Feds Work on National License-Plate Tracking, Record Number of U.S. Inmates Exonerated, No Snowpocalypse in the East: A.M. Links

-
Shared Hope International The Justice Department is building a program that can scan and store license-plate information from drivers around the United States, reports the Wall Street Journal.
- In the wake of promising the nation a bunch of free things, President Obama's job approval rating has jumped to 50 percent for the first time since June 2013, according to a Gallup Poll conducted over the weekend.
- The annual, unfounded panic that tons of Super Bowl fans want to rape children is going strong, with the organization Shared Hope International sticking kids in giant boxes on Phoenix street corners to raise "awareness."
- The U.S. exonerated 125 wrongfully-convicted people in 2014, up from 91 in each of the two previous years. "This is part of a long-term trend," said law professor Samuel Gross, and based on a "cultural shift" among prosecutors as much as DNA-evidence testing.
- Mandatory citizenship tests for high-schoolers ask things like, "Where is the Statue of Liberty?" when they should ask teens, "Can the police enter your house without a warrant?"
- Freedom Partners, which serves as a hub of Koch brothers-backed political action, is gearing up to spend nearly $900 million in the advance of the 2016 elections, allowing the group of roughly 300 donors to "operate at the same financial scale as the Democratic and Republican Parties."
- Yesterday's east coast blizzard wasn't as horrifying as everyone expected.
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Yesterday's east coast blizzard wasn't as horrifying as everyone expected.
You know who else predicted travel through snow wrong?
The Donner Party?
Blitzen?
Everyone but Rudolph.
Hello.
Elizabeth is punctual.
I can't figure out why she got the duty today. Nothing on the abortion front going on as far as I can see.
I think you answered your own question.
She did a "sex worker" story ("kidz inabox")
Napoleon?
No raisins!
Gandalf?
Nice.
Bill Nye stays predictable:
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....n-bordelon
You know what else cost society a lot of money, you bow-tied fuck? The lack of blizzards dumping snow on ski resorts. I haven't looked at the industry trends, but it sure seems anecdotally that plenty of ski resorts have been getting hammered the past few years. So is snow good or bad Bill?
"cost your society"
'Your' society? Like he's lecturing children from above...
I noticed that too.
"Blizards like this". You mean like what happens every winter and always has?
"Last winter, Canadian climatologist Daniel Scott told the New York Times that by 2100, due to climate change, snow will become so rare that there will be few regions left in which to hold the Winter Olympic Games."
Hm. 85 years. Nice lee-way there pal. Most of us won't know, eh?
Unfalsifiable predictions are the best kind.
SNOW! CLIMATE CHANGE! OMG! WHAT IS THIS WHITE SHIT?!?
So which the fuck is it? Do we want global warming because fuck snow or Is warming the devil that will kill us all?
Fucking retarded cultist can't even make up their own damn minds in one interview.
Sonny Bono?
+1 Tree
Scarface?
Robert Scott?
Oh and...
Franklin Expedition?
Every local government in a snow-prone area, ever?
Clark Griswold?
WaPo starts its article Global Warming Could Make Blizzards Worse with a warning that climate heretics will use the "historic blizzard" for snow trolling. Climate heretics are said to be snow trolling when they argue that a snowstorm somehow disproves the scientific fact that anthropogenic global warming will cause one catastrophe after another.
Of course, the implication is that climate heretics are so stupid or so mendacious that they unintentionally or intentionally confuse climate with weather. The rest of the article explains why this "historic blizzard" is due to "human-caused climate change". It's actually a pretty interesting article with lots of great quotes from Professor Michael Mann.
So, after accusing the heretics of snow trolling, WaPo proceeds to argue that this weather event demonstrates the validity of anthropogenic global warming, which sounds like storm trolling to me. I suppose next month they'll be back to bemoaning the fact that our children will never see snow again due to AGW.
You have to understand, everything weather is related to AGW, unless it isn't (and they decide what is and isn't related). You could bring back from the future, all the weather information from the next 1000 years and no matter what the weather is (hotter, colder, the same, wetter, drier) they will tie it into AGW.
Michael Mann? Don't you mean Dr. Fraudpants?
The one and only.
Snow trolling is stupid. Suggesting that particular storms are "caused" by AGW are stupid. It's just ridiculous to talk about things that way. Causation doesn't work that way in a complex dynamic system. To the extent that there is climate change/AGW/whatever, it is a cause of al weather. Everyone should just shut up and enjoy the snow.
It's today's blizzard now. What, do people think the east coast ends at New York?
Not as awesome as I had hoped, but pretty good.
Napolean?
Damn, Missed Swiss (intant cocoa), and he spelled it right.
MUHUHUWHA!
Ygritte?
...allowing the group of roughly 300 donors to "operate at the same financial scale as the Democratic and Republican Parties."
Uh, if they're Kochs, that means they are the Republican Party.
In the wake of promising the nation a bunch of free things, President Obama's job approval rating has jumped to 50 percent...
The libertarian moment is here!
What sort of government always gets Paul's support again?
Neil DeGrasse Tyson bungles science of Deflate-gate scandal
Tyson has been on a long weenie-stepping-on streak.
I have a theory that he isn't as smart as he thinks. Let's just say he confuses his 'gauge intelligence' with 'absolute intelligence'. So far, the data seems to be supporting my theory.
"special" relativity
He's particularly popular on reddit and lefty sites, so his gauge intelligence in those environments is quite high.
"I have a theory that he isn't as smart as he thinks."
Turns out that is true for just about everyone, but some more than others.
Most people are smart in some ways and dumb in others. I'm not sure if Tyson is a particularly remarkable astronomer or not, but if he is, that doesn't mean that he is particularly smart in other areas of science or anything else, necessarily. Sort of like Krugman. I'm sure he is brilliant at whatever he won the Nobel prize for, but that doesn't mean he's right about what the right economic policy is.
