A.M. Links: Alabama Judge Defies Federal Gay Marriage Ruling, Another Snowstorm Hits Northeast, Rand Paul Readies for 2016

• 

  Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr.com

  Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court has ordered state probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Moore's order directly defies last month's decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Alabama by U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade.

• "Rand Paul Seeks Middle (Sorry, Dad)."

• Another massive snowstorm is pummeling the northeast.

• A student government board representing all 233,000 students enrolled in the University of California system has approved a resolution urging the state university system to financially divest itself from the United States of America.

• Another day, another false statement from NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.

• Beck's Morning Phase won album of the year at last night's Grammy Awards.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Rand Paul Seeks Middle (Sorry, Dad)."

In other words, he wants to actually win?

[Drax the Destroyer]

It's more like he wants to get a bit further before someone he once bought a ham sandwich from is shown to have once said the "N" word on a game show.

[MJGreen]

Nagger?

[Steve G]

Niggardly?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello...!

Brian Williams: News you can TRUST!

So. When do they blame right-wing extremists for calling him out?

[WTF]

So. When do they blame right-wing extremists for calling him out?

They're not already? I guess they're still working on the talking points.

[Ted S.]

Maureen Dowd is supposedly defending him.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Maureen Dowd? When's Doris Kearns Goodwin going to get in on the action?

[Crusty Juggler]

DKG is our most highly respected historian, and a woman who is above reproach.

[Rich]

Some Doris on Maureen action?

Paging Teenage Girl ....

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Geraldo too. He told him to stand up and fight.

These people are retarded.

[Crusty Juggler]

Sexy, shirtless Geraldo is gonna git you.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

WTF?

[Crusty Juggler]

Why would you click on that? What is wrong with you?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Poor impulse control

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

He was in a car accident?

[Charles Easterly]

S&M Bonus points.

[Ted S.]

Brian Williams found his story in Al Capone's vault.

[Doctor Whom]

They're already using Buttplug's favorite non-argument, illi quoque.

[Zeb]

Why does anyone give a shit? He's just a talking head from TV.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Another massive snowstorm is pummeling the northeast.

Snowlocaust 2.0.

[Scarecrow Repair]

3.0, I think. But I wouldn't know for sure, being out here in the Sierras, where it's been a dry 60s and 70s since mid-December until this weekend's rain.

[Ted S.]

My dog enjoying the snow

(Yes, that's really my dog.)

[EDG reppin' LBC]

He just looks like he's taking a dump.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

So how do you enjoy the snow, then?

[Pope Jimbo]

Writing haiku poems in piss?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Snow? I don't do snow. I do enjoy 75 degrees and sunshine while watching college girls in bikinis play beach volleyball. 😉

Condolences to all the snow-bound Reasonoids out there. I'm going for a jog along the ocean.

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

*throws snowball at EDG*

[Acosmist]

Yikes, 75? Is that as cold as it ever gets?

Anything above 65 is pretty miserable. I suppose 70 and bone dry would be tolerable, if it ever got bone dry around here.

No thanks on the weather. Sounds awful.

[mad libertarian guy]

^^THIS^^

[DEG]

I do enjoy 75 degrees and sunshine while watching college girls in bikinis play beach volleyball.

One day I will enjoy that too.

[Ted S.]

It's a she, but yeah, I've got a couple of gag photos of her doing her business.

[Pope Jimbo]

I remember a couple winter ago it was so snowy that I used the snow blower to make a ditch in the back yard so my dog could take a dump.

[Rasilio]

Actually it is starting to become a problem.

I've already got 4' walls of snow lining my driveway and 7 foot mounds at the end of it. Based on some projections where I live we could have 36" from this storm by the time it ends tomorrow and then more snow on both Thursday and Sunday.

Where the hell am I going to put it I have no idea

[Atanarjuat]

Where the hell am I going to put it I have no idea

Neighbor's yard?

[Rasilio]

lol I live on 2.5 acres, the neighbors yard is a couple hundred yards away, even if I could get it there the idea of transporting a few dozen tons of snow that far does not sound appealing

[Marshall Gill]

Sounds like it is time for someone to invest in a flame thrower.

[Zeb]

Doesn't seem very pummelly. When the fuck did snowstorms in the north-east in the winter become news?

[some guy]

With the advent of 24 hr news networks.

[Lord Humungus]

Beck's Morning Phase - one of my favorite nap albums

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Who doesn't like a Beck's just before they nap?

[Lord Humungus]

Bra's underwire saves Brazilian woman from stray bullet
'It was a deliverance from God,' Ivete Mederios says. A stray bullet from a thief's gun across the street struck her chest, but miraculously bounced off her lacey black bra instead.

[Florida Man]

That's got to be a hoax. The bullet doesn't look deformed at all. The picture quality is poor but it looks like a hollow point and it should not take much energy to deform it at all.

/IANABE

[UnCivilServant]

If it were real, and if it were going slow enough that the wire stopped it, there was not leathal force behind the shot anyway.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Moore's order directly defies last month's decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Alabama by U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade.

JUDGE FIGHT!

[Matrix]

Kanye West makes an ass of himself again

[Coeus]

He is embarassingly up Beyonce's ass. JayZ needs to smack that bitch. And then make a video with Kim for good measure.

[Idle Hands]

Also Obama made an appearance to discuss how one in five women are raped over the course of their life. It isn't so bad that the guy interjects himself into everything, he is a narcissist, it's his blatant lies/ignorance on nearly every subject that he interjects on. I mean reports by his own justice department disprove that statistic, it's a national embarrassment at this time. Also ACDC sounded good.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

He's on a Highway to Hell...?

[Ted S.]

I'm glad I didn't watch the Grammys.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Beck should have smacked him with the mic.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Could you imagine sitting at a table with him, his wife and the Obamas?

Sheesh and yeesh.

[SugarFree]

I can imagine being at that dinner with a suicide vest.

[Marshall Gill]

Maybe, just maybe, such a sacrifice could make up for your writing.

[Zeb]

I don't understand why Kanye West is still a thing. He just seems stupid and obnoxious and I find his music rather boring.

[lap83]

Indeed.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

25) So after the NY cops went on their "work stoppage" recently, tickets for minor offenses and traffic citations plunged 94% in the city. I think when most people think about cops, they believe they spend most of their time solving crimes, tracking down murderers, preventing thefts, and so forth. But apparently, 94% of police work is actually issuing catching speeders and fining litterers. Really, I bet the average person is unlikely to ever interact with a police officer in his life except during a traffic stop. This means that all the prestige and deference that a bare handful of cops actually deserve is being "loaned" to a bunch of, at best, speed enforcers; at worst, shake-down artists for bringing in fines to the local jurisdiction. Manyof the problems related to policing also stem from traffic stops gone awry.
Would it make sense to split off traffic enforcement into a separate body? This new body would consist not of police officers?that title would be reserved for those who actually investigate crimes. The new body would have only "traffic enforcement officials" whose sole power would be issuing tickets for breaking traffic laws. There would be no need for them to carry weapons, since they would not be investigating any serious crimes, nor would they have the power to arrest. It would go a long way toward eliminating problems. It would likely reduce crime as well, since the remaining, far leaner police departments could focus on actual police work.

[Raven Nation]

If the argument is that minor offenses & traffic citations went down 94% that doesn't necessarily mean that those crimes make up 94% of the total amount of police work.

Your idea might work in a sane world but I would wager that a lot of cops see traffic stops as a way to get to a "bigger" bust e.g. DUI, drugs.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They also see it as 'protecting' and 'preventing' the population from getting into accidents.

