jesus runs that state. And Louisiana isn't that bad for the South.

[John Titor (Formerly Jensen)]

Kings was pretty good (retelling of the King David mythos in a modern setting, so David's this guy who single-handedly beats a Goliath tank, etc.). But that's probably only because of Ian McShane stealing the bloody show.

Also, I remember seeing the Prince of Egypt a couple years ago and being really impressed by the writing and animation for a children's movie. Basically, you can totally make Christian stuff that an atheist would watch, it just has to be COMPETENT.

[paranoid android]

Basically, you can totally make Christian stuff that an atheist would watch, it just has to be COMPETENT.

Very true. Religious movies don't bother me, movies that are didactic and preachy are what bother me.

I'm very interested to see how Ridley Scott's take on Exodus turns out.

[Cdr Lytton]

Cecil B. DeMille agrees.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

+ Ten Commandments (starring President Heston)

... Hobbit

[John]

With polling numbers looking crappy and headlines looking worse, Democrats prepare to suffer an Operation Inherent Resolve-style drubbing in the House of Representatives.

Maybe electing Nancy Pelosi as your leader isn't such a great idea?

[Suthenboy]

Ramming socialist, authoritarian shit down people's throats when they clearly do not want it....causing the price of everything to skyrocket....repeatedly telling bald faced lies to our faces....what did they expect would happen?

The D party deserves to die in a fire.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...and that small reactors may be available within a decade.

Bump some dude on the subway and suddenly you have a backpack going critical.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

GAWKER: South Carolina Governor Says CEOs Love the Confederate Flag

Last night, South Carolina's gubernatorial candidates debated how best to convince outsiders that South Carolina is not a backwards shithole. The libertarian?the libertarian!?agreed with the Democrat that ditching the Confederate flag would help. Nikki Haley disagreed, because FREE ENTERPRISE DISAGREES.

Skip to what the libertarian candidate said:

If you wanna paint your house in the Confederate flag, I am completely fine with that, as long as your HOA approves it. Now, Governor Haley talks about other businesses that never brought that up. Now, I disagree with that. I've got a friend, an MIT grad who works in California, who continues to bring up the fact that he wants to start his own business. And when I bring up it starting here in South Carolina, he laughs. He smirks. He still thinks of South Carolina as being this backwoods good old boy network. And that flag, I think, represents a lot of division in this state. And we need to be coming together.

Comment:

The funny thing to me is that the libertarian believes in a homeowner's association. Just trading public government for private, I guess.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

What do they think libertarian means?

That's a rhetorical question. They have no clue what libertarian means.

[RBS]

What do they think libertarian means?

Neo-Confederate HOA Chairman?

[Injun, as in from India]

What do they think libertarian means?

Monocole wearing, factory owning, child employing, evil, selfish capitalist.

[Almanian!]

"Libertarian" means never having to say you're sorry

[Injun, as in from India]

+1 Chick Flick

[Doctor Whom]

What do they think libertarian means?

It's about feeling, not thinking.

[Matrix]

I live under an HOA. There is nothing Libertarian about them. Plus, they get all kinds of legal protections that screw homeowners and lienholders.

[SusanM]

Steve French?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I forgot to pull this quote from the Dem candidate, which of course Gawker loved:

we all rally together under a flag that unites us all, the American flag, that looks to the future and not toward the past.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Twirling toward freedom?

[Juice]

You mean the original flag of slavery and treason?

[CE]

An HOA is libertarian. You don't have to sign it, and you can easily live somewhere else.

[SPG_900]

OT, but I heard the other day here that being a car enthusiast put Leno somewhere in the right on the political spectrum. Yeah, no. Most enthusiasts are progtards of a certain degree:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/sho.....-6-billion

[John]

I don't think liking the GM bailout makes them progs so much as just people who want their pony.

[Tonio]

Yeah, because he doesn't care about fuel economy, therefore hates Mother Gaia.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

They'd lost $10.6 billion by the time the U.S. Treasury department closed the books on the $49.5 billion bailout in December.

False, they lost 10.6B on the stock portion of the bailout. Considering all the tax schemes and other bullshit, the actual cost to tax-payers was hugely higher.

[Mad Scientist]

There's a new Prius commercial that starts out with a kid sitting in the driveway next to the car. The voice over douche says, "My son is going to wash the family Prius. He insisted on using the rain, to save water." Cue a smattering of rain drops falling and a very punchable 14-year-old kid looking up to the sky as though boobs were falling from it.