I suspect he is not that great of a scientist since he spends his time making TV shows and running planetariums and being a public figure rather than doing real research.
He's researching the profitability of being a science celebrity versus working in anonymity at some university.
So far, I suspect his findings are in favor of celebrity-dom.
No wonder progs love him.
He makes things so easy!
What is Tyson's actual position as a scientist? It's my understanding that he he is the director of the Hayden Planetarium.
http://www.haydenplanetarium.o.....employment
Here's his CV. I see an awful lot of astronomy and astrophysics work...and that's about it.
This qualifies him to discuss PSI how exactly?
Canadian "icon" David Suzuki was basically a lab technician. Yet, he's considered an authoritative voice on anything remotely related to science - a catch all phrase apparently - particularly the environment. Specifically, animal extinction and of course, climate-system change.
That's because he's got the proper opinions.
And they dismiss Anthony Watts as a mere "weatherman" implying that he's just a guy who reads the weather as opposed to a meteorologist.
What is Tyson's actual position as a scientist?
Missionary.
+1
Temperature and pressure are basic physics concepts so he should have those things down pat.
And he f'd that up....I am starting to wonder how much of the basics he even remembers...
He understand temperature and pressure just fine. It just never occurred to him that most people in the real world don't care about absolute pressure.
Being an expert in one thing seems to give people the idea that they are experts in all things.
^This. Doctors and lawyers are the worst at this.
The personnel Database systems in the Army Medical field are the biggest hosed up mess, precisely because 'Doctors are smarter than DBAs'.
Boy, you can say that again.
To quote Dirty Harry: "A man's got to know his limitations."
This calc is taught in HS chemistry. For Tyson to get it wrong says a lot about his credibility as a scientist, regardless of the issue.
It also says that he doesn't bother to doublecheck his bullshit before he spouts it.
He stopped doing science a long time ago. And what he did when he was doing science was competent, but not exactly cutting edge. This is not the black Feynman.
Indeed!
There is no way that Feynman would have failed to get an elementary ideal gas law calculation right.
Exactly. He's a theoretician/observational astronomer. We shouldn't expect him to know the difference between gauge and absolute pressure. In his world all pressure is absolute pressure. He can't imagine why people would use anything but absolute pressure.
director of the Hayden Planetarium
I, of course, read that as the Hayden Planet...arium.
The thing is, calling in some eminent scientist for this is completely useless, even if it were in his field. Everything you need to know to discuss ball inflation pressures you learn in a high school chemistry or physics class.
That's his position. It has been for a long time. And my understanding is that his work in astronomy and astrophysics was, basically, nothing earth-shattering. And on that ground I give the guy kudos. He realized his limitations and decided that he could do really well for himself running a glorified amusement park ride. The problem is that, to a lot of people who "fucking love" science but can't be bothered to actually pay attention to science or utilize the scientific method, he became the public voice of science. This went to his head and he forgot his limitations.
I like all the people on Outrageous Acts of Science. Especially the hot chicks.
It's extremely simple physics so anyone with a physics degree should be able to handle this problem easily.
Well it is more of an engineering type problem, which we are told is below the exalted status of "scientist".
"Can the police enter your house without a warrant?"
Those who answer "no" are probably hiding something illegal in their houses.
Are the answers kept in a database for future use by the Top Men who look after National Security (TM)?
Domestic Terrorism is on the rise, according to individuals like Senator Graham and other protectors of Der Heimat - or haven't you heard, Bee?
Drat!
It should be protecting "The Homeland" of course. It's still Democracy/a Republic if our government is doing it, right?
Can they? Of course. with a monopoly on force they can do anything they want.
Should they? No.
Do you have a legal recourse against them if they do? Maybe.
Do you have a legal recourse against them if they do?
Depends on
a) Did they find anything?
b) Are you actually a citizen?
c) Could you maybe interest the ACLU in taking the case?
If you can answer those questions properly, you may be able to avoid the FYTY bonus package of arrest, beatings, and incarceration.
Just forget about the dog.
Mandatory citizenship tests for high-schoolers ask things like, "Where is the Statue of Liberty?" when they should ask teens, "Can the police enter your house without a warrant?"
The answer to both questions is yes.
I find that just too depressing for words. And yet we are depicted as lunatics for pointing this out.
"In the wake of promising the nation a bunch of free things, President Obama's job approval rating has jumped to 50 percent for the first time since June 2013, according to a Gallup Poll conducted over the weekend."
Free shit and sex work.
...or sells...
You don't want to know who's providing either the free excrement, or the free sex work.
Is it Warty?
Sex work from Warty always has a price.
IF YOU DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE, IT NEVER WORK!
/'Art of Rape' by STEVE SMITH
Let's ask this lady if she approves of Obumbles performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg98BvqUvCc
My own theory - Obama (gawd knows why) is find "likeable" by so many people. Now that he is politically neutered (well relatively), his likeability factor is starting to go back up as people fondly remember the first black president.
Or... you despise your drunken uncle when he's roaming the streets making an ass out of himself, but feel much better when he's locked in the drunk tank.
Hell, I never understood why so many people said Booosh was likable. To me he was always a smarmy douchebag.
I just hope that the progs in New England are plowing in a gender neutral manner and not fucking women and children over by insisting on plowing main streets before they do the entrances to day care.
http://www.thelocal.se/2013121.....ual-greens
Sweden is one strange place.
I can't follow the exchange at the beginning. Is the chick E. Dacey trying to deliberately confuse things?
Also, it's a remarkably stupid issue to be wasting one's energies on.
What kills me is the idea that plowing the main roads first is sexist.
When I was a kid the first thing they did was plow the highways and freeways. If it was a bad storm, they put all the plows on that task and told the people on the residential streets to fuck themselves.
