Terror Suspect in New York Caught, Feds Say Christie Knew About Bridge Closures, Immigrants Mistakenly Granted Citizenship: P.M. Links

• 

  Splash News/Newscom

  Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28,, suspected of causing the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, was taken into police custody after a shootout. He was injured, as were two police officers. Rahami is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan.

• The man who stabbed several people at a Minnesota mall before getting shot and killed by an off-duty police officer has been identified as Dahir A. Adan, 22. ISIS is claiming responsibility for the attack, but it's not clear whether they were directly involved in planning yet.
• N.J. Gov. Chris Christie was told about the George Washington Bridge lane closures—ordered as punishment against a mayor who declined to endorse Christie—back in 2013, a federal prosecutor claims.
• The governor of North Carolina is dropping the state's lawsuit against the Department of Justice over the now-infamous "bathroom bill" controlling which school and government restrooms transgender people were permitted to use.
• The administration of the governor or Michigan has quietly immunized the state from any lawsuits by the City of Flint over its water crisis.
• An internal government audit shows that more than 800 immigrants were mistakenly granted citizenship because the Department of Homeland Security didn't have fingerprints on file to prevent fraud.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28,, suspected of causing the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, was taken into police custody after a shootout.

This guy gets taken alive?

[Citizen X]

He looks like a dude i knew in high school who became a Juggalo.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Juggalos are born, not made.

[Private Chipperbot]

Fermented, maybe.

[Brett L]

So he came out Juggalo?

[Citizen X]

This was the mid-90s. Juggalohood may be innate, but there wasn't a word for it yet.

[waffles]

JNCO jeans are the reason for juggalos.

[Crusty Juggler]

Truth.

[Rich]

Everyone knows a dude who looks like that.

Hence the restriction on profiling.

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

"He's so dreamy!" say Dzokhar Tsarnaev's fatter groupies.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Hyperion]

They're going to make him confess to being a teabagger and then trot him out at a Hillary event wearing camo pants, a Gadsen flag shirt, and a Make America Great Again hat.

[Mr Lizard]

I would actually respect them for that. At least it shows some level of competence. We can't go trusting this racket we call western civilization to just any schmuck or schmuckette

[TheZeitgeist]

For death-by-cop, you need a BB gun. Being under eighteen helps too, because kids.

[Brett L]

Give them some credit. They were actually afraid for their lives this time.

[Chipwooder]

Well, they DID shoot him, just not fatally.

[Gojira]

Honda patents an 11-speed transmission

[Krabappel]

I like the CVT in my Honda Civic. I don't really miss feeling the gears shift at all.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Euphemism?

[Gene]

Ah, a slushbox's slushbox.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's just stupid. Now, let me read the details.

[waffles]

It's like the transmission in the Fast n Furious movies that upshift forever and ever and *drools*

[Brett L]

Thing's got more gears than six shooters have chambers in old westerns.

[The Last American Hero]

I just love the scene with Paul Walker driving around shifting like crazy and the speedometer getting up to 85 when he hits the NOS.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.

[Agent Cooper]

"No one needs 11 speeds."

-Bernie Sanders

[Fist of Etiquette]

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie was told about the George Washington Bridge lane closures?ordered as punishment against a mayor who declined to endorse Christie?back in 2013, a federal prosecutor claims.

Now that he's neither a candidate nor a Clinton, does that mean he can be prosecuted for something?

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Agreed. Traffic jams are so much worse than starting illegal wars in Libya. Some's gotta pay fer this!

[thom]

I don't really understand what the crime was in this case. A quick Google search shows that obstructing traffic carries a $54 fine in New Jersey, but this seems more serious than that.

[Possible Bot]

It was just misusing a position of authority. Pretty sure that carries a punishment of promotion.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Hey, show some respect! That's our nation's next Attorney General you're talking about!

[thom]

What's the point of having authority if it can be "misused"?

[Agammamon]

$54 per car?

[Krabappel]

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28,, suspected of causing the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, was taken into police custody after a shootout. He was injured, as were two police officers. Rahami is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan.

How many times did the FBI interview this guy in the past?

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

I just don't understand why another instance of workplace violence is getting so much national attention. Can we please move back to important issues like trannie bathrooms or Jimmy Fallon mussing up Trump's hair?

[CatoTheChipper]

We have to raise awareness of the pressing need for common-sense pressure cooker control.

[Doctor Whom]

Nobody needs more than seven cooking vessels.

[Bra Ket]

The kitchen mishap is only a minor local story, unlike the gun violence.

[Rich]

Also, fried chicken.

[KDN]

That bit of news was a key indicator of where this story was headed. I have yet to go to a ghetto chicken shack in northern NJ that wasn't both Halal and fully staffed by Muslims.

[Rhywun]

Same in much of NYC, too.

[That's A Bingo!]

The governor of North Carolina is dropping the state's lawsuit against the Department of Justice over the now-infamous "bathroom bill" controlling which school and government restrooms transgender people were permitted to use.

Resistance is futile.

[Mickey Rat]

And the Charlotte city council had intention of repealing it d ordinance, which means you get the government setting bathroom and licker rooms policies for private businesses.

[Hyperion]

No one needs a licker room.

[Mickey Rat]

Phone typing is terrible.

[John Pittman]

What? Who doesn't need a licker room???

[Rhywun]

Nice John-o.

[Tonio]

Group works for independent nation to be Gay homeland.

They are taking a cue from Peter Thiel's Seasteading Foundation. I wouldn't move there unless things got really bad here, but I wish them well.

[Ted S.]

They're going to have demographic problems. 😉

[Brett L]

Just like every other gay neighborhood? Somehow, the new gays find their way each generation.

[Chipwooder]

True. That's a country that absolutely is going to encourage immigration.

[Tonio]

I'm sure you straight people will create more of us....

