White House Restricting Travel, Trade with Cuba; U.K. Minister Resigns Over Meetings With Israelis; Facebook Wants Aussie Nudes: P.M. Links

• 

  Prime Minister's Office

  The White House is imposing new restrictions on travel to and trade with Cuba.

• President Trump gets the red carpet treatment in China.
• A commander in Syria says pro-government forces have expelled ISIS from the last town which it held in the country.
• More members of the royal family and other officials have been arrested in the corruption crackdown in Saudi Arabia.
• The United Kingdom secretary of state for international development, Priti Patel, has resigned over undisclosed meetings she had with Israeli officials.
• The Justice Department reportedly wants Time Warner to sell Turner Broadcasting or for AT&T to sell DirecTV in order to approve a proposed merger.
• The Air Force Academy says racist graffiti found at its prep school was made by a black cadet candidate, who is no longer enrolled at the school.
• A partnership with the Australian government has Facebook accepting nudes from users to prevent revenge porn.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House is imposing new restrictions on travel to and trade with Cuba.

If he can't ban the Muslims...!

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Priti is pretty.

[Bacon-Magic glib reasonoid]

Check your male gaze Shitlord!

[Rufus The Monocled]

I thought I was being witty with my wild play on words!

[BYODB]

Well, your alliteration is certainly on point.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Something tells me Priti is Hindi ...

[Chipper Morning Truthjammer]

Preeetty, preeeetty, preeeetty good.
[narrows gaze]

[BestUsedCarSales]

I thought these links were Christian from looking at them.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A week's worth of them maybe.

[Anomalous]

Why, because they're uncircumcised?

[Chipper Morning Truthjammer]

Oh? Does Christian pack a water snake?

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Trump gets the red carpet treatment in China.

Well, he did drop its name so much during the campaign.

[Red Tony]

President Trump gets the red carpet treatment in China.

Of course China has a red carpet ready.

[CE]

Jokes aside, didn't the US presidential election night maps back in the 3-network days have the Republicans as blue and the Democrats as red? Was it flipped because they didn't want to associate the Dems with the Commies?

[Red Tony]

If I know my history correctly (and I don't), generally it varied between networks (with a lot of them doing blue Rs and red Ds), but CNN's election coverage in 2000 had it as Blue Dems, Red Reps, and this became the norm just by how many people were watching CNN (and absorbed the colors as representing the parties) during the whole Florida fiasco.

[John]

Wasn't the whole Red Blue thing from the map that the Sexy Canadian Librarian Chick Ashley Banfield on CNN was always pointing to during the 2000 Florida recounts and all that?

[CE]

I thought she was from Oregon.

[CE]

She was so popular, they named a freeway and a pet hospital after her.

[John]

Pretty sure she is a Canadian. Wherever she is from, the pulled off the sexy glasses thing really well.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

SE Cupp.

I'll be in my bunk ...

[John]

Ashley Banfield

[Chipper Morning Truthjammer]

Watch out for Goodwin's law.

[Isaac Bartram]

IIANM, the networks used to alternate using red and blue to designate the parties on the electoral map.

In 2000 the Republicans got stuck with being the Reds and the Democrats the Blues and they have switched since.

[Mickey Rat]

As I recall, the networs started alternating because the Dems had been normally were depicted as red (red the traditional left wing color and blue the right) and they started to get their panties in a twist about it because if the association with communism.

[BYODB]

...and they started to get their panties in a twist about it because if the association with communism.

That shouldn't be a problem anymore since one of their two candidates for President this time around was an actual communist, or at least a socialist.

[Square = Circle]

In fairness, Bernie's not an "actual Socialist" - he's a New Deal Democrat who finds that the "Socialist" label makes his ideas seem less stale to the youngins'.

But that just reinforces your point, really - since he's engaged in warming over ancient and discredited Democratic proposals as if they are radical and revolutionary, he should just go ahead and hang a hammer-and-sickle flag behind him while screaming "Ovatline for all!"

[loveconstitution1789]

Bernie thinks there are too many types of deoderant on the market. By that statement, he thinks his type of government could control how many types of deod are out there. That is gov controlling the means of production, which makes him socialist.

