A.M. Links: 54% of Florida Without Power After Hurricane Irma, North Korea Condemns U.N. Sanctions, Mexico Earthquake Death Toll Climbs to 96

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  Gage Skidmore / Flickr.com

  Members of Donald Trump's legal team reportedly advised the president that Jared Kushner should step down from his role in the White House over concerns raised by the Russia investigation.

• More than 54 percent of Florida households have no electricity in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
• Schools have reopened in Houston, Texas. They have been closed for the past two weeks due to Hurricane Harvey.
• North Korea is condemning a new U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the country for its recent nuclear tests.
• "Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook's event management tool to remotely organize and promote political protests in the U.S., including an August 2016 anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rally in Idaho."
• The death toll from last week's 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Mexico has climbed to 96.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Members of Donald Trump's legal team reportedly advised the president that Jared Kushner should step down from his role in the White House over concerns raised by the Russia investigation.

Alt-righters.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Trump is going to over play his hand I reckon.

[Bee Tagger]

The hand you can see in this dimension, maybe.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They're normal size in the other two dimensions?

[loveconstitution1789]

The biggest hands you've ever seen dingleberry.

[Mitsima]

In the other two dimensions that are yuge, believe me.

[Bee Tagger]

Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook's event management tool

This is the most interesting thing to happen on Facebook in years.

[CE]

Not counting the Lavar Ball show.

[Fist of Etiquette]

More than 54 percent of Florida households have no electricity in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

58% have no pythons and 23% have no gators.

[Citizen X - #6]

The death toll from last week's 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Mexico has climbed to 96.

They're not sending their best earthquakes.

[Bee Tagger]

including an August 2016 anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rally in Idaho.

We should really be scared if those Russian operatives ever learn which states have high electoral counts.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Follow the booze. Vodka is made from potatoes.

[Bee Tagger]

I, for one, will never buy a Russiat potato again.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

^ Anti-Globalist scum.

[CE]

Yeah, Hillary was only 3 or 4 votes away from carrying Idaho.

[Fist of Etiquette]

North Korea is condemning a new U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the country for its recent nuclear tests.

And the U.N. is condemning that condemnation with more sanctions!

[Bee Tagger]

Who will be so careless as to escalate this to censuring?

[Bee Tagger]

Members of Donald Trump's legal team

the D.R.E.A.M. team

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Good movie.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Hands On with the TSA's New 'Enhanced' Pat-Down Procedure

For those curious about what the "enhanced" pat-down involves, I had a first-hand experience (no pun intended) Sunday evening September 10 in the Kansas City airport. (This is going exactly where you think it's going, so feel free to stop reading right now.)

After going through a metal detector in the TSA-Pre security line, I was randomly selected to see if a machine would detect explosives on my hands. My palms were swabbed and the machine detected explosives, even though I had not recently handled a gun, flammable liquids, or any sort of explosives. Another airline passenger told me the same machine had detected explosives on the hands of another passenger who had gone through the line minutes before I did.

So what precisely does the "enhanced" pat-down seem to entail, you ask?

Well, since you asked, the agent runs his hand inside a passenger's waistband and also runs his hand up the back of each leg until he "meets resistance" and then does the same from the front of each leg. And then the TSA agent swipes the front of his hands 3 or 4 times right over the zipper area of one's Gap Outlet comfort-stretch khakis. That last part was the most unpleasant.

.

[Rich]

the agent ... runs his hand up the back of each leg until he "meets resistance"

, for instance a heel into his groin.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

So it's the same pat-down they've been doing for years, and this author is fortunate enough (privileged!??) to only experience it this week.

[mad.casual]

In his defense, the TSA won't disclose the differences from the old enhanced pat-down procedure lest the terrorists win.

My guess is that the agent is drinking either a Crystal Pepsi or a Coke Life between pat-downs.

[Griffin3]

Maybe travelling TSA agents are booked at a Holiday Inn Express?

[Citizen X - #6]

Or they eat a Snickers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook's event management tool to remotely organize and promote political protests in the U.S....

All of them about how great Putin is.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Schools have reopened in Houston, Texas. They have been closed for the past two weeks due to Hurricane Harvey.

The loss of high school football is what hurts Texans the most.

[DJF]

Its Texas, they probably still played in the middle of the hurricane. It builds character!!!!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

"Coach, I'm drowning!"

"Eat a salt tablet."

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

There Are Worse Things Than the Weather

Like poor white people, am I right?