Now it seems like we are on some strange schedule that requires them to plow all the roads at least once before they can get back to the freeways. I don't know why they did this, but there have been times when the streets to my way in the back house were better than the freeway.
Or maybe I'm getting too old and this is just one of those "GET OFF MY SNOWBANK" moments.
Uh, because plowing the main roads is easier (more linear and flat) and does more good for more people.
Uh, because plowing the main roads is easier (more linear and flat) and does more good for more people.
That latter part especially. The thing is things like freeways and highways are the lifeline of most towns to the outside world. The guys in the tractor trailers need them to bring in things like food and mail and supplies. I've little doubt the people whining for "gender neutrality" with things like this on some level think food comes from the local supermarket and the mail comes from the post office. I am willing to bet they'd be the first to shriek the loudest when those things became unavailable because the arteries serving them were snowed in because it was more important to plow the daycare center parking lot.
Oh, it's worse than that. Stores, at least the big ones tend to be located on major roads, so....Walmart gets plowed first, Grannies left to freeze alone on back streets.
Should have put fake scare quotes around the text after the ellipsis.
They literally pass two or three times on my street even when there's no reason to. Last winter, all I'd hear is the snow-shovel from the trucks grind against the pavement. It was nauseating.
I don't get it. Not only that. Everyone owns a snow blower. Not me though. I gave mine away to my brother in law. No reason for one. I have a tempo that does the job.
They're just making summer work for the road crews. Broken pavement fallacy...
They're probably union - overtime!
They haven't plowed my streets this year. Not enough salt.
So, in order to gender neutral everything they are assigning a gender value to anything and everything.
Why, it is almost as if proggies mean the opposite of what they say.
proggies mean the opposite of what they say
False assertion. Proggies have no idea what they say actually means. Just what it feelz like!.
Is that dumb bitch actually complaining that she can't take her kid to daycare?
What a lazy fucking mom.
something, something freedom fighters
Hamas Warns: Give Us Money Or We'll Become Terrorists
They were given huge sums of money and supplies to rebuild Gaza already - they used them to build up an arsenal and build tunnels through which to attack Israel.
"build tunnels"
see, INFRASTRUCTUREZ INVESTMENTZ!!!!
Yes, and that wasn't the first time. They have become an insane murder cult, and deliberately so. Their supporters and apologists make me sick.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/.....come-from/
"Give Us Money Or We'll Become Terrorists"
Become?
For now, they are merely extortionists.
The U.S. exonerated 125 wrongfully-convicted people in 2014, up from 91 in each of the two previous years. "This is part of a long-term trend," said law professor Samuel Gross
He's only going to be happy when that number reaches 144.
That made me laugh a lot.
Yuck.
+100(12)
Treasure trove of Gallipoli surveyor revealed
That's awesome.
Incredible.
Did you look at the rendered maps?
Charles Cooke flays Sarah Palin:
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....-c-w-cooke
Charles Cooke needs to come over to the dark side. He'd immediately be the best writer at Reason and the commenters at National Review simply do not appreciate him for his evil tendency to think for himself.
First he criticized police officers, then he admitted he's an atheist and now he's mocking Sister Sarah? Burn the blasphemer!
Charles Cooke flays cooks Sarah Palin
Charles Cooke flays cooks burns Sarah Palin.
So Sarah Palin has become Amy Winehouse? Of course she has. How else exactly was this going to end?
Oh, snap!
Ouch.
"Yesterday's east coast blizzard wasn't as horrifying as everyone expected."
Clearly the NWS needs more funding to develop better computer models!
Also, it could have been much worse than expected so local and state governments need more funding for road maintenance and emergency response. For the children.
I think they caught shit for underestimating the last one so this time they went overboard.
Don't complain, amigo
94-year-old vet can't file tax return because IRS says he's dead
Well, then he doesn't owe any taxes.
But his estate does.
Then he shouldn't file a tax return.
Just donate some money to the wrong team pal, and they will quickly learn that not only you live, but that you failed to file for the last several years.
The exhibit was created by Brunner, a creative agency in Atlanta, to offer a stark reminder that despite a
trafficker's careful "packaging" of child trafficking victims for sale, they are children.
Let the child-abuse lawsuits against Brunner begin.
The annual, unfounded panic that tons of Super Bowl fans want to rape children is going strong...
First I'm hearing about this. I'm always so far behind on the latest fads.
I thought Super Bowl fans engaged in excessive wife beating.
I'm not a young man anymore. I can't beat my wife, fuck a teenager AND watch a football game at the same time.
Yeah, at best I can do two at once.
Well, I'm not a big pro football fan, so...
It's easier if you fuck your wife and make her beat the teenager. Or vice versa.
Also, that's not even close to what TFA said.
Shared Hope International sticking kids in giant boxes on Phoenix street corners to raise "awareness."
We'll find out at the Super Bowl which one is David Blaine in a child costume.
Isn't this Warty's hourly consumption?
'World's largest barbecue' can cook four tonnes of meat - and you could own it
I thought they outlawed food trucks.
Somewhere Tulpa just had a severe heartburn attack.
It makes me happy that someone, somewhere built this
WTF is a 'tonne'? Learn proper english, you english bastards!
How America got addicted to road salt ? and why it's a problem
Rural roads get sanded because the traffic is too low for the salt to work. Also, salt can't accumulate in moving water, it gets carried downstream.
Also, salt can't accumulate in moving water, it gets carried downstream.
And you know where that leads? To the ocean. Why do you want to pollute the ocean with salt?
Here in KY, they 'brine' roads, spraying salt water onto roads before weather comes.
Works pretty well here, but we don't usually get a lot of snow, nor does it usually stay very long.
And how many billions would it cost for everybody to stay home when the weather turned on half the country for 4 months a year?
Which is worse: overuse of the word "addicted", or overuse of the word "epidemic"?
Yes.
