Russia Slipped Spying Gadgets Into G20 Summit Gift Bags

Edward Snowden unavailable for comment
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Russian hosts of the Group of 20 summit near St. Petersburg in September sent world leaders home with gifts designed to keep on giving: memory sticks and recharging cables programmed to spy on their communications, two Italian newspapers reported Tuesday.

A Kremlin spokesman denied the allegations reported by Il Corriere della Sera and La Stampa, both of which attributed their stories to findings of technical investigations ordered by the president of the European Council and carried out by German intelligence.

The USB thumb drives marked with the Russia G20 logo and the three-pronged European phone chargers were “a poisoned gift” from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turin-based La Stampa [link in Italian] said in its report.

“They were Trojan horses designed to obtain information from computers and cellphones,” the paper said.

More: Kremlin Slips Spying Gadgets Into G20 Summit Gift Bags, Newspapers Say

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609 comments
1 sagehen  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:11:52pm

Snowden’s beloved Mother Russia did such a thing!?! Say it isn’t so…

2 wrenchwench  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:40:34pm

Somebody at Interbike was giving out thumb drives, but mine didn’t even make it home. I think I tossed it right away.

Makes you wonder how many people would just stick it in a port without a thought.

3 Romantic Heretic  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:45:36pm

I eagerly await Glenn Greenwald’s meltdown at the thought that any nation would do such a thing.

4 wrenchwench  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:49:15pm

Later, lizards.

5 austin_blue  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:49:32pm

Heard about this today on NPR.

I must say, I was shocked, SHOCKED!!

Heh. Putin, you wily KGB Apparatchik, you…

6 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:49:43pm

Freebies not always free?

Awwww.

7 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:52:00pm

Spy swag!

8 Charles Johnson  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:52:20pm

re: #4 wrenchwench

Later, lizards.

Every time I look, I see another cat.

9 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:53:47pm

So, has Snowden’s FSB lawyer been providing him with flash drives?

10 austin_blue  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 5:56:20pm

re: #6 Justanotherhuman

Freebies not always free?

Awwww.

I hear the National Enquirer is putting together the gift bags for this years’ Oscars.

Enquiring minds, dontcha know…

11 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:00:09pm

Here’s the La Stampa story, Google translated.

The poisoned chalice of Putin
USB stick with bugs

lastampa.it

12 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:05:49pm

I eagerly await Greenwald weighing in on Russia’s spying on the personal communications…sorry, I couldn’t type that with a straight face.

13 urbanmeemaw  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:12:32pm

Putin did it because he needed to find out when Obama was launching the drone attack to destroy Snowden’s hideout which would enable the Navy Seals to grab Snowden and throw him into a black hole for eternity Amen. Can i haz journamalizm now?

14 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:12:47pm

Sorry, posted twice for some reason.

15 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:13:39pm

re: #14 Justanotherhuman

From the Corriere Della Sera

Gadget rigged as a gift to leaders
So Putin wanted to spy on Europe

Brussels: a trap in the Kremlin last G20 summit in St. Petersburg

corriere.it

Scroll down, please.

16 Justanotherhuman  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:15:34pm

Google translate makes me smile. : )

17 AlexRogan  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:18:00pm
The USB thumb drives marked with the Russia G20 logo and the three-pronged European phone chargers were “a poisoned gift” from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turin-based La Stampa [link in Italian] said in its report.

“They were Trojan horses designed to obtain information from computers and cellphones,” the paper said.

Gee, ya think?

18 teleskiguy  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:18:46pm

The “Frank Says:” in my browser right now says

The Future is scary! (Yes, it sure is!)

Ol’ Eddie in Russia probably can’t pull that “Frank Says:” up on his browser.

Did that guy ever visit LGF when he had unfettered internet access in the US?

19 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:22:22pm

re: #5 austin_blue

Heard about this today on NPR.

I must say, I was shocked, SHOCKED!!

Heh. Putin, you wily KGB Apparatchik, you…

Your winnings, sir.

20 Feline Fearless Leader  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:26:14pm

Greenwald will appear shortly to say that the Russians bought them at a NSA rummage sale and then relabeled them.
///

21 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:27:49pm

re: #20 Feline Fearless Leader

Greenwald will appear shortly to say that the Russians bought them at a NSA rummage sale and then relabeled them.
///

Nah, he’ll just go with the old Alex Jones standby: “FALSE FLAG!!1”

22 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:32:41pm

re: #21 Dark_Falcon

Nah, he’ll just go with the old Alex Jones standby: “FALSE FLAG!!1”

Nah, I figure he’ll just ignore the story. And if he is forced to comment on it, will whine that only America’s spying is what matters, what other countries do is not important.

23 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:35:04pm

I have another theory on the Russian spy drives. Those are not really for gathering data, except one particular data set.

Who is stupid enough to trust them and just use the gifts? Who is smart enough to trash them.

24 Charles Johnson  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:35:43pm
25 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:38:10pm

re: #24 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

“If it was bad for you, would I be allowed to sell it?”

26 Lidane  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:40:25pm

Do any Lizards around here know anything about the National Priorities Project? I’m seeing a lot of chatter on Facebook about the discretionary spending pie chart with a lot of folks thinking that’s the total budget and ZOMG OBUMMER THE TYRANT SPENDS MORE ON TEH MILITARY THAN ANYTHING ELSE. This is irritating.

I don’t know anything about the source or how credible they are.

27 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:44:10pm

Palestinian militants terrorists show off tandem RPG-7 warheads

he Izz-al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, appears to have developed a way of turning standard high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) RPG-7 rounds into tandem warheads that are capable of defeating explosive-reactive armour (ERA).

During a parade through Gaza on 14 September, numerous brigades fighters were seen carrying RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, several of which were fitted with the new type of tandem round.

The rounds appear to consist of either the standard PG-7 or PG-7M HEAT warheads with a precursor charge assembly based on those used in Russian-designed tandem rounds, such as the PG-7VR, which can be fired from an RPG-7.

You need a Janes subscription to read the entire piece. If those are viable warheads, then that is a notable firepower upgrade for Hamas.

28 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:45:34pm

re: #23 Political Atheist

I have another theory on the Russian spy drives. Those are not really for gathering data, except one particular data set.

Who is stupid enough to trust them and just use the gifts? Who is smart enough to trash them.

That would only be useful if you could ensure that the spy drives stayed with the people they were originally given to. If they were given to someone else or lost/discarded/stolen, and then later used by an unknown party, it really wouldn’t tell you much.

29 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:47:36pm

re: #27 Dark_Falcon

What is a tandem round/warhead?

30 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:50:23pm

re: #29 CuriousLurker

What is a tandem round/warhead?

It is able to penetrate far more modern armor than the previous version. The worry is a similar experience to what the Isralis had last time around. The enemy had far more powerful; anti tank missiles than expected. Of course it also denotes an escalation from those that support them.

31 ThomasLite  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:55:29pm

re: #30 Political Atheist

It is able to penetrate far more modern armor than the previous version. The worry is a similar experience to what the Isralis had last time around. The enemy had far more powerful; anti tank missiles than expected. Of course it also denotes an escalation from those that support them.

…Or simply a bunch of Syrian (Libyan?) arsenals perhaps not being quite as well-guarded and inventoried as they used to be.

32 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 6:57:31pm

re: #29 CuriousLurker

What is a tandem round/warhead?

It’s designed to defeat Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA), which uses two explosively drive steel plates to cause a High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) to detonate (and thus its the plasma jet to form) prematurely. A tandem charge warhead counters this with a precursor charge that detonates a fraction of a second before the main charge. The smaller charge’s plasma jet cuts through the ERA plates, leaving the primary charge in perfect position to attack the vehicle’s armor.

33 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:01:56pm

re: #30 Political Atheist

Thanks. I just looked it up and found this, which also explains the “tandem” part of the name:

A tandem-charge weapon is an explosive device or projectile that has two or more stages of detonation. It is effective against reactive armour, which is designed to protect an armoured vehicle (mostly tanks) against anti-tank munitions. The first stage of the weapon is typically a weak charge that either pierces the reactive armour of the target without detonating it leaving a channel through the reactive armour which the HEAT jet of the second warhead may pass unimpeded, or simply detonating the armourplate causing the timing of the counter-explosion to fail. The second detonation from the same projectile (which defines it as a tandem charge) attacks the same location as the first detonation where the reactive armour has been compromised. Since the regular armour plating is often the only defence remaining, the main charge (second detonation) has an increased likelihood of penetrating the armour.

en.wikipedia.org

Of course that meant I also had to look up other stuff, like reactive armour:

Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened long rod penetrators.

And HEAT:

High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads are made of an explosive shaped charge that uses the Munroe effect to create a very high-velocity partial stream of metal in a state of superplasticity that can punch through solid armor.

I stopped there because it creeps me out to read about how diabolical the design of some weapons are. *shudder*

34 jaunte  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:03:57pm

Why Asking Texans on Facebook for Advice on Governing Is a Bad Idea

Close Borders! No Income tax or Sharia! Succeed!

35 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:05:16pm

re: #33 CuriousLurker

Thanks. I just looked it up and found this, which also explains the “tandem” part of the name:

Of course that meant I also had to look up other stuff, like reactive armour:

And HEAT:

I stopped there because it creeps me out to read about how diabolical the design of some weapons are. *shudder*

I don’t shudder reading about it, but that’s because, frankly, I love this stuff. Tanks (and how to fight them) have been a major interest of mine for more than 20 years.

36 ausador  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:06:38pm

re: #29 CuriousLurker

What is a tandem round/warhead?

Typical anti-tank rounds have a shaped explosive charge designed to punch a small hole through even very thick armor. The fatalities inside the vehicle are caused by superheated gases, flying shrapnel, and overpressure.

To protect against this, many armored vehicles now use “reactive armor” in which small shaped explosive charge packs are placed on the exterior of the vehicle in vulnerable spots. When the shaped charge projectile detonates against the reactive armor pack the pack explodes disrupting the force of the penetrating plasma and pushing the force of both explosions outwards away from the vehicles armor.

A tandem round warhead is designed specifically to defeat reactive armor systems. It has two explosive charges, usually a small high explosive charge designed solely to detonate the reactive armor pack and a blast armored time delayed (fraction of a second) shaped charge penetration round behind it.

37 Feline Fearless Leader  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:07:08pm

And HEAT rounds and shaped charges go back to WW2. Been around for a pretty long time.

38 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:10:18pm
39 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:12:19pm

re: #34 jaunte

Why Asking Texans on Facebook for Advice on Governing Is a Bad Idea

Close Borders! No Income tax or Sharia! Succeed!

Using Facebook to ask for governing advice is about as smart as sitting there filming a T-72 as it aims its 125mm cannon at you.

The link leads to Live Leak and is apparently real. The tank is clearly a T-72 and further has the thickened turret armor found on the later T-72M1 variant. To bring the discussion full circle, the additional armor is a composite material intended to provide better protection against HEAT rounds.

40 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:12:37pm

re: #35 Dark_Falcon

I don’t shudder reading about it, but that’s because, frankly, I love this stuff. Tanks (and how to fight them) have been a major interest of mine for more than 20 years.

I guess… I guess I shudder and turn away from it because when I read about it and look at something like this, I can’t separate how those kinds of weapons function—which is interesting in an intellectual sense—from their intent, which is to slaughter human beings.

41 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:13:32pm

re: #36 ausador

Thanks. *double shudder*

42 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:14:14pm

FALSE FLAG!

Obviously this was the NSA attempting to make the pure and innocent Russians look bad.

We are on to the NSA’s wicked ways, thanks to Glenn Greenwald and his noble band of Dudebros.

43 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:14:53pm

Yeah, I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit typing that.

44 dog philosopher  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:15:25pm

re: #38 Vicious Babushka

Day 17: Obamacare has wiped out most of my village

you can tell when the obamacare is about to approach because of the whirring noises and eerie blue glow

45 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:15:44pm

re: #40 CuriousLurker

I guess… I guess I shudder and turn away from it because when I read about it and look at something like this, I can’t separate how those kinds of weapons function—which is interesting in an intellectual sense—from their intent, which is to slaughter human beings.

That’s a French round, which is of the same 120mm caliber as used by our M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams tanks. HEAT rounds are a standard part of an M1’s ammunition load.

46 jaunte  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:16:28pm
47 Decatur Deb  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:22:02pm

re: #46 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Had a Brit car that often needed a push. Described it to friends as Blanche Dubois.

48 darthstar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:22:45pm

Fresh Air tonight is about Lou Reed. If you’re not listening, do so now. If you can’t, then find the podcast later.

49 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:23:49pm
50 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:25:54pm

re: #49 Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

Which of course we can’t see for ourselves, we’re to take Greenwald’s word that he’s interpreting them properly.

51 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:27:00pm

re: #39 Dark_Falcon

While the video shows the T-72M1 at its best, keep in mind that this tank is far inferior to our own M1s. The below photo shows the result of a T-72M1 of Iraq’s Republican Guard being hit by a 120mm Hyper-Velocity Fin-Stabilized Armor-Piercing Discarding-Sabot (HYFSAP-DS, pronounced ‘hee-vap’) round during Operation: DESERT STORM back in 1991.

Image: t-72_hit_by_m1_01.jpg

52 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:27:28pm

re: #49 Vicious Babushka

53 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:27:46pm
54 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:28:06pm

re: #52 Kragar

[Embedded content]

Ouch, that’s gonna leave a mark.

55 Vicious Babushka  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:28:21pm

It’s another Powerpoint slide!

56 freetoken  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:31:10pm

It must be sign of me getting older, but I find it not credible that people are surprised governments are in the business of spying. Crotchety old me wonders if the youngsters of today are naive, or are only playing so on the internetz.

57 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:32:37pm

So, how fun would it be to put those spy thumb drives on a bunch of computers that contain nothing but terabytes of…. Gay porn.

58 Belafon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:33:17pm

re: #56 freetoken

Except it’s not only the young, unless by young you mean < 60.

59 Amory Blaine  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:33:34pm

DPI: 73 percent of statewide voucher students already enrolled in private schools

Nearly three-fourths of Wisconsin students attending private schools using new taxpayer-funded vouchers were already attending them, according to enrollment figures released Tuesday by the Department of Public Instruction.

The statewide voucher program, in its first year, is at capacity, with about 500 students receiving vouchers statewide, according to the department. Of those, 79 percent did not attend a Wisconsin public school last year.

60 Lidane  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:33:48pm

re: #56 freetoken

It must be sign of me getting older, but I find it not credible that people are surprised governments are in the business of spying. Crotchety old me wonders if the youngsters of today are naive, or are only playing so on the internetz.

Greenwald, Assange, and all the dudebros over 35 are just opportunistic hacks, since they have selective amnesia about the Cold War and the Bush years. The rest are either naive dupes or just stupid.

61 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:33:52pm

re: #57 Political Atheist

So, how fun would it be to put those spy thumb drives on a bunch of computers that contain nothing but terabytes of…. Gay porn.

It’s a great opportunity for a lot of counter-intel by plugging it into a computer packed to the gills with useless junk and a few “genuine” files that are complete fabrications.

62 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:34:15pm
63 Feline Fearless Leader  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:35:11pm

re: #62 Kragar

[Embedded content]

The document rating of “INCONCEIVABLE” should have been an immediate giveaway.
///

64 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:35:26pm

re: #59 Amory Blaine

DPI: 73 percent of statewide voucher students already enrolled in private schools

A Republican supported voucher program the subject of widespread fraud? Inconceivable!!

65 freetoken  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:36:01pm

Speaking on old and crotchety, I’m halfway through roll 130 of the NARA file of Rev. War muster rolls of the Continental troops, and I wonder if those men could even have conceived about what their effort has wrought some 238 years later.

They would know nothing of bits, bytes, internetz, tweeting, or even of the State of California in which I sit currently.

But they would have been familiar with spying.

66 ProTARDISLiberal  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:36:22pm

re: #60 Lidane

Hey, I’m 23, and I know that spying is completely normal.

67 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:36:50pm

re: #57 Political Atheist

So, how fun would it be to put those spy thumb drives on a bunch of computers that contain nothing but terabytes of…. Gay porn.

Not much fun at all. You’d not accomplish anything. Better to see if you can get the other side to download PDF files that look valuable but in fact have a virus. Wreck a few computers and give Moscow the backhand.

68 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:37:56pm

re: #66 ProTARDISLiberal

Hey, I’m 23, and I know that spying is completely normal.

Yeah, but you are smarter and better informer than most people.

69 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:38:32pm

re: #67 Dark_Falcon

Okay probably right. Just thought I’d take a swipe at their anti gay laws with the news.

70 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:41:00pm

re: #64 Targetpractice

A Republican supported voucher program the subject of widespread fraud? Inconceivable!!

Based on my reading, such use does not constitute fraud. Legally the law needs revision, but it is not being used for fraud.

71 Decatur Deb  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:42:27pm

re: #65 freetoken

Speaking on old and crotchety, I’m halfway through roll 130 of the NARA file of Rev. War muster rolls of the Continental troops, and I wonder if those men could even have conceived about what their effort has wrought some 238 years later.

They would know nothing of bits, bytes, internetz, tweeting, or even of the State of California in which I sit currently.

But they would have been familiar with spying.

Tonight, Freep has a link to a serious history article showing the few surviving Daguerreotypes of Revolutionary War veterans. Usual drivel in the comments.

72 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:43:37pm
73 Belafon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:44:16pm

re: #70 Dark_Falcon

Agree. Fraud’s not the right word. I believe the correct description is: Being used as intended.

Vouchers were never about helping the poor. They were so that the wealthy wouldn’t have to pay for other children to go to school.

74 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:44:17pm

re: #70 Dark_Falcon

Based on my reading, such use does not constitute fraud. Legally the law needs revision, but it is not being used for fraud.

Is it legal? Sure. That doesn’t stop it from being fraud. They are knowingly accepting vouchers that they do not need, crowding out those who could not afford private school educations without the aid of such vouchers.

75 Belafon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:46:17pm

re: #72 Kragar

You mean I get to be a sexual deviant at work? Awesome.

Oh, you mean gays get to be treated like everone else. Bummer.

76 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:47:36pm

re: #65 freetoken

Speaking on old and crotchety, I’m halfway through roll 130 of the NARA file of Rev. War muster rolls of the Continental troops, and I wonder if those men could even have conceived about what their effort has wrought some 238 years later.

They would know nothing of bits, bytes, internetz, tweeting, or even of the State of California in which I sit currently.

But they would have been familiar with spying.

Heh, the congress critters would probably be all lost running around Philly & Manahattan wondering where in the hell they were supposed to meet, and I can’t help but wonder how those troops would react to a black CINC.

77 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:48:14pm

Getting off on beating your wife and kids because the Bible made you the head of your home? Thats cool.

In a stable loving relationship with someone of the same sex? YOU’RE THE DEVIL!

78 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:48:16pm

re: #72 Kragar

[Embedded content]

It just kills him that the US has ceased being an exclusive club for straight white Christian males.

79 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:48:22pm

re: #72 Kragar

[Embedded content]

The bill will still need to flip three more Senators to pass. Given the tough election he is facing, I doubt Mark Pryor will vote in its favor. So ENDA will need at least two more Republicans to get to 60.

Note: Both Illinois Senators are already supporting this bill, so I’m clean on this one.

80 sagehen  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:48:25pm

re: #74 Targetpractice

Is it legal? Sure. That doesn’t stop it from being fraud. They are knowingly accepting vouchers that they do not need, crowding out those who could not afford private school educations without the aid of such vouchers.

Which is probably what it was designed to do.

Voucher proponents don’t give a shit about moving poor kids from crap schools to better schools; it’s about getting subsidies for themselves for the private schools they’re already sending their kids to but don’t like paying out of their own pockets.

81 Feline Fearless Leader  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:48:44pm

re: #76 CuriousLurker

Heh, the congress critters would probably be all lost running around Philly & Manahattan wondering where in the hell they were supposed to meet, and I can’t help but wonder how those troops would react to a black CINC.

Franklin would probably be in a bar drinking beer and flirting with the barmaids and waitresses.

82 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:49:40pm

re: #80 sagehen

Which is probably what it was designed to do.

Voucher proponents don’t give a shit about moving poor kids from crap schools to better schools; it’s about getting subsidies for themselves for the private schools they’re already sending their kids to but don’t like paying out of their own pockets.

Reminds me of the Louisiana effort of recent years, which was a laughable attempt to portray a program intended to allow parents to put their kids in religious schools on the state dime as “school choice.”

83 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:50:42pm

re: #81 Feline Fearless Leader

Franklin would probably be in a bar drinking beer and flirting with the barmaids and waitresses.

I wonder who’d be the most active tweeter…?

84 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:53:25pm

re: #83 CuriousLurker

I wonder who’d be the most active tweeter…?

