STL County Police Academy’s New Course: How to Handle the Media After You Gun Down an Unarmed Teenager

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Sometimes you get a glimpse into a separate subculture that shows you how incredibly removed from the ordinary person’s experience its members are; for example, this new course being offered by the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy in the aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting, which promises to teach officers how to handle the media in situations like that, with topics like “Meet the 900-Pound Gorilla,” and “Feeding the Animals.”

This is not a parody, folks. Here’s the PDF: Mediashoot.pdf.

OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING — YOU CAN WIN WITH THE MEDIA

The shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer on August 9th in Ferguson, Missouri and the events that followed were tragic. In addition to the Ferguson case study, this fast-paced class is jam-packed with the essential strategies and tactics, skills and techniques that will help you WIN WITH THE MEDIA! It is practical training, not theoretical: Take what you learn and put it to work for you on the street right away! The training is also highly entertaining: numerous video clips illustrate key points, and there is NO PowerPoint! You will learn a lot, and you’ll have fun doing it! In addition to the detailed case study of Ferguson (including numerous practical tips for handling the media in an officer-involved shooting) topics will include:

  • Meet the 900-Pound Gorilla
  • DWI and the Media
  • Feeding the Animals
  • "No comment" is a comment
  • Don't Get Stuck on Stupid!
  • Managing Media Assault and Battery
  • Managing the Media When Things Get Ugly (think Ferguson)
  • Managing the Media in a Crisis (including lessons learned from the Newtown, CT school shooting.)

(h/t: @ShaunKing.)

UPDATE at 9/20/14 4:58:13 pm by Charles Johnson

In case the document suddenly disappears, here’s a screenshot:

Jump to bottom

327 comments
1 Targetpractice  Sep 20, 2014 4:41:59pm

Yes folks, an unarmed teen is dead and the entire police department is under the microscope, so this is a perfect time to launch a course that promotes the idea that the media is the enemy.

2 b.d.  Sep 20, 2014 4:43:48pm

How about a course in not shooting unarmed citizens?

3 Shazam  Sep 20, 2014 4:44:25pm

re: #2 b.d.

No room in the budget.

4 b.d.  Sep 20, 2014 4:45:25pm

re: #3 Shazam

No room in the budget.

Had to buy a tank instead

5 GeneJockey  Sep 20, 2014 4:45:27pm

re: #1 Targetpractice

Yes folks, an unarmed teen is dead and the entire police department is under the microscope, so this is a perfect time to launch a course that promotes the idea that the media is the enemy.

What’s not to like?
///

6 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 4:45:31pm

re: #3 Shazam

No room in the budget.

It’s down there below body cams.

7 piratedan  Sep 20, 2014 4:45:37pm

re: #3 Shazam

No room in the budget.

priorities, priorities…..

8 Targetpractice  Sep 20, 2014 4:45:57pm

Better yet, who is it they’re offering this course to? The beat cops who are just going to get whisked off into anonymity and hiding once the scene is secured?

9 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 4:46:00pm
10 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 4:49:40pm

It’s highly entertaining!

11 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 4:50:33pm

Link to the doc not working. This works for me.

12 TedStriker  Sep 20, 2014 4:50:58pm

re: #10 Charles Johnson

It’s highly entertaining!

They have apparently pulled the PDF.

Edit: Or not.

13 Targetpractice  Sep 20, 2014 4:51:22pm

Perhaps they can put the results of this course to the test and point the media to Wilson’s current location.

14 Floral Giraffe  Sep 20, 2014 4:51:45pm

In LA we did the Christopher commission….

15 b.d.  Sep 20, 2014 4:52:33pm

re: #12 TedStriker

They have apparently pulled the PDF.

Transparency!

16 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 4:53:24pm

The PDF’s still there - my link had + signs in place of the %20 code for spaces. Fixed now.

17 ElCapitanAmerica  Sep 20, 2014 4:54:51pm

Link is broken, second one posted in comments works, I’m betting they’ll remove it …

18 BeachDem  Sep 20, 2014 4:54:54pm

re: #8 Targetpractice

Better yet, who is it they’re offering this course to? The beat cops who are just going to get whisked off into anonymity and hiding once the scene is secured?

According to the flyer…

Who Should Attend?

All upper echelon law enforcement professionals who ever expect to face media contact will benefit. This includes top-level decision-makers, command staff supervisors, and subject-matter experts as well as PIOs-Technical Studies.