[RockBottom]

This is pretty much right in my experience. My only other interaction with cops has been the following:

- Breaking up parties in my younger days
- My buddy almost getting shot in his front yard for having an airsoft pistol him.
- Getting harassed after reporting my car stolen. The asshole didn't believe me. I was stopping by my car on the way to my buddy's house, between the game I was at and heading to the bar. I was hoping to grab my luggage. Apparently I was too drunk to report a crime. He was leaving and telling me to call again in the morning if I couldn't find it. It wasn't until I went ballistic that he took me seriously. Should have been shot then too.

[Lord Humungus]

Woman wins $1.5M after car crash turns her into a dominatrix

The resulting brain damage caused a loss of "impulse control," turning her into a sex-crazed wild child ? and leading her to sex work, say the court documents, filed in British Colombia Supreme Court.

"I find that it is the brain injury that has led to her post-accident lack of ability to cope in the normal way, and it is the brain injury that has prohibited her from generating sufficient economic resources to support herself," Justice Joel Grove wrote on Jan. 7.

"Alissa's work as a dominatrix supports the finding."

[Rich]

"Alissa's work as a dominatrix supports the finding."

Now, *that* is some mighty fine logic.

[SugarFree]

POOR IMPULSE CONTROL

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Not something I want in a dominatrix

[SugarFree]

Our safe word for today is "More!"

[Rasilio]

probably why she can't make enough doing it to support herself.

[Coeus]

POOR IMPULSE CONTROL

She should sue for a nuke.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You know who else had poor impulse control?

[Ted S.]

Agile Cyborg?

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

STEVE SMITH?

[Atanarjuat]

Kanye West?

[CJR]

Dmitri Ravinoff?

[Illocust]

Wouldn't being a dominatrix be an argument against having poor impulse control. I'm pretty sure the whole point of one is that they give off an air of controlling everything that happens in their meet up with their client.

[SusanM]

When you're tied up you really, really don't want the other person to have poor impulse control. Of course, she's not making money at it...

[Ted S.]

Some people would like to get into that sort of car crash.

[Entropy Void]

Some people might like their significant others to get into that sort of crash.

/NOT projecting

[Fist of Etiquette]

A student government board representing all 233,000 students...

I doubt that.

[Jordan]

A student government board representing all 233,000 students enrolled in the University of California system has approved a resolution urging the state university system to financially divest itself from the United States of America.

So, I take it you guys will also refuse any blood money from Uncle Sam, as well, right? That includes millions in college funding, as well as all of your student loans. No?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

No, don't ask questions--Just take their statement at face value and cut them off! No more federally-funded loans. After all, they don't want any of that dirty, dirty money.

[Doctor Whom]

Money taken by government through force has been ritually purified.

[Steve G]

Why, oh why, can't the DoE just provide a semi-serious response saying just that? I could be so awesome to publicly humiliate them.

[Old Man With Candy]

Not first, but I'll claim best. Or beast. Or whatever.

Me so horny!

[Crusty Juggler]

I still would.

[Coeus]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[Raven Nation]

I don't see how they can prove anything w/o pics. She can just say she was joking when she told her boyfriend.

[Old Man With Candy]

Errrrrrm, no thanks.

[Lord Humungus]

Former Obama Campaign Manager on Hillary Clinton: 'It's Her Turn' to Be President

"It's her turn and her time," Messina said.

Many in the left have expressed frustration with Hillary taking her primary victory for granted. With Clinton delaying her official campaign announcement until the summer, the presumptive 2016 Democrat nominee seems to prefer a more leisurely primary. She has no problem with lying low, but not all Democrats agree with the duck and hide strategy.

Clinton and her advisers have been unable to shake the elitist attitude surrounding their campaign. Messina furthered that view by announcing what everyone already knew?liberal billionaires and multi-millionaires are lining up behind Clinton.

[Drax the Destroyer]

What is this a monarchy or something?

[Bwana]

More like a playground.

[Illocust]

It would be pretty hilarious to see her get the nomination, and then lose because the proles in the party didn't think they got a choice.

Hell, there are already some dem journalists complaining that the its a woman's turn narrative is scaring off any male competition.

[Elspeth Flashman]

If she couldn't win before, why should she win now? I know, different field is running alongside her. But this just shows an entitlement frame of mind.

[Entropy Void]

"liberal billionaires and multi-millionaires are lining up behind Clinton."

Plus Mandy Grunwald. Same thing, I guess.

From Wiki-
Mandy Grunwald (born c. 1957)[1] is an American professional political consultant and media advisor for the Democratic Party.
She is the daughter of the late Henry Grunwald, former editor-in-chief of Time magazine and Beverly Suser. Mandy is the sister of the author Lisa Grunwald and movie producer Peter Grunwald. She grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and on Martha's Vineyard.[1] She attended the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York,[1] and then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University.[2]

[Monty Crisco]

Williams is fucked. All his previous reporting is now under a microscope and people are starting to realize that his entire body of work is far from what one would expect from a "journalist" rather than a "fantasist". And an egomaniacal one at that...

[Raven Nation]

I saw one of his explanations for the "chopper shot down" story was he was confused by the "fog of memory."

WTH: I know our memories of events can change over time, but to claim that you remembered something happening to you that didn't happen to you as "fog of memory" doesn't even sound like a serious attempt to explain yourself.

[Coeus]

WTH: I know our memories of events can change over time, but to claim that you remembered something happening to you that didn't happen to you as "fog of memory" doesn't even sound like a serious attempt to explain yourself.

Rape culture

[Rich]

"fog of memory"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm no psycho-analytical-Freud-Jung-Skinner-Popper expert, but something tells me you'd remember getting SHOT AT IN A FUCKEN HELICOPTER IN A WAR ZONE.

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

Yes, yes you would. Of course, I have an easy time remembering when I was shot at....because my sphincter would slam shut so hard, people thought I was ringing a ship's bell.

[MJGreen]

I didn't know we were ever supposed to see him as a journalist. He's a charismatic newsreader.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Another day, another false statement from NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.

At least Dan Rather did it for the Greater Good.

[WTF]

At least there are some funny Brian Williams memes floating around.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Like this one: http://thecount.com/wp-content.....mes-20.jpg

[Raven Nation]

OK, that's pretty funny.

[WTF]

Yeah, that's one of the better ones. I also like him helping raise the flag at Iwo Jima and fighting with the Spartans at Thermopylae.

[Lord Humungus]

What's the gayest plant around?

UC Berkeley Lecture: It Is 'Necessary' to Apply Transgender Studies to Agriculture

I don't know, I guess I'm still a bit confused. Perhaps I should fly out to California and learn more. After all, the description states that viewing agriculture through a transgender lens is "necessary" ? yes, necessary ? "for more sustainable, sovereign, and equitable food systems for the creatures and systems involved in systemic reproductions that feed humans and other creatures."

Oh, and apparently 9/11 is also somehow involved:

"By focusing on popular culture representations and government legislation since 9/11, it will become clearer how the growing popularity of sustainable food is laden with anthroheterocentric [sic] assumptions of the 'good life' coupled with idealized images ideas of the American farm, and gender, radicalized and normative standards of health, family, and nation."

[UnCivilServant]

We're screwed when people like that are not immediately laughed out of the room.

[WTF]

Odd how people so quickly forget the Sokal Hoax.

[Doctor Whom]

Forget? I'm waiting for the goodthinkers to acknowledge that it ever happened.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I think the real point of this was seeing how many academic trends and buzzwords could be stuffed into one lecture.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

You can't fool me, that's Tumblr University

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't know about gayest, but the manliest are Cedar plants.

[Elspeth Flashman]

They smell the best.

[GILMORE]

"anthroheterocentric"

WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE GAY INSECTS??

[Mickey Rat]

That quote contained a lot of words and no information.

[Ted S.]

Beck's Morning Phase won album of the year at last night's Grammy Awards.

Why does Beck get mentioned, and not Sam Smith or Pharrell Williams or Beyonce?

[Crusty Juggler]

Racism. Duh.

