A.M. Links: CDC Weighs No-Fly List for Ebola Workers, Joint Chiefs Chairman 'Confident' ISIS Won't Take Baghdad, Hong Kong Leader to Meet Protesters

• 

  CDC

  Amber Vinson, the second Dallas nurse to become infected with Ebola, was given the green light to board an airplane by the CDC despite the fact that she was running a low-grade fever at the time. "Vinson was not told that she could not fly," a government spokesperson admitted.

• In response to the Amber Vinson fiasco, the CDC may soon have the names of health care workers who treat Ebola patients added to the government's no-fly list.

• Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN, "I don't see" ISIS gaining control of Baghdad. "I'm confident we can assist the Iraqis to keep Baghdad from falling."

• "On Wednesday night, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) refused (for a short time) to take the debate stage with former governor Charlie Crist (D), reportedly because Crist had a fan—something he often uses during public appearances—at his feet."

• The California Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal filed by opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown's high-speed rail project.

• Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying says his government is prepared to meet with student protesters.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the CDC may soon have the names of health care workers who treat Ebola patients added to the government's no-fly list.

Ebola = Terrorism

[UnCivilServant]

Will they have the same trouble getting off of it as everyone else?

[BuSab Agent]

Yes

[Fist of Etiquette]

Does your inclusion in the no-fly list generally survive your death?

[MOFO.]

Yes, because that is how committed to fighting terrorism we are.

[Invisible Finger]

Terrorists fake their deaths all the time.

[Drake]

But not people coming from Ebola infested countries - because that would be wrong and racist.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Looks like Lyle Lanley got lucky in California.

[Ted S.]

Not on your life, my Hindu friend.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Brockway is beautiful this time of year.

[WTF]

But wait, didn't Tom Frieden just tell us that restricting travel would somehow make it spread faster? I guess only restricting travel from the actual epidemic areas has that effect.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN, "I don't see" ISIS gaining control of Baghdad.

Confidence or lack of imagination? You decide.

[Restoras]

Lack of imagination. He's been trained to think along the lines of state-on-state warfare with divisions and corps pitted against each other. Top. Men. like him don't do low intensity conflict.

[Drake]

I think all the "Fulda Gap" guys are long since retired. I actually worry that we have remolded and trained our army in ways that would make it difficult fight real armored corps battles.

[Restoras]

I knew a couple of young LTs in the late 80's and their contemporaries are the ones who are colonels and generals now. I doubt very much that they think outside the corps battle box after having thought only that way in order to get high rank. I also have an acquaintance that teaches counter-insurgency at the War College and his specialty has only been gaining traction/attention in the last few years but still doesn't have a lot of attention - because in order to advance to general you have to check all the right boxes and play military politics and that doesn't necessarily include low-intensity conflict.

At this point, unless Canada or Mexico invade with armored divisions, I don't think there is as huge a need for that kind of force structure going forward as there was in the past.

Just my two cents.

[Drake]

Been a while since I got out - but even 10 years ago much of our training was definitely for "small wars".

Equipment too - the Bradleys are pretty much all in storage, replaced by lighter Strykers. The National Guard used to be equipped as a heavy "follow-on" force of mech divisions. Most their armor is now gone. They are now replacement bodies for an army of occupation.

We'll need that kind of force if Putin really gets out of control.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

No, fighting Putin would mean a return to force on force operations. What the Army needs to do is keep a smaller number of heavy divisions that remain prepared for those type of conflicts. It was this capability that allowed us to defeat Iraq in roughly 3 days (X2). We'll always have a requirement to be able to 'Strike fast, hit hard, and dance naked on the objective', but the Army is currently so involved in low intensity/counter insurgency, that we're losing the capability to effectively mount a high intensity operation any more.

We could not do the 'Thunder Run' across Iraq today. None of our junior soldiers and leaders know how to do those type of operations.

As to Dempsey and "Confidence or lack of imagination". It's neither. What it is is political gamesmenship. He's the president's man. As long as he receives clear marching orders from the WH, that's the party line he'll follow. That is who the Joint Chief ALWAYS is.

[Drake]

I was with the 1st Marine Division sitting near the Kuwaiti border in Jan / Feb 1991 watching the 25th Mech Infantry Division, the British First Armoured Division, the Tiger Brigade, and elements of the mammoth 18th Airborne Corps driving west to set up the giant left hook we were going to throw.

I kept thinking that Saddam Hussein picked the worst moment in history to pick a fight with the West on open ground.

[Restoras]

I kept thinking that Saddam Hussein picked the worst moment in history to pick a fight with the West on open ground.

Indeed. He was the French and we were the Germans - except he was worse than the French and we were better then the Germans.

[CE]

All the armored vehicles are now distributed in small town police forces across America. So the Red Dawn scenario is not gonna happen.

[Doctor Whom]

Ni hao ma?

"I'm confident we can assist the Iraqis to keep Baghdad from falling."

That's all I need to know. When have they been wrong before?

[Injun, as in from India]

If ISIS takes over Baghdad, it will be more like "Cao ni ma".

[Ted S.]

He works for the government. I think you can safely presume overweening stupidity.

[Restoras]

**NYC Reasonoid Meet-up!!**

When: Wednesday, 10/22/14, 6:00PM
Where: Rattle N Hum
14 E 33rd St
http://www.rattlenhumbarnyc.com/home

[UnCivilServant]

Unless you're plotting your escape from New York, I'm not sure what the point of that would be.

(Disclaimer - I'm an upstater)

[Restoras]

Come on down!

[UnCivilServant]

Time from end of workday until event is too short. I can't make it.

[Bill Dalasio]

Looking forward to it.

[Restoras]

Who else is coming? Chime in!

[Slammer]

yo.

[MJGreen]

/

[Lord Humungus]

John Grisham thinks we're too hard on guys who look at underage porn

In a Wednesday interview with the British newspaper the Telegraph, the bestselling author insists he has "no sympathy for real pedophiles ? God, please lock those people up" ? but also says that "we've gone nuts with this incarceration" of men who look at underage porn.

Displaying a remarkable lack of understanding of the American penal system ? especially for a guy who writes a whole lot about it ? Grisham says that "We've got prisons now filled with guys my age, 60-year-old white men, in prison, who have never harmed anyone. Who would never touch a child, but they got online one night, started surfing around, probably had too much to drink, whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons, and went to far and went into child porn or whatever." Ah yes, because as we all know, the prisons of America are just teeming with 60 year-old white guys. Oh wait, no. The truth is that people of color are incarcerated overwhelmingly more often, and receive harsher, longer sentences, a fact that Grisham even says he's exploring in his next book.

[Idle Hands]

So I guess it's safe to say we know what Grisham does at night.

[Rich]

No one can deny the possibility.

[Injun, as in from India]

The NSA should be able to confirm your guess.

[RBS]

Of course Salon has to crank up the retard.

[Zeb]

He comes off a little clueless, but I agree with the general thrust of what he says.

[Entropy Void]

You said "thrust".

[Zeb]

Only with consenting adults.

[Rasilio]

Funny, if you go to the actual source article it has this...