So the new standard is set. Unless Jay Leno washes his cars with nothing but rain water (and perhaps some pure grain alcohol), he clearly hates the environment.

[Trouser-Pod]

Couldn't he just wash it with his piss? I mean, if he's actually interested in cleaning the car?

[Coeus]

Gawker decides to moralize about race-baiting.

I got nothing. This is worse than the salon article.

[John]

This is worse than the salon article.

One, I am not clicking that link. And two, that statement is so staggering that I don't even know what to say about it. Worse than the Salon article? Wow.

[Coeus]

The one I posted upthread. The other day, I believe someone referred to articles like these as "Reason Fear Factor". Apologies to whomever I'm not hat-tipping for that. I like it.

[John]

Clicking on the article is bad enough. The real nuts read the comments. That is where the real horror show is.

[John]

"Making these decisions is the hardest part of this job, but the amount of outside Republican money raining down on our incumbents means that we need to fine-tune our reservations," New York Rep. Steve Israel, the DCCC chairman, wrote in an email. "It hurts to scale back any ad buy, but especially when you have strong candidates like Foust and Romanoff who are polling well, have momentum and could win their races."

We are only losing because of the evil Kochs and their dirty money. The fact that we sold the country Obama and have allowed the worst sorts of fascist idiots to take over the party has nothing to do with it.

[Jerry on the sea]

Ankara bombs PKK rebels inside Turkey while Kurds in Kobani face Isis:

Turkish aircraft have attacked Kurdish rebel positions inside Turkey for the first time in two years as relations between the Turkish government and the Kurds deteriorate because of Turkey's failure to help the Kurdish defenders of Kobani under attack by Isis.

[John]

Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe that paper hanging fascist who is running Turkey has joined the other side?

[Fluffy]

I could be convinced that getting some quick revenge for 1453 would be OK.

[John]

Put a cross back on top of the Hagia Sofia. Finally give the Muslims something to bitch about.

[tarran]

It's not that he has joined the other side so much as that

1) He and his cronies are likely *buying* that black market oil ISIS is selling in Turkey.

2) ISIS is killing Shiites and Kurds which advances Turkish geopolitical interests.

3) There is great anti-war sentiment against the U.S. over Iraq in Turkey (at least as of 2009) and fighting on behalf of the U.S. is likely not very popular.

4) Turkey controls the rivers and can shut them off anytime and kill ISIS with thirst.

My guess is that the Turkish leadership thinks that if ISIS becomes a problem, they will flatten them, but so long as they are thumping Syrians, Iranians and Kurds, why not make some money off them?

[John]

I hope you are right.

[Cytotoxic]

But Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey are almost best buds at this point.

[ant1sthenes]

Your geopolitical insights never fail to amaze.

[Juice]

Shut off the rivers? How?

[tarran]

The Tigris and Euphrates originate in Turkey. And Turkish engineers in the past have diverted portions of the rivers for irrigation projects. They could do it again.

[Cytotoxic]

Erdogan is Turkish Putin. His Islamism comes second to his desire for a resurrected Ottoman Empire.

[Fluffy]

OK, so if we wake up in a couple of days to 3 or 4 more US ebola cases, what do you go to the store and buy?

Assuming we aren't talking about weapons or ammo or a gold hoard or a zombie fortress. I mean stuff you can get at the Price Chopper.

Bleach?

Flour?

Canned goods?

[John]

It is not going to get in the water supply. And you can't live in a hazmat suit. Trust me and if you don't ask anyone who has ever been in a military chemical suit.

So I am thinking canned goods and food and such that you can stay in your house until the whole thing passes.

[Restoras]

Can we assume that electricity will continue to be generated? If so then yes, canned/frozen food so that if you needed/wanted to stay home for a few days. Plus, containers to hold clean water never hurts.

I'd also keep a full tank of gas in your vehicles.

[John]

I am thinking you can. It would have to get zombie attack bad for the power company to stop showing up to work. If it gets that bad, your are fucked anyway and might as well drink whats left of your life away.

[Almanian!]

I ain't going to the store for NOTHING at that point. You think I want your Ebola-icky fingers shipping MY can of Campbell's? Tomato Soup?

fuck that - I'm hittin' the stash me and the Missus made for just such an occasion.