[Fist of Etiquette]

THEY'LL RECRUIT YOUR CHILDREN

[Heroic Mulatto]

They're going to have demographic problems. 😉

Not any more than Vatican City does.

[robc]

Vatican City has a population under 500.

[Rufus The Monocled]

They should take in a Muslim refugee.

[Krabappel]

They'd suffer a worse population crisis than Japan eventually...

[Hyperion]

I thought that SanFran was the gay homeland? A gay guy once actually told me that a gay guy going to SanFran is like a Jew going to Israel.

[Tonio]

SF is not a sovereign state.

[Injun, as in from India]

Speaking of San Francisco, there was a gay Indian Hindu wedding there I read about in an Indian newspaper. I can't find the article but the haters came out in full force in the comments section.

What I did find was this instead, and it's awesome.

[Rhywun]

Nice to see Injuns starting to loosen up a bit. Man, the crowd I work with is so... traditional? For lack of a better word. Every few months one of them disappears for a month or two and returns with a wife.

[Brett L]

I mean, as long as it isn't the same guy...

[Rhywun]

Heh no, a different one each time.

[jesse.in.mb]

But which groom got to do the baraat?

[Hyperion]

If it was, would you want to live there, Tonio? They'd probably crucify you for having libertarian ideals.

[Krabappel]

SF is way too gay for me.

[Rhywun]

Me too.

[Enough About Palin]

That's just silly. I'm straighter than a statute mile and I don't think so. However, it certainly is lousy with Asians.

[Krabappel]

The Asian food is the best thing about SF.

[Enough About Palin]

Oh, I agree. I'm just talking about on the street.

[Rhywun]

Oh, I'm kidding. I did leave after a year though. Not because of the gays or the Asians (?!) but the transplants from Iowa and the progs.

[jesse.in.mb]

I've read that was a weird accident having to do with someone writing a whiny nationally syndicated article about all the damn homos who'd settled there after being released from the military at the end of WWII. People saw it and thought it'd be a homo paradise and started moving west making it a true thing.

Before that LA/Long Beach had a better shot at being homo-central.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

[Starts preparing editorial]

[Injun, as in from India]

I lived in a gay neighborhood for a few years. My then-girlfriend loved it. The best restaurants, bars, and theater were there. And the guys didn't male-gaze or hit on her.

So I'll move as close to the gay homeland as possible. 😉

[Hyperion]

+1 meticulously manicured lawns and landscaping.

[jesse.in.mb]

I too yearn for a disco-based economy.

[Citizen X]

Your 55 gallon drum of lube will be your passport, huh?

[Private Chipperbot]

They'll make him king.

[Ted S.]

They'll replace the Statue of Liberty with a statue of Judy Garland.

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

I thought it already was?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

[Cue BeeGees' Stayin' Alive as Jesse enters, struting in his pink polyester suit and 70s afro, carrying a box of DVDs and rolling a 55 gal drum of lube in front of him]

[Agent Cooper]

They're going to need a national anthem.

[tarran]

They're pulling the trigger too soon. First, they have to invent uterine replicators. Then they have to get some donated ovaries.

[Brett L]

Oh please, there are lots of women who would surrogate by traditional or aritficial insemination.

[Pan Zagloba]

I like your taste in books, sir!

Even if it's one of the weaker Vorkosigan books.

[tarran]

Not anymore. HAve you read the most recent four?!?

Starting with Diplomatic Immunity, every book she has written assumes the dubious distinction of being the worst book of the saga.

I no longer buy her stuff unread.

[Pan Zagloba]

Aw, I loved Capt. Vorpatril's Alliance. It was a delightful bit of fluff that made me slap my head because it took me, what?, 20 books? to figure out what "Ivan the Fool" actually meant.

The latest one, though - holy fuck was it pointless. Every 50 pages or so she introduces something that looks like an interesting plot development then goes "nope, no plot here!"

[ant1sthenes]

Nah, scientists recently showed that you can inseminate anything, as long as you cut out half the DNA in a cell.

[John Titor]

Someone read way too much Stephenson lately and though "Distributed republic? Just might work!"

[Heroic Mulatto]

They should take a cue from Zionism and seek to reestablish their historical homeland of Thebes.

[tarran]

Nope.

They need to invade and subjugate Athos.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Teyla was a man?!?!?!?

[John Titor]

Playa, I'm going to need to you scream "NERRRRRRRRRRRD!" at HM for me.

[thrakkorzog]

If they bring back the Sacred Band of Thebes, I doubt groups like ISIS will be much of a problem for them.

[Suthenboy]

That article is a big pile of derp.

Also, I never understood Jew hate and I never understood the homo hate.

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

Also, I never understood Jew hate

As a Catholic who got better, we learned that the Jews were the ones who called for Jesus' crucifixion, so anything those particular Jews did is the fault of all Jews for all time. That's not literally what was taught of course, but that's how it was understood by many. My dad thought that way, and he wasn't alone.

I say this knowing full well Jew hate is by no means only a Catholic thing.

[The Fusionist]

When were you taught this?

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

Again, I point out: "That's not literally what was taught of course, but that's how it was understood by many."

[John Pittman]

Before Vatican II. The Jew who was my best man always tells me on Good Friday how the Jews only sold out Jesus. It was those damn Italians that did the hit.

[John Pittman]

Before Vatican II. The Jew who was my best man always tells me on Good Friday how the Jews only sold out Jesus. It was those damn Italians that did the hit.

[Free Society]

What a Gaytopia needs is lots of cheap labor. Like Muslim migrants, for example. I'm sure that the Muslims will fully assimilate into gay culture within a generation.

[The Fusionist]

Here's their army

and the national anthem

[But Enough About Me]

Somedays there's just nothing like the classics.