[Ted S.]

I was thinking more of the same bias that led H&R to point out that when Rolling Stone interviewed Obama, the most recent artist mentioned on the cover was... Weezer.

[Ted S.]

As I've mentioned, I listen to various of the international broadcasters that used to be on short-wave back in the day but are now only on the Internet. Radio France International's English service reprted this by saying that Beck beat out a bunch of commercial artists, while only referring to Williams and Beyonce as something like "megastars" or "pop superstars" -- no suggestion that they were commercial. For some reason I found it odd.

[Florida Man]

They're urban. Everyone knows white people don't live in cities.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"A student government board representing all 233,000 students enrolled in the University of California system has approved a resolution urging the state university system to financially divest itself from the United States of America."

Does this mean they won't accept federally-funded student aid? Let's take them up on this offer.

[Raven Nation]

They also list some other nations from which the system should divest itself. Presumably the main places that are left are western Europe and parts of Latin America. Be interesting to see how the endowments would do invested only in those places.

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

"We have invested, entirely, in Argentinian Bonds!"

[Rich]

Another massive snowstorm is pummeling the northeast.

Hmm. Yes. Winter, you know.

[UnCivilServant]

There's nothing abnormal about it from where I sit, just a couple of inches of accumulation. Fluffier stuff, possibly wet enough to build a snowman from.

[Rasilio]

No this is abnormal, at least in the Boston area.

At this point Boston has set a 30 day snowfall record in just 17 days with another 12+ on the way over the next 2 days and more later in the week.

Yeah snow in the winter is expected here and even the size of the storms is not too surprising but the number of storms this size is somewhat exceptional

[Lord Humungus]

University of California student government passes resolution to divest ? From America

"The government of the United States of America is engaged in drone strikes that have killed over 2,400 people in Pakistan and Yemen, many of them civilians," the resolution stated. "The government oversees, by far, the highest rate of imprisonment in the world, and racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement agencies, particularly for drug-related offences. 400,000 undocumenteducal immigrants are held in detention centers every year, and millions have been deported since the current administration took office, and the government is directly supporting and propping up numerous dictatorships around the world with weapons sales and foreign aid."

The resolution also called on UC system leaders "to withdraw investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments with holdings" from the governments of Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Sri Lanka and Mexico, as well as the U.S.

[Jordan]

Dude. You can't repost one of the Morning Links. Major faux pas.

[Lord Humungus]

my life is nothing but one faux pas after another.

[Matrix]

I aborted my baby because it was a boy and I don't want to bring another monster into the world.

Feminsists are just so incredible and courageous!

[Matrix]

fixed link

[Idle Hands]

In the spring of 2012, I found out that I was pregnant. I had a good idea who the donator was, but money wasn't really an issue, and I knew that I would be a good mother-like figure for the child by myself.

So was this person artificially inseminated or just the biggest sociopath on the planet?

[Irish]

If it was artificial insemination, she wouldn't have a 'good idea' who the 'donator' was, she'd know for a fact.

I'm going with sociopath.

[Coeus]

Maybe she was in beast mode at the time.

[Idle Hands]

Maybe in some bizarre Sugarfreerian plot twist she's the same women from the story that Old Man with Candy linked above.

[wadair]

Baby daddy.

[RBS]

I knew that I would be a good mother-like figure for the child by myself.

All the good moms I know refer to themselves as a "mother-like" figure.

[Gene]

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Not a fucking chance.
As far as the piece goes, from what i could see (before I hit the fucking like wall) it seemed contrived, Tanya Cohenesque if you will.

[Jordan]

Considering the mother, it's probably for the best.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Under than woman's "parentage," that kid may have turned into some sort of ax-wielding maniac. Not sure if his chosen victims would have been predominately male or female...but his mother would be mostly at fault regardless.

[Irish]

Okay, I have a feeling that article is a brilliant parody.

"The man literally scoffed when I spoke those words and leaned in and quietly said to me "B****** like you need to learn their place". Stunned, I screamed "ASSAULT!" while other passengers looked at us, the woman across the aisle from him immediately told him to get away from me, but not 5 seconds passed before a flight attendant had rushed over to intervene?."

Someone called her a bitch so she started screaming that it was assault. If this is true it's hilarious, if it's not true it's still brilliant.

[Idle Hands]

I agree it has to be a plant piece by a Manchurian Candidate, it's too well done.

[SugarFree]

And besides, the deranged cohort of redfems would love to get their hands on a boy to warp into a "male ally."

[MJGreen]

Fake. But I like the idea that this brave fellow passenger told the man to get away from her. They're stuck on a plane thousands of feet in the air. Does she think the guy is going to start wailing on the author if he doesn't change his seat?

[Illocust]

Looks like a troll article.

[RBS]

Maybe it is, it gets harder to tell every week.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Profoundly and tremendously sad and disturbing.

Cunt.

[wadair]

One of the more prominent themes that I saw in these places was that men generally would look down on us, refuse to help us, or hardly even lend an ear so that we could air our grievances. This didn't surprise me, the patriarchy has been well entrenched since the dawn of time, but here I was, here I am, ready to change it.

Can't imagine why those you hate and castigate wouldn't want to help you. It's just mind boggling.

[Coeus]

Raw Story takes on spontaneous order.

"Well, we need some government," Stossel admitted. "But not much."

The Week's Damon Linker argued last year that "spontaneous order" was the "silliest and most harmful of all" libertarian ideas.

Linker said that the United States had conducted two experiments in "spontaneous order" in recent years by overthrowing governments in Iraq and Libya.

[Doctor Whom]

Nothing says "not enough government" like what the US has been doing in places like Iraq and Libya.

[Illocust]

Ummm, didn't we attempt to set up a government in Iraq. That doesn't sound much like spontaneous order.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Basically, for leftists, the single most top-down, interventionist thing a government can do is now an example of "spontaneous order." Dear lord.

[Lord Humungus]

Warty?

Half the DNA on the NYC Subway Matches No Known Organism

The results of a massive new DNA sequencing project on the New York City subway have just been published. And yup, there's a lot of bacteria on the subway?though we know most of it is harmless. What's really important, though, is what we don't know about it.

The PathoMap project, which involved sampling turnstiles, benches, and keypads at 466 stations, found 15,152 life-forms in total, half of which were bacterial. The Wall Street Journal has created a fun, interactive microbial map of the subway out of the data, showing where on the lines the bacteria "associated with" everything from mozzarella cheese to staph infections was found.

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

Fodder for SugarFree's writing.

[Ted S.]

They're probably sequencing the DNA wrongly if they can't identify half of it.

[SugarFree]

You me'd the link.

[Lord Humungus]

Just an homage.

[Lord Humungus]

Linky

[Lord Humungus]

hmm... apparently Reason doesn't like links missing the www

[Lord Humungus]

Fuck This

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"a fun, interactive microbial map"

Okay, no.

[The Late P Brooks]

A student government board representing all 233,000 students enrolled in the University of California system has approved a resolution urging the state university system to financially divest itself from the United States of America.

Good for them. Now, they should build a giant raft of milk jugs and set sail for Cuba.

[Lord Humungus]

Naked Bill Cosby Statue Will Be Unveiled in Florida This Month

The sculpture is titled Fat Albert Cries for Dr. Huxtable. It depicts a naked Cosby as Dr. Huxtable from The Cosby Show. He's old; he's fat; he doesn't look very happy.

And the only thing keeping the world from seeing his Little Huxtable is a tiny weeping Fat Albert hovering over his privates like a fig leaf.

You can see the statue below, though it's NSFW. Or, at least, not safe to look at before lunch.

[UnCivilServant]

Why?

[Rich]

Because "Rodman captured Cosby's real character."

[Ted S.]

I laughed at the idea this as parody. Is it really any worse than Mirth & Girth?