Probably Jefferson, though Franklin would be a blogger.

85 Amory Blaine  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:53:57pm

God’s Co-Pilot

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sees divine intervention in key moments of his political career.

Heh.

He doesn’t mention the baseball bat at all, skipping right ahead to the press conference called to clean up the mess. Walker only took four questions as protesters chanted at a decibel level that rammed right through the office doors. “Only later did I realize that God had a plan for me with that episode,” writes Walker. After his press conference, he picked up his daily devotional and saw the title for Feb. 23: The power of humility, the burden of pride.

“I looked up and said, ‘I hear you, Lord,’” writes Walker. “God was sending me a clear message to not do things for personal glory or fame. It was a turning point that helped me in future challenges, helped me stay focused on the people I was elected to serve, and reminded me of God’s abundant grace and the paramount need to stay humble.”

Well bless his heart.

86 jaunte  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:54:00pm

re: #80 sagehen

Which is probably what it was designed to do.

Voucher proponents don’t give a shit about moving poor kids from crap schools to better schools; it’s about getting subsidies for themselves for the private schools they’re already sending their kids to but don’t like paying out of their own pockets.

87 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:54:49pm

re: #74 Targetpractice

Is it legal? Sure. That doesn’t stop it from being fraud. They are knowingly accepting vouchers that they do not need, crowding out those who could not afford private school educations without the aid of such vouchers.

If the system of awarding vouchers needs to be altered, then that should be done. But those astute enough to get them shouldn’t feel bad about having gotten them.

Youtube Video

88 jaunte  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:54:54pm

re: #80 sagehen

Which is probably what it was designed to do.

Voucher proponents don’t give a shit about moving poor kids from crap schools to better schools; it’s about getting subsidies for themselves for the private schools they’re already sending their kids to but don’t like paying out of their own pockets.

Very libertarian.

89 ProTARDISLiberal  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:54:57pm

re: #84 Targetpractice

Sounds about right.

In life, Jefferson very much seems to have been a grade-A hypocrite.

90 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:55:03pm

re: #84 Targetpractice

Probably Jefferson, though Franklin would be a blogger.

Ha! I was just thinking the exact same thing.

91 jamesfirecat  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:55:09pm

re: #81 Feline Fearless Leader

Franklin would probably be in a bar drinking beer and flirting with the barmaids and waitresses.

Oh to be seventy again….

92 Bear  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:55:22pm

re: #65 freetoken

Wonder if there is something similar that would list soldiers from Virginia who fought in the Revolution? Several of my ancestors did. One was at Yorktown.
Do you know of anything?

Thanks

93 Decatur Deb  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:55:26pm

re: #84 Targetpractice

Probably Jefferson, though Franklin would be a blogger.

Thomas Paine would be emailing to the president from Paris, with large blocks in ALL CAPS.

94 jaunte  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:55:42pm

Sorry about the weird double post.

95 simoom  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:56:16pm

Greenwald on AC360 — weirdly phrased question, delusional response:

mediaite.com

COOPER: “So when someone like Cheney, or anyone, says that it has done harm — what Snowden’s done has done harm to the United States — have you seen any actual proof of harm to the United States? Is there any proof that could be shown to you that would make you believe it has harmed the United States?”

GREENWALD: “Let a single government official, who goes on television, and says that anything we have published has harmed the United States, point to a single fact, that we have published, that has resulted in any tangible harm, and make them say what that harm is.”

96 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:56:48pm

re: #87 Dark_Falcon

If the system of awarding vouchers needs to be altered, then that should be done. But those astute enough to get them shouldn’t feel bad about having gotten them.

[Embedded content]

If the program’s guidelines for who qualifies for these vouchers are so loose that 73% of them are going to people who have no need of them, then the program itself may well and truly be FUBAR.

97 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:58:05pm

re: #94 jaunte

Sorry about the weird double post.

That does it. I’VE HAD IT WITH YOU—GET OUT!!11!

98 jaunte  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:58:39pm

re: #97 CuriousLurker

I will goan oh moral Roman!

99 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:58:47pm

re: #89 ProTARDISLiberal

Sounds about right.

In life, Jefferson very much seems to have been a grade-A hypocrite.

When looking at the Founders, it’s best to put yourself in that 18th century mindset of what was “trendy” amongst the classical liberal crowd. That’s not intended as an excuse or condone what they did, just to establish a frame of mind.

100 Amory Blaine  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 7:59:14pm

re: #93 Decatur Deb

Thomas Paine would be emailing to the president from Paris, with large blocks in ALL CAPS.

Under the pseudonym “Francis”
/

101 Decatur Deb  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:00:52pm

re: #100 Amory Blaine

Under the pseudonym “Francis”
/

francoise

102 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:01:45pm

re: #100 Amory Blaine

Under the pseudonym “Francis”
/

Oh man, I forgot all about him. He never came back… (Edited to avoid jinx.)

103 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:04:01pm

This is a good way to get shot: Halloween gunman prank: Kid armed with toy rifle chases people down

In a day and age where children are frequently suspended from school for drawing pictures of or even pantomiming a gun, and after one California teen was fatally shot by deputies for carrying a toy AK-47 down the street, one man thought it would be a hilarious Halloween prank to pretend to be a gunman, don a mask, and chase people down with an Airsoft rifle.

This is probably one of the most efficient ways to be shot by a concealed weapons carrier, by law enforcement, or for that matter, sustain great bodily injury or death at the hands of anybody who fears for their life.

Youtube Video

104 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:09:48pm

re: #102 CuriousLurker

Oh man, I forgot all about him. He never came back… (Edited to avoid jinx.)

It’s kinda like if you turn off the lights, look in a mirror and repeat, “Buck, Buck, Buck…”

105 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:11:16pm

There’s something amusing about people who spent years making excuses for the lack of WMDs in Iraq getting irate that Obama said if you like your insurance you can keep it.

106 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:13:58pm

re: #104 CuriousLurker

It’s kinda like if you turn off the lights, look in a mirror and repeat, “Buck, Buck, Buck…”

Buck: “It’s showtime.”

Youtube Video

107 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:15:55pm

re: #105 Targetpractice

Remember this costing the man re election?

Read my lips.

Youtube Video

108 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:16:13pm

re: #106 Dark_Falcon

Buck: “It’s showtime.”

[Embedded content]

LOL!

109 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:17:07pm

re: #107 Political Atheist

Remember this costing the man re election?

bing.com

I do indeed remember. I also remember about “mushroom clouds” not stopping his son from winning reelection.

110 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:19:20pm

re: #109 Targetpractice

He won, but not by much. Wartime re election is ordinarily a no brainer. Probably gonna keep Jeb out.

111 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:20:06pm

re: #110 Political Atheist

He won, but not by much. Wartime re election is ordinarily a no brainer. Probably gonna keep Jeb out.

My guess is that Jeb won’t have a real chance til after the TP fever breaks.

112 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:20:53pm

re: #109 Targetpractice

I do indeed remember. I also remember about “mushroom clouds” not stopping his son from winning reelection.

His son had a somewhat better reelection team, and had an economy that was growing. Bush the Younger was also facing a lesser challenger.

113 Decatur Deb  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:20:57pm

Daily Show just established that Alabama and Mississippi are the two gayest states in the US.

114 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:23:48pm

re: #112 Dark_Falcon

His son had a somewhat better reelection team, and had an economy that was growing. Bush the Younger was also facing a lesser challenger.

Which is rather the point, the suggestion that a president lying or simply being accused of doing such is not always a deal-breaker.

115 teleskiguy  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:26:26pm

Bad Religion made a Christmas album. It’s oddly compelling.

116 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:31:30pm

re: #114 Targetpractice
I better point this out. In fairness to GHB and Obama.
In both instances, read my lips and you can keep your plan, the men intended to keep their word. In both cases being wrong or perceived as such hurts them at their base and outside the party.

117 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:35:50pm

re: #116 Political Atheist

I better point this out. In fairness to GHB and Obama.
In both instances, read my lips and you can keep your plan, the men intended to keep their word. In both cases being wrong or perceived as such hurts them at their base and outside the party.

I think that in itself depends largely on efforts to educate the public on the benefits of the law and on getting those who have “lost” their plans onto ones that are better and cheaper than the old ones. Despite all the horror stories of “sticker shock,” I’ve heard just as many of people who had been locked into expensive plans for years because of an existing medical condition who are finding far cheaper plans on the exchanges.

118 Interesting Times  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:39:11pm

re: #108 CuriousLurker

Speaking of trolls who come back, isn’t it doubly hilarious when they respond to your post but reply to the wrong person? 9_9 (I don’t have that “flame warrior” website handy, but there’s got to be an entry for someone who claims they’re debating you when all they’re doing is repeating the same debunked talking points and strawmen over and over again)

119 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:42:17pm

Speaking of the “sticker shock” business, my father related a tale the other night of a buddy from work whose daughter went looking on the exchange. She has no insurance, so when she saw how “expensive” it would be to get insurance, her father advised her to just pay the penalty to the IRS and go without. Didn’t feel like getting into an argument with him about how she could have gone to see if she qualifies for any subsidies that would bring down the cost of a policy.

120 Political Atheist  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:43:24pm

re: #117 Targetpractice

The first couple years are going to be a little rough. Broad coverage starts fast, monies from the young will take time to build on. It’s a little like the web site, the big demand is largely up front. No time to build on. It’s just on. The ranks of individual policy holders is going to grow fast from the previously uninsured pool.

This kind of change hurts until the right adjustments are put in and the revenue high.

121 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:45:11pm

re: #120 Political Atheist

The first couple years are going to be a little rough. Broad coverage starts fast, monies from the young will take time to build on. It’s a little like the web site, the big demand is largely up front. No time to build on. It’s just on. The ranks of individual policy holders is going to grow fast from the previously uninsured pool.

This kind of change hurts until the right adjustments are put in and the revenue high.

My understanding is that the younger folks didn’t sign up for insurance in MA under Romneycare until the last second before the deadline. I imagine that’s what we’ll see with the ACA, a huge rush in the last weeks before March 31st by young folks to get in under the wire.

122 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:45:44pm

re: #118 Interesting Times

Speaking of trolls who came back, isn’t it doubly hilarious when they respond to your post but reply to the wrong person? 9_9 (I don’t have that “flame warrior” website handy, but there’s got to be an entry for someone claims they’re debating you when all they’re doing is repeating the same debunked talking points and strawmen over and over again)

There is indeed such an entry:

Ferrous Cranus

Ferrous Cranus is utterly impervious to reason, persuasion and new ideas, and when engaged in battle he will not yield an inch in his position regardless of its hopelessness. Though his thrusts are decisively repulsed, his arguments crushed in every detail and his defenses demolished beyond repair he will remount the same attack again and again with only the slightest variation in tactics. Sometimes out of pure frustration Philosopher will try to explain to him the failed logistics of his situation, or Therapist will attempt to penetrate the psychological origins of his obduracy, but, ever unfathomable, Ferrous Cranus cannot be moved.

123 Belafon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:46:22pm

re: #119 Targetpractice

Maybe you could mention to your dad that those prices are unsubsidised. Show him where the subsidy calculator is.

124 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:50:55pm

re: #118 Interesting Times

And what does that guy know anyways? Forget him, he’s a White Sox fan!

/North Side born and raised.

125 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 8:53:04pm

re: #123 Belafon

Maybe you could mention to your dad that those prices are unsubsidised. Show him where the subsidy calculator is.

The man’s a Faux News viewer. Not habitually, but it’s the first “news” station he turns to when he wants info on a story. Trying to alter his view of the ACA would just aggravate him.

126 Dark_Falcon  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:04:58pm

re: #125 Targetpractice

The man’s a Faux News viewer. Not habitually, but it’s the first “news” station he turns to when he wants info on a story. Trying to alter his view of the ACA would just aggravate him.

Then don’t use the website. Run the numbers yourself and then show your work as well as a printout showing how the subsidy is computed. That kind of “just the number” tactic would have a decent chance to get through.

127 CuriousLurker  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:10:49pm

re: #118 Interesting Times

Speaking of trolls who came back, isn’t it doubly hilarious when they respond to your post but reply to the wrong person? 9_9 (I don’t have that “flame warrior” website handy, but there’s got to be an entry for someone claims they’re debating you when all they’re doing is repeating the same debunked talking points and strawmen over and over again)

LOL, this one appears to have the attention span of Dug.

128 dog philosopher  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:11:29pm

re: #46 jaunte

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”]

i have always depended on strangeness

129 Mentis Fugit  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:14:22pm

re: #104 CuriousLurker

It’s kinda like if you turn off the lights, look in a mirror and repeat, “Buck, Buck, Buck…”

I tried that. A chicken appeared.

130 dog philosopher  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:39:55pm

the lost world of communism

a documentary

131 Romantic Heretic  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:41:48pm

re: #33 CuriousLurker

Thanks. I just looked it up and found this, which also explains the “tandem” part of the name:

Of course that meant I also had to look up other stuff, like reactive armour:

And HEAT:

I stopped there because it creeps me out to read about how diabolical the design of some weapons are. *shudder*

Shaped charged weapons have been around since WWII. The famous bazooka was the first that I know of. That was followed by the German Panzerschreck (which was a must better weapon) and the Panzerfaust, the first disposable anti-tank weapon. The British PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) was also introduced around this time. You couldn’t fire the PIAT from an upper story to a target on the street because the projectile would fall out of the tube.

Spaced armour was created to defeat these weapons, and tandem weapons were designed to defeat spaced armour.

Personally, I like the top attack weapons. They attack the weakest armour on the tank. Hamas doesn’t have these.

Yet.

132 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:44:57pm

Daily Show takes down CNN

Youtube Video

133 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:54:38pm

New Verb

Blitzered: to ask someone a question which has a complex answer and making them just chose “GOOD OR BAD”.

134 bratwurst  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 9:59:32pm
135 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:04:53pm
136 KiTA  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:12:49pm
137 Lidane  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:13:40pm

re: #135 Kragar

Someone needs to explain the difference between rights and obligations to Fischer.

138 KiTA  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:15:38pm

Also, saw this reply:


Man, Fischer’s on a roll tonight, isn’t he?

139 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:16:05pm

re: #137 Lidane

Someone needs to explain the difference between rights and obligations to Fischer.

Someone needs to explain how not to be a fucking asshole to Fischer.

140 darthstar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:20:24pm

I coined the term “the cock of righteousness” years ago when debating Bush supporters who used Jesus to justify killing brown people overseas…I never dreamed they’d use that as a model for their buildings.

141 piratedan  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:21:34pm

re: #95 simoom

Greenwald on AC360 — weirdly phrased question, delusional response:

mediaite.com

if only Glen could do the same thing about what he’s released that indicates that the NSA has broken the law…….

142 Lidane  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:27:54pm
143 KiTA  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:28:43pm

re: #139 Kragar

Someone needs to explain how not to be a fucking asshole to Fischer.

He’s a fame troll, nothing more. He knows that his small niche will find him hilarious, he’s moving the Overton window ever to the right amongst Christians, and the more people scandalized by what he says, the more attention — and ad money — he gets.

It’s the same thing Coultergeist, Rush, Glenn, and O’Really do. I really, really wish Liberals would get in on the act, although the second one did, the ultra-far right would just stage some synchronized outrage and get them shut down.

144 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:30:00pm

re: #142 Lidane

[Embedded content]

More accurate headline: “Many Republicans still reluctant to admit they voted for Bush twice.”

145 Kragar  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:40:37pm

re: #142 Lidane

[Embedded content]

Fun Fact: About 20% of Americans polled think the moon landings were faked.

I imagine the Venn Diagram between the two groups has one hell of an overlap.

146 Lidane  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:47:41pm

WTF:

McCain: ENDA Could Lead To ‘Busing,’ ‘Reverse Discrimination’

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Tuesday that he has not yet decided whether he will support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace, due to concerns that it might lead to “busing” and “reverse discrimination.”

McCain said that sometimes when laws that promote equality include provisions with quotas, the legislation fails to address inequality.

“Whether it imposes quotas, whether it has reverse discrimination, whether it has the kinds of provisions that really preserve equal rights for all citizens or, like for example, busing. Busing was done in the name of equality. Busing was a failure. Quotas were a failure,” McCain told the Huffington Post. “A lot of people thought they were solutions. They weren’t. They bred problems.”

147 Targetpractice  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 10:51:24pm

re: #146 Lidane

WTF:

McCain: ENDA Could Lead To ‘Busing,’ ‘Reverse Discrimination’

The man is LONG overdue for retirement.

148 Varek Raith  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 11:08:10pm

re: #146 Lidane

WTF:

McCain: ENDA Could Lead To ‘Busing,’ ‘Reverse Discrimination’

Lolwhut.

149 Sol Berdinowitz  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 11:08:49pm

re: #142 Lidane

Poll: 22 percent of Americans identify or lean libertarian

There are isolated ideas in Libertarianism that most anyone can agree with, it is just that they do not fit together to form a coherent approach to government.

150 freetoken  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 11:45:39pm

Is modern civilization becoming too much of a burden for our species?

151 sagehen  Tue, Oct 29, 2013 11:57:12pm

re: #149 Sol Berdinowitz

There are isolated ideas in Libertarianism that most anyone can agree with, it is just that they do not fit together to form a coherent approach to government.

The last time I tried to argue with a liberatian on the internet, he insisted the Transcontinental Railroad was an unconscionable government overreach. “If we had really needed it, the free market would have provided.”

There’s just no talking to some people.

152 freetoken  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:12:58am

I’m motivated in asking that question for several reasons.

One is, as I delve more into genomics, DNA, our ancestry, human evolution (both distant and recent), and so forth, and then I search how other people are dealing with these topics, there is a sea of utter confusion out there, lots of fear, and lots of avoidance.

It’s all just too much.

And I don’t mean just conceptually, abstractly as an esoteric subject requiring mental gymnastics.

It’s just too much emotionally. Pull back the covers on what it means to be us, to be human, and people start to fidget.

The best example is this question: who is your father? Now, some people know they were adopted and others know they never knew a father, but even those of you who think you know who your biological father was, do you realize there is a small % chance that he was not? The non-paternity rate varies over centuries and cultures, but in some places at certain times can be quite high.

Our modern tool sets can wreck havoc with what we think we know. Secrets long buried can be exposed.

I wonder if the ability to forget is an evolutionary adaptation, a way for us who have evolved an abstract processing capability, at least sufficient to imagine future as distinct from present, to protect us from being paralyzed by the pain of the past.

153 freetoken  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:17:00am

MP3 Audio

154 Lidane  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:18:26am

Yeah, this is about right:

Image: headlines.png

155 wheat-dogghazi  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:43:07am

re: #151 sagehen

The last time I tried to argue with a liberatian on the internet, he insisted the Transcontinental Railroad was an unconscionable government overreach. “If we had really needed it, the free market would have provided.”

There’s just no talking to some people.

If railroading had been left to the railroads, the USA would have never had a transcontinental railway until the 1900s. The West Coast would have developed its own culture and perhaps language, given the Spanish influence, and the interior of the country would have been like the Australian outback — underpopulated and undeveloped. Transport from East to West would have been by stagecoach, and eventually motor vehicles, and heavy and/or bulk transport only by sail and steamships. i doubt we would have ended up with 50 states, much less a breadbasket in the central states.

In the developed part of the USA, there were different gauges and signaling systems used by the private railways until commerce, and government pressure, forced them to standardize.

You could argue that eventually economic pressure, such as competition from shipping and motor transport, would have convinced the railroads to standardize and to undertake the huge task of crossing the USA with trackage. But the Transcontinental RR was basically a “proof of concept.” Without federal support, no sane businessman would have risked the fortunes of his company to link San Francisco with the eastern states.

156 wheat-dogghazi  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:45:42am

re: #154 Lidane

Yeah, this is about right:

Image: headlines.png

He’s nailed the 21st century headline writing style, including the “one weird trick” ad line.

158 Amory Blaine  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 1:56:37am

Anyone see the rainbow confederate flag on The Daily Show tonight?

159 freetoken  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 1:59:36am

This one goes out to all the glibertarians everywhere:

MP3 Audio

160 freetoken  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 2:03:12am

re: #157 Varek Raith

He’s always relied upon the kindness of strangers.

161 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 2:12:41am

re: #130 dog philosopher

the lost world of communism

a documentary

My ex-wife participated in the Spartakiad event in Prague in 1985; she was in the Young Pioneers at the time.

Part of the documentary series is “The Kingdom of Forgetting”, about Communism in Czechoslovakia. It’s interesting as hell.

Youtube Video

162 wheat-dogghazi  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 2:36:10am

re: #157 Varek Raith

Rand Paul Has Given Speeches Plagiarized From Wikipedia Before
Lol.