[Injun, as in from India]

An internal government audit shows that more than 800 immigrants were mistakenly granted citizenship because the Department of Homeland Security didn't have fingerprints on file to prevent fraud.

Why revoke their citizenship when you can drone them via the POTUS Kill Matrix?

[Fist of Etiquette]

An internal government audit shows that more than 800 immigrants were mistakenly granted citizenship because the Department of Homeland Security didn't have fingerprints on file to prevent fraud.

AND THEY'RE ALL VOTING DEMOCRAT

[Injun, as in from India]

FWIW non-citizens do vote, mostly because of ignorance. And they likely helped Al Franken win the 60th supermajority seat in the Senate.

[Fist of Etiquette]

As long as it's not fraud.

[Injun, as in from India]

No reasonable prosecutor would find intent...

[robc]

Them and the lizard people.

[Mr Lizard]

Seriously we are not that subtle. When all you have is an orbital bombardment cannon then everything starts to look a major insurgent population center.

[robc]

http://publicradio1.wpengine.n.....eopleb.jpg

[Hyperion]

FWIW non-citizens do vote, mostly because of ignorance being told that they can by Democrats and being driven to the polls to do so

FIFY

[CatoTheChipper]

This should be expected when Democrats get in a rush to enroll new voters.

[LynchPin1477]

Don't forget about Clinton's server guy asking for advice on reddit on how to remove addresses from archived emails.

https://8ch.net/pol/res/7541894.html

[grrizzly]

Here.

The computer technician who worked on Hillary Clinton's email server appears to have asked for advice on how to "strip out" a "VIP's" email address during a crucial period in the Clinton email timeline.

The advice was sought in a July 24, 2014 entry on the website Reddit from a user with the handle "stonetear." The Daily Caller has confirmed that Paul Combetta, the Platte River Networks technician who worked on Clinton's server, uses an email address with the same handle.

The FBI discovered during its investigation of Clinton's email practices that Combetta used a software program called BleachBit to delete backups of Clinton's emails in March 2015, just weeks after Clinton's email operation was exposed and after Congress had subpoenaed all of her records. He was also granted immunity from the Justice Department despite lying to FBI investigators about using the BleachBit program.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't know why they even offered him immunity. He would have been a perfect scapegoat.

[LynchPin1477]

One of the funniest/saddest parts of this is one of the responses on reddit

There is no supported way to do what you're asking. You can only delete emails after they're stored in the database. You can't change them. If there was a feature in Exchange that allowed this, it could result in major legal issues. There may be ways to hack a solution, but I am not aware of any.

Emphasis mine. Someone else specifically mentions discovery. And this is from people who had no idea what he was actually trying to do!

[GILMORE?]

If you took what Clinton did, and simply took her name out of it ...anyone in the country would go, "Jesus that sounds illegal".

Because its Clinton? The media and everyone else go, FAKE SKANDAL

what they did was self-evidently illegal. its just that "right thinking people" can't admit it.

[tarran]

Oh no, they knew.

[Rich]

If Trump can keep his shit together, the first debate will be *awesome*.

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

That "if" can be seen from space.

[TheZeitgeist]

Think Trump's minefield will be on what-without-doubt will be moderator trivia-gotchas. See Trump stepping in serious buffoonery getting led into discussing Bashar Assad's grip on Crimea or some shit like that.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

All he's gotta do is replicate that one primary debate performance.

Ignore questions, use time to complain media is against him and slam opponent.

[Hyperion]

Or just wait for Hillary to have a coughing fit or seizure. Or both.

[John Titor]

They've got him on a teleprompter and actually having written speeches now it seems, so he's way better off than last month when he was totally off the rails.

[grrizzly]

If only we had some institutions in this country that would investigate and punish illegal acts whether or not Trump can keep his shit together.

[Rich]

This. 8-(

[LynchPin1477]

Unfortunately, I think this kind of thing is too detailed to make an effective attack in a debate setting, even for a candidate more skilled than Trump. It's the sort of rabbit hole that law enforcement is supposed to go down. Unfortunately they're too far up another hole right now.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Yeah, Trump's not going to benefit from bringing this up unless it's as a sly dig within a greater context of her unfitness for the job. "Her IT guy had to go on Reddit to figure out how to wipe her emails--what are her people going to do to defeat ISIS, consult Huffington Post op-eds?"

[Brett L]

Cue 100000 eyerolls as the stackoverflow community wonders what they did before the mid-2000s.

[Suthenboy]

I am wondering if Cankles will try to squirm out of the debates. No matter who the moderator is she has little control over the narrative in a debate.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

No way. If she pulls out of even one debate, she's well and truly finished. Trump's neck and neck with her right now in even nominally blue states that would have been unthinkable even two weeks ago. Her press statement on the plane this weekend was an absolute disaster; she looked and sounded like death warmed over.

She needs the debates to re-assure her supporters and media enablers that she's all right and can still think on her feet, or Trump will emulsify her in November. He may do that anyway if she can't at least project an image of strength and good health. Whining about racist frogs and othering a good chunk of the American electorate as "deplorable" and unredeemable isn't going to get it done.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

PHAIK SKANDULLLZ!!!!11!!!11ONEONEONE

[Domestic Dissident]

ISIS is claiming responsibility for the attack, but it's not clear whether they were directly involved in planning yet.

This meaningless argle-bargle again?

[Possible Bot]

Look, unless he had a certified ISIS card in hiw wallet signed by the ISIS President, and is up to date on his ISIS dues he's just a lone wacko.

Nothing to see, nothing in common with anything.

[Enough About Palin]

I kinda miss Lone Wacko...

[jesse.in.mb]

The man who stabbed several people at a Minnesota mall before getting shot and killed by an off-duty police officer has been identified as Dahir A. Adan, 22. ISIS is claiming responsibility for the attack, but it's not clear whether they were directly involved in planning yet.

Egyptian mother goddesses are hard core.