Who's the "crazy fuckin' prepper" NOW, bitch?

*backs out of light while applying camo makeup to face*

[Heroic Mulatto]

I know, right? If you're running to the store at that point, you're SOL.

Check your preps today.

[Florida Man]

Prozac.

[Almanian!]

I was thinking Wild Turkey, but OK

[Restoras]

Flamethrower

[Cytotoxic]

Nothing. Ebola is no threat to us.

[PapayaSF]

Haha, no. If every case costs $500,000 to treat and infects two healthcare workers... do the math.

(I'm not saying it's going to be 28 Days Later, just that there's a lot of complacency about Ebola, even now, as our "advanced medical system" and other Top Men attempt to deal with it.)

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Iatrogenic disease is huge, too. We can barely keep MRSA under control.

[PapayaSF]

Indeed. I've read various figures, but since 75,000-99,000 people die of hospital-acquired infections in American hospitals every year, it's absurd to think they're ready for Ebola.

[Cytotoxic]

I like how you just glide past a salient point right there.

[PapayaSF]

And what salient point was that? You said Ebola was "no threat," and I pointed out one way it was.

You and Heroic Mulatto and others around here have been poo-pooing the threat of Ebola for weeks. Since then, events have been validating my side of the argument more than yours.

[Tonio]

I'll be the first to admit that my confidence in the US response to this was misplaced. The system is not, however, working as advertised. It is understandable that there would be an actual epidemic in a third-world shithole where there are no local resources, and with an ill-educated populace. It is inexcusable that this is happening here.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You and Heroic Mulatto and others around here have been poo-pooing the threat of Ebola for weeks. Since then, events have been validating my side of the argument more than yours.

You're delusional if you think that. Thomas Eric Duncan was in contact with possibly over 100 people. He didn't even infect any of his family members. The only people he infected were two nurses who were in close and regular contact with him as he was in the bleeding stage.

But let's be real. You have absolutely no authentic interest in the mathematical epidemiology of Ebola or any other infectious disease. You're just using the misery of those suffering from the Ebola epidemic in Africa as a bloody shirt to wave for building the Great Wall of Texas, just as gun-grabbers use Sandy Hook to advance their agenda. I find you using the suffering of Nina Pham and Amber Vinson to agitate for your hobby horse to be extremely distasteful and morally reprehensible.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I agree, but with one caveat. If I'm a nurse who is assisting a patient with a highly contagious, 60% mortality rate virus, I'm crossing my t's and dotting my i's, and double checking. There's more here than just some careless nurse or unprepared hospital. For some reason, the nurses were making mistakes big enough to get them exposed.

Is it tyvek the house time? Of course not. Is there something to be concerned about, given the disconnect between the rhetoric and the results? Possibly.

On the ridiculous side of this whole thing, I got an email from school today about the resources available in case I have been mentally or emotionally affected by this. All this because the latest nurse lives in the same area as some popular student housing. My eyes rolled so hard I could see my frontal lobe.

[PapayaSF]

Simply because reality is supporting my "hobby horse" doesn't mean I'm wrong or "morally reprehensible." If the obvious thing had been done months ago (no travel visas for Liberians etc.), then two Americans would not have Ebola, and millions of dollars would have been saved. I don't think that's "morally reprehensible." One could argue that arguing against quarantines during epidemics is morally questionable, though.

Yes, people will use current events as evidence in ideological disputes, duh. The difference here is that gun-grabbing won't prevent Sandy Hooks.

[ant1sthenes]

One of the stories I read suggested that the nursing staff treating Duncan also treated other patients, so it might end up being more than just healthcare workers.

[Cytotoxic]

Still not a threat to us. The cost is a trivial problem. Just spend less.

[PapayaSF]

WTF does that mean? If some gets Ebola and "protocol" says they need an ICU with 20 workers, then how do you "spend less"? Put them in a ward with other non-Ebola patients? Skimp on the workers? Skimp on the protective gear? Hand them a tent and directions to the nearest woods?

[Tonio]

It's an isolation unit, not an intensive care unit. ICU patients are on life support, but not necessarily infectious. Isolation units are designed for patients who are highly infectious.

[PapayaSF]

OK, but I read that it still took 20 people to care for Duncan.

[Gray Ghost]

I had read that Presbyterian ended up converting one of their two ICUs to house Duncan and his infected caregivers. That could be wrong, I suppose. I wasn't there.