One wonders whether he pulled this kind of shit in college and medical school.

163 freetoken  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 2:47:58am

re: #162 wheat-dogghazi

This one goes out to Mr. Aqua Buddha:

MP3 Audio

164 CuriousLurker  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 3:02:13am

re: #131 Romantic Heretic

Yikes. Thanks for the additional info.

165 freetoken  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 3:16:08am

It’s time to get in the mood… from 1898:

MP3 Audio

166 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 4:19:01am

re: #17 AlexRogan

Anyone dumb enough to insert any “free gift” from Russia into their computer all but deserves to have their information stolen…

167 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 4:38:35am

And the ever-popular HURR HURR COMMUNISTS!!!!1!!! Herp-De-Derp:

168 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 4:51:08am

Lots of comments everywhere about this viral “Baby moved to tears by mom’s tearjerking sad song”
Youtube Video

No you dumbasses. The baby does not have the emotional maturity to know what a “sad song” is, much less be “moved to tears” by sheer beautiful singing.

Baby is sitting in a high chair expecting to be fed, but instead of giving it food, Mommy starts making sad face and scary sounds come out of her mouth.
BABY IS HUNGRY.
STOP SCARING BABY WITH YOUR MOUTH NOISE AND SHOVEL SOME FOOD IN THAT ADORABLE PIE HOLE.

169 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 4:56:13am

Here is my favorite “Baby’s react to parent’s performance.”
Youtube Video
The babies have already been fed so this is “after dinner entertainment,” they are adorable in their synchronized head bopping, and Daddy has some mad pickin’ ‘n’ strummin’ skillz.

170 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:04:48am

Morning Lizards.

171 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:05:40am

Lunchtime here (Central European Time)

172 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:09:00am

Who is Snarls Pondscum?

173 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:10:38am

re: #172 Vicious Babushka

Who is Snarls Pondscum?

John Galt’s real name.

174 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:11:26am

re: #171 Sol Berdinowitz

Lunchtime here (Central European Time)

Sunrise isn’t for another two hours here (Idaho). Debating on wether I should go back to bed or fix an egg sandwich for breakfast.

175 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:22:26am

re: #167 Vicious Babushka

And the ever-popular HURR HURR COMMUNISTS!!!!1!!! Herp-De-Derp:

[Embedded content]

That ‘Terry’ tweet also teaches us something else: It tells us that all of the wooden ‘furniture’ on Terry’s guns is made of Birch.

176 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:24:06am

re: #174 Bubblehead II

Sunrise isn’t for another two hours here (Idaho). Debating on wether I should go back to bed or fix an egg sandwich for breakfast.

My favorite is to go back to bed after breakfast. Gotta get up early to do that, though.

177 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:26:49am

re: #176 wrenchwench

My favorite is to go back to bed after breakfast. Gotta get up early to do that, though.

Breakfast won out. After I finish the sandwich, gotta get laundry started.

178 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:26:51am

re: #172 Vicious Babushka

Who is Snarls Pondscum?

Google Images gives this. Looks pretty nice.

179 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:31:51am

Been raining here since about 1 a.m.
Still raining.
Looks like a good day for soup and maybe some baking…

180 Sionainn  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:42:41am

Anyone have any ideas on why I try to upding something and it pops me to the front page? I’ve been having this problem for days now.

181 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:43:56am

re: #180 Sionainn

Anyone have any ideas on why I try to upding something and it pops me to the front page? I’ve been having this problem for days now.

Clear your cache and reload the browser.

182 CuriousLurker  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:45:23am

re: #180 Sionainn

Anyone have any ideas on why I try to upding something and it pops me to the front page? I’ve been having this problem for days now.

Nope, but logging out, clearing my cache, restarting my browser, and then logging back in solves 99% of the problems I’ve encountered with wonky browser behavior here.

183 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:48:32am

re: #155 wheat-dogghazi

If railroading had been left to the railroads, the USA would have never had a transcontinental railway until the 1900s. The West Coast would have developed its own culture and perhaps language, given the Spanish influence, and the interior of the country would have been like the Australian outback — underpopulated and undeveloped. Transport from East to West would have been by stagecoach, and eventually motor vehicles, and heavy and/or bulk transport only by sail and steamships. i doubt we would have ended up with 50 states, much less a breadbasket in the central states.

In the developed part of the USA, there were different gauges and signaling systems used by the private railways until commerce, and government pressure, forced them to standardize.

You could argue that eventually economic pressure, such as competition from shipping and motor transport, would have convinced the railroads to standardize and to undertake the huge task of crossing the USA with trackage. But the Transcontinental RR was basically a “proof of concept.” Without federal support, no sane businessman would have risked the fortunes of his company to link San Francisco with the eastern states.

On top of that, even with government backing, some of the UP execs expected the project to fail. That’s one reason they did all the split offs with the Credit Mobiler and so forth. They were skimming money off the railroad building part, using cheap sleepers, etc. since they expected things to fail and thus were making a profit while they could.

Once it looked like the project was going to be viable they then ended up replacing whole sections of track over the next decade in order to put in better sleepers and so forth.

And a major reason the government backed it is that the military wanted it. The US Army at that time was spending over half their budget (and more like 70%) on freight charges to get supplies to their military posts that were guarding the various wagon roads in the West.

184 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:49:41am

re: #180 Sionainn

Anyone have any ideas on why I try to upding something and it pops me to the front page? I’ve been having this problem for days now.

Clearing your Cache and/or restarting your browser is Charles recommended fix for this problem.

185 Sionainn  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 5:57:07am

I (think) I’ve cleared the cache and restarted the browser. Same issues.

186 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:00:17am

re: #183 Feline Fearless Leader

And a major reason the government backed it is that the military wanted it. The US Army at that time was spending over half their budget (and more like 70%) on freight charges to get supplies to their military posts that were guarding the various wagon roads in the West.

Remember who was behind the Interstate Highway System?

187 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:00:28am

re: #185 Sionainn

I (think) I’ve cleared the cache and restarted the browser. Same issues.

I had that for a few days a week or so ago. I think I ended up cold rebooting the machine since restarting (and even updating) Firefox did not affect it.

188 Sionainn  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:01:04am

I went to “History” and then “Clear Recent History” and cleared the cache there. I also went to “Tools,” “Options,” “Network” and cleared the cache there.

189 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:01:22am

re: #186 Sol Berdinowitz

Remember who was behind the Interstate Highway System?

You mean that odd 10,000’ foot straight section requirement every 10 miles or so had something to do with the military?!?
/ ;)

190 Sionainn  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:02:12am

Feline Fearless Leader: I’ll try that. Thanks, all.

191 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:09:57am

Poll: Virginia governor race a nailbiter

With less than a week until Election Day, Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe holds a slim lead over Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in a tightening race, according to a poll on Wednesday.

McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli among likely voters 45 percent to 41 percent, with 9 percent for Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. The edge is within the poll’s margin of error.

The poll also found that if Sarvis were not in the race, likely voters would split for McAuliffe 47 percent to 45 percent, which Quinnipiac describes as “too close to call.”

Last week, Quinnipiac polling showed McAuliffe up 46 percent to 39 percent.

The poll may be an outlier, but I would seriously love it if McAuliffe ends up losing. The setback it would represent for the Dems would be substantial, and it would set a good tone for Republicans, having been able to pull together and get their man over the finish line.

192 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:11:32am

I’ll take it. An extra $16/mo will help with that 17% increase in the electric bill Duke Power is charging.

Social Security benefits to go up by 1.5 percent

hosted.ap.org

WASHINGTON (AP) — Social Security benefits for nearly 58 million people will increase by 1.5 percent next year, the government announced Wednesday.

“The increase is among the smallest since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. It is small because consumer prices haven’t gone up much in the past year.

“The annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is based on a government measure of inflation that was released Wednesday morning.”

At least my rent hasn’t gone up in 3 yrs. The owners say they won’t raise it until property taxes are increased. Needless to say, I love living here since they keep these units repaired and kept up, and it’s a lovely view from my little balcony (woods), quiet, and very safe. And for this area, they’re very reasonable for a decent place to live. These units are tucked back behind single homes on acre+ lots, with a long driveway as a designated “lane” for P.O. address purposes. You wouldn’t even know they were here unless someone told you. I feel lucky that someone told me about them.

Oh, I also was notified that my Medicare deductible has been reduced for 2014, too.

No doubt a result of Obamacare. Thank you, Mr. President. : )

193 jamesfirecat  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:14:08am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

Poll: Virginia governor race a nailbiter

The poll may be an outlier, but I would seriously love it if McAuliffe ends up losing. The setback it would represent for the Dems would be substantial, and it would set a good tone for Republicans, having been able to pull together and get their man over the finish line.

So you would support a candidate like Ken Cuccinelli despite being a fundamentalist who has argued against women’s right to get an abortion?

What exactly does a republican have to do to get on that “I won’t vote for them/ support them ever” list of yours?

194 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:16:12am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

Poll: Virginia governor race a nailbiter

The poll may be an outlier, but I would seriously love it if McAuliffe ends up losing. The setback it would represent for the Dems would be substantial, and it would set a good tone for Republicans, having been able to pull together and get their man over the finish line.

Down dinged you for this one. Obviously, as long as a candidate has an “R” behind his or her name, whatever his policies would be, no matter how damaging to real people, you would vote for them.

That’s not very clear thinking on your part, unless you simply don’t really care about what happens to people’s lives.

195 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:17:49am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

Poll: Virginia governor race a nailbiter

The poll may be an outlier, but I would seriously love it if McAuliffe ends up losing. The setback it would represent for the Dems would be substantial, and it would set a good tone for Republicans, having been able to pull together and get their man over the finish line.

WTF. NO! It would seriously SUCK if Cuccinelli won. And he is not going to.

196 makeitstop  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:18:53am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

Poll: Virginia governor race a nailbiter

The poll may be an outlier, but I would seriously love it if McAuliffe ends up losing. The setback it would represent for the Dems would be substantial, and it would set a good tone for Republicans, having been able to pull together and get their man over the finish line.

Go team, right?
///////

197 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:19:34am
198 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:20:18am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

You’re supporting Cuccinelli , who is worse than Ted Cruz.

What the fuck is wrong with you.

199 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:20:27am

re: #193 jamesfirecat

So you would support a candidate like Ken Cuccinelli despite being a fundamentalist who has argued against women’s right to get an abortion?

What exactly does a republican have to do to get on that “I won’t vote for them/ support them ever” list of yours?

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

200 jamesfirecat  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:21:50am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

Real cute DF, care to answer my question about what act(s) in particular if a Republican commits you will not vote/support/root for them?

201 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:22:40am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

Rick Santorum is a Catholic and while not a fundamentalist in the Protestant tradition, he is certainly ultra-orthodox.

There are Catholics out there that adhere to a very narrow, strict, and extremely dogmatic interpretation of Catholicism.

See: Gibson, Mel.

202 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:22:42am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

Santorum is Catholic as well. Doesn’t stop him from being a nut.

203 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:22:58am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

He’s still a misogynistic jerk. But that doesn’t seem to matter to you, now does it?

204 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:23:35am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

Wow, you are sadly mistaken about that. His loyalty may be with the Vatican, but he’s as fundie as any rogue Protestant sect on many issues.

205 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:23:55am

re: #201 Dr Lizardo

Rick Santorum is a Catholic and while not a fundamentalist in the Protestant tradition, he is certainly ultra-orthodox.

There are Catholics out there that adhere to a very narrow, strict, and extremely dogmatic interpretation of Catholicism.

See: Gibson, Mel.

As an ultra-Orthodox, I must object to being compared to Rick Santorum.

206 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:24:55am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

There are fundie Catholics…trust me. And Cooch wants to ban specific sexual positions…tell me that’s not extreme.

207 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:25:18am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

The poll results are essentially unchanged from their last survey. It seems that Cuccinelli is gaining a percent or two from the libertarian candidate, while McAuliffe is holding on to his own:

We’re looking at 45-41 versus 46-39. That’s within the margin of error.

The Virginia governor’s race is going down to the wire with Democrat Terry McAuliffe clinging to a slight 45 - 41 percent likely voter lead over Republican State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, and 9 percent for Libertarian Party candidate Robert Sarvis, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to the results of an October 23 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University, showing McAuliffe up 46 - 39 percent, with Sarvis at 10 percent.

Today’s survey shows that if Sarvis were not in the race, McAuliffe would have 47 percent to 45 percent for Cuccinelli, too close to call.

There’s a narrative in play - and the media loves close races. If anything this should spur Democrats to not be complacent about getting out and voting and that McAuliffe needs his GOTV to come through.

Cuccinelli’s positions range from anti-women to screwing anyone who doesn’t currently have health insurance by and through is opposition to the ACA and he fought against the ACA from the get-go as one of the Attorney Generals who sued on the individual mandate (and lost). He’d do nothing more than throw monkey wrenches into the health care system to show that Obamacare is a failure if elected all while looking to undermine access to abortions with what would likely be another attempt to pass TRAP laws.

But here’s the thing - significant numbers of likely voters don’t like either candidate. It’s going to be everyone holding their noses:

Virginia likely voters give McAuliffe a negative 41 - 46 percent favorability rating, compared to a negative 40 - 52 percent for Cuccinelli.

That latter number is going to keep Cuccinelli from winning (and that unfavorability may include those who think he’s not sufficiently right wing enough, rather than too much).

208 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:26:37am

DERP DERP
Obama did not FORCE these insurance companies to sell shitty product.

209 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:27:27am

re: #206 darthstar

There are fundie Catholics…trust me. And Cooch wants to ban specific sexual positions…tell me that’s not extreme.

Cite source. please. I hadn’t heard this one.

210 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:27:44am

re: #205 Vicious Babushka

As an ultra-Orthodox, I must object to being compared to Rick Santorum.

Sorry, V_B. I couldn’t think of a better term. I know there is one, but I can’t recall it right now. Need moar coffee, I think.

211 Romantic Heretic  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:28:10am

re: #142 Lidane

[Embedded content]

When asked what they mean by ‘libertarian’ most replied, “It means I can do what I want to who I want when I want and I’ll do what I want to anyone who tries to stop me!”

It’s distressing that sociopathy is so ubiquitous.

212 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:29:19am

Happy Halloween, everyone. Try not to be too literal with your costume interpretations.

Image: 1380841_10152057591238322_1401876308_n.jpg

213 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:30:40am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

I was going to say something about all the paleocon creepy Catholics like Joseph Sobran and Pat Buchanan, but then I remembered that you’re a fan of NRO, so why bother.

214 jamesfirecat  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:31:12am

re: #209 Dark_Falcon

Cite source. please. I hadn’t heard this one.

Here you go…


huffingtonpost.com

215 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:31:38am

re: #205 Vicious Babushka

As an ultra-Orthodox, I must object to being compared to Rick Santorum.

Perhaps radical traditionalist Catholics is the best term.

EDIT; using Google-fu, “integrists” seems to be the term, more or less.

216 Sionainn  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:32:55am

Didn’t work. :-(

217 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:32:56am

re: #209 Dark_Falcon

Cite source. please. I hadn’t heard this one.

You’re a big boy. Google Cuccinelli sodomy law. And pay attention for fuck’s sake. Defending people like him makes you look fucking retarded. (In the colloquial sense…I’m not disparaging downs kids nor comparing you to them. I’m just being honest.)

218 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:33:00am

Boehner grandstanding (but I repeat myself):


It’s what he does, and the GOP is still going on about how people are losing health policies they currently have. If those policies don’t meet the minimums required under the ACA, they will be switched and have access to new and improved policies that actually cover situations most folks encounter - reducing the chances someone would be forced to declare bankruptcy due to medical expenses, allow for more preventative care, birth control, and physicals - to catch ailments before they become far more expensive to treat.

The GOP is conflating 3 separate issues, and hope no one notices.

219 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:34:00am

re: #214 jamesfirecat

Here you go…

huffingtonpost.com

The link didn’t work, James.

220 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:35:08am

BBIAB.

221 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:35:56am

re: #218 lawhawk

ACANSAghazi!

(shh, no one will notice!)

222 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:35:57am

re: #217 darthstar

No downding, because you properly differentiated your use of ‘retarded’.

223 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:36:22am

re: #215 Dr Lizardo

Perhaps radical traditionalist Catholics is the best term.

EDIT; using Google-fu, “integrists” seems to be the term, more or less.

“More Catholic than the Pope” sums it up.

224 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:37:09am

re: #208 Vicious Babushka

The ACA has been on the books for 3 years. The insurers had three years to get policies that conformed to the ACA or were otherwise grandfathered in.

But everyone is now focusing on this aspect of the plan now even though insurers drop and change policies every year - for decades before the ACA existed. People would find that their insurers are no longer accepted at their current doctors, or their local hospitals. That hasn’t changed, but the GOP makes it seem that all this is happening because of the ACA.

Some changes are due to the ACA, but the insurers had been providing policies that don’t provide more than catastrophic care, and would force insureds to pay high out of pocket expenses until their high deductibles were met - still more costs.

The ACA will include more preventative care and set new baseline for what policies have to cover. That’s a whole lot of good news for folks who got by hoping they’d never have to use their health insurance at all or never had it in the first place.

225 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:37:19am

re: #219 Dark_Falcon

The link didn’t work, James.

I’ll prepare some stick figures for you…

226 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:39:33am

Nice of xkcd to include an image url now.

20th century headlines rewritten to get more clicks
Image: headlines.png

227 William Barnett-Lewis  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:39:58am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

Perhaps not literally DF but I am quite familiar with extremely socially conservative Roman Catholic relatives who make fundamentalist & dominionist types seem sane. Cuccinelli is the one they like.

Remember the phrase “cafeteria Catholics”? That what Catholics like this are as well, only they pick other things to keep while leaving most of the actual “christian” bits on the shelf.

Cruz, Cuccinelli and the rest like them have no interest in actually doing anything good for this nation or the people they claim to represent. They are out for personal power at all costs and we’ll will all suffer if they achieve it.

Right now this nation is in a position very much like Spain in the year or two before their civil war. Hopefully we can learn from them and keep the evil out of ruling without the massive bloodshed, pain & suffering the Spanish are still recovering from.

228 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:40:28am

re: #225 Decatur Deb

I’ll prepare some stick figures for you…

Get Barbie and Ken, I’ll grab a camera. We can explain with stop motion.

229 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:41:18am

re: #218 lawhawk

Of course Boehner grandstands, he’s the Speaker of the House. It’d be strange if he didn’t.

I’ll also repeat that appealing to people who feel ‘controlled on’* by the government tends to be a viable tactic for the Republican party.


*: ‘Controlled on’ is a phrase coined by my father. He very rarely uses it to refer to the government, so it’s not a wingnut phrase.

230 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:42:08am

re: #229 Dark_Falcon

Of course Boehner grandstands, he’s the Speaker of the House. It’d be strange if he didn’t.

I’ll also repeat that appealing to people who feel ‘controlled on’* by the government tends to be a viable tactic for the Republican party.

*: ‘Controlled on’ is a phrase coined by my father. He very rarely uses it to refer to the government, so it’s not a wingnut phrase.

What a cute way to refer to blatant fearmongering.

231 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:43:29am

Yahoo’s CEO gives me the creeps already. Now this.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is the new owner of the property that houses Roller & Hapgood & Tinney, Palo Alto’s oldest funeral home, which will close Oct. 31, according to sources at the mortuary.

The 1.16-acre site at 980 Middlefield Road, at the corner of Addison Avenue, has been home to the 114-year-old family-owned mortuary since 1951, office manager Melodie Sample said. She said she thinks the property will be used for residential purposes.

paloaltoonline.com

232 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:43:42am

re: #228 darthstar

Get Barbie and Ken, I’ll grab a camera. We can explain with stop motion.

Ken and Barbie? Thinking Gumby, here.

233 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:45:24am

re: #229 Dark_Falcon

Of course Boehner grandstands, he’s the Speaker of the House. It’d be strange if he didn’t.

I’ll also repeat that appealing to people who feel ‘controlled on’* by the government tends to be a viable tactic for the Republican party.

*: ‘Controlled on’ is a phrase coined by my father. He very rarely uses it to refer to the government, so it’s not a wingnut phrase.

They have a funny definition of ‘viable’…but that’s okay. Please proceed, GOP. You’re doing a heckuva job.

234 Varek Raith  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:45:27am

Hello.
Youtube Video

235 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:45:31am

re: #232 Decatur Deb

Ken and Barbie? Thinking Gumby, here.

And his pony pal Pokey, too?

236 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:46:15am

re: #235 wrenchwench

And his pony pal Pokey, too?

Isn’t Pokey a verb?

237 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:46:18am

re: #235 wrenchwench

And his pony pal Pokey, too?

And Mr. Bill.