[Square = Circle]

I suppose if you don't care whether the word "socialism" has any specific meaning beyond "government is capable of influencing some stuff."

[loveconstitution1789]

As I said, socialism means controlling the means of production. Which is what Bernie wants to do.

[Square = Circle]

Which pretty much covers everything from regulated markets to Stalinism, no?

What's the point of calling Bernie a "socialist" if all "socialist" really means is "not an anarchist?"

Why would I necessarily be concerned by "a literal socialist ran for president" when all that means is "someone who believes there should be a minimum wage, like every mainstream political figure in this country for the last century?"

Isn't Trump a "socialist," too? Both Bushes? Reagan, who wanted to control who could and couldn't make, distribute, and consume certain drugs?

Can you name any president we've ever had who wouldn't be a "socialist" under your definition?

And once we do that exercise can we re-purpose the now-meaningless term "socialism" to mean "one who believe that the economy should be centrally planned and that most if not all means of production should be under direct government ownership?"

[BestUsedCarSales]

"one who believe that the economy should be centrally planned and that most if not all means of production should be under direct government ownership?"

Centrally planned also covers a tremendous range of possibility. As well as "most". Then we're just arguing over when the "most" kicks in enough to be considered a socialist.

Which is not to say I disagree with you. I dislike the throwing around of these labels (I also find myself wondering this about the label "Capitalist"). It lowers the conversation, the more specific you can be in your argumentation the better.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

RED WITH BLOOD FROM TIANANMEN SQUARE!!111!!!111!!11

[CE]

The White House is imposing new restrictions on travel to and trade with Cuba.

Just because Obama did something doesn't mean it was automatically a bad idea.

[Juice]

There were two things he got right, the Iran deal and opening up travel and trade to Cuba. And, of course, Trump wants to reverse these things, because...um...well...Obama bad, mkay?

[BYODB]

How was the Iran deal good, again? Honestly asking, since the places I've seen that say it was a great idea don't go into much detail on the why it was a good thing.

[Square = Circle]

"Inevitable" is probably a better word than "good."

[Juice]

It stopped talk of outright attacking Iran, for one thing. It limits the number of centrifuges and Iran can't upgrade to new/better ones. They will redesign the reactor that was capable of producing plutonium to make it incapable of doing this. And the sanctions were lifted, which is good for the average Iranian. In short, it lifts sanctions while severely limiting Iran's capability to build a bomb, which they weren't doing in the first place.

[Red Tony]

I've really gotten a sense from Trump's presidency that his goal is "get rid of everything Obama did." In other words "Elect Hilary for your legacy? Okay, she lost and you HAVE no legacy. Does it hurt? Does it hurt?"

And Trump's petty enough that he'd embrace this as a goal.

And let's be honest, if he were to erase Obama's entire legacy that might not be a bad thing.

[DRM]

How about because the Cubans have used the reopening of relations as an excuse to mass assault American diplomats?

The problem with Trump in this case is that he doesn't have the balls to go to Congress to get a declaration of war on Cuba.

[Fist of Etiquette]

More members of the royal family and other officials have been arrested in the corruption crackdown in Saudi Arabia.

I hope they don't run out!

[CharlesWT]

They need at least one designated the Prince of Jails...

[Red Tony]

A partnership with the Australian government has Facebook accepting nudes from users to prevent revenge porn.

Crusty: overjoyed.
Everyone else: confused.

[CE]

What if the Facebook AI becomes sentient and starts stalking you?

[Red Tony]

Crusty: overjoyed.

Everyone else: disturbed.

[Careless]

Walt til that gets hacked

[Red Tony]

The Air Force Academy says racist graffiti found at its prep school was made by a black cadet candidate, who is no longer enrolled at the school.

Well the motivating factors behind it were true, therefore it's true, because white supremacists are truly doing these things and that's why a story had to be concocted to show the truth!

[BestUsedCarSales]

A partnership with the Australian government has Facebook accepting nudes from users to prevent revenge porn.