There are complex questions involved in this, but where the energy infrastructure is concerned, there is one fairly obvious solution: more. More pipelines, more refineries, more generating capacity, more nuclear plants, more production. This is not a call for a gigantic federal infrastructure project or a five-year plan. It is a call to let markets work. The United States is blessed with enormous stores of oil, natural gas, coal, and other energy resources, but we do not make nearly as extensive or efficient use of them as we could. The Trump administration, especially EPA chief Scott Pruitt, deserves some credit for taking baby steps in the right direction, for example by approving the Keystone XL pipeline. But there is much more to be done, from building pipelines to splitting uranium atoms, and the regulatory apparatus remains a critical obstacle.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Can we handle a couple of hurricanes? Sure. But the world contains uglier truths and wilder dangers ? and the world knows where we live. In 2001, 19 misfits with box-cutters changed the course of world history and showed us that we were by no means prepared for the future ? or even for the here and now. A little bit of weather can seriously disrupt Americans' ability to provide themselves with food, fuel, and the other necessities of life. There are worse things than the weather, and we'd better get ready for them.

[Citizen X - #6]

You sugarfreed the link, bro.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

My bust, yo.

[Glide]

Houston mayor proposes 9% property tax hike to pay for storm recovery

Because yeah, Houstonians definitely have too much value tied up in housing right now, they should for sure pony up a little extra for the privilege of owning a quarter million dollar garbage dump for soaked drywall.

But hey, it's only "temporary"!

[Rich]

this would be a one-time rate hike that expires after 12 months and cannot be renewed

until Hurricane Jose retrashes Houston.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

It's Traffic Officer Ford! Harrison barks commands as he jumps out to clear a traffic jam for his limo driver

A new video has emerged showing the 75-year-old jumping out of his limo and turning traffic cop, as he forcefully directs cars out of a line of traffic which had built up behind a tunnel following a car accident.

That's an alpha.

[lap83]

Oh sure, but if an ambiguously gendered Millennial with blue hair stands in the middle of traffic, xe gets arrested for rioting. Typical old white male privilege

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Orlando karate teacher sent nude photos to 11-year-old boy in her class

The boy's mother opened the his Kik social messaging app on his phone last week and found Figueroa's sick messages to him, according to a police report cited by the Orlando Sentinel.

"I want to have sex with you," she told him in one message inviting him to her 21st birthday party, investigators said.

"OK IDC," the boy replied, using a shorthand for "I don't care."

Figueroa told the boy nobody else would be home during the party, according to police. She began making advances on him in February and kept telling him that she liked him, the boy told police. Investigators believe she sent him 15 nude or racy photos.

Never leave your children alone with a woman.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Father unveils the sex robot he lets sit on the sofa with his children and join him in bed with his WIFE

When questioned what role 'Samantha' has in their family Arran said that she would sit on the sofa with his two children and they were happy to talk with it as normal.

Holly was disgusted asking: 'But at some point they are going to know eventually that daddy has sex with Samantha and she isn't mummy. Is that not a bit strange?'

Repeatedly touching the doll's knee and arm throughout, Arran denied that it wasn't 'strange' and defended the existence of the doll claiming that it was there to 'help people' rather than 'replace women'.

Arran's wife, Hannah Nguyen, 38, confirmed she was more than happy for the doll to join them in bed revealing that she had even had a threesome with it.

However, television psychologist Emma Kenny slammed the idea of sex doll for 'objectifying' and 'commercialising' women's bodies.

She said that 'it wasn't acceptable or healthy' to use the technology in the way that it can replace relationships with simulation.

This is why we MUST BAN SEX DOLLS.

[Rich]

However, television psychologist Emma Kenny ... said that 'it wasn't acceptable or healthy' to use the technology in the way that it can replace relationships with simulation.

However, it's perfectly acceptable and healthy to practice psychology on television.

[lafe.long]

I saw this on the show Humans

[Sports Reporter Charles Manson]

I don't know why you have to pay a "television psychologist" to criticize this - it's a creepy set-up.

Assuming, of course, that the story summarized the situation correctly - I guess this disclaimer should go with any comment on a media story.

[lap83]

she would sit on the sofa with his two children

This is just unsanitary

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Maybe it's clean.

[BestUsedCarSales]

You know it's not clean.

[Mitsima]

Seems a better reason to ban trash TV.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

James Woods Responds to Armie Hammer, Amber Tamblyn Following Twitter Dustup

n Sunday evening, gay website Towleroad tweeted out a link to its coverage of an Entertainment Weekly post featuring Hammer reading five minutes of the Andre Aciman novel on which the film is based for a new audio book. The link prompted conservative gay author Chad Felix Green to reply to the tweet with a criticism of the film's subject matter. He posted: "24 year old man. 17 year old boy. Stop." (Underage gay sex is something Green has written about in the past; as a HuffPost contributor, he published What Happens When Men Have Sex with Teenage Boys in February of this year.)