238 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:47:57am

re: #237 Decatur Deb

And Mr. Bill.

Oh Noooo!

239 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:48:02am

re: #236 darthstar

Isn’t Pokey a verb?

Also a euphemism for where you’ll go if you do it wrong.

240 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:48:41am

re: #239 wrenchwench

Also a euphemism for where you’ll go if you do it wrong.

In Virginia.

241 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:48:57am

DEVASTATED by loss of “insurance” that collected premiums BUT DIDN’T PROVIDE ANY SIGNIFICANT COVERAGE.

242 makeitstop  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:49:13am

re: #229 Dark_Falcon

I’ll also repeat that appealing to people who feel ‘controlled on’* by the government tends to be a viable tactic for the Republican party.

Sure. Why expect Republicans to actually go through the hard work of trying to craft legislation and have said legislation succeed or fail on its own merits when they can just use ‘tactics?’ It’s not like we’re paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars to actually work or anything.
/

243 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:49:42am

re: #239 wrenchwench

Also a euphemism for where you’ll go if you do it wrong.

And that’s what it’s all about.
/rimshot

244 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:50:47am

nbcnews.com

I suspect Varek is up to something.
//

245 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:51:11am
246 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:52:13am

re: #242 makeitstop

Sure. Why expect Republicans to actually go through the hard work of trying to craft legislation and have said legislation succeed or fail on its own merits when they can just use ‘tactics?’ It’s not like we’re paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars to actually work or anything.
/

It’s almost as if we’re being governed by the New York Giants right now. Yeah, they’re having a pretty bad season, but they keep suiting up and going out on the field. Go team!

247 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:53:19am

re: #245 Vicious Babushka

It’s okay…he’s Catholic.

248 CuriousLurker  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:53:40am

re: #199 Dark_Falcon

Ken Cuccinelli is Catholic and thus is not a fundamentalist.

If you’re asserting that only evangelical Protestants can be classified as fundamentalists, then you’re correct, however there are extremist Catholics out there such as the Society of St. Pius X:

Essay: The ‘Radical Traditionalist Catholic’ Movement

Though tiny in comparison with the approximately 70 million Americans who are mainstream Catholics, “radical traditionalist Catholics” may form the single largest group of hard-core anti-Semites in America.

With more than 100,000 followers in the United States - famously including actor Mel Gibson and his father Hutton Gibson - the radical traditionalist movement embraces a host of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. It has significant financial and publishing resources, and, in a growing number of cases, is interacting with white supremacist and Holocaust denial extremist groups. Leaders of the growing, energetic movement routinely pillory the Jews as “the perpetual enemy of Christ” and worse. […]

249 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:54:15am

re: #236 darthstar

Isn’t Pokey a verb?

No, Pokey is a cat:

Youtube Video

250 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:54:59am
251 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:55:06am
Russian hosts of the Group of 20 summit near St. Petersburg in September sent world leaders home with gifts designed to keep on giving: memory sticks and recharging cables programmed to spy on their communications, two Italian newspapers reported Tuesday.

[dudebro]If USA didn’t SPY these other free countries wouldn’t spy either and RUSSIA says they didn’t do it so it’s a LIE!!![/dudebro]

252 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:55:15am

re: #248 CuriousLurker

If you’re asserting that only evangelical Protestants can be classified as fundamentalists, then you’re correct, however there are extremist Catholics out there such as the Society of St. Pius X:

SSPX is still in the Vatican’s shitter. A recent attempt to bring them back into the fold failed.

253 Varek Raith  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:55:39am

re: #244 Feline Fearless Leader

nbcnews.com

I suspect Varek is up to something.
//

I ain’t done sh…
…
No comment.

254 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:56:06am

re: #245 Witches BaBOOshka

What a great scary Halloween name.

255 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:56:21am
256 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:56:25am

re: #248 CuriousLurker

If you’re asserting that only evangelical Protestants can be classified as fundamentalists, then you’re correct, however there are extremist Catholics out there such as the Society of St. Pius X:

‘Radical Traditionalist’ is a good term, though I should note that the Society of St. Pius X is a schismatic faction that is no longer part of the Catholic Church.

257 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:57:15am


Taking responsibility. Geraghty is talking about politicians who need to take responsibility for their actions (as in the problems with the ACA rollout, even though the GOP gummed up the works and sought to sabotage implementation at every step, including in refusing to set up state exchanges until the last moment so the feds would have to scramble to incorporate exchanges for those states).

Well, the Individual mandate is about getting individuals to take responsibility for their own health insurance. It’s what the Heritage Foundation came up with to change health care in 1989.

The GOP adopted this position, and then abandoned it and turned it into something that ushers in socialism/marxism/islamism/Obamaism the moment that President Obama and Democrats opted for this approach over single payer or expanding Medicare/Medicaid.

258 Varek Raith  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:57:32am

Supreme Court Smacks Down Ken Cuccinelli’s Sodomy Law Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it would not hear Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II’s (R) appeal of a lower court ruling that held that the state’s sodomy ban is wholly unconstitutional. Cuccinelli had made his defense of the law an issue in his campaign for governor.

Virginia’s archaic Crimes Against Nature law made oral and anal sex a felony — even between consenting adults in the privacy of their bedroom. In 2003, the Supreme Court held in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy bans like Virginia’s violated the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.

259 CuriousLurker  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:59:03am

re: #256 Dark_Falcon

‘Radical Traditionalist’ is a good term, though I should note that the Society of St. Pius X is a schismatic faction that is no longer part of the Catholic Church.

Yes, well that’s because luckily for you guys (in this case) you have a pope that can excommunicate people. We Muslims don’t have any such luxury, so we get saddled with our extremists no matter how far they stray from tradition.

260 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:59:32am

re: #254 Bulworth

What a great scary Halloween name.

Hmm, need to get a picture of L.C. doing a traditional Halloween cat pose and use a new avatar for a few days. That might be difficult. (L.C. is the totally black cat used in my current avatar.)

261 Interesting Times  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 6:59:57am

re: #256 Dark_Falcon

See littlegreenfootballs.com and tell us it would still be great if Kooky Cooch won 9_9

262 CuriousLurker  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:01:09am

re: #261 Interesting Times

See littlegreenfootballs.com and tell us it would still be great if Kooky Cooch won 9_9

Small government!

263 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:01:46am

re: #246 darthstar

Comparing Eli Manning to John Boehner is to hand Manning a massive insult. He’s much better at managing his team than Boehner is and has the courage I doubt Booehner will ever find.

Of course it also helps that Eli’s guy surnamed Cruz actually wants to win instead of just strike a Purity Pose.

264 Varek Raith  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:02:26am

Link to law.

265 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:02:54am

DUMBASS: Even if you have an insurance plan that COVERS abortion DOES NOT MEAN that you HAVE TO HAVE AN ABORTION.

266 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:02:55am

re: #258 Varek Raith

Supreme Court Smacks Down Ken Cuccinelli’s Sodomy Law Appeal

The Justices are getting so tired of getting the same cases before them Roberts is just looking for the right case to bundle all the conservative dream decisions under together. Yes, it’s an employment discrimination case, but we threw in banning sexual innuendo because we could.

267 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:03:21am

re: #259 CuriousLurker

Yes, well that’s because luckily for you guys (in this case) you have a pope that can excommunicate people. We Muslims don’t have any such luxury, so we get saddled with our extremists no matter how far they stray from tradition.

1. incorporate.
2. Trademark your symbols.
3. ????
4. PROPHET.

268 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:03:37am

re: #263 Dark_Falcon

Comparing Eli Manning to John Boehner is to hand Manning a massive insult. He’s much better at managing his team than Boehner is and has the courage I doubt Booehner will ever find.

Of course it also helps that Eli’s guy surnamed Cruz actually wants to win instead of just strike a Purity Pose.

He’s a fucking athlete.

269 Varek Raith  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:03:57am

re: #267 Decatur Deb

1. incorporate.
2. Trademark your symbols.
3. ????
4. PROPHET.

5. Burn in Hell.

270 Internet Tough Guy  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:04:10am

re: #265 Witches BaBOOshka

Bullshit. I had to get an abortion as a copay for wisdom tooth extraction.

271 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:04:14am

re: #259 CuriousLurker

Yes, well that’s because luckily for you guys (in this case) you have a pope that can excommunicate people. We Muslims don’t have any such luxury, so we get saddled with our extremists no matter how far they stray from tradition.

Religious Hierarchies are a mixed blessing. They can be corrupt and stifling, but as long as they stay sane they can be invaluable in smacking down the nutcases that any religion develops from time-to-time.

272 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:04:52am

re: #270 Internet Tough Guy

Bullshit. I had to get an abortion as a copay for wisdom tooth extraction.

Stealing and tweeting.

273 Weet  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:05:11am

It was always clear that many insurance policies serving the individual market wouldn’t conform to the coverage requirements set by the Affordable Care Act and would have to be changed. Some were “grandfathered” in, but the rules dictated that any that were changed by the insuring companies — including changes in premiums or other terms — would lose that status.

As a result, millions of policyholders are now being informed that their nonconforming policies are being canceled as of Dec. 31. The idea, of course, is for them to get new policies under Obamacare as of Jan. 1. NBC is breathing heavily over its investigative “discovery” that “because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, 40 to 67% of customers will not be able to keep their policy” mostly because they changed plans.

But is this news? No: The exact same figure was put out by the Obama Adminsitration — in 2010. Here’s a release from the Department of Health and Human Services from June that year, explaining that “40% to two-thirds of people” in the individual market normally change plans in a year, and thus would no longer be in grandfathered plans. Did Obama “know”? Yes, but so did anyone else who was paying attention, including reporters covering healthcare.
Separating the day’s myths and realities on Obamacare

274 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:06:09am
275 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:06:13am

re: #231 darthstar

Yahoo’s CEO gives me the creeps already. Now this.

paloaltoonline.com

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is the new owner of the property that houses Roller & Hapgood & Tinney, Palo Alto’s oldest funeral home, which will close Oct. 31, according to sources at the mortuary.

… She said she thinks the property will be used for residential purposes.

Friend of mine had a recording studio located in what used to be the old city morgue in Flagstaff. Says he had to move out of there because wierd, unexplained sounds started showing up on his tapes and wierd sounds in the middle of the night when he was working…

276 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:06:46am

re: #269 Varek Raith

5. Burn in Hell.

Backstrokin’ on the Lake of Fire.

277 Varek Raith  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:07:01am

re: #231 darthstar

Yahoo’s CEO gives me the creeps already. Now this.

paloaltoonline.com

Finally!
A place that caters to necromancy.

278 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:07:53am

re: #268 darthstar

He’s a fucking athlete.

Your problem is that you don’t take football seriously enough. ;)

279 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:07:54am

re: #274 darthstar

27 GOP Senators ‘Disapprove’ Of Their Own Vote To Raise Debt Ceiling

I assume these Senators have primaries coming up soon…

280 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:08:56am

re: #279 Sol Berdinowitz

I assume these Senators have primaries lobotomies coming up soon…

ACA’d that for you.

281 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:10:59am

re: #278 Dark_Falcon

Your problem is that you don’t take football seriously enough. ;)

After tonight’s game, it will only be 3 1/2 months until Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring training.

282 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:12:04am

Off to the dermatologist for a semi-annual controlled-burn. He’s naming his new McMansion “Casa Deb”. BBL

283 Decatur Deb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:13:11am

re: #281 darthstar

After tonight’s game, it will only be 3 1/2 months until Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring training.

Not on Gov Cuccinelli’s watch.

284 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:14:52am

But it’s okay, because most of the GOP aren’t extremists.

285 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:16:32am

Oh, Pippi…how you’ve grown.

286 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:19:25am

re: #274 darthstar

[Embedded content]

In other words , 27 GOP senators just found out they’re getting primary opponents.

287 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:19:38am
288 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:20:26am

Okay…dog walk, shower, work.

289 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:21:16am

re: #285 darthstar

Oh, Pippi…how you’ve grown.

[Embedded content]

There is only one Pippi Longstocking and that is Inger Nilsson.

290 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:22:12am

re: #287 darthstar

[Embedded content]

He’ll be winning…………..speaking gigs with Bryan Fischer and the of them can talk together about gay sex more than most gay men do.

291 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:22:30am

re: #276 Decatur Deb

Backstrokin’ on the Lake of Fire.

That sounds like a name for a Johnny Cash song. Or a band.

292 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:23:04am

re: #265 Witches BaBOOshka

It’s OK. Millions of doctors won’t accept people with Obamacare cards so it’s all good.
///

293 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:26:09am

re: #287 darthstar

From that article:

A new Wenzel Strategies survey of likely voters suggests a 1-point race, with McAuliffe at 41 percent and Cuccinelli at 40 percent. Other polls have given McAuliffe a double digit lead.

But Wenzel echos a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday showing McAuliffe’s lead shrinking to just 4 points.

What’s key about the Wenzel poll is that it built a turnout model based on how Virginia actually votes, weighting the sample at 28 percent Democrats, 26 percent Republicans and 46 percent independents. “This reflects the swing-state tradition of Virginia that has lately leaned toward Republicans in statewide, non-presidential years, but has tilted to the Democrats in recent presidential elections,” they said.

So, what do we think of this kind of poll modeling?

294 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:26:51am

re: #258 Varek Raith

Supreme Court Smacks Down Ken Cuccinelli’s Sodomy Law Appeal

Good. He really needs to be shown that he’s a loon even compared with other conservatives.

295 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:29:16am
296 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:29:45am

re: #290 HappyWarrior

He’ll be winning…………..speaking gigs with Bryan Fischer and the of them can talk together about gay sex more than most gay men do.

Speaking of Mr. Fischer:

Bryan Fischer: U.S. Military Being Trained To Use ‘Lethal Force’ On Christians, Tea Party (VIDEO)

Culture warrior Bryan Fischer warned his radio show listeners last week that the American military is being trained to use “lethal force” on Christians and tea partiers.

Incensed that his organization, the American Family Association (AFA), had been designated as a domestic hate group at a recent Army training session, Fischer said last Friday that Christians and conservatives may soon be targeted by their own government.

“The military is being conditioned to use weapons on the American Family Association,” Fishcer said during his program “Focal Point.”

“The American military, the soldiers are being conditioned in their brains to think of evangelicals, tea partiers, the American Family Association and the Family Research Council as domestic enemies that may have to be neutralized by lethal force because that’s what the military exists for. The military exists to kill people and to break things to preserve national security. That’s why they exist. That’s their job.”

Youtube Video

297 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:31:00am

re: #293 Dark_Falcon

From that article:

So, what do we think of this kind of poll modeling?

If they’re doing it based on how Virginians actually vote in off year elections, then they’re ignoring that Cuccinelli has turned off a number of people who’d normally vote Republican. I think the race will be tighter than double digits but Cuccinelli’s brand is going to kill him in the population centers that he’ll have to rack up landslides in the more rural and sparsely populated areas.

298 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:31:40am

re: #296 Dark_Falcon

Speaking of Mr. Fischer:

Bryan Fischer: U.S. Military Being Trained To Use ‘Lethal Force’ On Christians, Tea Party (VIDEO)

[Embedded content]

The man needs help if he seriously thinks the U.S military is going to waste valuable manpower on their pathetic organization. Glad he’s showing his true contempt for our armed forces though. This is the same clown who thinks that giving the CMOH to people who save people somehow delegitimizes the award. This coming from someone who would shit his pants if ever in combat.

299 jamesfirecat  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:32:42am

DF you never answered my question what does a Republican have to do to get you to agree that a democrat is better rp than them?

I know you have said it for Ted Cruz and probably a few others, but I would be surprised if you listed out your conditions and I could not prove that the current GOP candidate for Virginia’s Governor does not meet them….

300 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:33:48am

re: #296 Dark_Falcon

Speaking of Mr. Fischer:

Bryan Fischer: U.S. Military Being Trained To Use ‘Lethal Force’ On Christians, Tea Party (VIDEO)

The military exists to kill people and to break things to preserve national security. That’s why they exist. That’s their job.”

“…Which is fine as long as it is dark-skinned, Mooslim foreigners”

301 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:34:00am

re: #298 HappyWarrior

The man needs help if he seriously thinks the U.S military is going to waste valuable manpower on their pathetic organization.

Because of crap like this:

Erik Rush: Civil War Needed To Overthrow Obama Before He Imposes ‘The Cruelest Totalitarianism’

302 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:34:37am

re: #301 Witches BaBOOshka

Because of crap like this:

Erik Rush: Civil War Needed To Overthrow Obama Before He Imposes ‘The Cruelest Totalitarianism’

Another patient in the Wingnut Wing.

303 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:34:56am

re: #298 HappyWarrior

The man needs help if he seriously thinks the U.S military is going to waste valuable manpower on their pathetic organization.

He was ranting in the style of Alex Jones, complete with arm gestures and a very loud volume. He clearly thinks doing this will get points with someone. Not sure who that someone is, though.

304 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:36:28am

re: #303 Dark_Falcon

He was ranting in the style of Alex Jones, complete with arm gestures and a very loud volume. He clearly thinks doing this will get points with someone. Not sure who that someone is, though.

I think him, Jones, Limbaugh, and company are no different from each other except name and their paranoid CT of the day. If I were in power, I’d actually laugh at the AFA and groups like that.

305 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:37:36am

re: #299 jamesfirecat

DF you never answered my question what does a Republican have to do to get you to agree that a democrat is better rp than them?

I know you have said it for Ted Cruz and probably a few others, but I would be surprised if you listed out your conditions and I could not prove that the current GOP candidate for Virginia’s Governor does not meet them….

There are no specific conditions. Someone makes the list of people I would never vote for because I have come to regard them as a crazy and dangerous person.

306 Suranis  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:39:20am

More Greenwald fun



Glenn Greenwald Verified account â€@ggreenwald

DerSpiegel reported *more than 3 months ago* that NSA sweeps up 500 million emails/calls of Germans in a single month spiegel.de

Well ok. That’s it…. wait, hang on, it turns out that wasn’t actually strictly speaking true?

RT @Knobelsdorff Why is GG repeating this? Turned out that Data was collected by BND in Afghanistan…

@jeremyduns 10m

@20committee @Knobelsdorff Yes, he seems to have forgotten this follow-up: spiegel.de

OOOOOoopsie. I’m shocked, SHOCKED that Glenn is posting things to defend his story that are not true. ESPECIALLY as both Der Spiegel articles were co-Written by Laura Piotras, who is working on the NSA stories with one Glenn Greenwald.

307 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:39:29am

re: #301 Witches BaBOOshka

Yeah I guess the whole “elections” and “democracy” thing just isn’t working out. //

308 jamesfirecat  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:41:50am

re: #305 Dark_Falcon

There are no specific conditions. Someone makes the list of people I would never vote for because I have come to regard them as a crazy and dangerous person.

////Well then, you might want to think about developing some principles to go with your party loyalty DF.


(In a more serious manner it might help you get a better grip on your political life if you write down/ can articulate the the things that make you support Republicans or turn you off of supporting them besides the fact that they are a republican /nebulous categories of crazy/sane.

309 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:42:16am

re: #306 Suranis

More Greenwald fun

[Embedded content]

Glenn Greenwald Verified account â€@ggreenwald

DerSpiegel reported *more than 3 months ago* that NSA sweeps up 500 million emails/calls of Germans in a single month spiegel.de

Well ok. That’s it…. wait, hang on, it turns out that wasn’t actually strictly speaking true?

RT @Knobelsdorff Why is GG repeating this? Turned out that Data was collected by BND in Afghanistan…

@jeremyduns 10m

@20committee @Knobelsdorff Yes, he seems to have forgotten this follow-up: spiegel.de

OOOOOoopsie. I’m shocked, SHOCKED that Glenn is posting things to defend his story that are not true. ESPECIALLY as both Der Spiegel articles were co-Written by Laura Piotras, who is working on the NSA stories with one Glenn Greenwald.

Greenwald showing once again that he does not understand the difference between METADATA and CONTENT.

310 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:42:27am

re: #307 Bulworth

Yeah I guess the whole “elections” and “democracy” thing just isn’t working out. //

It’s cruel tyranny because we lost. I mean really, if Obama was even a mild authoritarian, the Republican Party would have been banned by now. And Obama would have won re-election in Idaho even. If Obama’s a tyrant, he’s doing this all wrong. And worse he hasn’t even grown a beard or mustache yet.

311 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:43:32am
312 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:43:34am

re: #302 HappyWarrior

Over the last few weeks in print and on my streaming radio show, I’ve articulated my sentiment that it is past the time millions of Americans should have swarmed the Capitol and the White House, demanding the resignation of the president, his Cabinet, and every representative and senator in Congress, à la Tahrir Square in Egypt when Muslim Brotherhood thug Mohamed Morsi was ousted earlier this year.