[Lord Humungus]

U.S. Banks Say Soaring Dollar Puts Them at Disadvantage
Firms Say They May Be Forced to Hold More Capital Than Foreign Rivals

The strengthening U.S. dollar is rippling through the financial system in unexpected ways, revealing what bankers say is a hidden flaw in a Federal Reserve proposal to increase capital cushions at the nation's largest banks.

Big U.S. banks say that, under the rule proposed in December, the recent steep rise in the dollar's value would force some U.S. firms to hold billions of dollars more in capital than foreign competitors, including weaker European banks, because of how the Fed plans to calculate a so-called surcharge levied on the eight most systemically important U.S. banks.

[Jordan]

Get ready for the idiots in Congress to whine about Chinese currency manipulation.

[Mickey Rat]

I thought the Obama administration had been whining for years that businesses were hoarding money rather than spending it creating jobs?

[Matrix]

20 Stupid Feminist Questions Men Answered

"Have you ever had trouble breaking into your chosen career field because it's a 'girl's club'?"
"8. Abso-freaking-lutely. In the media and journalism field, it's sure as hell not a meritocracy. Ladies, if you're gorgeous, you don't need to be all that talented to get a job in reporting. You just have to be able to read off the teleprompter, look great in a tight dress, and you're booked. For us chubby white dudes, no one wants to see us on TV. We've got to be smarter, more educated, have all of our hair, and be willing to claw our way to the top."

[SugarFree]

Male librarians and archivists are a rare breed. Maybe 5-10% of the profession in academic circles; less than 1% in public libraries.

[Rich]

You DOG!

*** elbows SF ***

[SugarFree]

If you like mousey girls, this job would be a target-rich environment.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

They are always the biggest freaks (good thing)

[Florida Man]

I like girls, so yes they fall under my type.

[Rich]

*** squeak! squeak! ***

[Florida Man]

Male nurse here to say go watch "meet the parents" and tell me how men in traditional female rolls are treated in the media.

[Florida Man]

Roles. Here is your chance to get even john.

[Crusty Juggler]

Male nurse? hahahahhahahahhahaahhah!

[Rich]

"I have nipples, Florida Man. Can you milk me?"

[Florida Man]

With enough oxytocin I can.
/gets worlds smallest bucket

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Oxytocin? But that might make me like you.

[Illocust]

Oh god yes, I've even contributed to that. I was going in for a surgery when I was kid and they had me on the knock out drugs. Apparently I started asking my male nurse how could he be both male and a nurse.

[Florida Man]

That movie came out when I was in nursing school. It is a funny movie but it did make me more apprehensive about talking about what I was school for. Now I'm a CRNA and most people don't know what that is, so I don't talk about work at all because I don't want to explain what I do for a living. I should have been a vet.

[Rich]

Can't you say "I'm a type of Physician's Assistant" or "I'm a Medical Specialist"?

[Florida Man]

I generally just avoid talking about work and steer the conversation towards money, politics and religion. You know, the safe topics.

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

How about pythons, gators, drunken accidents and other Floridian things (oh, like college footbal).

[Bones]

If you should have been a vet, yet work in human medicine, why wouldn't you just say you should have been a doctor. It's a lot harder to be a vet (many species of study) than a human doctor (one species of study).

[Juice]

Hey, overall nice website. Only a couple truly stupid articles, but this one is nice.

http://thelibertarianrepublic......questions/

"Would you say Chris Kyle is a hero for defending the homeland?" Kokesh asks people exiting the movie. "Do you think that defending your homeland and risking your life to do that makes you a hero."

"What it means to be a hero is protecting others and keeping them out of harms way," replied one woman.

"Like protecting your homeland?" Kokesh responded.

"Protecting anyone who you think is family, I guess," she shrugged.

"What do you think about the people Chris Kyle was killing in the movie as a sniper? What were they doing?" he asked. "The bad guys in the movie, the ones that Chris Kyle was killing, what were they doing?"

"Defending their homeland?" she answered.

"Are you saying that insurgents in Iraq are the heroes?" he retorts.

[John Titor]

What the hell Kokesh, everyone knows you need to compare Kyle to a spree killer and the U.S. government to Nazis in order to argue that he wasn't a 'hero'.

[mad libertarian guy]

Stay-at-home dad.

I have you all beat.

[Lord Humungus]

Van Jones: Elizabeth Warren Is the Name 'on the Lips of Every Grassroots Democrat'

Jones told George Stephanopoulos on This Week Sunday that Elizabeth Warren is "the name that is actually on the lips of every grassroots Democrat." Though Warren has repeatedly averred that she is not running, Jones insisted that there is a great hunger for her candidacy "at the grassroots, where people actually matter, where people actually vote."

"There is thunder on the left," he continued, saying that Hillary Clinton has to deal with the fact that she is in a "different world when it comes to economics."

[UnCivilServant]

Being cursed by the whole populace would also have your name on their lips. That doesn't in of itself imply a good thing.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

WTF do people listen to that commie gasbag? I knew the first time I saw him open his shirt to (unironically) reveal a Superman t-shirt beneath he had to be one of the douchiest douchenozzles ever.

[Rhywun]

Obligatory.

[Mickey Rat]

Thunder? Mere sound and fury, signifying nothing.

[Rich]

Seismologists Say A Fault Is At Fault For Irving Earthquakes

But the fault is due to global warming from fracking, DUH!

[wadair]

They hope to pinpoint the fault's location and find out if its due to natural causes or human activity such as drilling

I just can't imagine fracking having enough energy to reawaken a latent fault. Just try to imagine a machine strong enough to create and survive the amount of energy required to move huge amounts of earth without tearing itself apart. It is beyond me how anyone can believe that man-made hydraulics can trigger an earthquake.

[mad libertarian guy]

When you degree is in Feelings Engineering, anything is possible.

[Lord Humungus]

The Brian Williams plan: Wait and hope
A scheduled appearance on Letterman turns out to be too soon to step back into the limelight.

It was on Letterman's show in 2013 that Williams gave one of his most vivid accounts of a close encounter with an RPG in Iraq in 2003. CBS had announced the scheduled appearance last Tuesday, the day before the Stars & Stripes story that touched off Williams' troubles.

Earlier this weekend, Williams had planned to go ahead with the interview if things were looking better. The thinking had been that Letterman can do a serious interview, and the show would be a high-profile, controlled way for Williams to clear the air. But the harsh coverage continued Sunday.

[Coeus]

Today in Rape Culture

Two stinkers and one valid point, but it's about government accountability, not about rape culture.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So it goes like this. During the Bruins-Habs game I overheard Obama repeat the '1 in 5 women will be raped on campuses' meme during the Grammy Awards (ugh) which my wife was watching in the other room.

Since it was Obama spewing numbers - the Brian Williams of statistics let's call him - I discovered (surprise!) rape has been on the decline for quite sometime. Same thing in Canada - where we generally have higher rates of rape incidences.

Long story short, The Washington Post examined it. Lo and behold, the stat is worthless. Yet, they still run with it. They sure love their narratives.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....an-update/

[Ted S.]

And yet the CBC this morning had a story about the ZOMG RAPE EPIDEMIC on Canadian college campuses.

[Lord Humungus]

Winchester Pickle Festival at a crossroads

One dollar.

That's how much town funding the Winchester Board of Selectmen has recommended in a warrant article for the Pickle Festival this year.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

So they're... in a pickle?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Over the barrel?

[Lord Humungus]

Greek Risk Draws Global Concern on Lehman Echo Warnings

For Greece alone, University of California-Berkeley professor Barry Eichengreen said last month that fallout from a departure would be "Lehman squared," evoking the financial turmoil and recession that followed the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

"Monetary-union breakups are very rare for a reason: they're a disaster," said Paul Donovan, a global economist at UBS Group AG in London, who sees a "good chance" others would follow Greece out of the currency area and that a collapse could prompt a global recession.