19 Targetpractice  Sep 20, 2014 4:55:46pm

re: #18 BeachDem

According to the flyer…

Who Should Attend?

All upper echelon law enforcement professionals who ever expect to face media contact will benefit. This includes top-level decision-makers, command staff supervisors, and subject-matter experts as well as PIOs-Technical Studies.

Translation: The dipshits who made us look like utter idiots before the media, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

20 TedStriker  Sep 20, 2014 4:56:24pm

re: #18 BeachDem

According to the flyer…

Who Should Attend?

All upper echelon law enforcement professionals who ever expect to face media contact will benefit. This includes top-level decision-makers, command staff supervisors, and subject-matter experts as well as PIOs-Technical Studies.

Meanwhile, the actual text is a PR nightmare for people who still have a soul…

21 stpaulbear  Sep 20, 2014 4:56:25pm

re: #1 Targetpractice

Yes folks, an unarmed teen is dead and the entire police department is under the microscope, so this is a perfect time to launch a course that promotes the idea that the media is the enemy.

…but you’ll have fun doing it!!

22 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 5:00:24pm

re: #4 b.d.

Had to buy a tank instead

MRAPs aren’t tanks, but the Los Angeles School Police Department thinks they could be rescue vehicles:

The Los Angeles School Police Department, the largest school-based law enforcement agency in the country, is giving back three grenade launchers obtained under a Department of Defense program, but wants to keep some other gear- just in case.

As reported by the Associated Press, the agency will be returning three grenade launchers of unspecified type but will keep a surplus Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicle as well as 61 M16 rifles. The rifles, agency officials point out, have been modified to fire semi-auto only, and the MRAP can be used as a rescue vehicle

“It’s something that we believe is a life-saving vehicle,” LAUSD Police Chief Steve Zipperman told CBS Los Angeles. “And certainly we realize we need to take a look, is this the best alternative right now for us until we find something else that is more conducive to a police-type of rescue.”

The grenade launchers, Zipperman says, are going because they are “not essential for our mission, so we will be disposing of those.”

Image: police-MRAP.jpg

23 b.d.  Sep 20, 2014 5:00:29pm
24 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 5:00:49pm

Added a screenshot above in case it suddenly goes missing.

25 BeachDem  Sep 20, 2014 5:01:20pm

re: #10 Charles Johnson

It’s highly entertaining!

And there is NO Powerpoint!

26 Shazam  Sep 20, 2014 5:01:46pm

Any chance when the meeting starts the presenter just starts saying, “What the fuck is wrong with you people?” to a confused police audience?

27 b.d.  Sep 20, 2014 5:02:11pm

Did you find the perp?

No but we won the media cycle.

28 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 5:02:25pm
29 jaunte  Sep 20, 2014 5:03:02pm

“Feeding the Animals”

Well-poisoning 101.

30 BeachDem  Sep 20, 2014 5:04:03pm

re: #19 Targetpractice

Translation: The dipshits who made us look like utter idiots before the media, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Youtube Video

31 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 5:04:03pm

Here’s the form for training the same guy offered in 2012. It shows that he reused a bunch of boilerplate without thought to how it would appear when used so close to Mike Brown’s death.

Since Rosenthal’s specialty is communications and how to appear better than you are in the media, I’d say he failed, big time.

32 b.d.  Sep 20, 2014 5:04:25pm

re: #28 Charles Johnson

Interesting trivia from the 50th state.

Ha!

33 1Peter G1  Sep 20, 2014 5:04:39pm

You probably mean this guy: ileeta.org a real charmer. Does a side business in how to make a fortunate in real estate.

34 Floral Giraffe  Sep 20, 2014 5:05:06pm

re: #28 Charles Johnson

Another Palin grifter!

35 BeachDem  Sep 20, 2014 5:07:22pm

re: #34 Floral Giraffe

Another Palin grifter!

And for just $9.95 a month, you too can be up-to-the-minute on the Palin grift! (bitcoins not accepted)/

36 Varek Raith  Sep 20, 2014 5:09:21pm

“Feeding the Animals”

Oh yeah, that’s nice.
e_e

37 jaunte  Sep 20, 2014 5:09:44pm
“I teach law enforcement to be alert and not paranoid,” he says. “Just as someone pulls a gun on you, you don’t just stand there and let them shoot you.”
…………………….
“…Critical of Rosenthal’s comments is the Better Government Association, which frequently investigates public entities.