[rts]

I'm just waiting for Kek to claim responsibility for Trump.

[TheZeitgeist]

Quick aside question on the 'narrative battle:' Does ISIS define what is terrorism in the United States by claiming it?

For instance, if one steals Twinkies from Wal-Mart and is caught, and then ISIS claims said individual stole Twinkies because Allah and camels or something, is the event treated as a 'terrorist' Twinkie event? What if outfit from out of left field like the Quakers claim said Twinkie warrior as their own? Rock paper scissors on who gets to claim Twinkie war?

So confused...

[Possible Bot]

Presumably stealing twinkles isn't terror because nobody is terrorized. And ISIS making claims isn't sufficient, but if the person was otherwise inspired by ISIS than I'm sure that's sufficient to at least say the motovation was terror as opposed to maybe just mad at the mall owners or some other reason.

[The Last American Hero]

Are Twinkies consistent with Halal guidelines?

[John Pittman]

Twinkies are a gift from any religion's god.

[Holger da Dane]

shot and killed by an off-duty police officer

Turns out he was an off-duty part-time police officer. He is more accurately described as the CEO of a shooting range and tactical training facility, where he is also an instructor.

He is the mythical "good guy with a gun".

[Rich]

But the problem could be even worse. According to the audit, as of November 2015, the administration has found 953 more "who had final deportation orders under another identity and had been naturalized," some of whom were from countries of concern.

Now, *that* is "extreme vetting".

Shut down the DHS until we find out what is going on.

[TheZeitgeist]

DHS vetting program

[Fist of Etiquette]

The administration of the governor or Michigan has quietly immunized the state from any lawsuits by the City of Flint over its water crisis.

WELL WHICH IS IT?

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

?N.J. Gov. Chris Christie was told about the George Washington Bridge lane closures?ordered as punishment against a mayor who declined to endorse Christie?back in 2013, a federal prosecutor claims.

Wait, is this seriously a thing we're still talking about?

[Tonio]

Yeah, actually it is. Deliberately closing lanes on a major commuter route fucks with peoples' lives big-time. I'm not sure it it's illegal, per se, but he claimed earlier to have not known about it.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, I get that and agree that it's petty abuse of government authority, shows why these people cannot be entrusted with power over our lives, etc., but compare the amount of ink spilled by lefty publications over the lane closures to contemporaneous events like, I dunno... the undeclared war in Libya, the IRS targeting, abuses at the EPA, and so on.

[thom]

If it is a crime, then just about every construction crew that kinda maybe is going to work on a piece of road a week or two from now, or finished up working on a piece of road within the last few months, is guilty of this as well.

[Possible Bot]

The problem is the FBI has zero credibility so people will want to see the evidence for themselves.

[Chipwooder]

Dahir Adan.....that's a Scandi name, right?

[Brett L]

It could be French or Dutch. 😮

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sounds like it's from Tyrosh or one of the other Free Cities.

[PBR Streetgang]

Closeted gay guy obviously.

[Rich]

Obama doesn't mention terror in remarks on bombings

Why would he play right into Trump's hands, DUH?

[Hyperion]

The progressive left's spiel is that these are not Islamist terrorists because they're actually anti-Islam. Regardless of whether there's a legit argument there or not, nothing can make them depart from that narrative. One thing I can say about the left is that they are loyal to their cause to a fault. They'll go down with the ship if that's what it takes.

[Rich]

The progressive left's spiel is that these are not Islamist terrorists because they're actually anti-Islam.

Neither are they true Scotsmen.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Is there any talking point from the Left that's not projection?

[Rich]

"Hey, *you're* the one who's projecting!"

[PBR Streetgang]

FTA: "In a profile on women working in the White House, The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin writes that female staffers had to devise a sneaky strategy so their male colleagues would listen DO them."

What does "listen do them" mean?

[Private Chipperbot]

Sugarfree will be along to explain.

[Tonio]

[hands out barf bags to n00bs]

[PBR Streetgang]

I can't wait.
Actually I can and now regret asking.

[Rich]

It's obviously a typo.

It should read: "female staffers had to devise a sneaky strategy so their male colleagues would -- listen -- DO them."

[Injun, as in from India]

+1 Just DO it.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

"If you want to get ahead in this administration, you'll need to blow us all."
"...Away?"

[The Fusionist]

I don't know how male (*or* female) Hillary supporters can be made to listen to anything sensible.

[mr simple]

That's why they get paid less.

[Hyperion]

Yes, all of the ones that are deflection or just downright fabrications.

[Glide]

To be fair, I'm pretty sure it's part of the feminist manifesto that workplace microaggressions against women are automatically innate to every man, no matter how righteous. Dear Leader being one of those men should be no surprise.

[John Titor]

Most recent Maclean's I saw had a big front cover that read "IS TRUDEAU A FAKE FEMINIST?"

[John Titor]

And all I could think was "Wait, you honestly think that the Idiot Prince cares about your 'feminist issues', and it isn't just narcissistic virtue signalling for his own ego?"

[Brett L]

Not every man who is that pretty is gay.

[Pan Zagloba]

Sargon of Akkad had Trudeau on his This Week in Stupid because he attended a gender-segregated celebration at a mosque. Where his female cabinet members had to enter by side door and didn't speak.

[The Fusionist]

Not a problem, he probably never listens to them anyway, right ladies?

[GILMORE?]

NYT Tries To Parse The Obama Admin's (Unarticulated) 3-Part "Syria Strategy"

- Defeat Islamic State
- "Ease" Assad From Power
- Reduce Violence

Note that there may be some small inherent-conflict between these various goals

[Private Chipperbot]

- Defeat Islamic State
- "Ease" Assad From Power
- Reduce Violence

Updated:

-Bomb hospitals
-Bomb allies
-Watch allies run 'advisers' out of town.