I'm not sure where 20 people came from; I guessed 20 people for the amount of the original 48 caregivers were going to be around Duncan during his most contagious. It easily could have been a lot less. Be really interesting to hear where both of the infected nurses worked.

In any event, it costs a shitload of money to provide American, no holds barred, medical care to an Ebola patient. I am not a medical professional, but intubating and dialyzing an Ebola patient strikes me as a whole lot of risk for not much improvement in patient outcome. Also, 500 k strikes me as laughably low for what it's cost so far for this guy, though I guess a lot of the expense can be written off by the county as a valuable training exercise.

[CE]

Exactly. 100 times more people die in car accidents every day than catch Ebola. But people still drive to work.

[Fluffy]

My big problem is that I travel quite a bit for work now.

So I'm looking ahead to a circumstance where I would not want to return home, because I've been in contact with the public but my wife and kid have not.

So I'm trying to plan out, "How can I have them set up to not have to leave the house for X weeks, while I still manage to function OUTSIDE the house?"

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm leaving for New York in a few days and I'll be at JFK 4 times in a 10 day period. LA Reason hangouts will be officially suspended for whatever the latency period is. I'll be looking for some Young Communist get togethers though if anyone knows of any.

[PapayaSF]

Maybe you can visit a de Blasio support group. Close enough.

[jesse.in.mb]

*Googles meeting times*

Yes, that could do quite nicely. Do I have to bleed on them? Ejaculate into eyes or open wounds? What's the deal here? I'm guessing with an R0 of two, I can't just sweat on toilet seats.

[Fluffy]

You don't HAVE to ejaculate into open eyes, but you may as well.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If you want a serious answer. this is the bare minimum. For a pandemic, I would add N95 or P95 respirators, Tyvek suits, nitrite gloves, big ass Wellington-style boots, and duct tape to seal shut the space between the gloves and sleeves and boots and pant legs. Self-defense is up to you and your family's resources and skills. "Home defense" shotgun at least.

[grrizzly]

We need more Ebola panic. Nobody is cancelling their first class tickets on the flights I'm booked.

[jesse.in.mb]

Check your frequent flier program privilege, grrizz. Some of us are going to be in steerage no matter how many people cancel.

[grrizzly]

You can always hope for a ghetto upgrade.

[jesse.in.mb]

A ghetto upgrade?

The only time I've flown first class was when I missed my flight due to a change in security procedures at PDX that doubled the time it took to get through. After one guy was excessively dickish I joked around with the desk staff for a few minutes and they opened up an emergency seat and told me if anyone asked my grandmother had just died and I had to rush home for the funeral.

[grrizzly]

A ghetto upgrade means you have a whole row of seats for yourself in coach. Once I stretched and slept for almost four hours on the way to LAX (for some reason the flight took even longer than usual). It was a better experience than almost any domestic first class.

[jesse.in.mb]

Ah. I've had fairly good luck with that. Definitely nice on an LA to HK flight.

[grrizzly]

Cool. Have you spent time in Hong Kong? I've already booked tickets to Hong Kong and Singapore next summer but haven't figured out what to do there. Yep, book first, think why to fly later.

[jesse.in.mb]

No, I just had noodles in the airport before heading on to Malaysia. An ex scolded me (after the fact) for not getting a window seat. He says the descent is incredible to watch.

Yep, book first, think why to fly later.

I'm doing that with Malaysia in March. I'm surprised how many people don't find "There was a fare sale" a satisfying reason for why I'm going someplace.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm doing that with Malaysia in March

And now I'm a liar. I'm going to Fiji in March, Malaysia was my final destination when transiting HK.

I might need a nap.

[Coeus]

Malaysia is great if you're white (or black. Basically anything but brown, they're used to it) and straight. Dunno what the gay scene is like, though.

[jesse.in.mb]

and straight

Flirted with a cute Italian guy at a resort and found some fun in Melakka. The Malaysian friend I went with took great pains to remind me that they'd arrested their vice president or deputy prime minister or whatever several times on sodomy charges and that it was generally frowned upon.

[Coeus]

arrested their vice president or deputy prime minister or whatever several times on sodomy charges

It's good to be the king.

[CE]

You can shop at the Hong Kong airport for a few days, then fly home.