Donovan and colleagues yesterday published a report warning investors are "complacent" about the financial and economic disruption if Greece left. Exit would pose the potential for runs on European banks and an asset sell-off amid questions over the ability of policy makers to make good on promises to protect the region, the report showed.

[Jordan]

A global recession is already baked in, no matter what Greece does. China, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. are all fucked regardless of what happens in Europe.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

YOU LEAVE CANADA OUT OF THIS!

WE HAVE PUBLIC HEALTH!

[UnCivilServant]

Take a number and get in line, Rufus.

[Raven Nation]

Greece doubles down:

In a symbolic move that appeared to take direct aim at Greece's biggest creditor, Tsipras finished off his speech with a pledge to seek World War Two reparations from Germany.

http://www.reuters.com/article.....E920150209

[Lord Humungus]

If you're going to herp, you might as well derp all the way.

(from your first cigarette to your last dying day)

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Move on assholes.

Just be glad you're in the EU - in all its technocratic glory.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

And by 'assholes' I mean the political classes making these ridiculous claims.

Not a fan of asking for reparations long after an event.

[John Titor]

I'm still waiting for the German government to pay me for that time the Wehrmacht stole all my grandfather's livestock in the old country.

[Clich? Bandit]

Y know what sucks? Those fucking saxon scum killed my entire tribe. We had to move to Wales for fucks sake.

[Clich? Bandit]

Germany is the Golden Goose and Greece is the un-lubed hand searching the cloaca for one last egg.

[mad libertarian guy]

Exit would pose the potential for runs on European banks and an asset sell-off amid questions over the ability of policy makers to make good on promises to protect the region, the report showed.

God forbid that reality question the ability of policy makers!

[Lord Humungus]

Is This the End of NATO?

It's therefore unsurprising that European leaders are in full-panic mode about what Putin will do next. The serious possibility that the Chekist-in-Charge in the Kremlin will seek more provocations, and possibly a major war, to achieve his strategic aim of establishing Russian control over the former Soviet space and therefore dominance over Eastern Europe, is reducing weak-willed Western leaders like Merkel and Hollande to political incoherence.

It seems to have never occurred to them, nor Obama and his national security staff either, that crushing the Russian economy with sanctions might bring more, not less, aggression from Putin, even though that was an obvious possibility. Jaws dropped this week when Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who until recently was NATO's civilian head, stated that it is highly likely that Russia will soon stage a violent provocation against a Baltic state, which being NATO countries, will cause a crisis over the Alliance's Article 5 provision for collective self-defense. Rasmussen merely said what all defense experts who understand Putin already know, but this was not the sort of reality-based assessment that Western politicians are used to hearing.

[Raven Nation]

Just finished ready Gillespie's interview with Kasparov and that was Kasparov's thought process: Putin will engineer some event among Russian communities in one of the Baltic states which will require the government there to take action. Russian "volunteers" will then cross the border to assist their ethnic brethren.

[DJF]

Why?

Ukraine had a major Russian base and industry important to Russia, what does the Baltic nations have?

[Raven Nation]

Kasparaov's argument is that Putin is having domestic policy problems. In order to stay in power, he is selling himself as the re-builder of Great Russia in order to maintain support for himself.

I don't know enough about Russia to know if K is correct, but it is certainly parallels policies of other politicians.

[Clich? Bandit]

uhh if you classify domestic troubls as dropping from 92% to 88% approval. All the young kids over there love him and all the older folks are smart enough to not say anything. The middle class over there is getting shellacked by the sanctions and wants Putin to nuke fucking Europe(figuratively). The US has not been this hated in Russia (by the populous) since the 70s.

[UnCivilServant]

A land route to Kaliningrad, people disrespecting WWII Memorials put up by the soviets and cemetaries of Russian war dead, I'm sure an excuse can be cooked up. It's about prestige. One of the random factoids I've recently heard is that no Romanov passed on an Empire smaller than the one they inherited from the previous Tsar. Putin strikes me as the kind of guy with a Tsarist self image.

[Malkavian]

Highly unlikely, at least in the nearest future. If EU disintegrates, Russia might pick up influence over Baltics, but their governments are safe. Saskaashvili and Poroshenko won't get raped and murdered Quadaffi/NATO style any time soon.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The poor Baltic states living next to such a pain in the ass country endowed with insecure delusions of grandeur.

[Clich? Bandit]

Who was it on here who recommended Hardcore History Podcast? That shit is awesome, I am almost done with the Wrath of the Khans.

[Coeus]

Me. That's the one I started with too.

[Clich? Bandit]

dude...Subatai was a motherfucking bad ass psychopath with a genius military mind.

[Coeus]

Wasn't he the one who devastated Europe and the Mongol history didn't even consider it more than a "raiding party" in their history?

[DJF]

""""Rasmussen merely said what all defense experts who understand Putin already know, but this was not the sort of reality-based assessment that Western politicians are used to hearing."""

I thought the "defense experts" narrative was the Putin was a crazy guy who we could not predict?

And if Putin is predictable why didn't these experts realize that helping overthrow the Ukrainian government would have a negative reaction from Putin?

[DEG]

Another massive snowstorm is pummeling the northeast.

Fuck winter. Figuratively, not literally. No frostbite.

Looking on the brightside, I'm working at home today.

[Crusty Juggler]

Twinsies! Let's have a pajama party!

[UnCivilServant]

Looking on the brightside, I'm working at home today.

Bastard, I was required to come in despite the dangerous road conditions. Now it's safer to just stay at work.

[Lord Humungus]

I too am officially sick of winter. At least in Michigan had a fairly pleasant December so the past few weeks haven't been that terrible.

[Marshall Gill]

Gonna reach 70 here in OKC, again today!

Suckers!

[Lord Humungus]

High of 25 - currently 19.

[Rich]

Dozens of posters plastered across the University of Michigan caution students not to say things that might hurt others' feelings

Words declared unacceptable through the campaign include "crazy," "insane," "retarded," "gay," "tranny," "gypped," "illegal alien," "fag," "ghetto" and "raghead." Phrases such as "I want to die" and "that test raped me" are also verboten.

But how can one read the posters without being triggered? That's just crazy stupid!

[Jordan]

that test raped me

I loled

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I didn't see the n-word in there.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The word that must not be named

[Juice]

Because it's ok for some people to say it.

[DEG]

Last night, when I logged off, there were about 80 or 90 comments on the post about Germany and forgetting the horrors of Communism. I see there are now more than 200. Should I skip reading it? Did the trolls come out to play?

[Irish]

Agile Cyborg got into his coke stash and things got a little wild.

[Crusty Juggler]

Ummm I do not think it was coke...

[Coeus]

BATH SALTZ!!

[Crusty Juggler]

This makes too much sense.

[Florida Man]

I hope that dude is okay. Sometimes I worry about his health.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

He said something about recently going to the hospital for some drug episode.

[Florida Man]

Poor guy.

[DEG]

So I must read it. Thanks!

[Idle Hands]

Agile Cyborg was summarizing the plot of book 2 of James Joyce's masterpiece Finnegan's Wake.

[Lord Humungus]

AC was definitely on something.

[Clich? Bandit]

AC is Starchild...discuss!

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

I look forward to a post on this:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/a.....candal.php

Tony hardest hit?

[UnCivilServant]

He has strong doublethink compensators. You'll get some crazy spouted at you, then reversion to the mean.

[John]

What is amazing about these people is how their work is often so shoddy and dishonest even people with no training in the field are able to call them out. The guy who figured this out is an accountant with some basic knowledge of math and statistics.

[SugarFree]

The divest from America vote is actually a satrical attack on the Isreali Divestment movement.