How many human lives is he willing to sacrifice?
All of them.
Not his own, I bet.
You have to break eggs to make an omelette.
I don't care about the other effects, what I care about is the damned salt eating my boots. Nice leather boots that look all weird and like they have the plague after walking on salt-coated sidewalks.
Saddle soap will fix that.
And Mink Oil(*) will waterproof them for the next time.
*Not actually an oil, but a waxy semisolid product available in the shoe care section. Do not know if it actually contains mink-derived products.
I have used vaseline with good results.
bow-chika-bow
Go on...
All of H&R just snapped to attention.
Go on...
Then maybe these people should read the latest literature on the subject...
I thought the latest literature said that salt wasn't a problem long-term, but can be a problem short-term for people with underlying conditions. (i.e. if something else causes you to have high blood pressure, then you probably shouldn't be making it worse by eating lots of salt.)
So global warming will save 2.3 billion a year just in salt not to mention a longer growing season? Sign me up! I'm tired of these 49 degree winter mornings.
Sign me up! I'm tired of these 49 degree winter mornings.
Current temp here: -39 degrees F
But it is supposed to be warmer today than it was yesterday.
70f in Denver, CO. Absolutely beautiful. Have a cigar and a scotch tasting planned for this evening.
BOOYA! SMOOCHES! HTH! MORGAN FAI...wait, sorry.
I'm not complaining. Glad to see it. 70 degrees is too hot, you can keep it.
I heard PA is using or considering beet juice as a melter now.
The roads running red won't look apocalyptic or anything...
AND will tell us if it is an acid or base.
Ohio's got one of the biggest salt repositories anywhere, right under that big lake thing. Fuck you, Vox.
Besides, at least here in NE Ohio, we use a mix of brine (obtained from gas and oil extraction), propylene glycol, standard rock salt, and calcium chloride depending on the conditions.
We have more widespread wildlife now than we did in the '70s.
Where's the anecdote about how a Scandinavian country does it so much better?
They are correct in that it's hell on concrete.
So's freezing water.
"why it's a problem"
or, as someone else noted =
"The Most Millenial Statement Even Put in Print"
The whole rhetorical shtick of "finding 'problems' everywhere" has multiple dimensions of wrong in it =
one, for the fact that much of what they declare 'problems' are actually just *opinions* they think are politically unacceptable, and therefore should be changed by force of mob outrage rather than debated.... or two, that there is an inherent presumption that 'society' (read: Government) needs to step into every micro-corner of life to rectify these perceived iniquities.
The worst thing about the Vox generation is not just their willing embrace of the Nanny state so much as their insistence that it is not *Nannying hard enough*
The drone, which was about two feet in diameter and weighed about two pounds, was operated by a government employee whom the Secret Service did not identify. The agency said the employee was flying the object near the White House around 3 a.m. for recreational purposes when he lost control of it. Officials did not explain why the man, who does not work at the White House and who has not been charged with a crime, was flying the drone at that hour.
Biden! It was Biden, wasn't it?!
"Officials did not explain why the man, who does not work at the White House and who has not been charged with a crime, was flying the drone at that hour."
Yup. He "works" out of the Naval Observatory or whatnot, and he was playing with a toy at 3am.
Oh I'm sure this guy'll be hearing from the FAA pretty soon.
Like Biden could figure out how to fly a drone...
The Justice Department is building a program that can scan and store license-plate information from drivers around the United States...
Isn't there already a database or two with the license plate information that is collected when the plates are issued?
*** rising intonation ***
But are they *Justice Department* databases?
Yes, but this database will have position and time so they can keep track of you. Party like its 1984.
"building"?
More like "built".
Wow. The related articles on that link are just ghastly.
Border Surge Likely Again In 2015, Data Shows
The continued flow across the border suggests those deals have not succeeded.
Or they are working exactly as intended, Mexico wants those people through and out, the Lightworker wants them in.
"It's never as bad as they say it is going to be," said Greg Noble, 29, as he walked briskly to his maintenance job some 30 city blocks from his Manhattan home.
"Hey! I'm walkin' briskly here!"
Caveat Emptor: Couple Apparently Murdered While Looking For Vintage Mustang On Craigslist
What is this, next season's opening episode of Fargo?
To celebrate being snowed in I made a brine of water, salt, sugar, fresh thyme and garlic, brought it to a boil, cooled it outside, and now have a fryer chicken soaking in it. In a few hours it will go into the oven for a slow roast. Got a bag of frozen butternut squash, some potatoes, and fixins for popovers. Going to have a nice homey meal on this wintry day.
Almost forgot. Plan to roast a head of garlic to add to the mashed potatoes. Yum.
Instead of being snowed-in, I got to go to work. I haz a sad.
I just went outside and saw a big rig to by at maybe 20mph. The speed limit is 55. It sucks out there.
We call that "Tuesday".
We call it December to Early March /Michigander
Well, that's what I was getting at. /NE Ohioan
Yeah, rush hour traffic was moving much better than normal for me today.
I blame global warming.
Sarc has it all figured out.
The chicken will be dead right?
Eventually.
Okay, that's just creepy.
Demented minds think alike, eh?
The thrashing and drowning seasons the meat.
Eventually.
I just finished loading the slow-cooker with all the ingredients for chili. If we lose power, I'll have to transfer it to the gas stove.
Good day for it.
The only reason the butternut squash is frozen is because sarcasmic left it outside.
Nah. I just didn't want to deal with cutting and peeling a fresh one.
Call me crazy, but being snowed in sounds like a good day for chili... or stew.
Or a roasted chicken.
Butternut squash soup. Yum. If you are making soup with those make sure to add lots of bacon. You can never add too much bacon.
That's an idea. I just might do that with the broth from the bones. And I do have bacon. Yum.