[Tonio]

Profit???

[John Titor]

Who the fuck do they expect to take power after Assad is gone? The only other power groups left in the country now are either Syrian militias, both 'radical' and 'moderate' (meaning they might theoretically do what the United States government wants at some time in the future) and Kurdish militias.

[Possible Bot]

These people actually believe all cultures are the same.

The peaceful Muslims will come forth under democracy.... and vote to kill the bad Muslims.

[The Last American Hero]

It's a far cry from "don't do stupid shit" and "learn from the lessons in Iraq about exit strategies".

[TheZeitgeist]

Sometimes I wonder if Obama, sitting alone in Oval Office, looks at some map of Middle East, noting all the fuck-ups he's either perpetuated or created location-by-location. Then looks at a live ticker of the oil price, thinks of his promise to make utility rates skyrocket, and wonders why the fuck that's still not happening.

[John Titor]

Clickbait about how awesome the Islamic sciences were.

Includes the invention of soap in Babylon from 2500 B.C. and primitive smallpox vaccinations (which for the record killed a ton of people) from Hindustan in 1000 B.C.

I suppose advanced mathematicsand medical practices for the period and the Laffer Curve just aren't impressive anymore.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

To be fair, not everyone in Hindustan is Hindu, just as not everyone in Islamabad is Muslim, but those dates... just terrible science if they're claiming that is a result of Muslim sciences...

[Injun, as in from India]

Pakistani school textbooks portray Mohenjodaro and Harappa as proto-Islamic, even though they predate Islam by 2000+ years.

They can't accept the fact that they're descended from dirty infidels they want to kill now.

[CatoTheChipper]

Yeah, but nobody - absolutely nobody - in Hindustan was Muslim back in 1000 BC.

[UnCivilServant]

Mo didn't get around to existing until the 600s AD. So yeah, there was no islamic anything before Mo came around.

[jesse.in.mb]

I thought it was one of those, followers of the prophets practiced Islam before Mohammed, but then didn't keep up with the changes he implemented afterward, so theoretically you could've had monotheists hanging out there (unlikely) and they could've been in compliance with the existing prophets...

The Age of the Patriarchs was ~1800-1500 BC, no? And Adam and Enoch would've been before that.

[UnCivilServant]

That sort of blather sounds like the ramblings of someone so insecure about their ingroup's lack of achievements that they're looking for any way to claim the work of others.

[jesse.in.mb]

Cool story. All three of the Abrahamic religions claim their roots go back ultimately to Adam. There's a reason why American politicians constantly invoke the "Judeo-Christian" tradition. Shoot, we namecheck Hammurabi as a progentior of our legal tradition.

[John Titor]

At least the Catholic Church has the self-awareness to list people like Aristotle, Plato and Cicero as 'noble pagans' rather than 'proto-Christians'.

[Possible Bot]

Yeah, that's really not the same thing at all.

[The Last American Hero]

If you've read the Koran, you would have seen that the whole religion is like that. Half the damn book is Deuteronomy Arabicized.

[John Titor]

Babylon was still pretty deep into their Mesopotamian mythology at that point in time, and they're not exactly seen positively by People of the Book (freeing Jews notwithstanding).

And monotheism in 1000 B.C. proto-India? Not that I'm aware of, unless you're somehow counting Buddhism as monotheistic and actually mean 400 B.C.

[Pan Zagloba]

Wait, didn't Babylonians imprison the Jews, and Cyrus the Great release them?

[John Titor]

You're right, for some reason I thought it was Nebuchadnezzar, when he was the guy who started the problem in the first place.

Look, Sunday school was a long time ago, and didn't cover the actual interesting Biblical stuff.

[CatoTheChipper]

mene mene tekel upharsin

[jesse.in.mb]

Right, but from a purely religious timeline monotheism had been the original faith with Adam, then had been subsumed in polytheism by the time of Noah, had been restored with the flood, but then quickly lost again afterwards. Throughout this time period people who up who are keeping the worship of the one true God alive such as Melchizedek, the Priest of Salem.

Also there's a thread of more-or-less monotheistic thought in the dharmic religions. All of the various gods (and you and whatever else) are manifestations of a primal deity. When Catholics showed up in India they encountered Brahminist practice and figured they could just syncertize the gods into saints, Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma into the trinitiy and the Brahma-atman into the godhead and they'd be able to win everyone over...

(my apologies for butchering the shit out of spellings and grossly oversimplifying the complex history of multiple world religions)

[John Titor]

Well considering that the concept of Hinduism is kind of a Western abstraction itself I think oversimplification is natural. But I also think that the general Hindu interpretation of 'God/s/divine being/s' is a little too complex just to classify as monotheistic. 'Henotheism' is the term I've seen used.

[jesse.in.mb]

Agreed. It depends on the practice. The more esoteric stuff I think you could pretty comfortably label monotheistic, with practice very similar to the Catholic interaction with saints. Partly why I referenced Brahminism and the early Catholic interaction with them.

IIRC there's strong (though not conclusive) argument that the Israelites were essentially henotheistic until maybe Isaiah.

[TheZeitgeist]

When Catholics showed up in India they encountered Brahminist practice and figured they could just syncertize the gods into saints, Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma into the trinitiy and the Brahma-atman into the godhead and they'd be able to win everyone over...

Makes about as much sense as Star Wars fanboi trying to convert Trekkers by making Spock a Jedi Knight.

[jesse.in.mb]

The early missionaries found a pleasingly similar hierarchy of divinity and had had success in absorbing local gods and heroes into existing holy figures, but yeah, it didn't go so well when they got to India.

[Trshmnstr smells of Lo Mein]

The early missionaries found a pleasingly similar hierarchy of divinity and had had success in absorbing local gods and heroes into existing holy figures, but yeah, it didn't go so well when they got to India.