"A provocative article in the libertarian magazine Reason headlined "Looking v Touching" argued last February that something was "seriously wrong with a justice system in which people who look at images of child rape can be punished more severely than people who rape children"."

Also, he's right. It is certainly reasonable for there to be some punishment for those found in possession of underage porn however the idea that it possession alone requires a lengthy jail sentence is not really justifiable through anything but a pure emotional reaction.

It would also help massively if CP laws actually required proof that the images were of illegal acts (marry a 17 year old, which is perfectly legal almost everywhere and take pictures on your wedding night and you are now guilty of producing child porn) and actually contained children as opposed to computer graphics, animee, photoshopped images, or adults who just look young

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying says his government is prepared to meet with student protesters.

Just like Ali met with Frazier.

[UnCivilServant]

I thought it was the kind of event where they poison all the guests.

[Injun, as in from India]

He left out the tanks part. He will meet them with tanks.

[An Innocent Man]

Tank You Very Much for meeting with us!

[Aloysious]

The California Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal filed by opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown's high-speed rail project.

That money isn't going to waste itself.

[Doctor Whom]

If you let the taxpayers keep their money, they'll just waste it, so they should give it to government instead. I know this because Richard Cohen said so.

[CE]

It was Bill Clinton. We could give you a tax rebate, but you "might not spend it right". One of his few public missteps.

[An Innocent Man]

If Cali has all of this extra cash they're just dying to spend, why not at least do something useful and build a desalination plant or three?

[Injun, as in from India]

Do something useful? It's California, man. It's the 3rd best progressive utopia after North Korea and Venezuela.

[CE]

Don't worry, there's a 7.12 billion dollar bond measure on the ballot to do something about the water supply. No desalination plants, but apparently things like water supply require a special bond measure.

[Lord Humungus]

Michelle Nunn Won't Say If She Voted for Obama

?Another Democratic Senate candidate has refused to say whether she voted for President Obama: This time it was Michelle Nunn in Georgia.

The same question has tripped up other red-state Democrats on the campaign trail. On two occasions over the past week, Kentucky's Alison Lundergan Grimes has been panned for her refusal to answer the question, twice citing the "sanctity of the ballot box" as her reason for keeping mum.

Nunn was approached by a tracker who asked her if she voted for the president in 2008 or 2012. Nunn did not respond and kept walking towards the venue she was headed to. In the video captured, a member of her entourage faces the tracker and asks, "Would you leave her alone?"?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Georgia rednecks won't vote for someone that supports the Muslim Atheist Kenyan.

[trshmnster the terrible]

8% of them will

[d3x / dt3]

Except for you. Because you keep telling us you're from Georgia. And we all find that very interesting.

[BardMetal]

BOOOSSSHHH!!!

[Mike M.]

Ready for your beloved democrats to get their heads handed to them Weigel? Only 19 more days now.

[Drake]

"Would you leave her alone?"?

Awesome campaign slogan.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Vinson was not told that she could not fly," a government spokesperson admitted.

More like Centers for Disease Out of Control. Am I right, fellas?

[Rich]

In any event, CDC's mission creep is out of control.

[d3x / dt3]

CDC Gone Wild!

[Rich]

given the green light to board an airplane by the CDC

Protocol.

[Lord Humungus]

How to Gird Up Your Loins: An Illustrated Guide

If you've read the Bible, then you've probably come across the phrase "gird up your loins." I've always thought it was a funny turn of phrase. Loins?.heh.

Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they'd wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement. Thus to tell someone to "gird up their loins" was to tell them to get ready for hard work or battle. It was the ancient way of saying "man up!"

When Warty girds his loins, mountains move.

[Aloysious]

While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor.

'Hard labor'. Heh. That's one name for it.

[sarcasmic]

Would you have a 'surprise tattoo'? Find out what happens when an artist is given free rein over a woman's body for SIX HOURS

Deni found Jay's work on a design website back in May and wrote about him
Story was shared thousands of times and Jay invited her to get tattooed
She went to Amsterdam wanting two orchids on her stomach
After emotional rollercoaster came away with her rib, side and hip covered
'He observed me conscientiously and created something incredible'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....-time.html
I'll take free reign over her body for six hours! Hell yeah!

[Idle Hands]

She is pretty.

[Drake]

And has low self-esteem - perfect.

[UnCivilServant]

The ink was a net negative.

[Zeb]

I like it. Though she'll have to work hard to maintain her figure or it will end up looking like shit. Tattoos on parts of your body that are likely to change shape aren't always a good idea.

[Ted S.]

I have no desire for a non-surprise tattoo. Why would I get a surprise tattoo?

[trshmnster the terrible]

It's a surprise!

[Idle Hands]

It could be anything! It may not even be a tattoo!

[sarcasmic]

It's a boy!

[Slammer]

"I went into a bar and told the bartender, 'Surprise me.' He showed me a photo of my wife!"

Rodney Dangerfield

[sarcasmic]

Why your favourite burger is more deadly depending on where you live: Study reveals salt levels in McDonalds, KFC and Burger King vary wildly around the globe

Study carried out by World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) surveyed products by McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Nestle and Kelloggs
Iconic food included Big Mac, Bacon Double Cheeseburger, Twister burger, Cornflakes, Fitness cereal and Club six-inch sandwiches
None of the 19 products showed consistency in salt levels across the world
KFC Fillet Burger in Middle East has three times as much salt as Malaysia
Burger King Bacon Double Cheeseburger in Canada has 1g more salt than the same product in New Zealand
Kellogg's Cornflakes in Venezuela have 0.45g more salt than those in the UK - equivalent to a standard bag of Ready Salted crisps
WASH experts called on food manufacturers to cut salt content in all food
Professor Graham MacGregor said reducing salt levels is the 'most cost-effective measure' known to reduce strokes, heart attacks and heart failure

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hea.....globe.html

'Manufacturers are clearly able to make products with less salt, but deliberately choose not to, despite salt damaging their customer's health,' she said.

Evil corporations are killing their customers!

[Restoras]

It's too bad there is no correlation between salt and ill health.

[KDN]

If you have high blood pressure, salt can be very, very bad for you. If you don't, it doesn't really matter.

[Restoras]

Can be, yes. Even if you have high blood pressure it isn't necessarily bad for you.

Top. Men. have been wrong about that for about 40 years now and yet won't back down from their erroneous science.

[sarcasmic]

You mean correlation is not causation? Rubbish!

[Zeb]

Salt definitely causes blood pressure to rise in some people. I think that is pretty well established.
But if you are one of those people, you probably want to avoid fast food for the most part.

[Restoras]

It causes blood pressure to rise in some people that already have blood pressure problems.

It doesn't cause blood pressure to rise in anyone else.

[KDN]

I know in my case it can be outright terrifying. Salt + Hangover = Bomb inside chest. I also grew up in a house without table salt because by old man was so sensitive to it, and I go through periods where I have to excise it from my recipes.

Nature's a bitch and it sucks getting old.

[Zeb]

Do you find that you have less of a taste for salty things than other people? I have a few friends with blood pressure issues who really don't like much salt in their food and I wonder if that is common.