This sounds like fun. Good for business, too. /

Granted that much of this will sound preposterous and even seditious to many Americans, but the fact is such persons simply aren’t operating with sufficient information – sort of like the intoxicant aboard the Titanic who didn’t realize the ship was sinking until it was perpendicular to the ocean surface.

So even with Faux news and RWNJ radio, we’re all still ignorant dolts. Anyway, I await the “millions” of Americans to come into DC and demand access to the WWII Memorial and…wait, what’s supposed to happen here? //

313 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:43:35am

re: #309 Witches BaBOOshka

Greenwald showing once again that he does not understand the difference between METADATA and CONTENT.

Granted, access to metadata can be easily turned into access to content, the point of this reporting is to provoke outrage, not to tell the story of what is happening and why.

314 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:44:35am

re: #310 HappyWarrior

Can we finally have the FEMA trailer camps to put all the RWNJ in, please? /

315 leftynyc  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:45:37am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon


That you would celebrate what that neanderthal has in store for women quite literally sickens me.

316 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:46:01am

re: #309 Witches BaBOOshka

METADATA is totalitarianism and SPYING!!! Another reason why the whole rotten system must be overthrown and FREEDOM. //

317 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:46:40am

re: #285 darthstar

Oh, Pippi…how you’ve grown.

[Embedded content]

Why do these idiots have to keep proving over and over that they have the same equipment every other woman does?

It’s as though sex has never been practiced in any generation but their own.

318 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:47:08am

re: #313 Sol Berdinowitz

Granted, access to metadata can be easily turned into access to content, the point of this reporting is to provoke outrage, not to tell the story of what is happening and why.

Every week on popular TV shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds, metadata is routinely mined and displayed on wall-size projection screens, and Penelope or Nelly or Eric or whoever is the show geek then does inner joins on SEALED JUVENILE RECORDS and PRIVATE PSYCHIATRIC FILES.

319 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:50:12am

re: #296 Dark_Falcon

I’ve now Paged this astounding piece of Bryan Fischer DERP. Craziness of this grade needs to be spotlighted.

320 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:51:12am

re: #319 Dark_Falcon

I’ve now Paged this astounding piece of Bryan Fischer DERP. Craziness of this grade needs to be spotlighted.

Meh. It’s not as DERPtactular as his claim that he has NEVER EVER thought about having sex with a dude.

321 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:51:46am

re: #318 Witches BaBOOshka

Every week on popular TV shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds, metadata is routinely mined and displayed on wall-size projection screens, and Penelope or Nelly or Eric or whoever is the show geek then does inner joins on SEALED JUVENILE RECORDS and PRIVATE PSYCHIATRIC FILES.

xkcd.com

And more real science vs TV science.

322 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:52:01am

re: #318 Witches BaBOOshka

Every week on popular TV shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds, metadata is routinely mined and displayed on wall-size projection screens, and Penelope or Nelly or Eric or whoever is the show geek then does inner joins on SEALED JUVENILE RECORDS and PRIVATE PSYCHIATRIC FILES.

What are “inner joins”?

323 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:52:41am

re: #322 Dark_Falcon

What are “inner joins”?

Connecting different data tables within a SQL command.

324 Political Atheist  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:55:01am

*sigh*

Los Angeles has a lot to learn about ethics and the city council.

325 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:55:49am

re: #191 Dark_Falcon

Poll: Virginia governor race a nailbiter

The poll may be an outlier, but I would seriously love it if McAuliffe ends up losing. The setback it would represent for the Dems would be substantial, and it would set a good tone for Republicans, having been able to pull together and get their man over the finish line.

No offense man but I lost a lot of respect for you when you said this. We’ve been educating you about what Ken Cuccinneli actually stands for months now. If you dislike McAuliffe fine, I dislike the man, I’ve even refused to campaign for him or even vote for him but to support Cuccinnelli? I don’t get how you can condone this asshole but condemn Cruz and Rand Paul. I hate to sound like I’m beating up on you but you’re wishing this monster on my state because you seem to care more about your “team” than people here actually being able to live their lives free of a socially reactionary asshole who would gladly sign legislation forcing transvaginal ultrasounds and who wants to criminalize acts of consentual sex.

326 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 7:57:22am

DERP DERP HURR HURR

327 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:01:28am

re: #325 HappyWarrior

Sorry. I ODed on Clinton-Bashing. I picked up a serious habit for that stuff back in the 1990’s. I got clean back in 2001, but I still can fall off the wagon on rare occasions.

328 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:01:49am

re: #323 Witches BaBOOshka

Connecting different data tables within a SQL command.

Thank you.

329 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:01:51am
330 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:04:13am

re: #326 Witches BaBOOshka

There are no. jobs. or gunz. //

331 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:04:28am

Phil Gingrey repeating that story about 50-something year old woman whose insurance premiums doubled in GA.

If the Rs don’t have statistics and real facts, they should just STFU.

332 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:05:05am

re: #326 Witches BaBOOshka

Is this supposed to be the Libertarian Teabag party utopia? Confused. //

333 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:05:34am

re: #324 Political Atheist

*sigh*

Los Angeles has a lot to learn about ethics and the city council.

Meh. L.A. still has nothing on Chicago when it comes to corruption.

/Chicago native, not an out-of-state Obama hater.

334 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:06:41am

re: #332 Bulworth

Is this supposed to be the Libertarian Teabag party utopia? Confused. //

THIS IS WHAT THE USURPER TYRANT OBUMBERHAS DONE TO ARE COUNTRIE WITH TEH OBAMACARE!!!!!1!!!!11 MELON LUBE!!!!!11!!

335 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:06:48am

re: #331 Justanotherhuman

Phil Gingrey repeating that story about 50-something year old woman whose insurance premiums doubled in GA.

If the Rs don’t have statistics and real facts, they should just STFU.

OK, I used to like Ocare but now that Gingrey story from GA changes my mind. Repeal the whole thing. //

336 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:08:07am

Drudge touting this particular story headline, but wont go under the hood:

As Paul Harvey would say, and now… the rest of the story.

How do we get to a point where 25% of real property in NYC is not taxed?

How much is not taxed because a church owns it? Trinity Church in lower Manhattan is one of the city’s biggest landowners, and yet its property goes untaxed.

Hospitals? Not taxed.

Government buildings? Not taxed.

Developers getting sweetheart deals or PILOTs? Check.

Reduced tax rates to spur development in certain parts of the city? Check.

Homeowner property tax rebates/credits? Check.

That means the burden is spread out among the rest of property owners to cover the costs for essential services (fire/police/infrastructure/etc.)

But the number by itself doesn’t mean nearly as much as they claim. Who among those groups should not have exemptions? Arguably, it’s the developers getting sweetheart deals or PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) but don’t expect that to change anytime soon, since that’s a way to spur economic development in areas that municipalities want.

Same with the individual property tax credits/rebates (think seniors, veterans, disableds, etc.)

And now think what would happen if those costs are spread among the larger group - eliminating all the above exemptions - who benefits most? It’s the folks who hold huge real estate holdings.

The same folks who are making a whole lot of money from those same real estate ventures. They aren’t hurting, but wouldn’t mind seeing their tax bills drop even further.

337 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:10:36am

*HEADDESK*

338 ericblair  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:11:59am

re: #329 Witches BaBOOshka

[Embedded content]Question for all #RWNJ’s, if Obama has destroyed the Constitution & Freedom & is Tyrant, Y R U still on Twitter? #UniteBlue #lnyhbt

They’re all agents provocateurs for the Islamofascist. Wake up sheeple!

339 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:12:42am

So, Mitt Romney (who lost to Obama on a platform that called for eliminating Obamacare) is back and posting on Facebook that he opposes Obamacare.


Why is this newsworthy?

At the same time, you’ve got Byron York refighting the battle surrounding the enactment of the ACA and the policy debate that led to the law being crafted in the way that resulted in the clunky system we will have - ignoring that the GOP negotiated in bad faith all along - and had no intention of going along with any of it. Or that the GOP has fought implementation at every step by throwing lawsuits, roadblocks, and delaying implementation for as long as possible to multiply the problems facing the development of the exchanges that the feds would have to operate.

340 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:12:42am

Rmoney, still disavowing his own plan as applicable to the entire country.


Go away.

341 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:15:34am

re: #337 Witches BaBOOshka

*HEADDESK*

[Embedded content]

342 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:16:05am

OBAMACARE IS VIOLATIN MY RIGHTS TO FORCE TEH WIMMENZ 2 PAY 2X MOAR FOR THERE WIMMENZ INSURANCE!!!!!1!!!!!!

343 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:16:09am

re: #340 Justanotherhuman

Rmoney, still disavowing his own plan as applicable to the entire country.

[Embedded content]


Go away.

Except that time you said it should be a model. But that was before your handlers updated your bugs to make the Romney 4.5.

344 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:18:14am
345 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:18:21am

re: #342 Witches BaBOOshka

But I don’t need maternal care pregnancy birth control pillz or abortions!!11

346 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:18:52am

Amendment XV
Section 1.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.


Amendment XIX

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

347 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:20:30am

HURR HURR ALL TEH LIBRULZ IS ALL UNEMPLOYED AN SITTIN ON THERE BUTTS & MOOCHIN ALL TEH WELFARES & TEH FOOD STAMPZ BUT ALL TEH PATRIOTIC CONSERVITIVZ HAS TEH JRRBS AND DONT NEEDS NO FOOD STAMPS!!!!11!!!! NO LIBRUL EVER HAD A JRRB EVER!!!!!111!!!!

348 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:21:14am

re: #343 HappyWarrior

Except that time you said it should be a model. But that was before your handlers updated your bugs to make the Romney 4.5.

There won’t be an empathy circuit until Romneytron v10.

349 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:21:23am
350 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:21:25am

re: #306 Suranis

Belated welcome, hatchling. I missed your original one.

351 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:22:09am

re: #342 Witches BaBOOshka

This troubled heart is only four years away from socializ….I mean, Medicare. /

352 sagehen  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:22:11am

re: #336 lawhawk

Drudge touting this particular story headline, but wont go under the hood:

[Embedded content]

As Paul Harvey would say, and now… the rest of the story.

How do we get to a point where 25% of real property in NYC is not taxed?

How much is not taxed because a church owns it? Trinity Church in lower Manhattan is one of the city’s biggest landowners, and yet its property goes untaxed.

Hospitals? Not taxed.

Government buildings? Not taxed.

Developers getting sweetheart deals or PILOTs? Check.

Reduced tax rates to spur development in certain parts of the city? Check.

Homeowner property tax rebates/credits? Check.

That means the burden is spread out among the rest of property owners to cover the costs for essential services (fire/police/infrastructure/etc.)

But the number by itself doesn’t mean nearly as much as they claim. Who among those groups should not have exemptions? Arguably, it’s the developers getting sweetheart deals or PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) but don’t expect that to change anytime soon, since that’s a way to spur economic development in areas that municipalities want.

Same with the individual property tax credits/rebates (think seniors, veterans, disableds, etc.)

And now think what would happen if those costs are spread among the larger group - eliminating all the above exemptions - who benefits most? It’s the folks who hold huge real estate holdings.

The same folks who are making a whole lot of money from those same real estate ventures. They aren’t hurting, but wouldn’t mind seeing their tax bills drop even further.

My building got a really sweet tax abatement by installing a brand new $500,000 incinerator that ties into the building’s heating system, it’s cut our reliance on steam from the city pipes by half. Also, the garbage we send to the landfill is drastically reduced. We got another tax abatement for replacing all our windows with double-glazed (there’s a lot of goddamn windows, pretty much the entire exterior of 29 stories), low-flow toilets, and some gadget that cut the water pressure in our showers. Again, reduced our usage of city infrastructure. We’re angling for yet another one, by installing solar panels and windmills on the roof.

If the city’s going to find a way to squeeze in another two million people, without totally replacing all our underground water/steam/gas/electric everything (which would cost many billions and disrupt everything for decades of construction, if it’s even physically possible at this point) — these abatements are the way to do it.

353 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:22:19am

re: #327 Dark_Falcon

Sorry. I ODed on Clinton-Bashing. I picked up a serious habit for that stuff back in the 1990’s. I got clean back in 2001, but I still can fall off the wagon on rare occasions.

That’s fine. I just don’t get how you can say you’d never vote for Cruz or Rand Paul but actually embrace this guy. I get that you don’t like McAuliffe. As I said, I don’t like the man and it may shock you that I don’t like that he’s a big Clinton lackey but here’s the thing. He’s not an extremist. He’s not going to implement an extreme social agenda on my state. He’s an opportunist no doubt but I just wish you’d understand why many of us here on LGF only want Cuccinelli only seeing the governor’s mansion when on business in Richmond. He really is everything that I think is wrong with the modern Republican Party. He’s legitimately reactionary- note I say reactionary and not conservative. This is a guy who wants to ban abortion in all cases, would happily sign a law forcing women to get painful and humiliating transvaginal ultrasounds, ban consentual acts of sex between adults, and used his power at the Attorney General’s office to harass climate change researchers at our universities. I know you’re not a CC skeptic. The man literally horrifies me. I mean, I just think sometimes you need to think beyond party label and at individuals or at the general direction your party is headed. The Republicans here would be crusing to victory if they had nominated Bill Bolling, our current Lt Governor and Bolling is no moderate, he’s actually pretty conservative but he’s also not a fanatic like Cuccinnelli and his running mate is.

354 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:23:02am

re: #339 lawhawk

NYC Police Commissioner Kelly Booed From Stage At Brown University

Shouts, chants, and interruptions by protestors at Brown University on Tuesday forced the cancellation of a lecture by New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

According to The Providence Journal, Kelly was drowned out by cries of “racism” and demands for “peace and justice,” and ultimately left the auditorium through a side door after university officials closed the program.

Kelly had been expected to speak about his department’s stop-and-frisk policy, which was ruled unconstitutional early this year.

In a statement, Brown University said that officials decided to close the lecture after “nearly 30 minutes of disruption by activist students and members of the local community.”

“The actions that led to the closing of this afternoon’s lecture prevented any exchange of ideas and deprived the campus and the Providence community of an opportunity to hear and discuss important social issues,” Brown University President Christina Paxson said in a statement. “The conduct of disruptive members of the audience is indefensible and an affront both to civil democratic society and to the University’s core values of dialog and the free exchange of views.”

It’s really quite insane to protest Ray Kelly while demanding ‘peace’, for few in the US have done more to bring real peace to the place they are responsible for than Ray Kelly.

355 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:23:51am

Ya’ll have to remember that so many of these “patriots” refuse to acknowledge any amendment past the 10th, as in their minds those are the only ones the Founders approved of and so any that came after are WRONG!

356 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:24:02am

re: #348 Feline Fearless Leader

There won’t be an empathy circuit until Romneytron v10.

Fucking programmers. Honestly the original Romney model that ran against Ted Kennedy sounded decent enough even if it was dishonest.

357 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:26:19am

re: #353 HappyWarrior

The thing about Bolling is that he doesn’t like the Tea Party and won’t pretend that he does. Cuccinelli used that when he changed the nominating process for the Virginia GOP, as he knew a caucus systems favors the most activist part of a party.

358 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:26:19am

Teehee.

Dell users: Latitude 6430u laptops ‘smell of cat urine’

“A number of Dell users have complained that their Latitude 6430u Ultrabooks “smell of cat urine”.


“Dell engineers have ruled out biological contamination, and said the smell was not a health hazard.

“The problem lay in the manufacturing process, which has now been changed, the company said.”

bbc.co.uk

359 sagehen  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:26:24am

re: #341 Dark_Falcon

[Embedded content]

and the 26th.

360 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:26:31am

I wish I had a time machine so the “Only I understand the Constitution” crowd could meet the people who actually thought a Constitution was big government in itself.

361 William Barnett-Lewis  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:27:19am

re: #337 Witches BaBOOshka

*HEADDESK*

[Embedded content]

Smells like one of those “natural rights” idiots I butted heads with in NPR comments the other day. Big Hayek fan too…

362 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:27:58am

re: #342 Witches BaBOOshka

That’s okay. I’m paying for that guy’s colonoscopies, which I wont need for another decade or more. And prostate exams. And heart meds and anything else he might be taking because I’m in good health (knock on wood).

It’s insurance. It’s a hedge against bad health outcomes - some that are in my control, some that aren’t, and some that are unavoidable - such as getting old (my Zionist powers do not extend to immortality… yet).

And I’m okay with the insurance covering things I wont/don’t need, including mental health coverage, because someone else with that policy might - or ob/gyn care, because someone I know might get pregnant or need that kind of care/treatment.

Some people have no concept of what insurance is about.

363 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:28:04am

re: #355 Targetpractice

Ya’ll have to remember that so many of these “patriots” refuse to acknowledge any amendment past the 10th, as in their minds those are the only ones the Founders approved of and so any that came after are WRONG!

The Founders put in a procedure to amend the Constitution and did not put in a time limit for that procedure. Thus those ‘patriots’ are full of crap.

364 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:28:21am

re: #360 HappyWarrior

I wish I had a time machine so the “Only I understand the Constitution” crowd could meet the people who actually thought a Constitution was big government in itself.

Would not have any effect. They want “divine right of kings*” where they substitute themselves for the “kings” part. Essentially pro- authoritarianism as long as they get to be the authority.

365 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:29:18am

Whoa, guess who’s not going to be pleased with the “behind closed doors” stuff.


Who told him he is supposed to know everything anyway? Oh yeah…

366 sagehen  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:31:13am

re: #354 Dark_Falcon

NYC Police Commissioner Kelly Booed From Stage At Brown University

It’s really quite insane to protest Ray Kelly while demanding ‘peace’, for few in the US have done more to bring real peace to the place they are responsible for than Ray Kelly.

It’s really quite insane to pass up the chance for a Q&A with a guy whose policies you have strong opinions about.

367 William Barnett-Lewis  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:32:25am

re: #354 Dark_Falcon

Peace at gun point is not real peace DF. Not when, on average, every black man in the city could be expected to be stopped without cause 2 times a year. Or if -you look cross-eyed at a cop you collect 53 9mm holes in your body. Or if, as a police chief but out of uniform, you can still get stopped for living while black.

No, DF. That’s not peace unless you’re white & wealthy. .

368 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:32:50am

re: #366 sagehen

It’s really quite insane to pass up the chance for a Q&A with a guy whose policies you have strong opinions about.

Very true. But too many people these days just want to rant and rave. As we have seen, this mindset is currently more widespread on the right but the left is not immune.

369 sagehen  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:33:15am

re: #362 lawhawk

It’s insurance. It’s a hedge against bad health outcomes - some that are in my control, some that aren’t, and some that are unavoidable - such as getting old (my Zionist powers do not extend to immortality… yet).

There is a way to make sure you never get old… but I don’t think you’d like it.

370 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:33:44am

re: #357 Dark_Falcon

The thing about Bolling is that he doesn’t like the Tea Party and won’t pretend that he does. Cuccinelli used that when he changed the nominating process for the Virginia GOP, as he knew a caucus systems favors the most activist part of a party.

Sure, that’s true and the convention process absolutely does favor the activist wing. But that’s I guess my point. Bolling’s every bit as conservative as George Allen, Jim Gilmore, and now Bob McDonnell are but he wasn’t enough for them. Doesn’t that worry you about the direction your party may be headed in a state like Virginia? The fact of the matter is the Virginia GOP has gone from having men like Tim Kaine’s father in law, Linwood Holton, John Warner, and Tom Davis being the face and leadership of it to people like Cuccinnelli, the Reverend Jackson who has made his contempt for anyone not a Christian clear, or Bob Marshall who said that children with Downs’ Syndrome are God’s punishment to women who have abortions. This isn’t your GOP of old here. I’m not asking you to donate ten bucks to Terry McAulifffe, I am asking you to consider why Ken Cuccinnelli would be bad for the state of Virginia or any state for that matter.

371 William Barnett-Lewis  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:33:56am

re: #364 Feline Fearless Leader

Would not have any effect. They want “divine right of kings*” where they substitute themselves for the “kings” part. Essentially pro- authoritarianism as long as they get to be the authority.

That’s the real definition of Libertarianism…

372 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:34:54am

re: #358 Justanotherhuman

Teehee.

Dell users: Latitude 6430u laptops ‘smell of cat urine’

“A number of Dell users have complained that their Latitude 6430u Ultrabooks “smell of cat urine”.

“Dell engineers have ruled out biological contamination, and said the smell was not a health hazard.

“The problem lay in the manufacturing process, which has now been changed, the company said.”

bbc.co.uk

Y U no lik mai manucaturing prosess?

373 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:35:14am

re: #363 Dark_Falcon

The Founders put in a procedure to amend the Constitution and did not put in a time limit for that procedure. Thus those ‘patriots’ are full of crap.