"Think about that. If they had their way, the student government of the U. Cal. system would require divestment from U.S. Treasuries and most of the world," Cornell University law Professor William Jacobson points out on Legal Insurrection, responding to the vote. "The U. Cal. student government has proven a point I've made repeatedly in terms of the academic boycott: If you are going to boycott Israel, then you need to apply those standards to the whole world, which will result in boycotting yourselves."

"I'm not glad that the Israel divestment passed, but at least it passed combined with a resolution which made the anti-Israel students and U. Cal student government look like fools."

[John]

They would never divest in America, that would actually cost them money. And of course there is as far as I know no "divest in Russia" or "divest in China movement" even though those countries have by any objective measure worse human rights records than Israel. There is just one for Israel, you know the one Jewish state on earth. This movement has nothing to do with antisemitism I am sure.

[Irish]

I don't know that it's entirely anti-Semitism, so much as it's leftist stupidity about white people victimizing non-whites.

When Asians and white farmers had their property confiscated by the Zimbabwean government, no one cared because it was a righteous, anti-colonialist assault on the last vestiges of Western oppression.

On the other hand, leftists can claim Israel is nominally 'western' and 'white,' therefore any bad actions taken by Israel are three thousand times worse than the exact same actions taken by another country.

[creech]

Much as I'd prefer Rand Paul over any other GOP candidate, I don't think he will be perceived as "ready for prime time" vs. Mrs. Bill Clinton. Maybe he should stay in the Senate for another term, then get a term or two under his belt as governor of Kentucky before he seeks the Presidency. Of course, let's hope the U.S. can last that long.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Eh, if he were 42 I'd agree but he's 52 and I think after 60 you lose a lot of that (relative, of course) youthful appeal compared to geezers like McCain and hags like Hillary.

His weakness in experience would be bad if the Democrats had a popular governor to nominate instead of Hillary, who's experience is offset by her failures as SoS and utterly unlikable personality.

[creech]

My proggie friends consider Mrs. Bill the most accomplished woman in government of all times (even more than Mrs. FDR). They cannot, of course, point to one solid accomplishment, but it's her turn, you know.

[Florida Man]

I don't know. Presidents usually swing parties after 2 terms so it might be a now or never moment.

[Charles.H.Anziulewicz@wv.]

Meanwhile, SCOTUS has decided not to intervene in Alabama:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS.....a-28829388

I love the smell of progress in the morning.

[DEG]

For old car lovers.

[John]

The sad thing is that the cult of originality has so overtaken the car world those cars are likely to be purchased and not so much as even washed. The original barn dirt on a survivor barn find car is considered valuable. It really is that insane. Those cars should be restored and driven.

[Clich? Bandit]

i think i just made a mess in my pants...damn

[DEG]

I stumbled on this video about a French free-diver on CNN.com and thought it was pretty cool.

[DEG]

Though it is an auto-play video, and when the video is over, you get sent to the next video.

[Jordan]

I really, really want to learn free diving. I'll stick with SCUBA for now, though.

[DEG]

Report states HSBC for helped folks hide money in Swiss banks.

[Ted S.]

The reports all say this as though it were a bad thing.

I hope Swiss Servator is OK.

[DEG]

I have a vague memory of him posting last week that his Swiss Masters were getting the flogs out to push more work.

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

The hortators are beating the drums quite fast and hard right now...

But I don't work for HSBC....Gott Sei Dank.

[DEG]

New industry: birth tourism.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Pregnant Chinese moms are flocking stateside to give birth, lured by rules that grant American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil."

Hold on, I thought anchor babies were a racist myth.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Would you eat a seal burger?

It's amazing the things we freak out over.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.....-1.2949490

[DEG]

Yes, I would eat a seal burger. The only questions are how should it be done and what should go on it.

[Lord Humungus]

If I'm hungry enough...

[Ted S.]

I'd be willing to try.

[John]

Isn't seal so loaded in fat that unless you are an Inuit and are genetically predisposed to handle it, it will clog your arteries?

[Idle Hands]

Think of all the delicious flavor just waiting to be unlocked.

[John]

If the seals can be hunted such that it just keeps the population in check and doesn't wipe them out or cause the animals like polar bears and killer whales who rely on them for food to starve, why not?

[Ivan Pike]

Isn't seal so loaded in fat that unless you are an Inuit and are genetically predisposed to handle it, it will clog your arteries?

Here you go John. This is the lean portion, but yes, you should eat the blubber as well as it is very good for you.

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Fat
3.2 g
Saturated .820
Monounsaturated 1.720
Polyunsaturated 0.060
Protein
28.4 g
Tyrosine 3
Vitamins
Vitamin A equiv. (15%) 116 ?g
Thiamine (B1) (87%) 1 mg
Riboflavin (B2) (44%) 0.530 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)
(13%) 0.650 mg
Trace metals
Calcium (1%) 5 mg
Iron (151%) 19.60 mg
Phosphorus (34%) 238 mg
Sodium (7%) 110 mg

[John]

The Inuits basically live on the stuff. You can't grow much of a garden on Hudson Bay. It has to have incredible food value or the Inuits would have never been able to live up there.

[Steve G]

Forgot the sarc tag..

[Ted S.]

White peop0le kill seals, and it's ghastly.

Eskimos (no I will not use the term 1th Nathions) kill seals, and how dare you criticize them.

Typical CBC racism.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Technically, Dene (Inuit)...

I'm surprised people have started on busting the balls of the Edmonton Eskimos demanding they change their names a-la Redskins.

[Florida Man]

Probably because no one has ever heard of them.

[UnCivilServant]

It depends, What's the price tag?

[Ivan Pike]

Seal is wonderful. Had some the other night. Delicious.

[Entropy Void]

I wish I had a spare $350.00 ... Rand Paul is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Orange County (FL) Republican Executive Committee Lincoln Day Dinner ...

KickStarter anyone? I'll send you a pic of me shaking hands with Rand ...

[Notorious G.K.C.]

As long as you've never been on a New York subway.

[AlmightyJB]

Things we already knew were happening

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....-ever.html

[John]

I am still trying to wrap my mind around this. If this is true, they lied about the temperature records. That not only means the world isn't warming it also means nothing they have ever said can be trusted. If they will lie this blatantly about the temperature, what else did they lie about.

Funny, Tony and our usual leftist trolls haven't been around when this has been mentioned. They hive must not have their talking points set.

[AlmightyJB]

If you don't believe scientist who have been proven to be lying then you are anti-science. There is nothing else to be said on the matter.

[John]

Like I said above, these people's work is so shoddy and dishonest people from other fields are able to catch their lies. That is pretty incredible when you think about it. It is one thing not to be able to fool another expert. It is however something entirely different and more epically incompetent and dishonest not to even be able to fool people outside the field.

[tarran]

Like I said above, these people's work is so shoddy and dishonest people from other fields are able to catch their lies.

This is not surprising; the laymen finding the fraud are coming from fields where a practitioner is expected to look for it. Take Steve McIntyre - he is a mining engineer, and in his later years was a consultant hired by investors to audit the gological claims being made by ventures seeking investment. A good number of these ventures try to sex up their survey reports to make the investment look like more of a sure thing.

I have noticed that the guys ripping apart the CAGW cult's claims have come from the field of meteorology (they deal with weather on a day to day basis and really understand recent climactic conditions well), aero-space engineers, statisticians, journalists and the odd mining engineer or accountant.

I don't think it's so much dishonesty that is at the root of the mess, but the statistical illiteracy of the climate science community. These guys need to start inviting top-flight statisticians to participate in their work; they keep making devastatingly amateurish mistakes.

[John]

They are generally second rate minds in the field. They are people who are not statisticians or computer programs building data bases and computer simulations of an incredibly complex system. They make amateurish mistakes because they are amateurs. More importantly, their careers, grants and relevance outside the field depend on this theory being true. They don't bring in professionals because the point is not to get it right. The point is to confirm the theory and bringing in professionals might do the opposite.