[KDN]

Kind of. I usually don't salt anything after it's cooked, but I tend towards the salty end of the snack spectrum (though I do snack like a bird).

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

So we can start calling you NutraSalt?

[KDN]

I'm not that bad. Yet. Though if I ever reach the point where I have to switch to salt substitutes I might just give up.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

You're OK until you start writing Warty fanfic.

Then all bets are off.

[Slammer]

WASH is funded by BIG POTASSIUM CHLORIDE!

[Ted S.]

They could also improve the customers' health by cooking in lard instead of vegetable oils.

[Injun, as in from India]

WASH should rename themselves HOGWASH. It will better reflect their mission.

[CE]

What about the McRib, though?

[BuSab Agent]

Also very strange that customers in countries where it's routinely hot and a person might sweat a lot, might prefer saltier foods than say places where it's cold and dreary.

[sarcasmic]

What are you talking about? People don't have preferences! We're all slaves to the corporations! The corporations control the markets and tell us what to buy! They force all these goods and services on us while forcing us to work for slave wages! They're evil! Help us government! Save us from the corporations!

[Zeb]

It's either more perverse or more idiotic than that. What BuSab says doesn't even have anything to do with preferences. It has to do with salt being essential for the proper functioning of the body.

[Zeb]

What a load of shit. Why are people campaigning to make food taste less good? You can already tell in certain products whose manufacturers "voluntarily" lowered salt levels.

If you have blood pressure problems associated with salt, there are plenty of low sodium products on the market.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...reportedly because Crist had a fan?something he often uses during public appearances?at his feet."

He polls well with his fans. What can he say?

[Bee Tagger]

reportedly because Crist had a fan?something he often uses during public appearances?at his feet

Is this the reason for all of those absurd delays between the opening and headlining bands? All of us fans under foot?

[Lord Humungus]

Yelm man, Edward Smith, tells Brit TV: I've had sex with 700 cars

Since he was 14 years old, Edward Smith, 63, has slept with over 700 lovers! But only one has been a human being ? all the others have been different makes and models of cars.

Edward is a mechaphile, someone who is sexually attracted to machines, and has bedded Mustangs, luxury Jaguars and even a helicopter.

[Rich]

"Bedded a helicopter"?

Sure.

[Slammer]

How big is his bed???

[Rich]

I suppose he uses a dry dock for his dry humping.

[Ted S.]

He could have bedded one of these (SFW).

Of course, that would imply he's got a very tiny penis.

[Ted S.]

Amazingly, Yelm is not in Florida.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Dude bonks a teddy bear a few days back, this guy nails cars... Yet we still get whiny jez articles about men being evil because they overlook meeeeee. Damn, if a guy is willing to wank to aluminum, carbon fiber, and leather, im sure he's up for anything.

[Slammer]

Or he'd rather have sex with teddy bears and machines instead of those whiny jezzies.

[BardMetal]

Well I guess you don't have to worry about being accused of rape.

[Rasilio]

Tell that to K.I.T

[Notorious G.K.C.]

HONK means no

[DontShootMe]

what a slut. Can't he just commit to a single machine?

[Lord Humungus]

Now for the weird part. Mr. Smith has decided that his days of playing the field ? parking lot? showroom? ? and he has settled down with a single love: A VW Beetle he calls Vanilla.

[BardMetal]

Careful those Germans can get a little kinky.

[Lord Humungus]

My BMW is a naughty little car.

[Roger the Shrubber]

Consent was not obtained for any of these dalliances. RAPIST!

[Warty]

There's a song about this. Of course there is.

You made my drive shaft crank
You made my pistons bulge

[Zeb]

So, does he stick it in the exhaust pipe, or what?

Is this him (NSFW)?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The California Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal filed by opponents of Gov. Jerry Brown's high-speed rail project.

Government is just the name we give things we can't stop others from doing with our money.

[sarcasmic]

Unidentifiable meat, soggy pasta and stale bread rolls: Airline food from around the world revealed (but not ALL of it is unappetising)

Airline food often gets bad press. And, as these images reveal, it's often for good reason.

Now what airlines serve at 30,000ft isn't just confined to inside the plane. Passengers share their disaster meals on social media sites such as Flickr and Instagram to warn others what lies ahead.

One post from a traveller with American Airlines snaps their main course (pictured below), revealing meat in a brown sauce with a side of mash potato and what seems to be sweetcorn and red pepper stew.

However, turning left when boarding a plane is a different story - passengers can expect meals of a much higher standard.

One lucky flyer with Lufthansa's elegant business class shared a photo showing their mid-air meal.

As well as being treated to hors d'oeuvres is stuffed free-range chicken with Sel rose, a type of curing salt, accompanied with a creamy kohlrabi salad with blueberries and rocket.

A glass of white wine and two bread rolls are on the side.

Here are 20 airline meals served around the world.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tra.....ising.html
Some of that actually looks pretty good.

[Slammer]

I almost never fly. Are you allowed to bring on your own food?

[Restoras]

Yes

[db]

But they balk at bringing your own camp stove.

[Doctor Whom]

I'll take the author's word for part of that, since I am never again going to fly Lufthellhole in my entire life, so help me Cthulhu.

[UnCivilServant]

I've never had a bad meal on British Airways transatlantic.

It's the only airline food I've ever had though.

[db]

I have had some really good meals on airliners but they were mostly on international flights in first or business class. Air Canada has some great hors d'oeuvres in their "businessFirst" cabins.

[Zeb]

International flights on non-US airlines are definitely much better than anything you get on a domestic flight. And you still get free drinks.

I recently flew on ANA (Japan) and the food was pretty OK. It also seemed like they want their passengers to get drunk. They came through with cocktails like 4 times before the meal and served wine with the meal.

[db]

Yeah, ANA has been very good in my experience too.

[CE]

"Turning left when boarding" a plane? Wouldn't that put you in the cockpit, and get a SWAT team sent after you? First class is on the right when I board.

[Slammer]

Ebola victim's nephew writes letter weighing on his Uncle's death

On Friday, Sept. 25, 2014, my uncle Thomas Eric Duncan went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. He had a high fever and stomach pains. He told the nurse he had recently been in Liberia. But he was a man of color with no health insurance and no means to pay for treatment, so within hours, he was released with some antibiotics and Tylenol.

And I can tell you with 100 percent certainty: Thomas Eric would have never knowingly exposed anyone to this illness.

Thomas Eric Duncan was a victim of a broken system.

Thomas Eric Duncan could have been saved. Finally, what is most difficult for us ? Thomas Eric's mother, children and those closest to him ? to accept is the fact that our loved one could have been saved. From his botched release from the emergency room to his delayed testing and delayed treatment and the denial of experimental drugs that have been available to every other case of Ebola treated in the US, the hospital invited death every step of the way.

[DJF]

Shut up and pay the hospital bill.

[Rich]

the hospital invited death every step of the way.

Those BASTARDS!

[DJF]

There should be a country where Eric Duncan could escape US racism.

Lets call it Liberia.

[WTF]

He had a right to illegaly fly to the US for insanely expensive treatment paid for by someone else. I wonder if his family will have the balls to try to sue for 'compensation'.