True, but they tell themselves that amendments take away from the “intent” of the Founders, which really boils down to being angry that amendments have done things they don’t like. Such as how their push to abolish the 17th amendment only gains steam when a majority of state legislatures are dominated by Republicans.

374 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:35:18am

re: #364 Feline Fearless Leader

Would not have any effect. They want “divine right of kings*” where they substitute themselves for the “kings” part. Essentially pro- authoritarianism as long as they get to be the authority.

True, I’d just love to hear them hear Patrick Henry criticize the very idea of the Constitution.

375 jamesfirecat  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:37:33am

re: #348 Feline Fearless Leader

There won’t be an empathy circuit until Romneytron v10.

At which point he will travel back in time to fight the original Romneytron?

(Can’t believe I just saw a Sentinels of the a Multiverse joke here…)

376 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:38:10am

re: #367 William Barnett-Lewis

That second isn’t true. The NYPD is not a trigger happy force, and shootings by the NYPD have been going down since Ray Kelly’s first stint as NYPD Commissioner.

And if a young black man is getting stopped, then at least he isn’t getting killed. The NYPD has a mandate to prevent murders, and stop-and-frisk has been defended by the NYPD because it is effective at keeping guns out of the easy reach of gang members.

377 gwangung  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:39:34am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

That second isn’t true. The NYPD is not a trigger happy force, and shootings by the NYPD have been going down since Ray Kelly’s first stint as NYPD Commissioner.

And if a young black man is getting stopped, then at least he isn’t getting killed. The NYPD has a mandate to prevent murders, and stop-and-frisk has been defended by the NYPD because it is effective at keeping guns out of the easy reach of gang members.

What a privileged statement.

378 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:40:31am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

And if a young black man is getting stopped, then at least he isn’t getting killed.

OOooooh, that’s a good one!

‘At least it’s not kill and frisk’.

I know that’s not really what you meant, that fewer guns out there means fewer deaths, but it could be taken out of context. Sounds bad either way.

379 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:41:53am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

That second isn’t true. The NYPD is not a trigger happy force, and shootings by the NYPD have been going down since Ray Kelly’s first stint as NYPD Commissioner.

And if a young black man is getting stopped, then at least he isn’t getting killed. The NYPD has a mandate to prevent murders, and stop-and-frisk has been defended by the NYPD because it is effective at keeping guns out of the easy reach of gang members.

What’s the effectiveness of the program? Of those who’ve been stopped under the program, what percentage actually had illegal firearms on them?

380 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:43:22am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

It makes the NYPD look and sound like they are doing their job, which is a lot easier than just going out and doing it.

381 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:45:58am

re: #378 wrenchwench

OOooooh, that’s a good one!

‘At least it’s not kill and frisk’.

I know that’s not really what you meant, that fewer guns out there means fewer deaths, but it could be taken out of context. Sounds bad either way.

I know, but I haven’t got a better way to say it. The challenge of preventing crime in neighborhoods where most residents cannot cooperate with the police for fear of gang retaliation is a very difficult one. Given the stakes, I find it almost impossible to spurn a viable tactic, even if its at times galling.

To pivot off of what William was saying:

The peace of the gun is still preferable to the anarchy of the gun.

382 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:47:58am

re: #381 Dark_Falcon

Given the stakes, I find it almost impossible to spurn a viable tactic, even if its at times galling.

You have to look at: Galling to who? That’s why it’s a privileged statement. You may have no idea….

383 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:49:07am

re: #382 wrenchwench

You have to look at: Galling to who? That’s why it’s a privileged statement. You may have no idea….

If its privileged, then it is. I still stand by it.

384 gwangung  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:49:31am

re: #381 Dark_Falcon

I know, but I haven’t got a better way to say it. The challenge of preventing crime in neighborhoods where most residents cannot cooperate with the police for fear of gang retaliation is a very difficult one. Given the stakes, I find it almost impossible to spurn a viable tactic, even if its at times galling.

To pivot off of what William was saying:

The peace of the gun is still preferable to the anarchy of the gun.

I think you are being fooled by surface tactics. Now the community WON’T cooperate because they are being treated like criminals.

This is NOT a viable tactics. You’re fooling yourself to think that it is. Don’t confuse correlation with causation.

385 gwangung  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:49:56am

re: #383 Dark_Falcon

If its privileged, then it is. I still stand by it.

Mighty white of you.

386 William Barnett-Lewis  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:50:32am

re: #381 Dark_Falcon

I know, but I haven’t got a better way to say it. The challenge of preventing crime in neighborhoods where most residents cannot cooperate with the police for fear of gang retaliation is a very difficult one. Given the stakes, I find it almost impossible to spurn a viable tactic, even if its at times galling.

To pivot off of what William was saying:

The peace of the gun is still preferable to the anarchy of the gun.

Community policing with neighbor hood assigned officers walking a regular beat is preferable to either. Especially if you make it attractive for them to live in the neighborhood they patrol.

387 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:52:22am

Well, back to work I go. BBL

388 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:54:26am

re: #381 Dark_Falcon

“The peace of the gun is still preferable to the anarchy of the gun.”

Ask a murdered school child which they would prefer…

389 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:54:29am
390 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:55:47am

re: #386 William Barnett-Lewis

Community policing with neighbor hood assigned officers walking a regular beat is preferable to either. Especially if you make it attractive for them to live in the neighborhood they patrol.

THE NYPD already does that bolded part.

391 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:55:51am

HURR HURR TYRANNY!!!!11!!!11!!

392 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:57:47am

It’s a wingnut MEME! WTF.

393 leftynyc  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:58:09am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

re: #377 gwangung


Wow - first defending the cooch and now a clearly unconstitutional law. I have been very wrong about you. Very disappointed but I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised.

394 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:58:32am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

There are stats that the NYPD provides and criminologists have developed re: stop and frisk. IIRC, there’s something like 600,000 stops each year under stop and frisk. Only a handful result in gun seizures.

Now, you can argue that the end (taking those handful of guns off the streets) justifies the means - the stopping and frisking of hundreds of thousands of minorities throughout NYC.

Or, you can argue that the NYPD would be better served by a different use of its limited (and still vast) manpower by focusing on gangs and solving cold cases and going after those folks who are engaging in violent crime.

Stop and Frisk may be a policy of diminishing returns - is NYC going to get safer with still more stops?

Number of firearms seized has dropped, despite greater use of stop and frisk.

During the past two years alone, the number of firearms seized by police has fallen 13.5 percent from 3,908 in 2009 with 510,742 frisks, to 3,443 last year, when the NYPD stopped and frisked a record-busting 685,724 New Yorkers.

And last week the NYPD reported that during the first half of this year, firearm seizures continues to fall to 1,613, compared to 1,705 during the first six months of last year. The downturn came as the NYPD conducted 337,434 stops-and-frisks — a figure that keeps the NYPD on pace to match last year’s record-busting total.

By comparison, during Bloomberg’s first year in office in 2002, the NYPD recovered 4,069 guns — but the police stop-and-frisked only 96,000 people that year, according to NYPD data.

In the past year, the NYPD has maintained that fewer guns are being found during stops-and-frisk’s because fewer people are carrying them for fear of being stopped. Instead, the criminals have turned to hiding weapons — “community guns” — which they share when needed.

Even so, community guns and an increased number of stop-and-frisks has done little to drive down the number of shootings in the city during the Bloomberg administration.

It appears to be no correlation between the stops and the seizures.

Despite all that, NYC murder rates are dropping faster and further than anyone expected. It’s that bottom line that have people thinking stop and frisk is worth it - but if that’s not correlated or caused by stop and frisk, then we need to understand what’s going on with policing and making sure resources are targeted on the right policing strategies.

395 William Barnett-Lewis  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 8:59:48am

re: #390 Dark_Falcon

THE nYPD already does that bolded part.

Then they shouldn’t need to be unconstitutionally stopping people without probable cause. If they’re doing their jobs they’ll know who is who. Or do they only sit there for a shift before be shuffled off somewhere else?

396 sagehen  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:02:41am

re: #379 Targetpractice

What’s the effectiveness of the program? Of those who’ve been stopped under the program, what percentage actually had illegal firearms on them?

Of the black kids who got stopped and frisked, less than 1% had weapons (for values of “weapon” that includes swiss army knife or screwdriver). Another 5-10% had pot or fake IDs. More than 90% had absolutely nothing at all that would give any cop a reason to take to them any further — after having spoken abusively or physically shoved them around.

Of the white kids who got stopped and frisked, 5% had weapons (10-15% of the stops are white kids; clearly the cops are five times better at recognizing “furtive behavior” when the furtive are white).

397 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:04:21am

re: #396 sagehen

Stop and frisk breaks down the relationship between police and community, and is another in a long list of tactics that makes the police in black communities act like an occupying force.

James Baldwin was writing about this fifty fucking years ago and we still haven’t learned. We’re really dumb.

398 simoom  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:07:59am

I was trying to see if Le Monde had walked back any of their previous Greenwald article, but Google Translate makes things somewhat muddled. For example:

lemonde.fr

According to our information, collected from a senior official of the intelligence community in France, the direction of the French foreign service, the DGSE, has, in fact, established in from late 2011 and early 2012, a Memorandum of data exchange with the United States.

France has a strategic position for transportation of electronic data. The submarine cables by which most data from transit Africa and Afghanistan landed at Marseilles and Penmarc in Britain . These strategic areas are within the reach of the French DGSE, which intercepts and stores much of what flows between France and abroad.

“This is a bartering is established between the management of the NSA and the DGSE, said the same source. entire blocks are given in these areas and they give us in return parts of the world where we are absent, but the negotiation was not done at once, the scope of sharing widens over talks that still persist today. “

So it seems, a priori, partly true, that some of the data transmitted over the telephone French soil is transmitted in accordance with cooperation agreements, and without sorting, the DGSE to the NSA. It is therefore data concerning French citizens receiving these communications as foreign geographic areas using these channels as well.

…

A senior French intelligence, seal, Wednesday morning, admitted, on condition of anonymity, the existence of these “data exchange” . He however denied “categorically” that the DGSE can transfer “70.3 million given to the NSA”.

399 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:09:51am

Concern trolls at Cryptome involved…

US ‘eavesdropped on Vatican in run-up to conclave’

Rome — US secret services allegedly eavesdropped on cardinals before the conclave in March to elect a new pope, Italian weekly magazine Panorama claimed Wednesday.

“The National Security Agency wiretapped the pope,” the magazine said, accusing the United States of listening in to telephone calls to and from the Vatican, including the accommodation housing cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio before he was elected Pope Francis.

(snip)

“Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said “we have heard nothing of this and are not worried about it.”

400 simoom  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:09:52am

re: #398 simoom

Hmmm. The Financial Times seems to have a bit of a summary:

ft.com

Le Monde newspaper meanwhile reported that the French external intelligence agency DGSE and the US had an agreement since 2011 to exchange data.

It said the DGSE had access to digital traffic from Africa and Afghanistan that landed in France via undersea cables. Quoting an unidentified senior French intelligence official, it said the DGSE forwarded some of this information unedited to the NSA, including data involving both French citizens and foreigners. It said Sweden, Israel and Italy, which also had undersea cable terminals, did likewise.

Le Monde said this information “clarified” its story earlier this month alleging that the NSA had collected data on 70m telephone calls in France in a single month at the turn of the year, which Mr Alexander denied.

…

Spanish officials on Wednesday declined to confirm the NSA’s claims. Speaking privately, however, they backed up one crucial plank of the agency’s defence, suggesting that most if not all of the tapped phone conversations apparently linked to Spain in media reports in fact took place outside the country.

…

When Le Monde newspaper first published the allegations that the NSA had swept up data on 70m French telephone calls in the space of a month last December and January, President François Hollande and his government reacted with instant indignation.

There was thinly disguised scepticism in diplomatic and official circles, given France’s own acknowledged intelligence efforts.

This was given clearest voice by none other than Bernard Squarcini, former head of the DCRI internal intelligence agency, who Mr Hollande fired when he came to power past year.

In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, Mr Squarcini said he was “astonished” by declarations from French leaders that they were profoundly shocked by the revelations in Le Monde. “You’d think our politicians never read the reports we send them,” he said.

“The services know perfectly well that all countries, even as they co-operate in the antiterrorist fight, spy on their allies. The Americans spy on us on the commercial and industrial level as we spy on them too, because it is in the national interest to defend our businesses. Nobody is fooled.”

401 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:24:59am

re: #397 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut

Stop and frisk breaks down the relationship between police and community, and is another in a long list of tactics that makes the police in black communities act like an occupying force.

James Baldwin was writing about this fifty fucking years ago and we still haven’t learned. We’re really dumb.

short-term publicity gain in exchange for long-term damage

that is how we do things

402 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:30:06am

Rs are trying to crucify Sebelius, but she’s staunchly refusing to allow it.

She doesn’t even allow digs against Pres Obama to get by her.

The methods of “questioning” of Sebelius by some of these clowns is more like an interrogation—not even allowing her to answer, or give complete answers, and interrupting with machine-like questions off the lists they’ve prepared.

It’s the kind of questioning no judge would allow in a court of law.

These R clowns make a mockery of hearings like this when they’re out for blood.

403 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:31:07am

re: #383 Dark_Falcon

If its privileged, then it is. I still stand by it.

A cavalier, self-aware privileged attitude is a racist attitude, IMHO. You don’t care about the young black man’s run in with the law based on his skin color, because you don’t share his skin color, so it will not likely happen to you.

Try to care. Especially since, as pointed out above, it’s not an effective policy anyway.

404 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:33:04am

re: #372 wrenchwench

Y U no lik mai manucaturing prosess?

My brother had an issue with a purchased house. Previous owner’s cats had taken at some point to peeing on the heat duct cover grates. So the lovely smell of cat urine spread whenever the forced air furnace was running. He had to replace a half dozen grates, dumped the carpeting in three rooms (he planned to do that anyways), and also do some de-odorizing work and replacement with the hardwood floor around the duct locations.

405 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:33:38am
406 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:33:51am

Fucking Renee Ellmers (a nurse!) is so fucking concerned about 30 yr old men being forced to buy maternity coverage.

She doesn’t understand insurance, either.

407 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:34:13am

re: #405 darthstar

Ha! I got autocorrected.

408 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:35:48am

re: #375 jamesfirecat

At which point he will travel back in time to fight the original Romneytron?

(Can’t believe I just saw a Sentinels of the a Multiverse joke here…)

I’m currently righting up a SotM game session for BGG. Tentatively titled “Voss and the terrible no good very bad invasion of Earth”.

:)

409 simoom  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:37:56am

I think I’ve actually come across a Greenwald walk-back (!), only he’s blaming Le Monde, and not himself (even though he shared the byline):

bbc.co.uk

Sometimes he makes mistakes. Le Monde’s article, written under the bylines of Mr Greenwald and journalist Jacques Follorou, gives an account of alleged US eavesdropping operations in France.

After the story appeared, a US official, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, fired off a statement saying that the newspaper provided “inaccurate and misleading information”.

“The allegation that the National Security Agency collected more than 70 million ‘recordings of French citizens’ telephone data’ is false,” he wrote.

Mr Greenwald says that he believes the newspaper may have inadvertently said the NSA was monitoring calls - when in fact the agency was collecting metadata, which includes information such as the place where someone logged on to their email account.

“That’s the confusion,” he says.

See, it was “the newspaper” not the Greenwald :P.

410 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:39:43am

re: #402 Justanotherhuman

411 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:40:39am

re: #409 simoom

I think I’ve actually come across a Greenwald walk-back (!), only he’s blaming Le Monde, and not himself (even though he shared the byline):

bbc.co.uk

See, it was “the newspaper” not the Greenwald :P.

not his job to check, he is busy changing the course of history

412 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:40:55am

re: #405 darthstar

[Embedded content]

Grilled the pumpkin, then pureed it, then used a regular recipe?

413 Ian G.  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:42:59am

bloomberg.com

Cliff’s Notes version: Teabaggers have far more power than they deserve, given their numbers, and yet they’re still whining and crying about how much power they don’t have. So much for democracy.

414 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:43:09am

re: #406 Justanotherhuman

Many people, including health professionals, have no idea what goes into health insurance, how insurance policies operate, or how the ACA is supposed to work as compared to the pre-ACA mess where millions had no insurance, but otherwise sought care in ERs because it was the only place to get care (and at a far greater cost to everyone - since the costs get borne by the hospitals, insurers, and payers - the people with coverages and taxpayers, to bail out the hospitals who had to provide this coverage in the first place).

ACA isn’t perfect, but it’s an improvement over the current system that bankrupts hospitals and individuals alike - except hospitals get bailouts, and individuals are screwed.

415 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:43:22am

re: #412 wrenchwench

Grilled the pumpkin, then pureed it, then used a regular recipe?

Grilled it, tossed in a cup of turbinado sugar, couple of eggs, can of evaporated milk, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg…hit it with the magic wand (immersion blender). I tend to go heavy on the cloves and nutmeg in my pies.

And did a butter, not lard, crust as one of my employees is an orthodox Jew.

416 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:45:49am

re: #402 Justanotherhuman

No I will not yield to this monkeycourt!

417 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:47:12am

re: #415 darthstar

Grilled it, tossed in a cup of turbinado sugar, couple of eggs, can of evaporated milk, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg…hit it with the magic wand (immersion blender). I tend to go heavy on the cloves and nutmeg in my pies.

And did a butter, not lard, crust as one of my employees is an orthodox Jew.

I go heavy on the cloves and nutmeg and cinnamon and ginger, and use a little molasses and a bit less sugar. And use butternut squash, sometimes.

418 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:47:58am

Now I’m hungry. Second breakfast or early lunch? Doesn’t matter, it’s peanut butter either way.

419 ericblair  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:48:18am

re: #398 simoom

I was trying to see if Le Monde had walked back any of their previous Greenwald article, but Google Translate makes things somewhat muddled.

They accept it, but kind of grudgingly I think:

“Qu’une partie de ces informations soient transmises avec l’assentiment de la DGSE ne change en rien son caractère attentatoire aux libertés. Ce nouvel éclairage pose avant tout la responsabilité des autorités politiques françaises. “

(my translation) “That a part of this information is transmitted with the approval of the DGSE doesn’t change its tendency towards the infringement of liberty. This new clarification raises the issue of the responsibility of French political authorities.”

420 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:49:25am

re: #415 darthstar

Grilled it, tossed in a cup of turbinado sugar, couple of eggs, can of evaporated milk, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg…hit it with the magic wand (immersion blender). I tend to go heavy on the cloves and nutmeg in my pies.

And did a butter, not lard, crust as one of my employees is an orthodox Jew.

I’m going to try a “sweet recipe” baked stuffed pumpkin tonight. Instead of spices, herbs, bread, cheese, and heavy cream it’s a mix of nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, brown sugar, cloves, nutmeg, and uses apple juice (I am substituting apple cider) as the liquid. Will see if it produces any sort of “pumpkin pie in the shell” effect or not.

421 klys  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:50:57am

Morning Lizards.

Exam was last night. I am hopeful that the grade will be reasonable. Went to this morning’s office hours. Thankfully the Tylenol has kicked in.

Now I get to sort out today’s to do list.

422 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:51:06am

re: #415 darthstar

Grilled it, tossed in a cup of turbinado sugar, couple of eggs, can of evaporated milk, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg…hit it with the magic wand (immersion blender). I tend to go heavy on the cloves and nutmeg in my pies.

And did a butter, not lard, crust as one of my employees is an orthodox Jew.

I make all my pie crusts with Crisco.

423 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:51:14am

re: #419 ericblair

They accept it, but kind of grudgingly I think:

“Qu’une partie de ces informations soient transmises avec l’assentiment de la DGSE ne change en rien son caractère attentatoire aux libertés. Ce nouvel éclairage pose avant tout la responsabilité des autorités politiques françaises. “

(my translation) “That a part of this information is transmitted with the approval of the DGSE doesn’t change its tendency towards the infringement of liberty. This new clarification raises the issue of the responsibility of French political authorities.”

Hmm. Are the French political authorities as prone to extrajudicial actions against perceived non-French foes as they have been in the past? If so Mr Greenwald might be poking the wrong hornet’s nest.

424 chadu  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:55:02am

re: #209 Dark_Falcon

Cite source. please. I hadn’t heard this one.

OFFS.

thinkprogress.org

425 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:57:03am

re: #417 wrenchwench

I go heavy on the cloves and nutmeg and cinnamon and ginger, and use a little molasses and a bit less sugar. And use butternut squash, sometimes.

Thinking of making a butternut squash pie today. Got a bunch that we picked before last week’s hard freeze hit.