[Tony]

So you're taking the fact that most skeptics are not experts as evidence that those who are experts are for some reason uniformly ignorant and bad at their job.

[John]

Yes Tony that is because the experts have a motivation to lie and the outsiders don't. Moreover, the outsiders are almost always experts in fields the insiders are not but are doing anyway.

[Idle Hands]

The talking points on this thus far is it's too wide ranging and large for the for this to be a legitimate conspiracy.

[John]

So it is the result of incompetence? This helps their cause how?

[Tony]

Did you read it? Not a single scientific source. Christopher Booker is a well-known crank and liar, but you're going to take his ridiculous nonsense as gospel truth, aren't you? Because you're a skeptic!

[Florida Man]

You can tell a lot about a newspaper from the way it handles the mistakes its journalists make. Does it correct them? Does it ignore them? Does it allow those mistakes to be repeated long after they have been discredited?

Great. Another Brian Williams article, that's what we need.

[Florida Man]

Unclosed italics tag is unclosed.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Somehow I doubt he felt the same way with Rather, the NYT and WaPo when they had their journalistic integrity come into question over the years.

[John]

Booker didn't do the work, you fucking half wit. A guy named Paul Homewood did. Booker is just reporting Homewood's work. And the work speaks for itself. The data was adjusted upwards to fit the theory. Even the idiotic "rebuttal" video that you will no doubt be posting on here admits the data is wrong. It just claims "we only lied by 3%" and even that is a lie. The data was adjusted 35%.

I know you have a low IQ and make up for it with having anger issues and all you really have is ad hominem. Jesus, at least attack the right source. The fact that you immediately attacked Booker rather than Homewood who is actually making the claim shows how panicked you are about this and irrational and fanatical your views are. You say something that attacked your narrative, a name and just reacted, no thought necessary.

[Tony]

As I said, he relied on no scientific source. I don't know who that random blogger is, but you cannot possibly justify taking his blog as more authoritative than actual scientific literature. (That's the stuff you refuse to consult because you have absolutely no intention of changing your mind no matter what the evidence says.)

[Idle Hands]

As I said, he relied on no scientific source.

So the measurements he compared weren't a scientific source? Wow I didn't realize that.

[WTF]

Yes, 'Tony' actually believes that actual measurements are not 'a scientific source'. Seriously, he really believes this.

[John]

Tony,

Just because you think ad hominem is not a fallacy, doesn't make it so. "Its not a scientific source" is not an argument. The work the guy did is valid. Even the people who were caught lying admit that and that there is a problem. The numbers are what they are.

All you are saying is "if someone who doesn't believe in the cult says it, it can't be true". The world could be covered in glaciers ten years from now and you would still be clinging to this belief. Go preach the gospel elsewhere. No one here is going to believe you.

The people who supported this theory lied about the temperature records to make it look more plausible. They did this for two reasons, one they are liars suffering from confirmation bias and greed and two the data doesn't support the theory and the theory is wrong. It is that simple.

[Tony]

I don't know what to do other than shake my head in embarrassment. Do me a favor. Go to Wikipedia, type in "global warming" and read for a bit. Feel free to check all the citations you like.

This random blogger has not discovered that global warming is a hoax. Sorry. This is about data from a remote location and adjustments made--presumably this falls under the "adjustments to data means the data were all made up by the evil Al Gore enriching science cabal" conspiracy theory which has been debunked countless times including on reason.com. But which you probably believe in wholeheartedly.

[Tony]

Because you don't understand what the fuck you're talking about or anything about science.

[John]

No Tony it is about a huge set of data that was falsely adjusted up so that it fit the theory. It is not about the temperature records from one outpost over one summer. It started with three stations and data over a 60 year period. Then

Following my last article, Homewood checked a swathe of other South American weather stations around the original three. In each case he found the same suspicious one-way "adjustments". First these were made by the US government's Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN). They were then amplified by two of the main official surface records, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss) and the National Climate Data Center (NCDC), which use the warming trends to estimate temperatures across the vast regions of the Earth where no measurements are taken. Yet these are the very records on which scientists and politicians rely for their belief in "global warming".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....-ever.html

This is an enormous and systematic tampering with what amounts to the source data of the theory.

Your talking points don't work here.

[OldMexican]

Re: Tony,

This random blogger has not discovered that global warming is a hoax.

I have to agree with you, Tony. Anthropogenic Global Warming is real; the hypothesis that warming is mainly due to increases in CO2 and other gases because of human activity DOES fit the facts.

What IS a total and complete hoax is Catastrophic Climate Change. Global Warming is NOT the same as Climate Change. Climate Change is this catch-all term to link any sort of news-making climate disaster to global warming.

AGAIN: AGW is NOT Climate Change. There is NO correlation between one and the other - NONE. The climate scientists who subscribe to AGW are NOT making the claim that AGW causes Catastrophic Climate Change or that it WILL cause it. Read the IPCC reports, especially the latest one: NO scientist makes that claim, for a GOOD REASON.

The people who DO MAKE those assertions are normally academics, journalists and politicians who limit their exposure to simple PRESS RELEASES. The PRESS RELEASES make the claims in vague terms that later get amplified in the media and academic circles. They engage in scare-mongering for political reasons, not because of their respect for science (which they lack.)

[tarran]

.... and here we see exhibit A as to why guys like Tony have no idea what science is.

He is saying that unless a scientific institution says "A", the assertion "A" is invalid.

This is, of course, utter hogwash. In the old Soviet Union in the 1920's, you would be hard pressed to find any scientific institution that claimed Mendelien Genetics was not a crackpot Jewish theory (ditto about Special Relativity). Nonetheless they were wrong; Menedelian genetics was superior to Lysenkoism and with the discovery of how DNA works, we now know why.

In the process of science anyone can be a scientist. Anyone can formulate a hypothesis, anyone can test a hypothesis, and anyone can show a hypothesis has been falsified. As Feynman pointed out a theory that makes predictions that are falsified by observation is wrong, "it doesn't matter how beautiful it is, who came up with it ... it's wrong."

In auditing the processed data that accountant is doing science. He is a scientist. Full Stop.

[John]

What Tarran said. If there is an valid answer to Homewood, it is "your math is wrong or you relied on the wrong data" not "you are not a real scientist". Tony is a museum quality example of what leftism does to a person's mind. He honestly thinks the source is what makes an assertion valid not the data or methods behind it. If the assertion doesn't come from the right source, it must be wrong in Tony's mind. If this were the 1920s USSR, Tony would be telling us Relativity was a crackpot Jewish theory and he wouldn't be doing it out of fear of being sent to the Gulag. He would be utterly sincere in saying it.

[Tony]

Thank you for the lecture. I eagerly await one of these random bloggers getting published in a peer-reviewed journal and becoming an eternal superstar for disproving one of the most important and consequential theories of our time.

[WTF]

Because ACTUAL FUCKING MEASUREMENTS are not 'science! Tony, everybody, it's TONY! Derp de derpity herpity do!

[John]

Tony,

He examined the original recorded temperatures and compared them to the temperatures that were reported by the "scientists" you claim to worship. He found that the data reported had been adjusted upwards from the actual temperatures. It wasn't true.

Claiming "he is not an authorized source" is not a rebuttal. Just because the Soviet says something, doesn't mean its true.

[Coeus]

I eagerly await one of these random bloggers getting published in a peer-reviewed journal

Even other climate scientists can't get published for showing that the data is wrong. A specific reason given for failing peer review of the paper last year showing that the models were wrong is that he didn't explain why the models were wrong but the theory was still correct.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ha!

I think by now we know many of the man-made global warming 'studies' were never really peer reviewed.

[NebulousFocus]

More here.