The BGA, which issued a report critical of the Palatine police’s handling of the unsolved Brown’s Chicken & Pasta murder case, is critical of Rosenthal’s tactics in counseling that department in the wake of the killings.

“He counseled people not to talk to reporters,” says Mike Lyons, the chief investigator of the BGA. “… The greatest asset they (police) have in crimes is the press in getting out the word.”

Rosenthal goes on at length in a chapter titled “Media Brutality” about what he claims were abusive tactics used in stories questioning the Palatine police’s handling of the Brown’s case, in which seven workers were killed.
articles.chicagotribune.com

38 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 5:10:25pm

re: #33 1Peter G1

You probably mean this guy: ileeta.org a real charmer. Does a side business in how to make a fortunate in real estate.

This time, Peter, you’ve got it right. That’s the guy. I posted a link to his company’s write-up on manta.com two threads back, but here it is again.

Assuming he’s running his business from home, the address is evidence he’s having some success: It an apartment in Winnetka, IL, within walking distance of the Metra station for the commuter train into Chicago. Winnetka is pricey as is, and I can tell you from experience that living space within walking distance of a Metra station costs more than places further away.

39 Amory Blaine  Sep 20, 2014 5:11:59pm

re: #10 Charles Johnson

It’s highly entertaining!

Will there be clowns?

40 Bubblehead II  Sep 20, 2014 5:13:22pm

re: #22 Dark_Falcon

MRAPs aren’t tanks, but the Los Angeles School Police Department thinks they could be rescue vehicles:

Image: police-MRAP.jpg

But San Diego is getting rid of theirs.

SD Unified to return armored vehicle

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Unified School District has decided to return a military-grade armored vehicle donated by the Department of Defense that was intended to be used by city schools police for emergencies such as campus shootings.

Gee, I wonder why?

41 RealityBasedSteve  Sep 20, 2014 5:14:49pm

re: #35 BeachDem

And for just $9.95 a month, you too can be up-to-the-minute on the Palin grift! (bitcoins not accepted)/

The odds of me paying 9.95 a month for the Palin Channel (and I’m sorry, a subscription internet show isn’t a “channel”) are slim and none, and slim was last seen on a bus headed out of town.

What little bits and pieces I’ve seen reminds me of the very worst of “Local Cable Access Channel” programming. Can you imagine what the subscribers list is worth however for fund raising and direct marketing of RW crapola?

RBS

42 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 5:18:07pm

re: #40 Bubblehead II

But San Diego is getting rid of theirs.

SD Unified to return armored vehicle

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Unified School District has decided to return a military-grade armored vehicle donated by the Department of Defense that was intended to be used by city schools police for emergencies such as campus shootings.

Gee, I wonder why?

I’ve got a proposal: Take all the MRAPs that are currently slated for transfer to police, and all those being returned by police, put them on 2-3 C-5M Galaxies and fly them to Iraq there to serve either the Iraqi Army or the Peshmerga.

Iraq was where these MRAPs were built to go, they could do good work there, so let’s send them there.

43 Amory Blaine  Sep 20, 2014 5:18:51pm

We have one in Milwaukee (MRAP) that they use for intimidation. (Insert blustering Alderman here) comes on tv and proclaims how serious crime is and we’re not going to take it any more. They then park it in (poor neighborhood here) and have those globe style cameras glued on the sides. And blah blah blah Jesus and ‘murcia the end.

44 Eventual Carrion  Sep 20, 2014 5:21:13pm

re: #28 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

I’m a Pennsylvanian. WE’RE NUMBER TWO! WE’RE NUMBER TWO!

Damn you Delaware. By 5 days.

45 Bubblehead II  Sep 20, 2014 5:21:24pm

re: #42 Dark_Falcon

I’ve got a proposal: Take all the MRAPs that are currently slated for transfer to police, and all those being returned by police, put them on 2-3 C-5M Galaxies and fly them to Iraq there to serve either the Iraqi Army or the Peshmerga.

Iraq was where these MRAPs were built to go, they could do good work there, so let’s send them there.

I could live/sleep with that.

46 Aunty Entity Dragon  Sep 20, 2014 5:24:34pm

re: #1 Targetpractice

Yes folks, an unarmed teen is dead and the entire police department is under the microscope, so this is a perfect time to launch a course that promotes the idea that the media the public is the enemy.