[d3x / dt3]

I think the addition of Jesse Jackson as the family spokesman pretty much answers that one.

[Rich]

Well, look on the bright side. The good Reverend might end up on the no fly list.

[BardMetal]

Better yet he might catch Ebola! Or is that going a little too far?

[Zombie Jimbo]

Umm, no, it is not going to far.

[RBS]

Seriously?

[d3x / dt3]

Yes.

[Mike M.]

And I can tell you with 100 percent certainty: Thomas Eric would have never knowingly exposed anyone to this illness.

No, it's more like he simply didn't really give a crap whether he did or not.

Fuck you and your dead uncle, buddy. Just go to hell.

[The Laconic]

Let me get this straight. His uncle is blameless, because he didn't know (or even suspect?) he had Ebola, but the hospital should have deduced from the high fever and stomach pains that he had Ebola, which, before your stinking uncle came, was something of an uncommon malady in Dallas.

[WTF]

And of course he flew here illegally because he lied about having contact with an ebola victim just so he could come here.

[Zeb]

Yeah. When he went to the ER, did he mention that Ebola was a possibility? If not, why would they think Ebola? I'm sure ERs get lots of people showing up with fever and pain and up to that point, it had never been Ebola.

[d3x / dt3]

I love the retrospectoscope in use here. It's like the old joke about the medical student who correctly diagnoses tsutsugamushi fever. When his attending asks how he did it, he responds, "well, what else causes fever and abdominal pain?"

There was functionally no chance that an American hospital would correctly diagnose the index case of Ebola on the first go-round.

[CE]

They had an Ebola questionnaire. He said he had traveled from Africa, and they ignored the answer and sent him home.

[Tonio]

^This.

And while Duncan acted irresponsibly by travelling after exposure, the hospital messed up, too.

And no less a person than RC Dean (Megalomonocle) assured us that any questions about the hospital's competence were "bullshit."

[Azathoth!!]

Duncan went to the hospital, said he'd been to Africa--but not once did he say, hey, I've just been exposed to ebola, this might be ebola'.

Not once.

The hospital didn't screw up. He did.

[Gray Ghost]

Bit of a difference between telling them you've traveled from Africa, and telling them that, the day before you left for the States, you'd escorted a woman bleeding from most of her orifices to a hospital where she was turned away because, "the Ebola ward was full," and where she died 8 hours later.

I get why Duncan lied on his questionnaire coming into the country. I don't even hate him for lying to make it to the land of the great PX. I can, however, hate him for not telling the ER staff on his first visit, "Hey, fuckhead, I might have Ebola. Can you guys treat me for this shit or not?"

Maybe then, the hospital staff would have worn better PPE his first two days admitted, he wouldn't have been left in an open ER for 6 hours post-admission, and we wouldn't be worrying whether this prick had started an epidemic or not. Fuck him and his mercenary family.

[The Laconic]

What are the odds he wrote this himself?

[Apple]

You know, I don't think they're going to get as much traction from this as they think. Your Uncle Thomas brought Ebola to the US either knowingly or at least knowing it was a good possibility, because he lied to get here. Now that it has spread to two of the people who's job it was to take care of him, including an Asian and a black woman, I don't think people are going to give much of a shit about your poor uncle. I could be wrong.

[Zeb]

No, but Jesse Jackson will make sure that a good number of people will pretend to give a shit.

[CE]

The hospital was incompetent. They had an Ebola questionnaire, he answered truthfully that he had recently traveled from Africa, and they still sent him home the first time he checked in. And his treatment didn't seem to match the standard given to American health care workers with Ebola. And oh yeah, he's dead, so his nephew has a point.

[Fluffy]

He should have died on a dirt floor in an empty room in Liberia, looking up at corrugated tin.

"The care I stole wasn't good enough!" is really not that different a sentence from "The car I stole wasn't good enough!"

If this fucker had stolen a car, and crashed it, and his relatives issued a statement denouncing you because you had a bald tire, how would you feel about that statement?

[Aloysious]

Ebola crisis: US says Cuban medical support 'welcome'

Cuba is a "welcome" addition to the fight against Ebola, a senior US official has said.

A state department spokesman said the Cuban government was doing more than many others to contain the disease. "We welcome their support," she said.

I feel so much better.

[UnCivilServant]

"We welcome their support" - Moral support.

[Drake]

So Cuba is going to send troops back into West Africa?

[WTF]

They are helping to contain the disease by keeping it from spreading to their island.

[Rich]

Nice.

[BardMetal]

Wouldn't be the first time they sent troops to Africa.

[Bee Tagger]

Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying says his government is prepared to meet with student protesters.

What is Chinese for air quotes?

[WTF]

Is he planning a Led Wedding?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Prosecutors in SC argue Stand Your Ground Law should not apply to people facing domestic abusers in the home

"(The Legislature's) intent ... was to provide law-abiding citizens greater protections from external threats in the form of intruders and attackers," Kidd, the case's lead prosecutor, told The Post and Courier. "We believe that applying the statute so that its reach into our homes and personal relationships is inconsistent with (its) wording and intent."

http://www.postandcourier.com/...../141019871

[Idle Hands]

So the prosecution was pissed because it spent two years building a case only to have it thrown out? What a bunch of bitches.

[CE]

So they're saying wife beating is okay? Huh?

[Lord Humungus]

Why Elizabeth Warren should have voted for John McCain
The Massachusetts Democrat recently blasted Obama for failing to help struggling homeowners. A certain Republican candidate had a plan for that...

Warren didn't accuse the Bush administration of this bad behavior. It's the Obama administration whom Warren accuses of giving Main Street the stiff-arm by only bailing out bankers. Of course, Warren still publicly supports President Obama and likely voted for him twice. But if she really wishes Washington would have done more to help battered homeowners back in 2009, maybe she should have pulled a different lever back in 2008.

In the closing days of the presidential campaign, Republican nominee John McCain offered a $300 billion plan to buy bad mortgages and replace them with government-backed loans at reduced home values. McCain said during his October 9 debate with then-Sen. Obama that the proposal would enable millions of Americans to "make those payments and stay in their homes."

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Warren-McCain in 16!

The worst of both worlds.

[DJF]

Invade the world and give them cheap loans.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I'd vote for that just to see the world burn.

[Injun, as in from India]

In the closing days of the presidential campaign, Republican nominee John McCain offered a $300 billion plan to buy bad mortgages offered to spend $300 billion of other people's hard earned, confiscated money to bail out reckless lenders and clueless borrowers and replace them with government-backed loans at reduced home values.

[Rasilio]

Comparatively speaking that would still have been far far better than the bailout they actually did.

[db]

In response to the Amber Vinson fiasco, the CDC may soon have the names of health care workers who treat Ebola patients added to the government's no-fly list

That could be worse than allowing them to fly. At least as airline passengers there is a record of what planes they flew on, between which ports, and with which other people. Push the Ebola patient travel market underground, and you have them traveling by car or bus on untraceable route, with unknown and more frequent stops, and with their contacts with o other people much less well known.