Cold weather cocktail:
Make a syrup of one cup water, one cup honey, and half a cup shredded/minced ginger. Bring to a low boil until it thickens a little. Strain and cool.
Mix 50/50 with Scotch (Famous or Black Grouse) over ice. I actually prefer more of a 1/3 or so syrup and 2/3 Scotch.
Float 1/4 ounce Islay single malt.
Enjoy your Panacea!
Like a Rusty Nail with ginger. Sounds good!
Its a great one for after you've been out in the cold and snow. Very restorative.
I've never truly hated you until you suggested mixing the sacred Uisce Beatha with something other than water, RC.
It's Famous Grouse, man. It's not like he's defiling Lagavulin or anything.
Even so, Sug. And then, this:
Float 1/4 ounce Islay single malt.
The horror...
The Grouse is made for mixin'.
This is an EZ variation of the Penicillin.
More Scotch cocktails here:
http://drinks.seriouseats.com/.....-home.html
Study: Pollution may be giving polar bears penis problems
I blame polar bear mohelim.
lowered bone density.
That explains why you never see sow on top anymore.
Damn dude, I lol'd with the visual...
Weird fact: every male mammal has a bone in their penis except humans.
Thanks, FM. I knew that some others did, but didn't know it was that universal.
That's what I'm here for. To answer your meth and penis questions.
Where does Warty er, fit into this?
He fits into all mammals as far as I know. The survival rate of the mammals is...well you can guess.
Top 15 names of small crank owners
Peer-reviewed, bitches
Bogus. I don't see any Korean names.
http://www.11points.com/Dating....._the_World
+1 I'm huge in Japan
Rap station puts together list of names associated with small dongs, all mentioned just happen to be incredibly whitebread.
Totally not racist, though.
STEVE SMITH PENIS BONE ALSO NAMED STEVE SMITH!
The Washington Post has been running a big series on how the Real Estate bust has impacted Prince Georges county - "devastating middle class Black families".
In the first two of the series you can't wait till they get to that bad decision point in each of the vignettes. It's when they decide they're richer than they really are and gamble on those sub-prime "predetory" loans. All a little wealth effect and financial inexperience.
But today's was just a immigrant family that ran up loans like crazy (with a little fraud) and are now suprised they're $1.3m in the hock.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ater-home/
I'm going to bet, the fourth installment will have lots of recommendations for paternalistic government oversight - cuz brown folks just don't understand money /sarc/.
I've read the comments on two of those articles, plus the obligatory derp from my Facebook friends. If you dare point that bad choices had anything to do with it, you're a RAAACIIIST!!!
So is too big to fail now too brown to fail?
I read both of those, and I have little sympathy for anyone who bought a house they could not afford, regardless of the shady loan practices pre 2009. Yes, a majority of the folks interviewed in the article had good jobs, solid income, etc but they were very, very short sighted w/ their money. $3000/month for a mortgage is a helluva commitment for 30 years, no matter where you live and when that said mortgage becomes worth more than the house is, you're properly fucked.
We were house hunting back in those days. We looked at over 300 houses before finding one that was suitable. The prices were insane. They were asking 200k for 100 year old wood frame houses on piers. Several times when told prices like that I would thoughtfully offer "Ok, I will give you 80".
We also refused to touch those loans.
Everyone thought we were crazy. I thought they were. We held out. Now we have a very nice house in a very nice location and it is almost paid for in less than 6 years.
I have little sympathy for people who dug million dollar holes for themselves.
This is why my wife and I still rent.
We were looking at houses that were built in the 60's with no central air and heat and they were asking $160+. I laughed in the realtor's face.
The U.S. exonerated 125 wrongfully-convicted people in 2014, up from 91 in each of the two previous years.
This, people, is why I am opposed to capital punishment. That, and not trusting the state with that power, even when they get it right.
I agree.
I'm okay with CP in cases where it's been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt a human lost his or her humanity.
Like Charles Manson for instance. Don't understand why (rhetorically of course since I know he's in California) that idiot is kept alive.
Heck, in the future hellscapes of the libertarian paradise, I suspect the family/friends of murder victims will be allowed to have the ultra-verified-beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt murderer ripped apart by lab grown rabid chupacabras with the sex drive of the elder gods. For a fee, of course.
semi-related: I recently read a book about 19th century England and arsenic poisoning.
The prosecution of a criminal often had to be paid for by the family of the victim.
In this one case, the county decided to pay for the required expert witnesses, etc. The county was later admonished by the Parliament for wasting tax payer dollars after the accused was found innocent.
Yeah, I've read about "private prosecutions" in England, but only in passing in popular literature. I've often wondered if such a thing were possible under US law. While this could certainly be abused by busybodies and SLAPP masters, it could also be used to hold government officials accountable.
Congress needs to give men paternity leave ? and then make them take it
Sociology "study" - Noun. Scrap Paper. Verb. A process by which a desired outcome is decided upon and data selected to fit.
Stated preferences are the same as revealed preferences. People never lie on surveys to sound more high-minded.
My wife ask to be a stay at home wife. I tell her fine but I won't do a single thing at home. No cleaning, cooking, bill paying, yard work, etc. That is usually the end of the conversation.
I believe Sweden is going down that road.
According to the study, co-authored by David S. Pedulla, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Sarah Th?baud, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California-Santa Barbara, a majority of the people surveyed were interested in building more egalitarian relationships.
Each member of the relationship doing their own strengths is egalitarian. What these idiots want is similaritanism, where so-called equality is only determined by appearing to be alike, by force if necessary.
A science fair project is also a study. Whenever I see stories like this, I replace the word "study" with "science fair project".
"We did a study to find out what people like. Now we are going to send them to jail if they don't have it."
Fucking proggies are evil.
How is this not an Amanda Marcotte article?