[grrizzly]

Yes, shopping. I think Hong Kong may be one of the few places where electronics/photo gear may be cheaper than buying online in the US. That's what I heard.

[ant1sthenes]

A supply of food, TP, and bottled water sufficient for self-quaranting for 3-4 weeks. That's about it. I'm not planning for the apocalypse, just maybe heavy lockdown.

[Fluffy]

Ah...TP.

Damn, I would have left that out.

And my wife goes through that like it's the dreams of my youth.

[jesse.in.mb]

Does she do the TP glove? I think women are big on the glove.

I'm fairly certain roommate's ex-bf put one end in the toilet, flushed it and then did it again until a roll was gone. I could not fathom how someone who didn't have to wipe pee could go through so much TP.

I always imagined him clapping and jumping up and down screaming "again, again!"

[Slammer]

Rand Paul On The Govt. Dealing With Ebola: 'It Adds To A Litany Of Things The President Has Let Us Down On'

Just like the Cleveland Browns!

[trshmnster the terrible]

Cleveland may be the next city to be let down by ebola, considering that is where the nurse visited.

[Almanian!]

Now, how can they transmit teh Ebowlaz to Art Modell....

[trshmnster the terrible]

Where's Warty when you need him?

*rising intonation *
I smell a SF fan fiction story!

[jesse.in.mb]

Warty Hugeman and the Ebola Nurse of Doom!

After catching Ebola from a casual raping, Warty's cells choke ebola into submission. He's then able to cure infected patients with a hot beef injection and goes on a mercy-raping campaign that takes him across the globe.

I bet we can get a movie deal for this.

[trshmnster the terrible]

The globetrotting has to be shown through one of those cheesy travel montages with the eiffel tower and other landmarks scrolling by on an obvious green screen. Warty, of course, will be pelvic thrusting in the foreground the entire time.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Every pelvic thrust should end with a bright white firework going off.

[The Late P Brooks]

So now we have another milestone: Earlier today the 10-year yield dropped below 2 percent.

Pay no attention to the massive distortions and malinvestment made possible by pushing the cost of risk as close as possible to zero.

Stuff like borrowing money to pay special dividends instead of investing in productivity.

[Almanian!]

But Krugnuts says you're wrong! It's all GOOD! You predicted inflation and it's not here! So therefore the FUNDAMENTALS ARE GOOD!!!!

DOW 70,000!!!

[PapayaSF]

Yeah, there's no inflation, it's just that everything I buy costs more.

[Coeus]

Democratic lawmaker gets in shootout with robber near Pennsylvania Capitol

ennsylvania legislator exchanged gunfire with a would-be robber who tried to mug him and another lawmaker near the statehouse, and four teenagers were arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempted homicide and other offenses.

Representative Marty Flynn, a Democrat from Scranton, fired two shots after the robber pointed his pistol at him and then at Representative Ryan Bizzarro, a Democrat from Erie, and demanded their wallets in the incident at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the House Democratic Caucus said in a statement on Wednesday.

The robber fired one shot, which prompted the return fire from Flynn, a former prison guard and mixed martial arts fighter, the caucus said.

No one is believed to have been injured, police said.

I wonder if it went something like this.

[PapayaSF]

When Poor Marksmen Meet.

[Derpetologist]

Behold this gem from the aforementioned Salon article.

"The film proves that conservative American Christians have not learned an important childhood lesson: You can't threaten, vilify or bully someone into liking you."

The total lack of self-awareness is breath-taking isn't it?

[John]

Their entire existence is one giant soup of hate and projection. Everything they say and think is a lie and the exact opposite of the truth.

[tarran]

Social Justice Jihadists. We really should just use that term.

[PapayaSF]

Ha, indeed. I nominate that for the Least Self-Aware Comment of the Year.

[This Machine Wants Cake]

Oh that is genius. Just pure, unadulterated gold.

"When we threaten, vilify, and bully people, it's for the right reasons! So it can't possibly be bad!"

[Derpetologist]

They would even deny doing that. They call that "consciousness-raising" and "culture jamming".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp6gjxCRuxs

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Hey internet feminists: If you can't see a woman who is enjoying her sexuality without thinking of her as an object without agency, the problem is YOU, not an advertisement.

And I don't fucking care that selling sex is a crime any more than I care that it's a sin. You have no right to ban my consensual sex because you think it's icky and commercial.

[Faceless Commenter]

Also "nudging," per some 2008 book by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler (aka the latest update of The Prince).