[Rich]

Well, pretty soon the TSA'll have the bus part covered.

Cars are a problem, it seems. Whatcha gonna do?

[waffles]

Google is working on that.

[Tonio]

Cars need refueling and passengers need bathroom breaks.

[Johnny Bravo]

Or they will simply refuse to treat Ebola patients.

[BardMetal]

Shame this disease didn't start on some other continent where the only way to bring it here is by airplane, where maybe we could have contained it before it ever arrived to our shores...

[WTF]

No, no, Tom Frieden assures us that restricting travel from those places would only make it spread worse. Somehow.

[Azathoth!!]

No, no, Reason assures us that restricting travel from those places would only make it spread worse. Somehow.

FTFY

[Tonio]

Now, now, they could travel by boat, but point taken.

[Gray Ghost]

Here's the thing: if they're too dangerous to let fly commercially, aren't they too dangerous to be allowed out of the hospital where they work? And if you're mandating a de facto quarantine---'voluntary' or not---for all those showing up to work in the same ward as an Ebola patient, then good luck getting people to show up.

What you could do, is pay the staff for the time that they're having to sit in stir. You still are going to suffer absenteeism---because who's going to want to be confined to their workplace for course of treatment for all hospital Ebola patients + 21 days---but you'll at least have some people that'll show. Which'll drive the costs of covering for this shit even higher.

[Lord Humungus]

well this makes me feel better:

White House shifts into crisis mode on Ebola response

Rising public anxiety about the Ebola virus has forced the White House to shift into crisis mode and cancel two days of planned political events as President Barack Obama strives to show he has control over stopping the spread of the deadly disease.

Just three weeks ahead of critical midterm elections, Obama is facing increased pressure from Republican critics. They say he has been too slow to protect Americans, drawing parallels to what they have described as foot-dragging on dealing with the threat from Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

[Roger the Shrubber]

Caution. They just might do something. That always leaves me with a queasy feeling.

[gaijin]

drawing parallels to what they have described as foot-dragging

Heckuva job their Tommie!

[JMC1607]

I can see Obama finally getting to the papers from August, back when this was becoming a concern, within the last couple days and asking "You knew about this, Joe?!?!"

[Restoras]

Frankly, these incompetent clowns going into panic mode scares me more than Ebola.

[Roger the Shrubber]

Never waste a crisis. Its the most opportune time to enact freedom crushing legislation. Of course they will tell you it's only for the duration of the crisis, but somehow the crisis will never end.

[Rich]

The federal government's response starts with Lisa Monaco, Obama's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, who plays an "overall coordinating role" from the White House

Ol' Lisa is conspicuous by her absence. Perhaps she has Ebola?

[DontShootMe]

Next on the drone target list: Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas

[db]

The crisis is that the secret service won't allow the prez to travel to fundraisers if the disease spreads to diverse areas.

[Zeb]

What the fuck is the president supposed to do about this? He has no knowledge or experience of managing disease outbreaks.

[SugarFree]

Jezebel's Pet Capon Explores Micropenises

I undid his pants, put my hand on his dick, and realized it was probably no longer than four-fifths of my palm, and I have pretty small hands. He noticed my confusion and actually said to me, "Don't worry, it gets bigger" (it didn't). Suppressing laughter (not exactly at the size of his penis, but that he actually warned me about it), I continued to make out with him.

Unbeknownst to me, he was jacking himself off in the darkness and came on my really cool dress. I was pretty pissed. I made him buy me and my friends pizza afterward. What an asshole, jacking off onto my dress.

[Idle Hands]

The title of that piece for people who won't click the link after reading that titillating text is:

"What Women Really Think of Sex With a Micro Dick"

the fact that this title wasn't followed by one word was disappointing.

[Roger the Shrubber]

RAPE!

[Ted S.]

Somebody's hands aren't so idle.

[Slammer]

He should have told her it was his gigantic clit.

[Idle Hands]

The micropenis, a penis so small that it is "2.5 standard deviations below the mean" or slightly longer than an inch, flaccid, is a popular trope in rom-coms and sitcoms. But outside of fiction, where these penises are routinely poked fun at, how do women actually feel about a teeny tiny dick?

By definition for something to be popular it has to be pretty common right? What the fuck is this person watching where micro-penises are used commonly as a trope?

[Auric Demonocles]

Wait, what? Why does the flaccid size have anything to do with anything?

[Idle Hands]

IT SHRINKS IN THE POOL!!!!

[RBS]

Women don't know about shrinkage...

[tarran]

Under that rubric, Michaelangelo's David has a micropenis.

[Brett L]

2.5 standard deviations is about 1 in 1000. That's about 125,000 micropenii in the US.

[Brett L]

Shit. 1 in 100. So 1.25M.

[DK]

Well, about half that. The other half on the positive side of the bell curve have megapenises.

[Brett L]

I think I accounted for that, but I can't remember. 2 StdDevs is 2.5% on either side of the curve, 3 is 0.15% on either side of the curve. So 2.5 should be somewhere in between that and I'm too lazy to re-derive the exact number.

[Doctor Whom]

Salon quotes Buzzfeed. It's the derpy leading the derpy.

[Doctor Whom]

*Jezebel. Need more coffee.

[RBS]

Eh, it's pretty much all the same at this point.

[Ted S.]

That writing is atrocious. There's no way she had her hand on his "tiny" dick and he was jacking off at the same time.

That having been said, ejaculating on your partner's clothes is ungentlemanly.

[Rich]

"Presidential", one might say.

[RBS]

+1 cigar.

[Auric Demonocles]

There's no way she had her hand on his "tiny" dick and he was jacking off at the same time.

Well, that, by itself, is possible. What's not is that she didn't notice it was happening.

[Lord Humungus]

http://s1.postimg.org/zdhgaxgkf/cyanide_shock.jpg

[trshmnster the terrible]

writing an expos? on his tiny dick definitely isn't an ass hole move.

[RBS]

I know, imagine the response to an article titled "What Men Really Think of Sex With a Penoris"

[trshmnster the terrible]

Eh, there's not as much stigma there.

"what men really think of sex with a girl who smells like a fishmonger"

That would hit a little closer to home.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

"what men really think of sex with a girl who looks and smells like a fishmonger"

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Good News: Evidence that stem cell therapy can reduce blindness Bad News: therapy involves Tiny Person Holocaust

"Researchers say that human embryonic stem cells have restored the sight of several nearly blind patients -- and that their latest study shows the cells are safe to use long-term."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/.....blind-see/

[Injun, as in from India]

So people can now masturbate without fear?

[gaijin]

I am unable to see what you did there.

[Lord Humungus]

I, on the other hand, see what you did there.

[trshmnster the terrible]

You guys blind me with your shining wit. I couldn't conceive of better jokes.

[Injun, as in from India]

Masturbation turns whining shit into shining wit.

[Idle Hands]

Check your penis privilege.

[Injun, as in from India]

Idle Hands, meet Penis.
Penis, meet Idle Hands.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Atheist Ex-Inmate Gets $2M After Being Sent Back to Jail for Refusing Religious Drug Rehab

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the.....gious.html

[Roger the Shrubber]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) refused (for a short time) to take the debate stage with former governor Charlie Crist (D), reportedly because Crist had a fan...