426 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:58:46am

re: #418 wrenchwench

Now I’m hungry. Second breakfast or early lunch? Doesn’t matter, it’s peanut butter either way.

Second breakfast? What are you, a Hobbit?

427 The Ghost of a Flea  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 9:59:06am

re: #424 chadu

OFFS.

thinkprogress.org

Hey now.

Just because a guy wants to make private consensual sexual acts a felony doesn’t mean he some kind of conservative authorian nutjob.

He’s just super concerned that sperm gets a fighting chance to impregnate something.

428 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:02:04am

re: #425 Backwoods_Sleuth

Thinking of making a butternut squash pie today. Got a bunch that we picked before last week’s hard freeze hit.

At least I have some orange current apricot walnut whole wheat sourdough bread to put my peanut butter on (from the bakery down the street).

429 Mattand  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:04:50am

re: #414 lawhawk

Many people, including health professionals, have no idea what goes into health insurance, how insurance policies operate, or how the ACA is supposed to work as compared to the pre-ACA mess where millions had no insurance, but otherwise sought care in ERs because it was the only place to get care (and at a far greater cost to everyone - since the costs get borne by the hospitals, insurers, and payers - the people with coverages and taxpayers, to bail out the hospitals who had to provide this coverage in the first place).

ACA isn’t perfect, but it’s an improvement over the current system that bankrupts hospitals and individuals alike - except hospitals get bailouts, and individuals are screwed.

Don’t tell CNN; apparently they’re in full blown “Obamacare will destroy America” mode.

430 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:04:56am

re: #427 The Ghost of a Flea

Hey now.

Just because a guy wants to make private consensual sexual acts a felony doesn’t mean he some kind of conservative authorian nutjob.

He’s just super concerned that sperm gets a fighting chance to impregnate something.

Spermauthoritarianism. Explains a lot of Republican behavior.

431 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:06:16am

re: #427 The Ghost of a Flea

Cooch says we live in a “natural law country.” Can someone remind me where the Natural Law constitution is written down so I can read up on it? //

432 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:06:29am

re: #418 wrenchwench

Now I’m hungry. Second breakfast or early lunch? Doesn’t matter, it’s peanut butter either way.

Hm. My lunch was pb spread thinly on both sides of wheat bread with a banana inserted in the middle. : )

433 Mattand  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:06:39am

re: #424 chadu

OFFS.

thinkprogress.org

It’s kinda hard to believe that a regular on this board wouldn’t be familiar with the Cooch’s brand of government-by-bigotry, if even in passing.

434 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:11:47am

re: #428 wrenchwench

At least I have some orange current apricot walnut whole wheat sourdough bread to put my peanut butter on (from the bakery down the street).

Oh shoot. I was just about to ask for the recipe and then got to the end of the sentence. :(

435 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:12:02am
436 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:12:27am

re: #433 Mattand

It’s kinda hard to believe that a regular on this board wouldn’t be familiar with the Cooch’s brand of government-by-bigotry, if even in passing.

This is the cutting edge of where “religious freedom” bucks up against the Constitution. You are free to be morally opposed to certain consensual acts between adults, you just may not legislate or discrimiate against them.

437 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:12:49am

re: #429 Mattand

It’s CNN, who’s racing Fox News to the bottom of the pile of crap masquerading as news. But I repeat myself.

It’s real easy to say (or headline) that the ACA sucks and is destroying health care as we know it.

It’s quite another (and far more accurate - and lengthy) to indicate that the ACA is fixing parts of the existing health care delivery/insurance system that are quite broken. It’s revealing just how badly broken those parts are.

And in the process, millions of people are getting access to health insurance for the first time, and some of those who have had individual policies will see changes that may increase costs, but also improved policies.

438 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:13:29am

re: #434 Witches BaBOOshka

Oh shoot. I was just about to ask for the recipe and then got to the end of the sentence. :(

Wing it!

439 dog philosopher  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:13:30am

re: #412 wrenchwench

Grilled the pumpkin, then pureed it, then used a regular recipe?

the pumpkin says its ready to confess now

440 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:14:32am

re: #439 dog philosopher

the pumpkin says its ready to confess now

It will explain its seedy behavior?

441 The Ghost of a Flea  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:24:44am

re: #431 Bulworth

Cooch says we live in a “natural law country.” Can someone remind me where the Natural Law constitution is written down so I can read up on it? //

The beauty of the Natural Law Constitution is that it resides only in the minds of the mullahs that interpret it, unsullied by such base matters as human rights or the objections of secular so-called “lawyers.”

But hey, what’s a few complete wipings-away of personal privacy w/r/t sex and reproduction? It’s not like gay people and women experience actual pain and distress that’s more important that Republicans feeling a victory afterglow.

And it’s not like people who really matter, like white men, will actually be stopped from fucking people in the ass. Their ass-fucking is totally the fault of those they penetrate: those evil girlish men, whores, and slutty children.

442 ausador  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:25:23am

Oh for cripes sake, it is just a website, admittedly a large and complicated one, but it is still just a question of proper coding.

NBC/WSJ poll: 31 percent think site can’t be fixed

443 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:27:15am

re: #442 ausador

Oh for cripes sake, it is just a website, admittedly a large and complicated one, but it is still just a question of proper coding.

NBC/WSJ poll: 31 percent think site can’t be fixed

It’s always 31% that think that. Give or take a few percent. These are the same people who believe that Obama’s from Kenya, that he let Benghazi happen, etc. In otherwords, this is the Republican base.

444 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:28:11am

I was going to go as a 1980’s Computer Programmer for the office Halloween party tomorrow. I even found my old blue lab jacket at the back of the closet.

OH NOES I WAS A SIZE 6 IN THE ‘80’S.

Now I haz a sad. Mean North Dakota lady would not give me a candy. :(

445 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:29:23am
446 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:30:17am

re: #424 chadu

OFFS.

thinkprogress.org

Soeaking of Cooch, Tom Davis just dissed him pretty bad. He remarked that Virginia almost always votes against the president’s party following presidential elections and that all the Republicans needed to win the governor’s mansion was a mammal. Ouch but he’s absolutely right. If Bolling were the nominee, he’d be crushing McAuliffe and that’s even with the shutdown.

447 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:30:48am

re: #444 Witches BaBOOshka

I was going to go as a 1980’s Computer Programmer for the office Halloween party tomorrow. I even found my old blue lab jacket at the back of the closet.

OH NOES I WAS A SIZE 6 IN THE ‘80’S.

Now I haz a sad. Mean North Dakota lady would not give me a candy. :(

I tried to think of an easy Halloween costume featuring a fictional person or creature that I could whip up in an afternoon. Decided I’ll go out tomorrow as a moderate Republican.

448 Teukka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:31:15am

re: #445 Gus

[Embedded content]

*facepalm*

449 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:31:50am

re: #448 Teukka

*facepalm*

POE

450 Eclectic Cyborg  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:32:00am

Delta Airlines pilot accused of groping 14 year old

She told the FBI agent she fell asleep while seated “with her legs pulled close to her chest and her feet on her seat.” But when she woke up, she saw that her seatmate’s hand was underneath her on the left side, “far enough under her buttocks that his fingers were touching her inner thigh.”

According to the complaint, she says his hand was palm up and not moving, and that the armrest was now in the upright position with some of the man’s body weight on her. He was “clearly awake,” she claims, with his eyes open.

When she noticed what he was up to, she told investigators that she elbowed him and asked “What the hell are you doing?”

At that point, he pulled his hand out and started to apologize, she says.
“I’m sorry I’m sorry I was asleep, I have to use the bathroom,” he allegedly told the girl, who then called a flight attendant over and left her seat. Flight crew moved her to another row for the rest of the flight.

Once on the ground, law enforcement interviewed the pilot who claimed to have fallen asleep with his hands in his lap. He didn’t remember where his hands were when the girl’s elbow in his side woke him up, he said.

451 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:32:26am

re: #433 Mattand

It’s kinda hard to believe that a regular on this board wouldn’t be familiar with the Cooch’s brand of government-by-bigotry, if even in passing.

I can tell you this much. I’ve been attempting to educate the blog about Cuccinnelli ever since it was obvious that he would be the nominee here and not Lt Governor Bolling. I like to think I’ve succeeded. The guy has scared me ever since he first started using the state AG’s office to harass climate change researchers at Virginia universities. That alone should tell you all you need to know about Ken Cuccinelli and what he stands for.

452 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:32:38am
453 Eclectic Cyborg  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:34:49am

Instead of candy, woman hands out letter to Obese trick or treaters

454 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:35:15am

Hey HW, what’s your take on this guy?

Republican: Many in GOP don’t live in political reality

A House Republican lawmaker says many of his fellow GOP colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), don’t live in “political reality.”

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) said that shutting down the government “over a deep matter of principle” didn’t add up. He defected on a key vote during the shutdown, and called for a “clean” government-funding bill.

455 Teukka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:35:35am

re: #449 Gus

POE

Pardon my ignorance, Sir, but what does thou mean by ‘POE’?

456 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:35:55am

re: #453 Eclectic Cyborg

Instead of candy, woman hands out letter to Obese trick or treaters

You know, we need to do something about obesity but what an unbelievably shitty way of bringing that to attention.

457 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:37:03am

re: #455 Teukka

Pardon my ignorance, Sir, but what does thou mean by ‘POE’?

It’s a parody account.

POE

458 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:37:10am

re: #454 Bubblehead II

Hey HW, what’s your take on this guy?

Republican: Many in GOP don’t live in political reality

A House Republican lawmaker says many of his fellow GOP colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), don’t live in “political reality.”

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) said that shutting down the government “over a deep matter of principle” didn’t add up. He defected on a key vote during the shutdown, and called for a “clean” government-funding bill.

Rigell’s really been calling them out but I just hope he knows that idiot wave is why he’s in office in the first place.

459 ausador  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:37:59am

re: #455 Teukka

Pardon my ignorance, Sir, but what does thou mean by ‘POE’?

en.wikipedia.org

Poe’s Law:
“It is difficult or impossible to tell the difference between an expression of sincere extremism and a parody of extremism.”

460 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:38:34am

re: #444 Witches BaBOOshka

I was going to go as a 1980’s Computer Programmer for the office Halloween party tomorrow. I even found my old blue lab jacket at the back of the closet.

OH NOES I WAS A SIZE 6 IN THE ‘80’S.

Now I haz a sad. Mean North Dakota lady would not give me a candy. :(

Where you able to find a code printout to use on the paper with holes punched on the edges for running through a line printer? Better yet, find some punch cards!

:)

461 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:38:44am

This is NOT a parody account, just a typical wingnut on a typical day.

462 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:39:12am

re: #454 Bubblehead II

Hey HW, what’s your take on this guy?

Republican: Many in GOP don’t live in political reality

A House Republican lawmaker says many of his fellow GOP colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), don’t live in “political reality.”

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) said that shutting down the government “over a deep matter of principle” didn’t add up. He defected on a key vote during the shutdown, and called for a “clean” government-funding bill.

Rigell’s up for reelection next year in a heavily military district that’s been chafing under the lash of the sequester and took a beating with the shutdown.

463 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:39:33am

re: #460 Feline Fearless Leader

Where you able to find a code printout to use on the paper with holes punched on the edges for running through a line printer? Better yet, find some punch cards!

:)

I’m still looking for a plastic pocket protector.

Also, my big old plastic frames glasses.

464 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:40:34am

re: #458 HappyWarrior

Rigell’s really been calling them out but I just hope he knows that idiot wave is why he’s in office in the first place.

TP backed or he beat a TP backed candidate?

465 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:42:21am

re: #463 Witches BaBOOshka

I’m still looking for a plastic pocket protector.

Also, my big old plastic frames glasses.

I tried to do a geologist costume once - but all I got was questions about why I was carrying a weird-looking hammer and a rock.
;)

466 Teukka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:42:27am

re: #457 Gus

It’s a parody account.

POE

DERP! *headdesks*

Didn’t catch that one. And, yeah, text-book example of Poe’s law activating :P

467 b_sharp  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:42:49am

re: #463 Witches BaBOOshka

I’m still looking for a plastic pocket protector.

Also, my big old plastic frames glasses.

Your new NIC probably scared them away.

468 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:43:22am

re: #464 Bubblehead II

TP backed or he beat a TP backed candidate?

In the sense that he rode the Tea Party wave to Congress. Nye, his Democratic predecessor actually had voted against ACA IIRC. Targetpractice knows more about him and the district than I do though since he lives down there. I’m in Frank Wolf’s district and Frank Wolf is only leaving Congress in a bodybag or lavish retirement party.

469 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:43:36am

re: #464 Bubblehead II

TP backed or he beat a TP backed candidate?

Neither, was an establishment candidate who benefited from the increased turnout in the TP “wave” of ‘10.

470 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:44:25am

re: #466 Teukka

DERP! *headdesks*

Didn’t catch that one. And, yeah, text-book example of Poe’s law activating :P

Yeah. That one is easy… GLANS Greenwald. :D

471 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:44:38am

Yikes!

Child Forced to Wear Electric Dog Collar Over School Report

472 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:44:39am

Although I think it should be Glands Greenwald.

473 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:45:01am

re: #470 Gus

Yeah. That one is easy… >GLANS Greenwald. :D

Greenwad :). Funny I noticed that but not the Glans.

474 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:46:13am

re: #471 Backwoods_Sleuth

Yikes!

Child Forced to Wear Electric Dog Collar Over School Report

family values. back then, we did not have electric dog collars, I had to wear a chain collar and pull on it until it bit into my neck…

475 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:46:56am

re: #472 Gus

Although I think it should be Glands Greenwald.

GREENWAD.

476 Teukka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:48:31am

re: #470 Gus

Yeah. That one is easy… >GLANS Greenwald. :D

Yeah. But it seemed like a perfect example of what the genuine article would say, I so never looked at it further before firing off a response. My bad.

477 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:49:28am

re: #468 HappyWarrior

In the sense that he rode the Tea Party wave to Congress. Nye, his Democratic predecessor actually had voted against ACA IIRC. Targetpractice knows more about him and the district than I do though since he lives down there. I’m in Frank Wolf’s district and Frank Wolf is only leaving Congress in a bodybag or lavish retirement party.

I’ve never personally met the man, but he’s a fairly decent guy as I understand from those who have. Mostly famous here in the district for owning two major car dealerships, though he got smacked around in the ‘10 primaries for participating in Cash for Clunkers.

If I had to characterize his stand, he’s an establishment Republican. He’s been pretty lucky so far in walking the tightrope between sanity and TP batshit lunacy. I’d be hard-pressed to vote for the man these days, but I can at least say that I respect him.

478 b_sharp  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:49:40am

re: #472 Gus

Although I think it should be Glands Greenwald.

Glans shows his prickness quite well.

479 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:51:03am

re: #468 HappyWarrior

re: #469 Targetpractice

Thanks for the info. Since he appears to be sane, I guess it would be a good bet that the TPGOP is going to primary him next time he is up for reelection.

480 gwangung  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:51:10am

re: #477 Targetpractice

I’d be hard-pressed to vote for the man these days, but I can at least say that I respect him.

These days, that’s a pretty good recommendation for a Republican.

481 aagcobb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:54:41am

Just a reminder that clowns are evil.

482 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:57:27am

Glandular Clusters

483 klys  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:57:56am

re: #438 wrenchwench

Wing it!

And then post the recipe!

484 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:58:04am

re: #479 Bubblehead II

Thanks for the info. Since he appears to be sane, I guess it would be a good bet that the TPGOP is going to primary him next time he is up for reelection.

Nobody’s announced such yet, or if they have I haven’t seen it in the news. I know that if they do, the establishment’s gonna freak, because Obama narrowly won this district last year and this year Democrats are running a woman who’s fourth gen military, a retired Navy commander, and a former Bush admin official. Having Rigell lose a primary challenge would turn what might be comfortable or nail-biter of a reelection effort into a loss they can ill afford.

485 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:58:23am

Stupid Twitter.

486 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 10:58:53am

re: #463 Witches BaBOOshka

I’m still looking for a plastic pocket protector.

Also, my big old plastic frames glasses.

and some 5-1/4” floppy disks

487 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:00:03am
488 klys  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:00:11am

re: #461 Witches BaBOOshka

The day is coming where someone will turn in an English paper where every single word is hashtagged.

You know it is.

489 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:01:01am

Checks…

490 Ian G.  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:02:08am

re: #461 Witches BaBOOshka

This is NOT a parody account, just a typical wingnut on a typical day.

[Embedded content]

Sebelius is just like Reinhard Heydrich, obviously.

491 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:02:11am

Ah. I was expecting the traditional c-word.

492 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:03:03am

re: #489 Gus

Mic…. 1…2….3…

Check…1…2…. Check…1…2…

493 klys  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:03:45am

re: #491 Gus

Ah. I was expecting the traditional c-word.

Conservative?
Catastrophic?

A catastrophic clusterfuck of conservative conditions?

494 Lidane  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:04:50am

re: #453 Eclectic Cyborg

Instead of candy, woman hands out letter to Obese trick or treaters

Because giving out apples or a healthier snack is hard. So is turning off the lights and not participating in Halloween.

495 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:04:53am

re: #493 klys

Conservative?
Catastrophic?

A catastrophic clusterfuck of conservative conditions?

Czar-something.

496 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:06:15am

re: #494 Lidane

Because giving out apples or a healthier snack is hard. So is turning off the lights and not participating in Halloween.

And people wonder why someone would shit in their jack-o-lantern.

…

I KNOW NOTHING!

497 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:06:45am

re: #494 Lidane

Because giving out apples or a healthier snack is hard. So is turning off the lights and not participating in Halloween.

As kids we carefully avoided the houses that gave out apples and other “healthy” snacks.

498 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:06:54am

re: #486 Sol Berdinowitz

and some 5-1/2” floppy disks

Nah, punch tape.

499 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:07:39am

re: #498 Bubblehead II

Punch cards. And vacuum tubes.

500 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:08:05am

re: #461 Witches BaBOOshka

This is NOT a parody account, just a typical wingnut on a typical day.

[Embedded content]

Jesusfuckingchrist. Words fail.

501 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:08:29am

re: #497 Witches BaBOOshka

As kids we carefully avoided the houses that gave out apples and other “healthy” snacks.

We had one neighbor who gave out toothbrushes and floss.

“Yeah, just keep walking.”

502 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:08:30am

re: #477 Targetpractice

I’ve never personally met the man, but he’s a fairly decent guy as I understand from those who have. Mostly famous here in the district for owning two major car dealerships, though he got smacked around in the ‘10 primaries for participating in Cash for Clunkers.

If I had to characterize his stand, he’s an establishment Republican. He’s been pretty lucky so far in walking the tightrope between sanity and TP batshit lunacy. I’d be hard-pressed to vote for the man these days, but I can at least say that I respect him.

Sounds similar to Frank Wolf here.

503 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:09:06am

re: #490 Ian G.

Sebelius is just like Reinhard Heydrich, obviously.

You know who also walked on two feet and breathed air!

504 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:09:30am

re: #501 Kragar

We had one neighbor who gave out toothbrushes and floss.

“Yeah, just keep walking.”

That house would SO get TP’ed.

505 Dr Lizardo  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:10:27am

re: #501 Kragar

We had one neighbor who gave out toothbrushes and floss.

“Yeah, just keep walking.”

I remember once, when I was a wee one, going trick-or-treating in a couple of streets over from where I lived, and the lady was handing out Chick tracts.

My mom looked at it and laughed - she explained it to me when I got home, and that’s when I learned there’s some crazy-ass folks out there. This was in the late 1970s.

506 Lidane  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:11:13am

re: #497 Witches BaBOOshka

As kids we carefully avoided the houses that gave out apples and other “healthy” snacks.

Heh. I did too. There was also a family I remember avoiding because they gave out Chick tracts about the evils of Halloween.

Is it really that hard for people to just mind their own damn business? If you think that childhood obesity is that much of a problem, then either offer an alternative or just turn off your lighs and people will know not to go to your house.

507 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:11:30am

I can honestly say I’ve never TPd a house.

I did reprogram some automatic lawn sprinklers a few times.

508 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:11:36am

re: #499 lawhawk

Punch cards. And vacuum tubes.

Sadly, I remember all the above as well as 8 inch floppy disks.

509 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:11:50am

re: #507 Kragar

I can honestly say I’ve never TPd a hose.

I did reprogram some automatic lawn sprinklers a few times.

Who’d TP a hose?

//

510 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:12:13am

re: #496 Kragar

And people wonder why someone would shit in their jack-o-lantern.

…

I KNOW NOTHING!

Or toilet paper their house.

Image: ToiletPaperLg.jpg

511 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:12:24am

re: #508 Bubblehead II

Sadly, I remember all the above as well as 8 inch floppy disks.

Reels of magnetic tape!