You can see the Roman influence there. Caesar was cool with your other gods, as long as they fit into the hierarchy somehow, and you paid tribute. The Jews were a special case because they were willing to fight to their own extinction in order to only worship their God. Being that they were a small regional sect that wasn't really bothering anybody at the time, the Romans were content to let the Jews do their own thing as long as they were peacefully under Roman rule.

[ant1sthenes]

"Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma into the trinitiy"

That one, at least, sort of works. Shiva as Jesus/Destroyer, Brahma as Father/Creator, Vishnu as Holy Spirit/Preserver.

[John Titor]

not everyone in Hindustan is Hindu

Obviously not, I'm just noting this because I've seen this trend of Islamic revisionism that either ignores the actual recorded histories of development or completely rewrites them to show Islam as the only true and progressive path. The Greek Christian contributions to the Islamic Golden Age get completely ignored more often than not, for example.

The Turks are the worst for this stuff, because they spice it up with their own stupid nationalism as well.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Yep yep, it's just the emphasis should be on the dates, not the place name. The place name has little to do with the reasons why this article is dumb.

[tarran]

That's interesting:

According to family lore, the male line of my family was founded by a relative of Atilla the Hun, who rode with him as he kicked Roman ass.

Given our hungarian last name it's not completely implausible.

[DenverJ]

Aren't something like 90% of Europeans related to Attila the Hun?

[Free Society]

The Islamic Golden Age was extremely bloody as far as the body count goes and regardless whatever benefits to science or learning there were coming form those societies, it was despite Islam not because of it. On what basis can it be said that Islamic theology lends itself to the promotion of science and diversity of thought? Pa-fucking-lease.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"ISIS is claiming responsibility for the attack"

I'm sure they are actually responsible for a lot of shit, but at the same time, if the president slipped and fell and broke a bone, I'm pretty sure they'd claim responsibility.

[Possible Bot]

Have they actually claimed responsibility falsely before, because I can't think of any times when it didn't turn out that the person was actually following and listening to ISIS.

[Chip Woodier]

If he slipped and fell into a woodchipper, I bet someone here would claim responsibility.

[GILMORE?]

Govt Continues to Argue You Can't Trademark "Offensive" Terms

"In the Slants case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in December that the First Amendment protects "even hurtful speech that harms members of oft-stigmatized communities."

"The First Amendment forbids government regulators to deny registration because they find the speech likely to offend others," Judge Kimberly Moore said for the majority.

The administration argues that the law does not restrict speech because the band is still free to use the name even without trademark protection. The law "simply reflects Congress' judgment that the federal government should not affirmatively promote the use of racial slurs and other disparaging terms by granting the benefits of registration," the government said."

[DenverJ]

NWA hardest hit

[flye]

On the lighter side... great joke from Kimmel's opening sketch at the Emmys last night:

He is telling Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyus from Veep) that several presidents are up for emmys, including LBJ. Her: "LBJ? That was my nickname in high school spanish class."

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Fucking excellent.

[Agent Cooper]

APPROPRIATORS!

[GILMORE?]

Beware: Fried Chicken Shops That Sound *Too* American

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

Our town is about 65,000 and only in recent years trying to shed a kind of "Mayberry wannabe" identity. What undoubtedly helped toward that end was a chicken place (since closed) called CLUCK-U-CHICKEN. Just the kind of anti-edgy vibe a growing town needs.

[Krabappel]

Was it in New Jersey? They could greet customers by saying "Hey, Cluck-U buddy!"

[GILMORE?]

I thought Cluck U was a franchise. http://www.cluckuchicken.com/

They had them in NYC a while back if i recall? The map shows them mostly in NJ, PA, MD

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

I'm down in south Texas, so I'm guessing not part of the chain.

[Brett L]

Krispy Pollo?

[OneOut]

Close

Pollo Loco.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

CLUCK-U-CHICKEN

Not be confused with the notorious CLU-CLUCK-CHICKEN.

[GILMORE?]

I laffed

[GILMORE?]

"We Learned It From You, Hans Gruber"

Robbers Brilliant Plan: Pretend to Be Terrorists

[GILMORE?]

Things I didn't know = Les Claypool and Julian Lennon are in a band

[bacon-magic]

Les Claypool collects bands like some rockstars collect womyn.

[GOML!]

That's Sean Lennon.

[Agent Cooper]

Forget it, then.

[GILMORE?]

Can't improve on the jaw-dropping hubris of this headline

For apathetic Dems, Obama offers himself as motivation

Obama wants his supporters to see anything less than a vote for Clinton as a sign of disrespect to the nation's first black president.

"Bask in the memory of me! HONOR MY LEGACY, AND DO MY WILL! DO YOU NOT LOVE ME?!"

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

It's funny, I still hold to my prediction of a Hillary presidency, but you get the feeling there's a lot of panic in the Hillary camp.

[Injun, as in from India]

This is how Obama perceives his legacy, courtesy of the Family Guy.

Washington monument vs Obama monument

[The Last American Hero]

Laugh now, but that fucker will have a statue to rival the Colossus of Rhodes, straddling the Potomac before 2040.

[BigT]

"Laugh now, but that fucker will have a statue to rival the Colossus of Rhodes, straddling the Potomac before 2040."

OK as long as he is shown pissing on the Constitution.

[That's A Bingo!]

That's a reuse of the Clinton monument joke from Futurama.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Obama says he considers it a "personal insult" if you don't vote.

Crap... it's like he's trying to troll me into not voting.

[Injun, as in from India]

"I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy"

Mr. President, if you like your legacy, you can keep your legacy. PERIOD!

[PBR Streetgang]

Maybe that's his game. He thinks the bitter clingers will jump at the chance to 'personally insult' him, so they won't vote and HRC wins. 7-dimensional chess FTW!!