Australia: Banning small chested woman, legalizing sending them nudes.

Pick a stance and keep it guys.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

I pick a wide stance at airport bathrooms ...

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

A commander in Syria says pro-government forces have expelled ISIS from the last town which it held in the country.

Victory over ISIS is the only thing that will make perpetual M.E. war bearable.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A partnership with the Australian government has Facebook accepting nudes from users to prevent revenge porn.

A kind of sexy vaccine program.

[Rich]

Premature strokesPre-emptive strikes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

In-knockers-ulation.

[Citizen X - #6]

A partnership with the Australian government has Facebook accepting nudes from users to prevent revenge porn.

Have you seen who's on Facebook these days? No thank you.

[Libertarian]

"A partnership with the Australian government . . ."

What could possibly go wrong?

[Citizen X - #6]

This is the same Australian government, mind, whose official position is that it is above the laws of mathematics.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

What could possibly go wrong?

Um ... a gun buyback programme?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

What could possibly go wrong?

Drop Bears?

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

I thought the Hot Dog/Not Hot Dog app was satire.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Air Force Academy says racist graffiti found at its prep school was made by a black cadet candidate, who is no longer enrolled at the school.

Racist graffiti and they expel the black guy? Not on my watch.

[Rich]

Another high-tech lynching!

[BYODB]

?More members of the royal family and other officials have been arrested in the corruption crackdown in Saudi Arabia.

Well that's a knee slapper if ever I've heard one.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

A commander in Syria says pro-government forces have expelled ISIS from the last town which it held in the country.

I wonder where the ISIS soldiers will take refuge.

[Red Tony]

A commander in Syria says pro-government forces have expelled ISIS from the last town which it held in the country.

Remind me: didn't the whole Syrian debacle start because we saw civil unrest there, decided we didn't like their government, and decided to send the military?

Because if so MAN that was a waste of time, money, and lives.

[John]

No. It started on its own. We never sent in military until we did so to eliminate ISIS.

[Isaac Bartram]

But before that we started supplying weapons and other aid to rebels trying to overthrow Bashar Assad. Some of it ended up in ISIS hands. And plenty of the non-ISIS rebels weren't much better than either Assad or ISIS.

The doctrine of regime change has been a source of much grief in the world and both parties are infected with it.

It was never clear that the Assad regime was so uniquely evil that it needed to be overthrown. But these were the same folks who gave us Libya thus proving that Dubya was not the only fuckup..

[John]

Yes. We did mindlessly start handing out weapons there. And needless to say, that worked out well.

[BYODB]

Chlorine Gas isn't that bad nowadays? Cool.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Didn't you see the Red Line?

There was a red line.

[Isaac Bartram]

The Regime change shit started long before the alleged chemical warfare changes arose.

There are still questions about whether those attacks were made by the Assad regime or one of the rebel groups we were funding.

[Conchfritters]

Cool - - now we can all go home.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The United Kingdom secretary of state for international development, Priti Patel, has resigned over undisclosed meetings she had with Israeli officials.

The UK is so behind the times. It's Russian influences that are in vogue.

[John]

http://twitter.com/JesseKellyD.....7834819585

Chainsaw Bayonet was my secret fraternity name in college

[Citizen X - #6]

Somebody's spent way too much time playing Warhammer 40k.

[John]

If you ever start a punk band, Chainsaw Bayonet would be a good name for it.

[Juice]

Nah, that sounds like one of those emo/screamo type bands.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I thought it was Flounder.

[John]

That one was already taken.

[BYODB]

?A partnership with the Australian government has Facebook accepting nudes from users to prevent revenge porn.

What the fuck?

[John]

Let our employees jerk off to your nude photos so that we can prevent other strangers from doing the same.

[CE]

Let the cops check all the high school students' phones to make sure they aren't sending pictures adult strangers shouldn't see.

[John]

And take all of the pictures back to the office for closer examination.

[Mickey Rat]

Well, if everyone has already seen your nude pjotis, they cannot be used for revenge, right?

[Citizen X - #6]

This is why i jog nude every morning.

[loveconstitution1789]

I thought I saw a ghost sporting a vienna sausage the other day.