Later that night, Woods noticed Green's tweet and chimed in on the film, writing, "As they quietly chip away the last barriers of decency. #NAMBLA" The hashtag refers to the controversial North American Man/Boy Love Association, which is a pedophilia advocacy organization. (The age of consent in California is 18; in Italy where the film is set, it is 14.)

Monday morning, Hammer, 31, responded to Woods' tweet by condemning the actor for dating younger women, writing, "Didn't you date a 19 year old when you were 60.......?'

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

According to multiple reports, Woods started dating his current girlfriend Kristen Bauguess, in 2013 when she was 20 years old and he was 66 years old. (Woods turned 70 on April 18.) Before Bauguess, he was in a relationship with a woman named Ashley Madison, whom he reportedly started dating when he was 60 and she was either 19 or 20 years old.

Later Monday, Tamblyn, 34, entered the conversation by accusing Woods of hitting on her when she was just a teenager. "James Woods tried to pick me and my friend up at a restaurant once," the actress wrote on Twitter. "He wanted to take us to Vegas. 'I'm 16' I said. 'Even better' he said."

Just to keep you all updated on the important issues.

[Sports Reporter Charles Manson]

"Just to keep you all updated on the important issues."

You mock, but I bet that story gets more clicks than something on the national debt.

[Rich]

"Inquiring minds want to know!"

[Sports Reporter Charles Manson]

Wasn't that the National Inquirer's motto? They researched their own stories, IIRC, they didn't sit on their asses looking at Twitter.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Members of Donald Trump's legal team reportedly advised the president that Jared Kushner should step down from his role in the White House over concerns raised by the Russia investigation.

The paper reported that some of Trump's lawyers were largely concerned with the fact that Kushner had the most interaction with Russians, some of whom are being investigated, while on the campaign and during the transition. Lawyers also noted that Kushner failed to accurately report his contact with foreign officials when applying for his security clearance, according to the Wall Street Journal's report.

He eventually updated his disclosure forms six months later. Jeepers creepers.

[Citizen X - #6]

Lawyers also noted that Kushner failed to accurately report his contact with foreign officials when applying for his security clearance, according to the Wall Street Journal's report.

That's some high-quality background investigating. Good job, feds!

[Sports Reporter Charles Manson]

"Although 48 people clicked that they were "interested" in the protest, only four said they went to City Council Chambers that day, according to the event page, possibly because it was a Saturday and the Council was not in session. It is also possible to claim attendance on Facebook at an event that didn't exist. Some of the profiles of interested rallygoers listed themselves as Twin Falls residents."

At least the Russians are getting bang for their rubles.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

In 'What Happened,' Hillary Clinton Compares Treatment From Baying Trump Supporters to 'Game of Thrones' Cersei Lannister's Walk of Shame

In the book, Clinton manages to work in references to both Game of Thrones and The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel that is now a hit Hulu drama. Because Clinton is down with the kids.

"Crowds at Trump rallies called for my imprisonment more times than I can count," Clinton writes. "They shouted, 'Guilty! Guilty!' like the religious zealots in Game of Thrones chanting 'Shame! Shame!' while Cersei Lannister walked back to the Red Keep."

Yes, she watches both shows.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Clinton continues in the book that "it's not easy for a woman in politics" but feels she was unfairly vilified. "What in the world was this?" she writes in a passage shared on Twitter. "I've been in politics for a long time, but I was taken aback by the flood of hatred that only seemed to grow as we got closer to Election Day.

"I had left the State Department one of the most admired public servants in America. Now people seemed to think I was evil. Not just 'not my cup of tea' but evil. It was flabbergasting and frightening."

The politician also refers to Atwood, the "prescient" Handmaid's Tale author, who commented that her treatment was "so 17th century," an apparent reference to the way women were persecuted over alleged witchcraft.

"Was all this because I was a woman?" Clinton asks. "No. But I believe it was motivation for some of those chanters and some of that bile."

Shut your mouth and get back in the kitchen, hag.

[Sports Reporter Charles Manson]

"I had left the State Department one of the most admired public servants in America."

Really?

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

I am pretty sure she was held in very high esteem after she brought peace and democracy to Burma.

[creech]

Of course she was. Many Americans admire all sorts of terribly flawed "celebrities."

[Citizen X - #6]

Hillary Clinton has been one of the least admired people in the country for a quarter of a century now. If the level of respect she receives is on the high end for "public servants," that's actually pretty encouraging re: how Americans view their rulers.

[Griffin3]

Wow. I can't even. Does she live in the same world as the rest of us?

[Sports Reporter Charles Manson]

""Was all this because I was a woman?" Clinton asks."

If she hadn't been a woman, Bill wouldn't have married her, and few people would know about her.