[waffles]

This is the first presidential election I really feel like not voting in. There are tons of important things to vote against downticket so I may as well go. But my choice is now between GayJay and none of the above.

[Mickey Rat]

Narcissist to the last.

[John Titor]

Goddammit Obama, between this and the media going completely insane you make me almost want a Trump Presidency just to spit in your faces.

[(VERY VIP), Jr.]

Goddammit Obama, between this and the media going completely insane you make me almost want a Trump Presidency just to spit in your faces.

I actually do want that, but I'll be damned if I'm going to cast a vote to make that happen. Part of it is "I will NOT legitimize this process by voting!" and part of it is "Voting? Fuck that. Can't be bothered."

[DenverJ]

With Trump, we are going to do great things. Great. Things.

[The Fusionist]

"For apathetic Dems, Obama offers himself as motivation"

"Remember how enthusiastic you were when you elected me? What happened to that enthusiasm?"

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Did this get covered today?

A collaborative investigation showed a reddit user with the username stonetear requested help in relation to retaining and purging email messages after 60 days, and requested advice on how to remove a "VERY VIP" individual's email address from archived content.

The requests match neatly with publicly known dates related to Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state.

[...]

There are several reasons to believe the reddit user is indeed Combetta, who was granted immunity by the Justice Department during its investigation of Clinton's private server after he deleted a large number of emails.

The evidence connecting Combetta to the account is circumstantial, but also voluminous. The inactive website combetta.com is registered to the email address [e-mail], a search of domain registration information using the service whois.com indicates. An account for a person named Paul Combetta on the web bazaar Etsy also has the username stonetear.

[robc]

Hasnt been mentioned.

[commodious, stupor sleuth]

Galling, innit

[Tonio]

Yes, it has been posted in several comment threads, but does bear repeating.

[Trshmnstr smells of Lo Mein]

Who uses the same handle for both their shopping accounts and their "flouting the law" accounts? I mean, come on!

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Hillary Clinton. Oh, this wasn't a "you know who else" kind of question... carry on.

[GILMORE?]

Book Review - The Mysterious Redneck-Paradox: They Take Much Government Aid, But Hate Government

Obvious NYT conclusion = racists

Article is mostly interesting in how the reviewer finds it so fascinatingly alien that the author should find her subjects sympathetic at all. Its treated like someone lived with Cannibals for a few years and then says, "Tastes like chicken, actually"

[Eternal Blue Sky]

The most interesting thing about that article I find is "a giant fish kill threatened the livelihood of nearby fishermen. Company officials feigned innocence, but Sherman barged into a public meeting with an incriminating sign: I'M THE ONE WHO DUMPED IT IN THE BAYOU."

Wait... are they actually claiming that pollution caused a giant fish?? And the author is claiming it's the REDNECKS who are ignorant??

[thrakkorzog]

Because if there's one thing fisherman are known for, it's hating having really big fish around.

[CatoTheChipper]

I call bullshit on this story. The guy is bragging about having committed a federal felony. Guys have gone to prison for less egregious environmental crimes. If there were any evidence of it, he'd have kept his mouth shut.

Further, having actually been responsible for EHS at a major chemical manufacturer in Louisiana, his admitted conduct would have been the very last thing that his employer would have wanted. This is clearly made-up story to smear his employer.

[perlchpr]

A "giant fish kill", i.e.: a large die out of fish. Yes, fishermen would object to that. And it's definitely a thing poisoning the waters would do.

[The Fusionist]

"...Harold Areno, who lives on a swamp so polluted even the rugged cypress trees are dead. He and his wife have had cancer. Yet Areno supports politicians hostile to environmental regulation because he cares more about banning abortion. "We vote for candidates that put the Bible where it belongs," he said."

So the Republicans gave him and his wife cancer, and killed the trees where he lives?

And if people like him only realized what the Republicans did, they would have elected Democrats, and the Arenos would still be healthy and the trees would be alive?

[The Fusionist]

You know what? I bet that guy's wife got the cancer from Mitt Romney.

Yet they *still* vote Republican?!?!?

[Possible Bot]

Even if this were true, and I suspect it is not- why would he vote for politicians who take his money in the name of environmental regulation and apparently did nothing. At least he'd have some more money to go with his swamp.

[Brett L]

"Fuck you, dad!"

[BigT]

Hey, I'm n that group. Paid SS for 50 years under threat of imprisonment.

Plan to wring every f$ing nickel out of the government now.

[Trshmnstr smells of Lo Mein]

I don't see how that could be considered inconsistent at all. Ain't nothing wrong with taking advantage of the programs you pay for, all the while lobbying for the programs to end. Statists love to rhetorically create this false choice between paying for and using programs v. getting rid of the programs. The reality is that the choice is between paying for and using the programs v. paying for and not using the programs.

[GILMORE?]

Japanese firm unveils dual robot-armed drone

Godzilla-Fighting capabilities still unclear

[Agent Cooper]

That's nothing. I invented a drone-armed robot!

[GILMORE?]

WHY ARE THERE NO BLACK NASCAR DRIVERS, HUH?!? I KNOW WHY

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Because black people are too smart to think Nascar is interesting??

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

#BlackDriversMatter

[Brett L]

Do you know how much that shit costs? Hopefully, they've got better things to do than let their kids start racing and wrecking multi-thousand dollar go carts at age 5. Might as well write an article "Why none of Brett L's kids will ever be NASCAR drivers."

[GILMORE?]

-1 Big Wheel

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Pretty much. Knew I guy who raced locally and basically told me that a raging drug addiction would be cheaper.

[TheZeitgeist]

Terrance Cox and his company, Diversity Motorsports Racing LLC, filed a lawsuit late on Friday in U.S. district court in Manhattan against NASCAR, its parent company, International Speedway Corp, and 18 teams, according to court records.