Yeah, a lot of these women fail the empathy test. They can't imagine that some people may have different goals, dreams, and thoughts than they do. My mother is still shocked that raising someone who can make up their mind for themselves, might end up meaning her daughter cares less about a career and more about a family (seriously, I would love to let a husband do the nine to five while I stayed home with the kids, that is an amazingly sweet gig).
If you feel that your rights have been violated by the police, to whom could you file a written complaint?
Police department' internal affairs division
Civil complaint board
ACLU
All of the above
If you feel that your rights have been violated by the police, which of the following would stonewall on your complaint?
Police department' internal affairs division
Civil complaint board
All of the above
ACLU
Apparently the Governor of Mass. has banned all road travel, except medical workers, road crews and (of course) government employees. The governor is holed up in a bunker in Framingham, 40 feet underground, along with some reporters.
Hopefully he gets iced in for a long time.
What do these bozos (NY and MA) cite as their authority to ban movement?
"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest, shimmering samite..."
I would like to see mass defiance of such orders.
[Narrows gaze.]
I was wondering that too. I'd love to see someone challenge this.
My fear is that if they don't then the next time they want to shut shit down, they will cite this as precedent.
It will be forthcoming in the rest of the States shortly. Governors get power envy.
I don't think it is legitimate, but most states laws allow for a governor to declare a state of emergency which grants special (supposedly temporary) powers to the government, including the power to prohibit travel. To me, it is an illegitimate usurpation of power. They get abused frequently. In fact, there have been "states of emergency" that have been exploited for decades-long periods as the state legislatures keep allowing governors to continue them indefinitely.
A perfect opportunity to pour some concrete on top.
Only if we keep the power on and put the security camera feeds on the web.
I live in MA. It's become a regular thing with every winter storm now; state of emergency declared, ban travel "until further notice". Friggin' ridiculous.
How much did cutting unemployment benefits help the labor market?
Nancy Pelosi hardest hit.
EXCLUSIVE: Jimmy McMillan of 'The Rent Is Too Damn High' receives eviction notice
Jesus. He pays less than I do. Fuck.
Also, fuck him and subsidized rent.
IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that a simple landlord-tenant dispute like this is not a federal jurisdiction matter.
Link is SF'd.
Try hier.
Um, I'm looking at around two feet of snow outside here Elizabeth....and it's still snowing.
From Humungus' link:
This story is admittedly a bit on the tabloid side for our august site, but the terrible misfortune of a Georgia couple should be a cautionary tale about trying to buy things from strangers online advertising at sites like Craigslist that provide no protection of any kind to the buyers or sellers.
That's as far as I made it. Obviously, private sellers should be licensed by the government.
Fuck off.
This is why:
1) You have a gun.
2) You bring a posse to weird craigslist meetings in the shady part of town.
3) You tell a dozen people exactly where you are going.
4) Maybe reconsider your need for something that requires you to bring a gun, posse, and inform people of your potential imminent death.
Of course, they'll blame craigslist. They'll blame the market. Heck, I might be blaming the victim. But at some point, people make choices and shit happens. Trying to stop it all is impossible.
Just make the exchange in a crowded parking lot.
Police station. Oh wait, scratch that. Bass Pro parking lot
Why have private sellers at all? Since capitalism has failed, the government should take over all such operations and run them for its own purposes, which are always pure and noble, rather than for evil profit.
You jest...
Take an Uber ride to a craigslist buy in an AirBnB room = certain death
Last night on C-SPAN, I watched a panel discuss media coverage of race issues.
One guy said the protesters were chanting "we won't stop until you jail killer cops". He claimed the chant was clipped down to "killer cops" to make it sound like they were chanting "kill all cops".
Another said that journalists should get privilege awareness training like some inner city teachers get.
On the other C-SPAN, there was tribal chief in a funny reed hat talking about how they needed to embrace capitalism more. So that was nice.
I was going to watch Maddow, but it was cancelled to make way for coverage of the killer blizzard.
On another network, I saw that Charlie Wrangel immediate reaction to the White House drone incident was to call for more regulation.
I have been awake for 21 hours.
If you see a bright light, and dead relatives beckoning you near - go lie down and close your eyes.
The Derp is my shepherd; I shall not want.
sounds like the first guy may have had a point. I could totally see the media doing that.
Re: Derpetologist,
And we appreciate the sacrifice you make to keep us safe. Thank you so much for your service.
There are no extraordinary people, just ordinary people who do extraordinary things.
[waves gallantly, rears horse, and rides into the sunset]
Obama's as well.
In case you wondered what paper the social contract is printed on, it's actually on fabric (in ink that allows a higher density of buzzwords).
"..a national service corps.." Composed of course of young people who have been given tons of free shit by the state in service to the state. As powerful and well funded as the military, no doubt.
Where have I heard this before? American progs really, really want their Brownshirts.
I will never forgive the morons who voted for that vile POS.
What do these bozos (NY and MA) cite as their authority to ban movement?
I should know this one. It's right on the tip of my tongue.
Their piercings?
Other than FYTW, I mean.
They should not be able to ban movement. It is outrageous. But in some ways the public is to blame. What they should do is tell people that if you are out in the storm and get stuck we are not coming to get you and if we incur any costs moving your vehicle for emergency traffic, we are going to bill you. If they did that, however, the public would have a stroke. The public won't take responsibility for going out in the storm and has a fit when the government holds them accountable. So, they have no one to blame but themselves when the government treats them like children.
Other states, MN being one, just fine you if your car is on the road when the city is going to plow. It seems to work for them pretty well because we hardly ever had snow days when I was growing up in Minneapolis.
As long as you don't get stuck and cause an issue, what difference does it make? Just hold people responsible if they block the roads.
Minneapolis loves to pull a snow emergency in the blink of an eye and get themselves a nice bumper crop of revenue from all the cars they tow.
Last year was a bad winter and there were a couple of times they pulled a snow emergency late at night after people went to sleep so they didn't move their cars and got towed. Lots of ruffled feathers but still lost out to the FYTW nature of city govt.