[BYODB]

According to the eSafety Office, if a Facebook user in Australia is concerned about an intimate image spreading online, they fill out a form, then send the image to themselves using Messenger.

Once Facebook is notified, they use image-matching technology to access and tag the image to prevent anyone from sharing it on their platforms. The measure is designed to block users from sharing a photo before it can do harm.

It should also be pretty easy to just put a watermark or other overlay on the images to completely subvert that technology. Just a line of text, like basically every meme in existence, should be enough to foil that algorithm.

Of course, I thought that nude photo's were already against Facebook TOS so...they are solving a solved issue? I'm sure it has nothing to do with Facebook wanting to look at nude Aussie chicks.

But wait a second...I seem to recall that Australia's population was over 50% female? Hmm...maybe this is to protect the dudes after all!

[Citizen X - #6]

Have you seen Australian people? They're basically a bunch of badly sunburned Brits, and even their attractive women have deadly venom glands. No thank you.

[John]

A two week dose of antivenom is a small price to pay for Elle McPherson.

[68W58]

Visited Sydney in 2007 and decided to walk to see some sights on my first morning there. Got about three blocks from my hotel and there she was, starkers, in an ad three stories high on the side of a building. It's a wonderous place.

[BYODB]

Wait, so you're saying badly sunburned Brits aren't hot?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Depending on the algorithm putting a watermark isn't enough. Though the risk I see is more overidentification with that. But I'm not CV.

[John]

Even if it has a watermark, so what? By giving the picture to them, you have already put it out on the net and pretty much guaranteed that it will get out at some point. Gee, it will have a watermark on it now. That is comforting.

[BYODB]

I should clarify that by 'watermark' in this instance I'm referring to something that blocks part of the image entirely. Frankly, even a crop would probably throw it off but unless they're intending on accidentally blocking most images from Facebook it will be simple to bypass it.

I know that people think companies like Facebook are geniuses, and in some respects I imagine they are, but look at Facebook's UI and tell me the aren't alien retards that live in a parallel universe.

[CE]

if a Facebook user in Australia is concerned about an intimate image spreading online, they fill out a form, then send the image to themselves using Messenger.

You can't do that in the USA. You'll be branded an offender for life. And maybe a human trafficker.

[Domestic Dissident]

The last pretty Australian girl I saw was Elle McPherson, and that was at least a generation ago.

[BYODB]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The Justice Department reportedly wants Time Warner to sell Turner Broadcasting or for AT&T to sell DirecTV in order to approve a proposed merger.

If Time Warner acquires AOL, they'll control the internet!

[John]

Apparently, it was Charlie Sheen who raped Corey Heim. Good thing it wasn't someone known for being a degenerate or anything. I mean Charlie Sheen? Who could have seen that coming?

[Red Tony]

Nobody wants to see that coming.

(Yes, I know, I'm a horrible person.)

[John]

No. No one does. Least of all Heim apparently.

[Conchfritters]

Apparently, it was Charlie Sheen who raped Corey Heim.

That actually makes total sense.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

A partnership with the Australian government has Facebook accepting nudes

I like my social networks partnered with the State.

[Citizen X - #6]

Well, you're in luck!

[CE]

Facebook, rhymes with (CIA) Casebook. A ready-made dossier of your known associates, hangouts, political beliefs, etc.

[Rich]

The United Kingdom secretary of state for international development, Priti Patel, has resigned over undisclosed meetings she had with Israeli officials.

Looks like the secretary was

*** dons sunglasses ***

Priti pissed off.

[CE]

Does Don know his sunglasses have become a thing in the comments section?

[John]

http://twitter.com/tvbrad/stat.....0001439744

Obama reports for jury duty. Great, another juror who has no idea what a Senator does.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Zing

[jcw]

I get the punchline and how it relates to Obama, but what does senate knowledge have to do with juries?

[John]

Nothing. It is just that a juror this week in the Menendez trial asked the judge "what is a Senator?". That is the reference in the joke.

[jcw]

Oh, gotcha. Funny

[lap83]

Ridiculous, a Senator has a very important job...which is, um...obstructionism?