Sounds like this outfit wasn't cooked up for a lawsuit at all. Just a regular Scuderia Ferrari for colored folks I'm sure.

[The Fusionist]

Because black people drive like this, and white people drive like this?

[GILMORE?]

Via Instapundit =

Nassim Nicholas Taleb Pens Article: The Intellectual, Yet Idiot

perhaps a backhanded libetarian argument; critqueing the progressive love of 'experts' that are really just anointed morons.

The Intellectual Yet Idiot (IYI) is a production of modernity... & been accelerating since the mid twentieth century...along with the broad category of people without skin-in-the-game who have been invading many walks of life. Why? Simply, in most countries, the government's role is between five and ten times what it was a century ago (expressed in percentage of GDP). The IYI seems ubiquitous in our lives but is still a small minority and is rarely seen outside specialized outlets, think tanks, the media, and universities???most people have proper jobs and there are not many openings for the IYI.

Beware the semi-erudite who thinks he is an erudite. He fails to naturally detect sophistry.

The IYI pathologizes others for doing things he doesn't understand without ever realizing it is his understanding that may be limited. He thinks people should act according to their best interests and he knows their interests, particularly if they are "red necks" or English non-crisp-vowel class who voted for Brexit. When plebeians do something that makes sense to them, but not to him, the IYI uses the term "uneducated".

[GILMORE?]

*note: Taleb points to his own popularity among the IYI set.... and sneaks in what seems a completely-out-of-the-blue dig at GMO's in the process...

socially, the IYI subscribes to The New Yorker. He never curses on twitter. ....The modern IYI has attended more than one TEDx talks in person or watched more than two TED talks on Youtube. Not only will he vote for Hillary ... because she seems electable and some such circular reasoning, but holds that anyone who doesn't do so is mentally ill.

The IYI has a copy of the first hardback edition of The Black Swan on his shelves, but mistakes absence of evidence for evidence of absence. He believes that GMOs are "science", that the "technology" is not different from conventional breeding as a result of his readiness to confuse science with scientism.

Typically, the IYI get the first order logic right, but not second-order (or higher) effects making him totally incompetent in complex domains....

...The IYI has been wrong, historically, on Stalinism, Maoism, GMOs, Iraq, Libya, Syria, lobotomies, urban planning, low carbohydrate diets, gym machines, behaviorism, transfats, freudianism, portfolio theory, linear regression, Gaussianism, Salafism, dynamic stochastic equilibrium modeling, housing projects, selfish gene, Bernie Madoff (pre-blowup) and p-values. But he is convinced that his current position is right.

[Brett L]

I guess the science is settled on GMOs?

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

He's a big IYI on GMOs.

[Trshmnstr smells of Lo Mein]

Typically, the IYI get the first order logic right, but not second-order (or higher) effects making him totally incompetent in complex domains

This, this, 1000x this! Second-order thinking involves setting aside emotion to critically approach your "ideas", which is something that isn't tested on the SAT. I've known many "smart" people (folks with upper class tastes) and many truly smart people (160+ IQ), and they're all quite good at avoiding critical thought when they want to.

[waffles]

It's a survival mechanism.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

He believes that GMOs are "science", that the "technology" is not different from conventional breeding as a result of his readiness to confuse science with scientism.

Huh, sounds like he called out Ronald Bailey here.

[GILMORE?]

Taleb isn't actually saying anything at all there.

Its just some scare-quotes and an assertion sans argument. I don't know why that would indicate bailey in particular; tho it might. he has debated (or failed to debate) more than 1 person on the subject.

I understand *why* he has a dislike for GMO, at least in theory (i've never read his arguments on the subject); he's a 'risk analyst' primarily, and i assume he dislikes the way people treat GMO because he believes there's enormous embedded risk involved which no one is taking into consideration. or something like that.

but his facination/obsession with the subject - particularly in a relatively short article like this, where its mentioned 3 or 4 times - borders on the psychotic.

[ant1sthenes]

I thought the IYI class was anti-GMO? Don't get me wrong, if anyone would be anti-GMO, it would be Taleb. GMOs seem like the sort of technology most likely to produce BSEs, although nature is more resilient than we give her credit for. Humanity, on the other hand, can probably manage to do itself some real harm.

[ant1sthenes]

But I think the guy underestimates just how much tinkering nature does with genes day in and day out without catastrophic effect.

[Brett L]

I'd like this article better if it had been edited. The thesis is great, the execution is mediocre.

[GILMORE?]

Yep.

He's a mess. I've read 2 of his books. He's a great idea-guy. He's a pretty shitty writer. His attempt to illustrate points usually end up a convoluted mess of snotty high-culture references and weak-analogy. he suffers from the same intelligence compartmentalization problems as those he likes to criticize.

Still, amusing.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Averaging the averages, speculating the speculations, projecting the assumptions, death toll from Indonesian forest fire jumps from 19 to over 100,000.

[GILMORE?]

This strikes me as a case example in the IYI phenomenon

"Top People", 15,000 km away from actual event, treated as experts on its effects. Because "models".

[Chipwooder]

I know I hit em hard all the time

[GILMORE?]

I confess = the idea appeals to me. And what i heard there was pretty good. But i've been hurt before.
(thinks of the Sir Mix-a-Lot/Presidents of the USA combination that sucked donkey balls)

[KDN]

Indeed. Were it up to me I'd outlaw that blasted contraption. It makes every car, no matter how small an maneuverable, feel boatlike.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I would hit stranger things.

[Injun, as in from India]

I wish Falconer would do a one-sentence interview:

"Get a gun, and learn how to use it."

That would prevent the media from mangling and misquoting him.

[robc]

Nascar has a road race.

[DOOMco]

They are also not very reliable. Early 2000 minis with them are trash. The Subaru today uses them, also known for breaking.

[DOOMco]

Still not cheap. Better than stock car or anything.