[Ken Shultz]

"In the process of science anyone can be a scientist. Anyone can formulate a hypothesis, anyone can test a hypothesis, and anyone can show a hypothesis has been falsified."

Exactly.

Tony is basically committing the appeal to authority fallacy.

Science is not whatever a scientist does. If a scientist gets down on his knees, faces Mecca and prays, he is not doing science. And when scientists voice their personal opinions about what and how much we should sacrifice for global warming, they're not being scientific either.

I do agree that science is a consensus--but the consensus changes all the time reflecting new and compelling data as it comes in. The scientific consensus reflects that available compelling data at any one point in time--and it can be wrong.

Because science makes hypotheses with incomplete data, it can require scientists to believe things that aren't true. When all the available evidence suggested that the sun orbited the earth, science required scientists to believe that. If new compelling evidence became available tomorrow suggesting that it was all an illusion and the geocentric theory was correct all along, then science will require us to reembrace the geocentric theory.

This is all to say that science isn't truth. Science is merely a consensus--that is never certain and is constantly changing as new data comes in. And there is still a lot of data we don't have about global warming.

[Ken Shultz]

...certainly not enough to justify the kinds of sacrifices people on the left are proposing to deal with the problem. Even the alarmists have to agree that the worst thing that could happen would be making huge sacrifices in our standard of living--but nowhere near enough to solve the problem.

[Illocust]

Huh, I may have to start checking google+ again to see if this goes anywhere.

[Steve G]

Better late then never:

Shit only economists could come up with

[GILMORE]

"a resolution urging the state university system to financially divest itself from the United States of America."

Well, that seems a bit late = they intellectually divested themselves from Planet Earth years ago

I fully encourage the California University System (CALPERs, I presume) to invest entirely in Argentinian 'Bonds' (they're labeled = "No, Seriously") and Venzuelan High-Yield Ration-Chits. Because they only cure for Stupid at the systemic level is KILL IT WITH FIRE

[OldMexican]

Re: Tony,

This random blogger has not discovered that global warming is a hoax.

I have to agree with you, Tony. Anthropogenic Global Warming is real; the hypothesis that warming is mainly due to increases in CO2 and other gases because of human activity DOES fit the facts.

What IS a total and complete hoax is Catastrophic Climate Change. Global Warming is NOT the same as Climate Change. Climate Change is this catch-all term to link any sort of news-making climate disaster to global warming.

AGAIN: AGW is NOT Climate Change. There is NO correlation between one and the other - NONE. The climate scientists who subscribe to AGW are NOT making the claim that AGW causes Catastrophic Climate Change or that it WILL cause it. Read the IPCC reports, especially the latest one: NO scientist makes that claim, for a GOOD REASON.

The people who DO MAKE those assertions are normally academics, journalists and politicians who limit their exposure to simple PRESS RELEASES. The PRESS RELEASES make the claims in vague terms that later get amplified in the media and academic circles. They engage in scare-mongering for political reasons, not because of their respect for science (which they lack.)

[Isaac Bartram]

Another massive snowstorm is pummeling the northeast.

Y'know, when I was a young'n, it seems to me that many places in the USA and pretty much every place in Canada got several snowstorms every single year, some of them "massive" (and we had to walk to school in them - uphill both ways). These storms caused a good deal of inconvenience and even some deaths* and property damage. But for the most part they were reckoned to be absolutely normal events of nature and it never occurred to anyone to fucking name them.

OTOH, other parts of the USA were prone to being hit every few years by extreme and rare weather events known as hurricanes. Until forecasting became more dependable (ie after weather satellites were deployed in the 1970s**) these storms struck almost without warning, caused massive property damage and left high death tolls from drowning and other trauma in their wakes. Because these storms were rare, destructive and killed a lot of people they were given names.

*mostly old farts having heart attacks shoveling snow but there were also some horrendous traffic accidents and even people succumbing to exposure in remote locations.

**it was not really until the 1990s that landfall predictions became reliable enough to depend upon for any actual planning to get done.

[GILMORE]

" for the most part they were reckoned to be absolutely normal events of nature and it never occurred to anyone to fucking name them."

Populist climate-change hyperbole has turned Weathermen into Druid-like PROGNOSTICATORS OF DOOM who annually foretell of the dread disasters that the Gods plan to lash the sinful public with each season...

but seriously = the news-cycle speed has basically amped up to where very little traditional-story-'reporting' has any pull with viewers anymore (every 5 minutes, twitter provides a new 'scandal')... and Weather? is always news.

So 'Weather' has become pumped up with Drama-Drugs, given scary names, and starts to get reported and panicked about *well before the storm has even landed*...

...because people will pay attention to it.

It has more 'stick' than almost anything else. No one gives a shit that there's another War in the Middle East... but if its going to *(#@@ Snow?! Keep checking the news!

[LeslieWDavis]

my buddy's mom makes $86 an hour on the computer . She has been out of a job for 5 months but last month her check was $15207 just working on the computer for a few hours. site here................
????? http://www.netcash50.com

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

All you need to do is stagger him with a quick knock and then pound away. Kanye strikes me as a mouthy bitch who would crumple up.

[Pope Jimbo]

My mutt didn't whine, I just felt bad for him. It made my own sack shrivel up watching him as he waded out in the snow and froze his own nut sack.

Besides, when I said I made a ditch for him, I really meant, I made my worthless kids snow blow out a ditch.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

Yeah, but it's easy to be stoic about the discomforts of taking a dump in the snow when you know that when your done doing your business you'll have a nice nip of brandy.

[Swiss Servator, ... Switzy!]

Seconded.

[DEG]

You're welcome!

I agree with both of you. They should be fixed and driven, assuming that's possible. Some of them look pretty badly decayed.

I found this place on my last trip to Australia. It's a good place for car lovers.

[John]

Those cars are so simple and so well made, I bet you could give that thing a tune up, clean out the carburetor, and a new battery and it would start.

[DEG]

If you send me an e-mail at dgroves 140 at gmail dot com (it's a semi-throw-away account so I can filter out trolls) I will send you a link to my pictures from the Motoring Museum.

[Lord Humungus]

Now here's a junkyard find

[John]

If you ever get to Philadelphia, this place is amazing.

http://www.simeonemuseum.org/

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hey!

America's HOCKEY CCM HELMET.

[Ivan Pike]

I don't know where you can get it. I hunt my own. Here is the profile for the oil from the bearded seal.

Bearded Seal Oil

[DEG]

Here's an old car museum in the Philly area. They have an annual festival which brings out lots and lots of interesting cars. The last time I was at the festival there were three Deloreans parked in a row.

[Enough About Palin]

You walk your dog in the winter? There's salt all over the sidewalks and the streets are covered in some sort of chemical lard product. No way my GSD is touching that.

[John]

Interesting. The Simione is just amazing. They have one of the six original Shelby Daytonas. They have one of the Ford GT 40s that raced at Le Mans. They have the famous Porsche 917 "Hippie Car" with the psychedelic paint job. They have a 250 GTO on loan right now. And that is just some of the highlights. It is just unbelievable.

[DEG]

Don't eat at Pat's or Geno's.

[DEG]

You're welcome!

[John]

They are overrated. Just go to Reading Market and take your pick of places. There is some amazing food to be had there.

[KDN]

Don't eat at Pat's or Geno's

They're late night haunts. Don't bother unless it's after 10 and you're slammered.

Note: Pat's hot sauce is fantastic. That and the size of the sandwiches makes it better than Geno's.

Just go to Reading Market and take your pick of places.

They've got a lot of good places, but Philly's best headline lunch items are at John's Roast Pork. Keep in mind that if you don't get there by 12 you're eating on your car.

[Clich? Bandit]

sooo...to comply with my doctors orders of 70% fat in my diet I should start eating seal...If I could get my hands on it I most definitely would. I love animals, they are very tasty.