[CE]

The United Kingdom secretary of state for international development, Priti Patel, has resigned over undisclosed meetings she had with Israeli officials.

Is it okay, post-Weinstein, to call her Priti?

[Bacon-Magic glib reasonoid]

See Rufus's comment above.

[John]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.....-1.4390002

Muslim Maddoff goes to trial in Canada.

[Rufus The Monocled]

'Sharia-compliant mortgages'?

I didn't even know we had such a thing.

[BYODB]

Ok, I must know what makes a mortgage sharia compliant. I'm guessing it's because the bank owner isn't Jewish, but that can't be it. Can it? More probably Sharia law dictates how money can be spent / earned / invested and/or how interest is calculated?

I know some faiths believe interest is immoral and a sin, is Islam one of them?

[Citizen X - #6]

Interest is considered usury in Islam and is therefore haram. So-called "Islamic banks" get around this by calling the interest something else.

[Square = Circle]

Interest is considered usury in Islam and is therefore haram. So-called "Islamic banks" get around this by calling the interest something else.

^ This. It's strict Aristotelianism, actually - Aristotle declared that as an inorganic thing, money can't breed itself, and so interest-bearing debt is actually just a sort of theft.

It's often thought of as one of the main reasons that that the most sharia-compliant countries fell prey to European colonialism so easily - capitalism (in the sense of investing large sums of saved up money) is far less possible under strict sharia, and their economies have long been hamstrung by all ventures having to be done with cash-in-hand.

Modern "Islamic Banks" have been working around this out of the recognition that strict adherence to this principle is all but certain to doom Islam generally speaking.

[BYODB]

...their economies have long been hamstrung by all ventures having to be done with cash-in-hand.

Interesting, I seemed to recall that this was a feature of Islam but I hadn't bothered to look into it. That does explain those gauche gold-bar vending machines, though.

[Square = Circle]

It's the silent corollary to the old adage - don't get involved in a land war in Asia.*

*(does not apply to loaning money to the belligerents)

[loveconstitution1789]

Why would anyone lend money if there was not gain?

[Here... take my car, house, and dog for 10 years and give me nothing in return.]

Just because its written in a book does not mean it can't be stupid.

[Square = Circle]

It was "Christian" entities from countries who had come to permit "usury" who were loaning money to the Islamic empires to fund their land wars. Hence (for example), the English East India Company essentially came to hold the mortgage on India by funding Aurangzeb and his kids in their attempt to hold more land than wanted to be held.

The EEIC conquered India without firing a shot.

Christianity outlawed usury up through the sixteenth century, as well. Just because its stupid doesn't mean it can't be enshrined in law for centuries.

[Tom Bombadil]

"Just because its written in a book does not mean it can't be stupid."

In the genre of books you're referring to, it damn near guarantees it.

[Conchfritters]

Said property was never a hog lot.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

AH, Krejewski links ... with an Alt-Text finish ...

Time for a postcoital smoke ...

[Eidde]

"The Air Force Academy says racist graffiti found at its prep school was made by a black cadet candidate, who is no longer enrolled at the school."

I remember this one...the SJWs were creaming their pants, and the head (principal?) of the school summoned all the students to listen to a Stern Lecture about how This Sort of Thing Is Intolerable. Somehow they let in the media to record the speech.

"You should be outraged not only as an airman, but as a human being."

[Eidde]

Next crisis...someone scribbles "aim high" over the urinals.

[widget]

"It's okay to be white"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTPxCX2FEM

[colorblindkid]

"The Air Force Academy says racist graffiti found at its prep school was made by a black cadet candidate, who is no longer enrolled at the school."

Can anybody find me a single "hate incident" on any college campus that didn't turn out to be a hoax? A single one? I'm not talking about the country in general, just on college campuses. There's this strange willingness to believe that our super-liberal elite schools are full of KKK members and homophobes. It would be comical if it didn't drive so much of our national discussion.

There is simply not enough actual hate in this country to warrant the hysteria and fear required to maintain the narrative, so people have to make shit up.