[Juice]

Their targets don't have to like them, they just have to obey.

[a better weapon]

Well, two points makes a trend. I don't know if GamerGate was the first example of progressivism attempting to steam-roll the last vestige of escapism, here is a game to practice mindless socialism.

Honestly, I don't give much of a shit about the game itself. What irks me about the article is that I have no learned that we have a "Social Action Genre" of video games. Seriously, that's what they're calling these.

[John]

It looks better than Depression Quest. So there is that.

[Almanian!]

Depression Quest - isn't that Lindy West's pet name for her life?

[John]

That was the game that spawned gamergate. No shit. Some crazy bitch wrote a text based game called "Depression Quest" designed to show the gamer what it was like living with depression, because everyone wants to escape their regular life by exploring depression. The game apparently gets all of these fawning write ups in the gaming magazines even though it is text based and completely ridiculous. Her ex boyfriend then blogs about how she cheated on him with various gaming journalists and gamer gate was born.

[tarran]

Not quite.

Her attacks on the Fine Young Capitalists because they were promoting women in a way that was inclusionary (they had 4Channers as their biggest donor!?!) as opposed to an approved SJW-exclusionary way was what triggered gamergate.

Basically, she lied about the FYC guys, encouraged people to doxx their members and to apply pressure to their financiers.

And the FYC guys found that no one would publish their side of the story, only the SJW'er lies.

I don't remember who coined the phrase Social Justice Jihadist; it perfectly describes these savages' mindset.

[PapayaSF]

You're both right. Gamergate had multiple causes.

[John]

Who are the FYC guys?

[PapayaSF]

Here you go.

The TL;DR version: they are radical feminists who weren't progressive enough for Zoe Quinn, so she succeeded in killing their charity project.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

They refused to accept transwomen as applicants if they weren't publicly identifying as female. There are some good reasons not to like that criteria, but it's not fucking transphobic, and saying it is is just more progressive guilt by association.

[tarran]

Mind you it wasn't transphobia... they just wanted to keep guys out so they created a rule that would eliminate somebody pulling a 'Some Like It Hot' ruse and pretending to be trans to get the prize.

What outraged the Social Justice Jihadists wasn't the policy... it was that they accepted money from 4Channers and allowed them to design a female gamer character for the winning game (read the link - no really - the author, one Allegra Ringo, is so angry you can just feel the spacebar springs failing due to cyclic stress cracking from her hammering the keyboard as people she hates do something nice to spite her hateful prejudices).

[SusanM]

If Quinn really is some Grand Puppetmistress she picked the right group.

The best way to kill this nonsense in for someone to go on 4chan and say "Yahoo Messenger is better than IRC".

[MJGreen]

From that Vice/Ringo article:

And so, from the muck of cynicism and spite, Vivian was born. And 4chan saw all that they had made, and behold, it was very good?according to them, and to their strange new bedfellows, the Fine Young Capitalists. TFYC tweeted that they would, indeed, work Vivian into whichever game they created. And the gamers of /v/ rejoiced, for their character, born of intolerance, had managed to become some sort of perplexing symbol for women in gaming.

Jesus, what a cunt. It really is all about intentions. This plain looking character that embodies everything they ask for from games is tainted by its creators' intentions, and therefore evil. Cast it out!

[ant1sthenes]

" There are some good reasons not to like that criteria, "

Like they would just get trolled by dudes?

[Coeus]

The TL;DR version: they are radical feminists who weren't progressive of the enemy tribe (white males) enough for of Zoe Quinn, so she succeeded in killing their charity project.

[Almanian!]

"Fuck You, Cuz!"??

[a better weapon]

Marxist Utopia can really only exist in a video game platform as they usually don't design the resources with upper limits.

Until you can empty your wallet and exit and re-enter a room to find your wallet full again in real life, this will be the only time it works.

I never got much of a kick out of Tropico or Sims, but the game doesn't look too bad aesthetically.

[John]

Someone should make a real life game about being a Russian or Cuban revolutionary. You can set up camps and decide who to execute first.

[Derpetologist]

There already is game like that. It's called Republic: The Revolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EPfkUhJSHo

[Heroic Mulatto]

Republic could have been so much more if it wasn't released, basically, in its alpha.