Obama wants drone regulation
But of course, not for the Top Men of security and law enforcement.
Why do you want us to be less safe, Old Man?
How the hell do you regulate them? They are cheap and too small to pick up on radar.
Probably at the manufacturing and purchase end. Things will be lively in the DIY and maker circles.
1. Write a law
2. Establish agency to execute said law
3. BOOM, regulated!
You forgot:
4. Make example/shoot some individuals to serve as example to others.
5. Establish some way to tax people.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/f.....l-company/
Sierra Club secretly receiving millions of dollars from the Russian Government to lobby against fracking. It is a crime to lobby on behalf of a foreign government without registering as such. If the GOP had any balls and played to win, both Congress and some Republican State AGs would be investigating this.
Fracking is bad. Nothing to see here.
In Russia, we frack you!
I would be shocked if the administration was not mixed up in that somehow.
The annual, unfounded panic that tons of Super Bowl fans want to rape children is going strong, with the organization Shared Hope International sticking kids in giant boxes on Phoenix street corners to raise "awareness."
What the fuck is going on?
As a white male, I can't just help myself. I can't go out to the car or to work without raping someone or something. My penis is as red as a fire truck in the middle of July, but the rape urge is always there.
Warty will be in your bunk.
We can trust our governments to be careful guardians of our (coerced) contributions, example No. 5,794,378:
"Nearly $1 million in S.F. bond money vanishes"
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....041653.php
I thought Jamal had it! Jamal, what did you do with it?
Well, I put it down over there last week, uh, I think it was Thursday...
OT: job interview this week. Not that I am crazy about the position - compliance director for an insurance outsourcing company - but it feels pretty nice to get some attention FInallY!
Good luck. Go grab that opportunity!
Oh ho... if you get in, tell us.
AM Spot the Not: featuring Joe Biden
1. I know I'm not supposed to like muscle cars, but I like muscle cars.
2. The Middle East is hopeful. There's hope there.
3. Michael Bloomberg is one of my closest friends.
Why are you not supposed to like muscle cars?
Because gasoline is not green. He should drive a Prius.
Prius? He needs an eco-pure, dew on the lily Prius
er, Leaf
I picked a bad time to stop sniffing glue
Because global warming and something else he read about on the back of a cereal box.
The sad thing is that as bad as Biden is, he is frankly the best Democrat out there. If there has to be a Democrat win in 2016, you tell me which other Democrat wouldn't be worse than Biden. I can't think of any.
The entertainment factor alone would be worth it. And he couldn't get anything done. Biden would be the second coming of my favorite President, William Henry Harrison.
Because muscle cars are how lawyers compensate for their tiny penises and love for fat women.
Aw c'mon sarc. A little too far with that last one.
I suppose you're right. I guess it's not really fair to talk about his penis.
I thought Porsche was the preferred chubby chaser vehicle of choice.
So says the guy half of whose posts are links to pictures of fat women. You ever hear of the term "compensation"?
You ever hear of the term "compensation"?
Yeah. It's the money you owe me for giving you pictures of fatties to fap to.
Again, for someone who claims to hate fat women, you sure spend a lot of time trolling the internet for pictures of them.
If you call scrolling the Daily Mail trolling, then I guess so. I really thought I was doing you a service. Then you get all mad at me.
*runs away and sobs in the corner*
Scrolling the Daily Mail and going right for the pictures of fat women. Yeah, nothing odd about that. That couldn't possibly mean you enjoy looking or anything.
So I've gone from liking boys to liking fatties? Make up your mind!
You guys are unfamiliar with this game. 2 of the statements are actual Biden quotes. Can you Spot the Not?
Bloomburg is not his friend?
I'm gonna go with 1 as the not
I feel sorry for Bloomberg if #3 is true.
3 is the Not, although it is based on a real Biden quote:
"I have a really close relationship with Mike Bloomberg."
FYI: Krugabe is still crazy.
tl;dr- The Greeks need to spend! spend! spend!
Can someone please tell Kennedy to not engage in debate with little red Marxians on a pragmatic level? Don't you know by now that they will always cite idiotic and irrelevant anecdotes or "studies done" and other rhetorical traps?
If you're going to have a discussion about Unions (for instance), can you start with "What if I don't want to join a Union?". Make them try to make their case in a moral plane and watch them squirm, because they're always going to bring up a completely baseless correlation between Union membership and the middle class.
They love their utilitarian arguments. It's always better to force the conclusion as you say.
I would read the 10 planks of the Communist Mannifesto and ask them how many they agree with.
*ahem*
I'm the ruler of the wastelands.
So that's why you don't like Marxists. They would make your wastelands into not-wastelands.
It's why you don't call it a wasteland, you call it a pristine ecological preserve.
I'm always fascinated by the easiness with which discussions in H&R can turn from one topic or current event into an imaginary trip to the world of The Road.
Next stop: The historical accuracy of the new Mad Max movie.
If private property is abolished, what income is there to tax? I haz a confuse.
Re: R C Dean,
In Marxianland, the last thing to tax is your labor. Labor is the last of your property anyone can take from you, so in Communist countries they make you work for true exploitation wages. Which is why Communist countries are always so poor.
In Marxianland, the last thing to tax is your labor.
Since there's no private property, aren't you working for the State? So they give you money, then take it back? Which is fine, if there are other private employers who also are paying wages that need taxing, but if everybody works for the state, what the hell?
Re: R C Dean,
No, the State pays you much less than what your labor is worth.