Of course Scott refused. That fan whispers the correct responses to the debate questions into Crist's ear.

[Lord Humungus]

Crist's answer: Wooooooosh

[Drake]

Does it say "free shit" with every revolution?

[DontShootMe]

Only if you spin it backwards.

[Lord Humungus]

ALL HAIL SATAN!

[Idle Hands]

are betters are retarded.

[Idle Hands]

*our.

[Entropy Void]

You know who else was getting blown under a podium ...

[Aloysious]

Somalia's government launches postal service

Somalia's government has launched its first postal service in more than two decades.

It has also introduced postcodes nationwide for the first time in the country's history.

The postal service fell into disuse when long-serving ruler Siad Barre's regime collapsed in 1991.

Its reintroduction is the latest sign that some normality is returning to Somalia after more than two decades of clan and religious-based conflict.

Last week, Somalia's first-ever cash withdrawal machine was installed in the capital, Mogadishu.

Postal service and a cash machine? Get ready for new Somalia memes.

[Injun, as in from India]

Postal service + cash machine = mail-order brides.

[Aloysious]

...I never thought of that. Importing, or exporting?

[Injun, as in from India]

More like deporting.

[Lord Humungus]

Microsoft to tech conference attendees: Take a photo with this woman in a skintight catsuit

It also happens that today video game critic Anita Sarkeesian had to cancel a speech at Utah State University because a rabid anti-feminist nut-job threatened "the deadliest school shooting in American history" if the event went ahead as planned. It's just the most recent threat made against women who dare to enter predominantly male spaces not dressed as booth babes. As Mary Elizabeth Williams points out earlier today, "Sarkeesian, along with several women in the gaming and tech world, has been facing death threats and harassment for years now."

Let me be totally clear: I have nothing against catsuits or naked women. Both can be great ? in the right context. My tipster put it perfectly: "I'm no prude, but this is the wrong place, wrong time."

[DJF]

So SALON is slut shaming a women.

When will this war against women end?

[kinnath]

No. Salon is dissing Microsoft for putting a model in a catsuit at a tech conference.

[DJF]

So catsuit women should not get jobs with high tech companies?

No wonder women get paid less then men when Salon attacks their employment.

[CE]

They must not go to many tech trade shows.

[UnCivilServant]

"Sarkeesian, along with several women in the gaming and tech world, has been facing death threats and harassment for years now."

Mostly self-inflicted for the PR value.

[Injun, as in from India]

We're going to see more attacks on Microsoft, because a brown-skinned immigrant somehow became CEO by trusting the system of meritocracy, and thought women should do the same, but said that inartfully. Maybe they should attack Ursula Burns next.

[Auric Demonocles]

"I'm no prude, but [sex before marriage] is the wrong place, wrong time."

[John]

You forgot the in the dark and with explicit written consent to every action parts.

What do you think Sarkesian supports the rape culture?

[RBS]

in the dark

But don't even think about jerking it while you're making out.

[John]

Don't even think about thinking it. And keep your hands above the waist and your tongue in your mouth, you rapist pervert.

[Injun, as in from India]

If they could, they would ban p0rn, strip clubs, and just about every aspect of sex that is not for procreation as defined by them. They are the modern day sexually-repressed puritans.

[Slammer]

Projection. They are absolutely obsessed with sex, so they see it everywhere in everything.

[John]

This Slammer. They are obsessed with sex to the point of irrationality. Imagine how fucked up it must be to be a straight radical feminist. On the one had you hate men and thing they are inferior and a threat but on the other hand you are sexually attracted to them and feel the biological desire to get married and have kids. Since they can't reconcile those two positions, they can't think about sex and eroticism in any rational way.

[Idle Hands]

I think this article was written after reading one of your comments.

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....vid-french

[Brett L]

No, no. They're just applying real-life socialist principles to the most valuable commodity women as a class possess. A ruling group who should determine how the proles allocate their capital (in this case sex or the potential of) in such that the ruling group makes out best and everyone else can go fuck themselves.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

I don't think they care for us fucking ourselves, though, because that hurts their power as well.

[Aloysious]

David Greenglass, US Cold War spy, 'died in July'

An American spy who passed nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union in one of the most high-profile espionage scandals of the Cold War has died.

David Greenglass, who was 92, stole atomic research data while working on the wartime Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

After being arrested he then lied on oath and gave evidence which sent his own sister to the electric chair.

Greenglass's death was in July but it has only now been reported.

'I sleep well'

That dude had crazy eyes. Cray-zee.

[Lord Humungus]

Air France Flight Grounded in Madrid Over Suspected Ebola Virus Case

An Air France aircraft flying from Paris was grounded at its Madrid destination Thursday over concerns that one of the passengers showed potential symptoms of Ebola.

Officials for the French airline, the Spanish government and the Madrid airport said the passenger had fallen ill during the flight and would be tested for the virus.

The person in question on Air France flight 1300?with 156 passengers on board, as well as two pilots and five crew members?showed symptoms of Ebola, including shaking, said a spokeswoman for Air France in Madrid.

[An Innocent Man]

So they think a passenger is infected, and they respond by making the other passengers stay on the plane LONGER???

[Rich]

Don't worry! It can't be spread by casual contact!

[UnCivilServant]

That's why we need to prolong exposure.

[Rich]

Ah.

*** joins line for overused restroom ***

[db]

No problem. Just like CDC said for public buses, the infected can transmit the.virus but the other passengers cannot receive it.

[CE]

More like cutting their losses. Those guys are goners already.

[Aloysious]

Cellar slave girl: Salford couple must pay victim ?100,000

A deaf girl from Pakistan kept as a slave for nine years by a millionaire couple from Salford is to receive ?100,000 in compensation.

Ilyas and Tallat Ashar were jailed last October after the girl was found in their cellar in 2009.

The victim was repeatedly raped and forced to work as a servant at the family's properties as a child.

Manchester Crown Court ruled the couple must also repay ?42,000 of benefits falsely claimed in her name.

The Ashars must also pay ?321,000 towards the cost of their trials.

Nine years a slave, and she only gets 100k? That's it?

boo.

[tarran]

Note the state is taking far more money from them than their victim gets.

But governments are *not* a protection racket writ large...

[Aloysious]

That story just blew my mind. Not as jaded as I thought I was.

[UnCivilServant]

Well, if she were paid she'd only have gotten 14k minus taxes per year.

[An Innocent Man]

Technically, if she's getting money, she wasn't a slave, just someone with a deferred compensation plan.

[Restoras]

Plus she'll have to pay taxes on that income.

[antisocial-ist]

Man, that's terrible, and nobodys reporting on it. Imagine if the nationalities had been reversed, the press would be screaming it from every rooftop. 😉

[Zeb]

It looks like the bad people were of similar ethnicity to the victim, if not nationality.

[CE]

Is that even minimum wage? Shouldn't she get paid comparably to what people who do the same thing voluntarily make? Plus, i don't know, treble damages for pain and suffering or something?