512 klys  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:12:29am

re: #508 Bubblehead II

Sadly, I remember all the above as well as 8 inch floppy disks.

I generally consider the fact that I remember 5.25” floppies pretty good, since I was born in 1985. And my first OS was DOS.

513 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:13:39am

re: #506 Lidane

Heh. I did too. There was also a family I remember avoiding because they gave out Chick tracts about the evils of Halloween.

Is it really that hard for people to just mind their own damn business? If you think that childhood obesity is that much of a problem, then either offer an alternative or just turn off your lighs and people will know not to go to your house.

You can’t BULLY & FAT-SHAME any kids if your lights are turned off and nobody comes to your door. What is the fun in that?

514 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:14:05am

re: #512 klys

I generally consider the fact that I remember 5.25” floppies pretty good, since I was born in 1985. And my first OS was DOS.

My first OS was VAX/VMS.

515 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:14:40am

re: #508 Bubblehead II

Sadly, I remember all the above as well as 8 inch floppy disks.

My first PC had cables so I could plug a tape deck into it to load software.

516 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:14:48am

re: #508 Bubblehead II

And the tricks to get DS/DD disks - either for the 5.25 floppies or the 3.5 disks (punch holes to deal with write protecting ), back when media costs were high.

Oh, and when having a 64k machine was fast.

517 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:15:21am

re: #516 lawhawk

And the tricks to get DS/DD disks - either for the 5.25 floppies or the 3.5 disks (punch holes to deal with write protecting ), back when media costs were high.

Oh, and when having a 64k machine was fast.

and when 1200 baud modems were lightning fast!

518 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:15:52am

My kids played games on our Apple II that they loaded from cassette tapes.

519 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:00am

re: #511 Backwoods_Sleuth

Reels of magnetic tape!

Didn’t have to deal with that particular media at work, but I still have a Reel to Reel machine w/built in 8 track.

520 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:14am

re: #517 Backwoods_Sleuth

and when 1200 baud modems were lightning fast!

We had an acoustic coupler. 300 baud!

521 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:19am

GOP Pollster: Republicans Must ‘Stop Pandering’ To Racism

Freed Steeper, who served as an adviser to both Presidents Bush, told the New York Times in a story published Wednesday that the GOP may continue its struggles in national elections if it keeps up its often derisive rhetoric toward Hispanic voters.

“Racism may be a part of it,” Steeper admitted. “The Republican Party needs to stop pandering to that.”

Steeper then gave Republicans some blunt advice on the matter.

“The Republican Party needs to throw in the towel on the immigration issue,” he said.

Well.

Good luck with that.

I suggest Mr. Steeper might want to update his resume.

522 dog philosopher  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:27am

re: #512 klys

I generally consider the fact that I remember 5.25” floppies pretty good, since I was born in 1985. And my first OS was DOS.

they had us using PDP 11-70 OSs called Cyber and RSTS when i was studying computer science

523 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:37am

re: #515 Kragar

My first PC had cables so I could plug a tape deck into it to load software.

Ditto with mine. A TRS-80 Model III.

And I miss VAX/VMS. Especially every time I try to do a file search for text content on a machine running a Windows OS.

524 simoom  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:54am

The latest from WaPo’s Bart Gellman (who also has some portion of the Snowden stolen document trove) claiming that the GHCQ operates a joint project w/ the NSA that captures from international data sync’ing between parts of the Google & Yahoo cloud, and that the NSA participates in querying it and receiving records from it:

washingtonpost.com

The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.

…

The NSA’s principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency’s British counterpart, GCHQ.

…

For the MUSCULAR project, the GCHQ directs all intake into a “buffer” that can hold three to five days of traffic before recycling storage space. From the buffer, custom-built NSA tools unpack and decode the special data formats that the two companies use inside their clouds.

…

It is not clear how much data from Americans is collected, and how much of that is retained. One weekly report on MUSCULAR says the British operators of the site allow the NSA to contribute 100,000 “selectors,” or search terms.

That bit about the GHCQ “buffering” three to five days sounds like earlier stories about the GHCQ capturing that duration of material from the UK’s undersea cables. Anyway, if Gellman’s story is accurate, perhaps this is related to Le Monde’s report, I linked to above, of the French, Italians, Swedes and Israelis tapping & archiving their undersea cable terminals and then exchanging some portion of the data.

525 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:55am

re: #520 Witches BaBOOshka

We had an acoustic coupler. 300 baud!

We had one of those also, thus our extreme excitement about the 1200 baud!

526 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:16:57am
527 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:17:22am

Is it story hour at the LGF Home For Aging Tech Geeks?

//

528 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:17:46am

re: #526 Witches BaBOOshka

[Embedded content]

That monster!!

////

529 Lidane  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:18:22am

re: #521 Kragar

GOP Pollster: Republicans Must ‘Stop Pandering’ To Racism

ROFL. He’s 40+ years too late on that. The GOP needs to pander to the bigots, the idiots and the religious fanatics to win. They need coded racism and white resentment. It’s all they’ve got left.

530 klys  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:18:34am

re: #527 Targetpractice

Is it story hour at the LGF Home For Aging Tech Geeks?

//

DFAs are Republicans, NFAs are Democrats.

/this insight is brought to you by Friday’s lecture

531 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:18:41am

re: #527 Targetpractice

Is it story hour at the LGF Home For Aging Tech Geeks?

//

We’re creating our own myths - about the Golden Age of Computers and Bulletin Boards.
:p

532 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:18:48am

my first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81

533 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:19:00am

re: #516 lawhawk

And the tricks to get DS/DD disks - either for the 5.25 floppies or the 3.5 disks (punch holes to deal with write protecting ), back when media costs were high.

Oh, and when having a 64k machine was fast.

I had a 16k RAM module I could plug into the back, bumping it up to 32k overall.

534 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:21:03am

re: #531 Feline Fearless Leader

We’re creating our own myths - about the Golden Age of Computers and Bulletin Boards.
:p

“Golden Age”? As in before Eternal September?

535 aagcobb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:21:11am

re: #529 Lidane

ROFL. He’s 40+ years too late on that. The GOP needs to pander to the bigots, the idiots and the religious fanatics to win. They need coded racism and white resentment. It’s all they’ve got left.

They also have misogyny and religious fanaticism, don’t forget those core elements.

536 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:22:05am

re: #531 Feline Fearless Leader

We’re creating our own myths - about the Golden Age of Computers and Bulletin Boards.
:p

I remember the golden days of newsgroups… but that… that was a long time ago.

537 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:22:25am

re: #521 Kragar

GOP Pollster: Republicans Must ‘Stop Pandering’ To Racism

Well.

Good luck with that.

I suggest Mr. Steeper might want to update his resume.

A little late to teh party are we. Somehow find Richard Nixon and tell him not to do that.

538 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:22:58am

re: #535 aagcobb

They also have misogyny and religious fanaticism, don’t forget those core elements.

Yep and I’d say the misogyny and religious fanaticism may be even worse than the racism.

539 dog philosopher  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:23:55am

re: #521 Kragar

GOP Pollster: Republicans Must ‘Stop Pandering’ To Racism

one of the outcomes of the gummint shutdown seems to have been to embolden non teabag republicans to Dare To Be Moderate

i’m seeing declarations of radical moderateness break out everywhere

540 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:24:06am

re: #536 Kragar

I remember the golden days of newsgroups… but that… that was a long time ago.

In a galaxy far, far away?

541 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:24:35am

Koch Pipeline Spills 400 Barrels Of Crude Oil In Texas

Rick Perry is already preparing a formal apology to the Koch Brothers.

542 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:25:17am

re: #534 Targetpractice

“Golden Age”? As in before Eternal September?

I remember when n00bz whose emails ended in ix.netcom.com were the dumbest users on the planet.

543 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:25:54am

re: #512 klys

I generally consider the fact that I remember 5.25” floppies pretty good, since I was born in 1985. And my first OS was DOS.

Mine was basic on a Vic 20 (still have it as well as C-64, 128, 1541disk drives, 1702 Color monitor as well as the cassette player/recorder )

544 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:27:02am

re: #541 Kragar

Koch Pipeline Spills 400 Barrels Of Crude Oil In Texas

Rick Perry is already preparing a formal apology to the Koch Brothers.

How will anyone notice, anymore?

545 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:27:12am

Zedushka is still grumping over the fact that he once spent $500 on a 40MB HD.

40MB.

546 klys  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:29:14am

re: #543 Bubblehead II

Mine was basic on a Vic 20 (still have it as well as C-64, 128, 1541disk drives, 1702 Color monitor as well as the cassette player/recorder )

That’s even more of a computer history museum than my father runs.

547 dog philosopher  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:29:15am

re: #541 Kragar

Koch Pipeline Spills 400 Barrels Of Crude Oil In Texas

Limbaugh et al. Pipeline Spills 400 Barrels Of Crude Every Day

large quantities of rude and stupid also detected

548 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:29:50am

re: #542 Witches BaBOOshka

I remember when n00bz whose emails ended in ix.netcom.com were the dumbest users on the planet.

I’d joke about AOL users…except I used to be one.

549 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:31:26am

re: #548 Targetpractice

I’d joke about AOL users…except I used to be one.

Image: point-and-laugh.jpg

550 dog philosopher  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:31:27am

re: #545 Witches BaBOOshka

Zedushka is still grumping over the fact that he once spent $500 on a 40MB HD.

40MB.

these days i see programmers using up 40MB just to allocate a data structure //

551 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:31:37am

re: #548 Targetpractice

I’d joke about AOL users…except I used to be one.

I had an AOL account for about 2 weeks—in 1993. It sucked.

552 aagcobb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:32:06am

re: #548 Targetpractice

I’d joke about AOL users…except I used to be one.

Remember all of the AOL CDs they use to mail out?

553 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:32:16am

“Man, I want to reload this game, but I lost one of the 6 floppies it came on.”

554 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:32:19am

re: #526 Witches BaBOOshka

Outrageous outrage redistributing wealth don’t tread on me!@!!@1o2o

555 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:33:08am

re: #552 aagcobb

Remember all of the AOL CDs they use to mail out?

I made windchimes with them.

556 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:33:28am

re: #552 aagcobb

Oh, you mean like the one that when I loaded it, it crashed my computer? Those? Yes, I remember those. True story.

557 Lidane  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:33:28am

re: #548 Targetpractice

I’d joke about AOL users…except I used to be one.

My project management prof in grad school was one of the founding executives at CompuServe. That explains why he was teaching traditional project management instead of agile in 2011.

558 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:33:43am

re: #532 Backwoods_Sleuth

my first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81

Was that the one you bought as a kit and put togather for $100.00 (1980s)

559 Targetpractice  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:34:04am

re: #552 aagcobb

Remember all of the AOL CDs they use to mail out?

Made great drink coasters.

560 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:34:31am

re: #558 Bubblehead II

Was that the one you bought as a kit and put togather for $100.00 (1980s)

yep. Around 1980 or 81, IIRC. Also had a nifty plotter printer accessory to go with it.

561 lawhawk  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:35:44am

re: #545 Witches BaBOOshka

$200+ for a 32k upgrade on RAM. That put the TRS-80 Mod 3 up to a max of 48k. And it used cassette tapes for storage.

562 EdDantes  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:36:35am

re: #520 Witches BaBOOshka

We had an acoustic coupler. 300 baud!

I would have killed for 300 baud! My first computer made may lay in a wet rat infested ditch to reach a bulletin board!

563 GlutenFreeJesus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:36:43am

re: #548 Targetpractice

I’d joke about AOL users…except I used to be one.

Youtube Video

564 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:37:22am

Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting this.

Image: Inquisition.jpg

565 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:37:35am

re: #546 klys

That’s even more of a computer history museum than my father runs.

You just don’t throw history away. Probably need to dig them out and see if they still work. C-64 power supplies were notorious for going bad

566 darthstar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:37:44am

My favorite part of the GOP slam Obama fest this morning was this comeback by Sebelius when some asshole was trying to get her to say the web site was Obama’s responsibility:

567 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:38:27am

re: #559 Targetpractice

The first 93 times I got one of those I threw it in the garbage. My one attempt to “what the hell, give it a shot” killed my computer. Not on my list of great decisions.

568 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:39:28am

re: #564 Kragar

Um….

569 aagcobb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:39:31am

Here are a couple of sounds from the past:

Youtube Video

Youtube Video

570 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:40:09am

re: #566 darthstar

Disrespectful!! Resign!! Impeach!!!!

571 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:42:35am
572 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:43:33am

re: #571 Witches BaBOOshka

[Embedded content]

Giant puppet heads!
Is it an anti-NSA rally?

573 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:44:20am

re: #568 Bulworth

Um….

Just imagining the piles of burning heretics and witches.

It will be glorious.

574 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:44:21am

re: #572 Backwoods_Sleuth

Giant puppet heads!
Is it an anti-NSA rally?

Code Sepia!

575 Bubblehead II  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:44:40am

re: #569 aagcobb

Here are a couple of sounds from the past:

[Embedded content]

You forgot the one of the extension being picked up and the scream of frustration as a 2 hour download just got interupted 3/4 of the way through.

576 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:46:20am

My first computer, 1993. I liked it until the monitor died 3 yrs later. It was outrageously expensive. I spent 6 or 7 hours on it the first night I had it. Got my grandkids interested in it right away—they were 5 and 3 and had their own little disks w/learning programs. Back then, there was usually only one computer in the classrooms, but they were going to have an edge and know how to use it. My granddaughter is meh about them now, but my grandson is a fanatic.

everymac.com

577 Sol Berdinowitz  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:49:41am

I first used basic PC’s in the 80’s to do some word processing and bookeeping entries, later IBM system stuff working in a university records and enrollment office.

Got into them big-time in 1994 when I took up translating for a living.

But only as a user, do not game much or use it for anything other than this blog, FB and my news sites.

578 Backwoods_Sleuth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:51:10am

For those on FB who are tired of friends and family bragging about their ignorance in failing to solve a really simple riddle, I give you…

Image: 1385477_625988867440328_1441858891_n.jpg

579 aagcobb  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:52:32am

Obama, worst Marxist President ever, has given the capitalists a bigger bull market than Reagan’s.

580 Justanotherhuman  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:53:55am

U.S. joins lawsuit against firm that vetted Snowden

Oct 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday it joined a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower against United States Investigations Services, the firm that vetted Edward Snowden, who leaked documents about U.S. spying efforts.

“The lawsuit alleges that USIS failed to perform quality control reviews in connection with its background investigations, the department said.”

reuters.com

581 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:54:17am
582 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:55:40am
583 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:57:38am

Glenn blocked me after I Tweeted this and hurt his feelings:

584 dell*nix  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:57:55am

re: #486 Sol Berdinowitz

Got those, plus a dot matrix printer and 14” greenbar paper.

585 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:58:35am
586 Gus  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 11:59:31am

re: #583 Witches BaBOOshka

Glenn blocked me after I Tweeted this and hurt his feelings:

[Embedded content]

587 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:02:07pm

re: #581 Witches BaBOOshka

[Embedded content]

Yeah because preventing future terrorist attacks shouldn’t be an interest of an American intelligence agency. Stupid little troll Greenwald.

588 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:02:53pm

re: #585 Witches BaBOOshka

Each probably also provides healthcare coverage to children outside of the womb, but we realize this is unimportant to some “pro-life” outfits. /

589 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:03:47pm
590 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:03:55pm

re: #587 HappyWarrior

Yeah because preventing future terrorist attacks shouldn’t be an interest of an American intelligence agency. Stupid little troll Greenwald.

Greenwald: The NSA Has Nothing To Do With Terrorism!

591 Weet  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:08:35pm

Manchin and Pryor will both vote for ENDA.

592 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:08:38pm
593 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:10:14pm

re: #591 Weet

Manchin and Pryor will both vote for ENDA.

[Embedded content]

Which Republicans have signed aboard? Read a page here with Senator McCain’s own wife signing a petition urging him to jump aboard.

594 Kragar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:13:25pm

Poll: Lindsey Graham’s Approval Rating Tumbles In S.C.

The survey from Winthrop University found 37 percent of South Carolina voters approve of the job Graham is doing, compared with about 48 percent who said they disapprove. Winthrop showed Graham with an approval rating of 48 percent in February, and 44 percent in April.

Perhaps even more disconcerting for Graham, who is staring at a GOP primary in 2014, is his steep drop among Republican voters in South Carolina. The latest survey from Winthrop showed 45 percent of Republican voters approving of Graham, compared with 40 percent who disapprove.

595 Lidane  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:13:26pm

re: #593 HappyWarrior

Which Republicans have signed aboard? Read a page here with Senator McCain’s own wife signing a petition urging him to jump aboard.

Not McCain. Not yet anyway. He’s too busy worrying that ENDA will lead to quotas and busing. Or something.

596 Vicious Babushka  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:13:46pm
597 leftynyc  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:13:50pm

re: #593 HappyWarrior

Which Republicans have signed aboard? Read a page here with Senator McCain’s own wife signing a petition urging him to jump aboard.

Collins, Kirk, Murkkowski, Hatch. Word is that Portman has shown some willingness to support.

598 leftynyc  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:15:03pm

re: #596 Witches BaBOOshka

I’m Jewish but I gotta say I’m liking this Pope. He sure likes to stick it into the eyes of those who take advantage of the luxuries afforded by the church.

599 simoom  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:15:26pm

re: #524 simoom

I’ve transcribed a brief response from Gen. Alexander when he was asked about the breaking story at an unrelated Bloomberg media event in DC:

bloomberg.com

Gen. Alexander: “I can tell you factually, we do not have access to Google servers, Yahoo servers, dot-dot-dot. We go through a court order. We issue that court order to them through the FBI. And, it’s not millions, it’s thousands of those that are done. And it’s almost all against terrorism and other things like that. It has nothing to do with US Persons.”

600 Ian G.  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:21:34pm

re: #526 Witches BaBOOshka

Awesome summation of the current situation. Also, I had no idea Bunk Moreland had a Twitter account.

601 Lidane  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:24:35pm

re: #578 Backwoods_Sleuth

For those on FB who are tired of friends and family bragging about their ignorance in failing to solve a really simple riddle, I give you…

Image: 1385477_625988867440328_1441858891_n.jpg

That stupid riddle is poorly worded anyway. Supposedly the correct answer is your eyes, but if you know what time it is, who’s at the door and what food you have on hand, your eyes are already open. The only logical thing to open first is the door.

602 Ian G.  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:26:01pm

re: #596 Witches BaBOOshka

Oh, there’s a different “bishop of bling” than Eddie Long? Long’s residence should also be used to house the poor.

603 Feline Fearless Leader  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:26:36pm

re: #601 Lidane

That stupid riddle is poorly worded anyway. Supposedly the correct answer is your eyes, but if you know what time it is, who’s at the door and what food you have on hand, your eyes are already open. The only logical thing to open first is the door.

I thought the true libertarian answer was to open the shotgun first to ensure that it is loaded and ready to deal with the intruders who were stupid enough to announce themselves by ringing the doorbell.
///

604 Bulworth  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:27:54pm

re: #596 Witches BaBOOshka

MOOOChers!!1 No redistribution!! Primary his a$s!!111

605 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:28:06pm

re: #595 Lidane

Not McCain. Not yet anyway. He’s too busy worrying that ENDA will lead to quotas and busing. Or something.

What a fucking twit.

606 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:28:25pm

re: #597 leftynyc

Collins, Kirk, Murkkowski, Hatch. Word is that Portman has shown some willingness to support.

Only real surprise there is Hatch.

607 HappyWarrior  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 12:29:10pm

re: #594 Kragar

Poll: Lindsey Graham’s Approval Rating Tumbles In S.C.

So the solution is obviously to pander to the right wing nutjobs even more!

608 EPR-radar  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 2:45:23pm

re: #305 Dark_Falcon

There are no specific conditions. Someone makes the list of people I would never vote for because I have come to regard them as a crazy and dangerous person.

I am late to this party, but on what planet is Cuccinelli not both crazy and dangerous?

609 BeenHereAwhile  Wed, Oct 30, 2013 3:44:22pm

re: #542 Witches BaBOOshka

I remember when n00bz whose emails ended in ix.netcom.com were the dumbest users on the planet.

When I became a netcommie in 1994, I first signed up for both a shell account and an ix.netcom account as I was moving over from Compuserve, and didn’t know which one I would prefer.

Dropped the ix.netcom over the the shell account. Later on I hosted pine for those like me who used pine as their MUA. LIkewise other users would host other MUAs for fellow netcommies, as that was the way netcom shell operated.

Netcom was a great ISP, as it was basically run and maintained by the users, and typically the only interaction with the Sysop was to send notices of bugs. Thus his usr name was Bugs.

Still use a shell account for personal use.


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