Yes, I know it sounds like exploitation theory, but the difference here is that people in Communist countries do not have the ability to negotiate their labor with different clients, since you have a truemonopsony. Remember that you always exchange with another person - labor for money, or goods for goods or services for goods, etc. The State does NOT engage in exchange with you - it can't. The State is force. As there is NO market for labor in a Communist country, the worker cannot know how much his labor is truly worth - the calculation problem - and so whatever the State decides to pay the worker could be much less than what the worker could obtain in a market. And since the State needs to tax in order to survive, it follows the State will tax your labor through a diminished remuneration.
To sum it up, the relationship between Marxian state and the individual is that of master and slave.
For that matter, if all private property is abolished, how can you have an income to be taxed? Isn't your income just what becomes your property in exchange for your labor?
You either ridicule them or use their own language back at them. Ultimately, they hate freedom but since they lie about everything claim to love it. So you pin them down such that they have to admit that they don't give a shit if you don't like joining a union or whatever.
Utilitarian arguments against left-wing ideas are pretty easy, though. See: Venezuela.
It is amazing how nothing is ever their fault. Have a mild recession and it is proof of the evils of Capitalism. Let socialism totally destroy what was once a functional country like Venezuela and it is always the fault of wreckers and outside influence.
I know. One of my favorite things to ask a leftist is to point me to the absolute worst currently existing example of too much capitalism. The worst. Singapore? Hong Kong? Chile? Switzerland? America?
Every example of a capitalist country is successful. All of them. Not only that, but there is a direct correlation between more capitalist and more successful.
Re: Irish,
Oh, you have no idea. I've joined a couple of Mexican libertarian communities in Facebook and the usual visiting little red Marxian will argue that poverty is caused by Capitalism.
Oh, and wars. All wars are caused by Capitalism. I certainly didn't know that.
I wish. The last time I brought up Venezuela as an example (complete with a BBC link so I wouldn't be yelled at about "omg Kochtopus!/right-wing news source!" or whatnot) showing empty store shelves and miles-long Soviet-style breadlines, the response was that it was the US' fault, because they won't let us steal their resources so their own people will have access to them.
I remember on another forum actual Venezuelans posting about how fucking terrible it was there and a bunch of Western leftists accusing them of lying, because of course nothing could possibly go wrong in an explicitly anti-American socialist paradise.
I don't know. It's probably good to attack from all angles. You aren't going to change the minds of the idiot Marxists, but it is good to remind people how terribly it has failed whenever it has been tried. A lot of people only want to hear the pragmatic arguments and aren't so concerned about the moral argument.
Re: Zeb,
That is the reason for my warning: it is a rhetorical trap. If you fix the discussion around pragmatic arguments, you will be sucked into a pissing contest where the person with the most cited studies or meaningless facts wins. I've been sucked so many times into discussions that become pissing contests that the effort turns meaningless and boring very quickly. That is why I try to center my discussions around moral arguments.
11 Sports Photos That Look Sexual But (Probably) Aren't
http://www.11points.com/Sports.....ably_Arent
The stupid... it hurts so bad.
Note, it doesn't say it is hurting the poor. It just says it isn't helping them and is a "major source of inequity". Forget for a moment how ridiculous those claims are and just assume they are true. That means that they see the fact that some people are benefiting from something without hurting others as a problem. If I do better than you, that is a problem even if you are no worse off for my doing better. These people are sick.
And the author actually mocked the low barriers of entry to e-markets.
Re: John,
You pretty much nailed the basic argument from the left against "inequality": it hurts people in their feelings.
It's all about jealousy and envy with little red Marxians.
"It's all about jealousy and envy with little red Marxians."
That is correct. Leftist politicians appeal to people's baser instincts and thus attract the worst kinds of people. The left is basically just a throng of vile shitheads.
Yay! to the Pope for engaging in politics motivated by one of the seven deadly sins. Seriously, that is one stupid Pope.
Yeah, he is really tarnishing the job title of Pope.
On the other hand it is nice to no longer be considered the worse Pope on the face of the earth with no real effort on my part.
I don't even consider leftists to be human beings. They're human animals. Human beings are blessed with reason which allows us to override our emotional reactions and instead react rationally. Human animals simply react. Their brains are broken.
Love the photo there of the moran with the 'tax the rich' sign.
Sometime back in my youth I saw a cartoon in Mad Magazine of a Mexican rich guy and his wife going along in a carriage. They were riding past some protesting peasants, one of whom had a sign that said 'tax the reech'. The rich guy stopped the carriage and corrected the spelling on the sign.
I was maybe ten and I got it. And it was a parody, so I never thought anyone would be moronic enough to actually do that.
Stupid fucking commie is a living cartoon.
from the article:
[...]
You see middle-men are bad unless they are poor. Once their species of middle-man is perceived as an economically successful niche, they should be immediately destroyed for being the Kulaks they are.
Is there any mention of better service and lower prices for the consumer? The fact that providing both functionally increases the wealth of the poor?
I believe that was covered by the "ruthlessly squeezed" taxi drivers comment.
Turns out that Shared Hope International (the people putting kids in boxes to "raise awareness" about...something) is the grant-farming project of former CO Congresswoman Linda Smith. SHI gets government grants, uses those grants to spread hysteria and lobby for (wait for it) moar grants.
Washington, not Colorado.
I was really into paying to have sex with children, but after seeing them in a box I am totally against it.
Kid in a box. It changed me.
'tons of Super Bowl fans want to rape children'
Hold on now. Those are Seahawks fans. Don't blame football.
"The Justice Department is building a program that can scan and store license-plate information from drivers around the United States"
MY GOD - Soon they will have the same Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence of the *Department Of Motor Vehicles*?!
Its like S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra and the IRS formed into some kind of giant Voltron type creature... able to spend...billions of dollars... replicating information on a grand scale.... only with far more technology. TO WHAT END?
MY GOD - Soon they will have the same Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence of the *Department Of Motor Vehicles*?!
Awesome! It means my son lives in a secret base, as the DMV computer is incapable of recognizing his address as a real location.
Catching terrorists before they act!!!11!!1