[Aloysious]

Queen visits Tower of London poppy garden

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh have paid tribute to World War One personnel at a Tower of London art installation featuring thousands of ceramic poppies.

The Queen laid a wreath at the Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red exhibit, where each poppy commemorates a fallen WW1 serviceman and woman.

By Armistice Day, there will be 888,246 ceramic poppies, one for each British and colonial death during the War.

The Queen reminds me of my late maternal grandmother. It's the cool hats.

[John]

888,246. That is over three times the American death toll in World War II.

[WTF]

I guess that's what you get with insane 'over the top' massed attacks over open ground against entrenched machine guns.

[John]

No. That is what you get when weapons' lethality outpaces armies' ability to control and coordinate them. It is also what you get when your enemy occupies the best third of France and digs in along every good piece of defensive ground from Switzerland to the Channel. You can't do nothing and let him keep the land but attacking involves always doing so under the conditions of his choosing with the benefit of combined arms warfare. Basically, you are fucked.

[Restoras]

You don't really need to display your superior knowledge on every subject at every turn, John.

[John]

It so rarely that superior that I have to take my shots when they are available. World War I is one of my geeky obsessions.

[WTF]

John just basically reiterated my point with more detail and verbosity. Which is fine.

[Restoras]

Ok, then!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

The British began working out "the benefit of combined arms warfare" at the cost of hoards of British citizens.

Like 60K in one day at the Somme.

The French were even worse.

The germans managed to work out the details of Blitzkreig during this time and remember the lessons. That's why they went through France like shit through a goose in WWII. The French tried to reestablish WWI.

[CE]

There's always negotiation. Or is that too wimpy, so send in the Irish?

[Slammer]

An entire generation. Literally.

[Lord Humungus]

Citizens United releases trailer for "Rocky Mountain Heist"

The movie is produced by David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United, which has made 23 other movies before taking on the topic of Colorado.

What was the result of the "Rocky Mountain Heist," according to Citizen United?

"Now, homelessness is at an all-time high, marijuana is smoked in once family-friendly parks, gun control is rampant and the state's energy industry is under constant assault," the group said in announcing the trailer Wednesday. "Unfortunately, the State of Colorado is now a perfect example of President Obama's promise to 'fundamentally transform America.'"

[John]

The problem with being the first state to legalize marijuana is that doing so attracts bums like birdseed attracts pigeons.

[waffles]

The solution is obvious.

[John]

Yes it is. But we can't have the devil weed corrupting our women and children.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Kill all the homeless people?
Make a law against homeless people?
Ban weed again?
Subsidize a home for every homeless person?

[Zeb]

Does it? I really don't know, is this a phenomenon that has been observed? I'd think that the winters in the mountains would offset the effect. Or do you mean annoying neo-hippies and not actual vagrants?

[Slammer]

Hot celesbians are everywhere you look

Not hot.

[Idle Hands]

They did stretch some definitions in that piece.

[Lord Humungus]

Why every woman is a beautiful flower waiting to unfold its petals /jezebel

[Ted S.]

"Celesbians"? Do they have a limit on the length of the headline?

[John]

Not hot and not celebrities. Other than Ellen DeGeneris and Portia DeRosi I have no idea who any of those people are.

[UnCivilServant]

I have no idea who those two are either.

[John]

DeGeneris has a talk show. I have no idea who DeRosi is other than Ellen's girlfriend.

[Idle Hands]

Jesus, was your pop culture arrested in the 90's?

[John]

Name the last movie DeRosi was in.

[Idle Hands]

It was a joke, her most well known show is called Arrested Development.

[Restoras]

Not Ally McBeal?

[Idle Hands]

I will concede that that is a defensible position.

[KDN]

She was a minor starring character in an overrated TV show that lasted 3 seasons last decade but is beloved on the internet for reasons I just can't grasp. Because of that, you're stupid for not remembering her.

[John]

I think being Ellen's girlfriend is what made her beloved. If she wasn't dating Ellen, would you even remember her?

[The Laconic]

If she wasn't dating Ellen, would you even remember her?

Yes. She played a supporting character on a long-running TV show, and a supporting character on an incredibly beloved but short-lived TV show. Is that so implausible?

[John]

And for the record I like Digeneris and think she is a very good talk show host. Someone has to host the day time talk shows. Ellen seems to do a better job than the rest. I have always liked her even when she was a comedienne. She always had a sort of geeky out of place charm that worked. Frankly coming out so publicly was a mistake. Part of her charm was her being a bit of an outsider and one of those asexual people that you suspect is probably gay but never lets on or makes a big deal about it.

[KDN]

Frankly coming out so publicly was a mistake.

Do you think her career gets to the same heights if she doesn't? I don't think it would.

[John]

Maybe KDN. I just think she was funnier before that. And is funnier now that the whole thing has blown over and she doesn't make such a big deal about it.

[Idle Hands]

Meh she is more marketable in hollywood circles as a lesbian, indistinguishable plain asexual doesn't have quite the same cache.

[Idle Hands]

Of course maybe they are just looking for someone to be their champion. But who?

[Zeb]

I liked her standup too. It's just nice, well conceived comedy. Not political or dirty (not that I'm opposed to that sort of thing) and not about herself, even after her coming out became a big deal.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

I agree with you on her ability as a talk show host, but thought she was a horrid comedienne.

Also, coming out the way she did was probably one of the shrewdist career making decisions for a celebrity, ever.

No one would even remember who she was now, otherwise. That show she was on was failing and banal. Just like her stand-up act.

[Aloysious]

What did WWI sound like?

Ear damage

In an era before stringent health and safety regulations, gunners were not issued with ear defenders. Many of them suffered instantaneous deafness in one or both ears from the concussive effects on the ear drums, perforated by a blast. Soldiers recall seeing gunners' ears bleeding.

This might be interesting, I just can't get anything but

This content doesn't seem to be working. Please try again later.

[Lord Humungus]

Cool link... but I'm getting the same message about the content not working.

btw, BBC has been doing a large number of WWI shows, all done rather well. Mostly radio.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nb93y

I've been downloading them to the iPhone via the Podcasts App.

[Aloysious]

Thx for the tip.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

As you say, there are a number of them. Do you have any specific recommendations?

[Roger the Shrubber]

I've heard that gunners were told 'many people have sacrificed much in the defense of the country, and you will be sacrificing your hearing.'

[Zeb]

You'd think they could have found something to stick in their ears.

[Ken Shultz]

"In response to the Amber Vinson fiasco, the CDC may soon have the names of health care workers who treat Ebola patients added to the government's no-fly list."

Pursuant to a conversation I had here with Hazel last night, I've got a personal no-fly list of my own, and I've already put myself on it.

The reason investors have sold off airlines over the past week is because the risk of infection while traveling is uncertain, and investors are being rational.

Right now? I wouldn't fly with a plane load of starlets to be the only guy at a Kama Sutra convention.

[db]

I'm considering what to tell my employer if I get sent somewhere requiring airline travel. What may be.difficult is what.to do in meetings with colleagues who have been on airliners or traveled internationally.