[Sports Reporter Charles Manson]

him

[Mickey Rat]

Wait, she actually believed the press fawning over her all these years?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I've been in politics for a long time, but I was taken aback by the flood of hatred that only seemed to grow as we got closer to Election Day.

Utterly clueless. She's one of the most vilified public figures in recent American history. She's a long-time nanny-scold and a shameless power-monger. She mocked women who chose to live like traditional wives while enabling her husband's infidelities and sexual abuse. She exploited public sympathy over the Lewinsky scandal to grab a Senate seat. Her campaign team used Nixon-style dirty tricks on Bernie, her long-time crony at CNN passed her debate questions ahead of time, she still thinks she didn't do anything wrong with her email server, Libya is now a failed state and a terrorist haven in no small part due to her interference, and she acted as if she was entitled to the Presidency instead of explaining why she deserved the job, taking traditional Democrat strongholds for granted while pandering to the new anti-white animus that now drives the party. Best of all, she continues to refuse to take any accountability for her failures.

Someone here remarked that very few American politicians have failed upward like Hillary has, and she continues to show why every time she opens up her piehole.

[Paloma]

Magnificent, Red Rocks.

[lap83]

I like to think she watches GoT and identifies with Cersei

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's pretty telling that she identified the most with a paranoid, amoral, entitled, past-her-prime power-monger with an over-estimated sense of self-regard.

I guess in this world, Peter Daou is Qyburn.

[Paloma]

Except Cersei is attractive. Hillary is not.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Wow, this old lady relates to me on a cultural level. Maybe I should vote for her next time.

[Citizen X - #6]

Cersei Lannister got and held the Iron Throne via murder, conspiracy, abuse, torture, false accusations, necromancy, sexual perversion, and every other kind of corruption, so of course Hillary thinks she's the protagonist of the series.

[CE]

As long as she stops the evil Daenerys Targaryen and her WMD dragons and savage Dothraki horde from laying waste to Westeros, Cersei is the true hero of the show.

[Mickey Rat]

She does understand thst Cersei was guilty, had been caught in a trap she laid for another, and if the full extent of her crimes had been discovered she would have justly been beheaded?

[Stormy Dragon]

justly been beheaded

You think beheading is a "just" punishment for adultery?

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Yeah, let's think she was just an adulterer and ignore the whole conspiracy to kill the king thing.

[MarkLastname]

And all the other murders she ordered, including the High Septon.

Yeah, just an adulterer, poor Cersei, victim of misogyny.

[CE]

The mass murder and terrorist bombing came after the "lying to the cops" crime she confessed to and was punished for.

[Mickey Rat]

How many people died and had their lives ruined over the succession crisis she created?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I like that she compares herself to Cersei. It's the most truthful thing she's ever done.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

She's at her most honest when she's spazzing out about something. She really did believe there was a vast right-wing conspiracy against her, she really did believe that Bernie was lying about what a corrupt bitch she was, and she really does believe that white people are the reason she's not President.

[BYODB]

If ever there was proof that the book was ghost written, this is it.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

Members of Donald Trump's legal team reportedly advised the president that Jared Kushner should step down from his role in the White House over concerns raised by the Russia investigation.

The confidential source of this information? Jared Kushner.

[Chipper Morning, Now #1]

No Jared ever escapes his fate.

[Citizen X - #6]

+4 days trapped on a mad billionaire's artificial island

[Citizen X - #6]

This guy fucks.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

More than 54 percent of Florida households have no electricity in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

+1 electric car.

[CE]

How'd that 200 mile range work out for you during the evacuation?

[loveconstitution1789]

Not be a stickler but gasoline powered cars were stranded too because the gas ran out and their 350 mile range was not enough either.

Remember when big gas guzzlers didnt have very good range and they got better? Same thing will happen with electric cars.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Electric cars never got out of the driveway once the power went out.

[loveconstitution1789]

What? If they were charged as one would to prepare days in advance of the hurricane, you would absolutely have enough charge to leave the driveway.

I guess for some a weeks notice that a hurricane is coming is not enough to prepare for ~7 days without basic services.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I'm not sure how many people had electric cars sitting in the driveway for days in advance, waiting for the perfect moment to zip off in their 60 mile-range Nissan Leaf.

Unless you were joking, otherwise, bravo.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Good news for Seattle voters, they're again forgiving their abusive husband.

Some of their plans are more precise than others, and the two agree on many points as they sometimes seek to "out-progressive" each other.

So I guess this year's story at Thanksgiving will the same as last year's, and the year before that, and the year before that: "We're so clumsy, we walked into a door frame!"

[Memory Hole]

Ted "masturbation should be regulated by the govt" Cruz liked a porn video on Twitter and somehow that doesn't make the links????

[Citizen X - #6]

That sounds more like PM Links fodder anyway.