[trshmnster the terrible]

They did.. Roller-coaster tycoon. You could make a holding area by raising a bunch of land to the maximum height, and you could execute people by putting them on the unfinished coaster.

Unfortunately, you couldn't force people to come to your Park after killing a bunch of people, but you could go all East Berlin on your present guests.

[John]

Fluffy once talked about he loved to play the Sims and wall up his Sims and watch them die. You people could warp anything.

[Fluffy]

Did I do that?

I don't remember that, but my memory isn't what it once was.

[John]

I thought so. Maybe I am wrong.

[trshmnster the terrible]

After you beat the game's algorithms and establish a stable Park, it gets a touch boring. That's when the toddler-like impulses kick in, and you see how fast you can knock your block tower over.

[CE]

Or charge them more every day for hot dogs and cokes, since they can't escape.

[RBS]

So, how do you get to be the General Secretary of the Central Committee?

[Suthenboy]

I love that A) the refer to it as an experiment, like we have never tried that shit before, and B) they gave it a very soviet feel with the visuals and music...the soviets, who already tried that shit and failed so spectacularly.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I'm betting Papers Please is a more accurate simulator.

[SusanM]

Better:

http://bay12games.com/lcs/

[This Machine Wants Cake]

Here's the thing, though. If it's not fun, gamers aren't going to buy it and they sure as hell aren't going to play it. The "gaming press" can make all the hay they want to out of SJW issues, but I think the point is fast approaching where no one takes the gaming journalism racket seriously anymore, and we just rely on what our peers on the internet recommend. And it's about damn time.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Why anyone took gaming journalists any more seriously than, say, music journalists is beyond me.

[John]

The SJWs lost the moment Intel pulled the advertising and sided with their customers. No one is going to buy their shit unless forced to.

[MJGreen]

What's not fun about performing menial labor, like carrying wood, so that you can get tokens to then buy the guns you need to fight monsters?

[MJGreen]

So we were beginning to come up with these kind of rules and things for this sort of social order within the game, and then we suddenly realized that it kind of feels a bit like Marxism or, you know, that kind of [thing]. And so we thought, 'Well, let's push that even further, and make it like a bit of a parody of the Cold War.' Kind of what we imagine life behind the Iron Curtain was like."

/facepalm

[BakedPenguin]

Well, Monopoly was created to illustrate Georgist socialism.

Then it was co-opted by teh evul capitalist Parker Bros.

[CE]

They should have let you set your own rents.

[John]

Anita Sarkeesian was scheduled to give a presentation on the portrayal of women in video games on Wednesday evening. She made the decision to cancel Tuesday night.

University staff members had received a threat earlier Tuesday from an unknown person who vowed to carry out a mass shooting if the event was held. University spokesman Tim Vitale says the FBI told school officials the threat is consistent with ones Sarkeesian receives when she gives speeches elsewhere.

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....attendees/

It is sad to say, but if this is true, I bet the SJWs move onto a different target than gamers. The Muslims have proven that violence gets results.

[Almanian!]

Reminds me of a conversation between a couple of friends back in the day:

"Violence never solved anything!"

"It solved World War II...."

[Reverend Mayhem]

Or the famed bumper sticker slogan: "Violence is never the answer."

Kinda depends on what the question is, doesn't it?

[Cytotoxic]

The Muslims have proven that violence gets results.

Classy.

[John]

It is true. The media is generally terrified of Muslims. If you want to get your anti-religion hate on, you find a more peaceful target than the religion of peace if you value your safety.

[PapayaSF]

Truth trumps classiness.

[Cytotoxic]

That's 'truthiness'. Using a gross over-generalization that is misleading.

[John]

First, "truthiness" is not a word but a piece of idiocy. Second, generalizations are just that, generalizations, meaning they convey a general truth if not the truth in every instance. And yes, threatening and inflicting violence on your critics gets results in that it makes people think twice about criticizing you.

Incentives matter.

[PapayaSF]

John speaks truth.

[Cytotoxic]

"Truthiness" isn't 'idiocy' it's meant to convey an idea.

Over-generalizations mislead. 'Muslims' didn't seriously threaten violence. Some Muslims did. I guess the next time a Christian anti-choice militant murders a doctor it'll be okay to say 'Christians like to murder doctors'.

[John]

Some Christians do. If Christians started murdering abortion doctors more than once a decade and started to kill them at the rate Muslims kill their critics, you could absolutely say that. And no doubt would since saying it would suit your prejudices.