I am not panicking but at this point I think it wise to limit contact with travelers.

What gets me is my previous employer had a huge plan about continuity of business in case of epidemic or pandemic. As fat as I can tell this place has nothing.

[Ken Shultz]

If he tells you to go somewhere, and you have reservations, you should at least voice them.

Professional hospital workers, who almost never get infected by patients, are getting infected because they weren't wearing spacesuits. What chance do regular people on an airplane have?

I wouldn't make anybody fly anywhere right now. In the coming days, maybe we'll learn more than we know now.

Good luck.

[db]

I sincerely hope that the authorities are right about being able to contain it but given their track record so far, and their bumbling reassurances that keep getting proved wrong, I am not inclined to place much trust.in them.

[db]

See the thing is I seldom get.told to go anywhere, it is almost entirely my call on travel. I just do.what I.need to do when I need to.do.it. the.problem is of course if I can't find a way to do something without traveling, well then I have to travel. In a way the flexibility and autonomy is great, but on the.other hand I am judged on performance, not.on how well I follow orders.

[Ken Shultz]

Check out this thread from last night:

http://reason.com/blog/2014/10.....lf#comment

I think there's some good facts and ideas about the risks in there. Questions about what "airborne" really means, how long it can survive on various surfaces, etc.

[UnCivilServant]

What gets me is my previous employer had a huge plan about continuity of business in case of epidemic or pandemic. As far as I can tell this place has nothing.

In my previous place of employment, while discussing the opening of a call center in western India, I asked if there was a plan in case India and Pakistan resume their war. They gave me a dirty look because it was politically incorrect to suggest such things might happen (note the current border skirmishes). I think your current employer suffers from the same malady - "Don't talk about horrible things, they just won't happen."

[CE]

I would. The risk of catching Ebola or anything else is minimal. The most dangerous part of the trip is always the drive to the airport.

[Mike M.]

Federal revenue in FY14 hits all-time high of 3 trillion dollars.

Remember that the next time the Weigelian/Krugnuttian Journolist scum tell us that the problem is we're not being taxed enough (the official deficit for the year was still nearly half a trillion dollars).

[UnCivilServant]

Their rationale is "There's a defecit, you're obviously not being taxed enough".

[John]

But Americans want a big government but pay taxes like Libertarians. That is the problem

/prog derp

[Doctor Whom]

Do you have money left after taxes for more than bare subsistence? Yes? Then you're not being taxed enough.

[Invisible Finger]

So that's where the inflation went.

[Auric Demonocles]

Looks like the alt-text is already on the no-fly list.

[John]

http://boingboing.net/2014/10/.....secur.html

The Obama Administration has secured a total of 526 months of jail time for leakers. This compares to a total 24 months obtained by ALL PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS COMBINED.

[WTF]

Most transparent administration EVER.

[sarcasmic]

Most transparent administration ever.

[Rich]

a total of 526 months of jail time

To be fair, John, that's just the time that's publicly known.

[Idle Hands]

MOST transparent administration ever.

[Lord Humungus]

did someone say most transparent administration ever?

[Ken Shultz]

They may not be transparent, but I can see right through them!

[trshmnster the terrible]

Has anybody mentioned that this was supposed to be the most transparent administration ever? I feel like that should be mentioned.

[John]

The funny thing is that while "most transparent administration ever" is a meme on right wing blogs of all colors, the subject is never mentioned in the media. They don't lie and pretend Obama is transparent. They just don't talk about it. Funny that.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Meest transparante administratie ooit .

[Entropy Void]

EVAH!

[tarran]

So, yesterday, we had a good laugh at John for taking my tongue in cheek comment seriously:

You know that the instructions as to how to gather/forge invalid signatures *had* to have been put out by preachers in sermons, because there is no way the wide-spread fraud could have been carried out otherwise!

People ribbed him for being so retarded that he might think I was serious, and he took his lumps with grace, and said:

All I can say in my defense is that you can't tell sarcasm anymore. People are just that crazy.

So I sit down to peruse last night's entries on Hit and Run, and what do we see, an article on the Houston subpoenas. An oh, lookie! The Mayor of Houston tweeted about it!

If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game. Were instructions given on filling out anti-HERO petition?-A

I don't think *she* was being sarcastic.

Jesus wept.

[trshmnster the terrible]

To be honest, my sarcasm meter had the same flaw as John's. That's what we get for buying them at Mardel.

However, not only did she seriously float that opinion, but she had the cojones to pull the old "didn't know until I read it in the newspaper" shtick that she learned from Emperor-God Obama.

[John]

This is why The Onion isn't as funny anymore. Most of the time it reads like real news.

[tarran]

I find that it helps to treat the Onion like prophecy, like a more accurate version of the Amazing Criswell Predicts.

[Zeb]

there is no way the wide-spread fraud could have been carried out otherwise

Should still have been a dead giveaway.

It is possible that the sermons contained such instructions. It is absurd to say that is the only way it could have happened.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Decrease to 14-Year Low

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....r-low.html

[Idle Hands]

Oh my god. Why don't more people understand the economy is roaring? I don't understand why people hate you so much here. Honestly it has to be jealousy nobody else is as prophetic or consistently libertarian as you are. All hail the buttplug.

[Ken Shultz]

PB looks at the financial news, and all he sees is good news about unemployment?

How the fuck do you wade through all the shit that's going on in world markets and only see that?

LOL

The good news for the economy is? The world economy is collapsing so rapidly that commodities are dropping dramatically.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The US economy is doing very well by any measure. GDP growth, UE, exports, price stability, low interest rates for example. Canada is doing well. China is too.

Most other places - not.

[WTF]

Don't lock eyes with 'em, don't do it. Puts 'em on edge. They might go into berzerker mode; come at you like a whirling dervish, all fists and elbows. You might be screaming "No, no, no" and all they hear is "Who wants cake?" Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.

[Game of Thrones fan]

And don't forget the soaring stock market...

[John]

And just ignore that 800 lb gorilla with the "Labor Participation Rate" T-shirt sitting in the corner. UE is down. Things are great.

[Restoras]

You're such a moronic hack, Weigel. Why don't you try sending more resumes to WaPo with cover letter's drenched in your tears of sorrow?

[WTF]

What's the labor participation rate, shithead?

[KDN]

HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!! HIGHER THAN THE SIXTIES!!!!!!!!!!!

[Invisible Finger]

HIGHER THAN THE VIETNAM WAR!!!!!!!!

[Raston Bot]

http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/cau.....uncovered/

Alexa rankings dropped for right sights, jumped for left sights across the board after Alexa changed its methodology. Has not responded to inquiries.

[Raston Bot]

^also with graphs at http://wattsupwiththat.com/201.....ews-sites/

[John]

Digital fascism. Control the institutions and use them to starve anyone who doesn't support the Prog hive of ad money.

[Zeb]

It's just possible that their former method may have been flawed. But sadly, I think that your explanation is probably more accurate.

[The Late P Brooks]

The US economy is doing very well by any measure.

Any measure promulgated by the government, anyway.

[CE]

I dunno. Costco is always busy. And the Apple store. People still spendin'.