[PapayaSF]

The thing is, Cytotoxic, that the support among Christians for doctor-murdering is so tiny it's hard to measure, but support among Muslims for terror, killing apostates, etc., is in the double digits nearly everywhere, and in some countries it's the majority view.

[This Machine Wants Cake]

The Muslims have proven that violence gets results.

Well, you're not wrong...

[paranoid android]

Since there hasn't been any violence at any of these events, one can safely say that whoever is making these threats is likely of no threat to Sarkeesian. In fact, since the very existence of the threats only gives Sarkeesian more publicity and sympathy, one might say that the threats are having the exact opposite effect of their ostensible intent to stifle Sarkeesian's viewpoint. You could even go so far as to say it is fortunate for Sarkeesian that these non-threats are occurring to elevate her profile.

If one were of a particularly cynical mindset, you might say it's rather conveniently fortunate for her that this is happening...

[John]

I would tend to agree. I think the threats are complete bullshit and she is probably having one of the first orgasms of her life over the thought of all of the victim creed she is getting from them.

[PapayaSF]

There might be some real threats, but clearly it's in her self-interest to exaggerate if not invent them.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

And jeez, it's a function of neurology that you exaggerate threats to your life, even if they're not credible. She'd have to be massively incentivized not to exaggerate them.

[PapayaSF]

True, but in her case the incentives are all massively in the other direction.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Are you suggesting that the meme that says that you should believe women by default is false?

[PapayaSF]

At the risk of having Gaia strike me dead, yes.

[Suthenboy]

The SJW and proggies have done that very thing so many times now that it is the first thing that popped in my head. Also, the FBI seems to be blowing it off, kinda. I wonder if they know something (via NSA) that they are not telling.

Goddamn, I have to get myself a tin foil hat.

[John]

If she thought she was in real danger she would be in hiding. If someone wants to kill you, they don't have to wait for you to make a speech to do it.

[thom]

Especially given the strong evidence that Sarkeesian has faked threats against herself before.

[PapayaSF]

Really? Interesting.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You'd think an Armenian, of all people, would be aware of that.

[ant1sthenes]

They've proved that actual violence gets results.

Implausible threats of violence let professional victims play terrified damsel for fame and fortune, but without any real risk. Apparently controversial speakers have only just now started receiving anonymous death threats over the internet.

I would not lay odds against the fact that she specifically chose this location to speak knowing that there would be threats (because there always are), knowing that guns could not be banned, and knowing she could use it to make an anti-gun statement. Yet another prog cause she can put herself in front of, and therefore yet more attention and money. I wouldn't exactly be floored if she tried to parlay it into a political career, Fluke-style.

[John]

Yes. I would lay odds that you are exactly right. I was just considering the remote chance she is actually in any danger.

[Coeus]

A whole host of nut punches in here.

Zap! Should the State Keep Shocking Citizens to Enforce Minor Laws?
A man shocked into submission after walking his dog off leash sues, and wins long overdue limits on Taser-happy law enforcement.

[Warty]

I remember dunphy once losing his shit when I said something that questioned the wisdom of giving baboons handy electrotorture devices.

[John]

My favorite thing to tell Dunphy is that it is his duty as a cop to die so that we don't risk criminals being killed by accident. He totally loses his shit over that. Then you follow up by calling him a coward for thinking it is okay to shoot someone without giving them the first shot.

[Coeus]

The taser wars with Dunphy was my first long-running reason feud. He apparently didn't think I was gonna check the bibliography of his sources. Unfortunately for him, I read fast. Good times.

[Tonio]

Nurses at Dallas Presbyterian Allege Poor Protocols and Lack of Equipment

Please do note that it's a nurses' union, but the claims are serious and troubling if true. The moving of Infected Nurse #2 from Dallas Presbyterian to Emory U (Atlanta) does seem to support a lack of confidence in DPH.

[Tonio]

Oh, and their don't blame nurses hashtag wears a little thin after IN#2 decided to fly commercial

I suspect that there is a lot of 'splaining to be done on the parts of both the hospital and the nurse(s).

[trshmnster the terrible]

I'm really surprised that they kept him at presby. I've only been in Dallas for a few years, but my impression was that presby was a distant 4th best in Dallas behind UT Southwestern, Baylor, and Methodist. It seems like any of those 3 would have been better equipped for this.