Minor adjustment.

47 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 5:26:05pm

Last customer of the day was dad and daughter with a kitten. Lots of folks around here walk around carrying their chihuahuas, but the kitten was a first.

48 goddamnedfrank  Sep 20, 2014 5:35:22pm

There’s nothing more sad than a Boy Scout trying to sell expensive popcorn.

49 Decatur Deb  Sep 20, 2014 5:38:12pm

re: #36 Varek Raith

“Feeding the Animals”

Oh yeah, that’s nice.
e_e

Looking at WW’s expanded old curriculum, “the Animals” are the press. At least it’s not the citizens. (Same for “900 Pound Gorilla”.)

50 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 5:38:48pm

I wonder how the cops can spin this so they don’t look like repo dudes who arrest you and put you in jail instead of just taking your car.

For people living under threat of arrest around St. Louis, a constant stress

[…]

Police, prosecutors and judges oppressing poor people: It’s a narrative that might have garnered little sympathy around the St. Louis area before the fatal shooting Aug. 9 of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer. The shooting set off protests that included demands to improve operations in police departments and municipal courts.

But in the post-Ferguson world that recognizes how many people are just like Ray, it’s a cause célèbre. At the end of last year, there were 412,851 active arrest warrants in St. Louis County, many of them for failing to appear in court.

[…]

51 becominginvisible  Sep 20, 2014 5:38:53pm

” This will be instructor Rick Rosenthal’s 10th class at the C.M.P.A. ”
So they have experience at cover-ups, this is for the newbies or maybe a refresher course for some who couldn’t keep their mouth properly shut.

52 Decatur Deb  Sep 20, 2014 5:40:00pm

re: #39 Amory Blaine

Will there be clowns?

Bet on it.

53 Eventual Carrion  Sep 20, 2014 5:42:43pm

re: #32 b.d.

Interesting trivia from the 50th state.

Ha!

They use the same word for hello and goodbye.

54 Varek Raith  Sep 20, 2014 5:44:59pm

re: #49 Decatur Deb

Looking at WW’s expanded old curriculum, “the Animals” are the press. At least it’s not the citizens. (Same for “900 Pound Gorilla”.)

I’m just amazed (I shouldn’t be) that they’d be that tone deaf in using that language.

55 lockjawcanbefun  Sep 20, 2014 5:49:50pm

re: #39 Amory Blaine

Not literal clowns. Figurative ones, on the other hand…

56 lawhawk  Sep 20, 2014 5:49:56pm

The whole festering wound of racism, lawless law enforcement, and how both ruin lives in St Louis was ripped off with the death of Michael Brown, but those in charge of the police departments don’t want the scrutiny.

So they continue doing business the way it has always been done there. That means providing “education” programs that treat the media as the enemy.

Nope, they’re not the enemy. They’re there to make sure that the police are holding up their end of the social compact. In St Louis, they’ve failed to do so, so the media has to help hold them accountable. That means shedding light on excessive force, police brutality, and rampant racist and social policing policies that end up targeting minorities and the poor in such a way that they stand next to no chance of ever improving their lot (like everyone in the county having multiple warrants out for them because the courts and police are stacked against them ever clearing their records).

The police need the disinfectant of daylight. They aren’t going to do it themselves. They’re going to need the media to make it happen.

But we see how the police do treat the media as the enemy. We saw that during the protests - the targeting of journalists for simply trying to report on policing.

That’s why the DOJ has to clean house in not just the FPD, but the county police and other police departments throughout the STL area.

57 Stanley Sea  Sep 20, 2014 5:51:47pm
58 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 5:54:09pm
59 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 6:01:23pm

re: #57 Stanley Sea

[Embedded content]

Then the first department to blame is the DoVA.

60 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 6:02:27pm

I don’t think I can watch all 5 minutes of this.

It’s too cute!

61 Kragar  Sep 20, 2014 6:05:07pm

re: #50 wrenchwench

I wonder how the cops can spin this so they don’t look like repo dudes who arrest you and put you in jail instead of just taking your car.

[Embedded content]

For people living under threat of arrest around St. Louis, a constant stress

This is what happens when you use the legal system to fund your government instead of taxes.

62 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 6:06:39pm

re: #59 Dark_Falcon

Then the first department to blame is the DoVA.

This.

Plus that knife is a fairly normal pocket knife. My own EDC is about twice that size and not at all suitable for anything but my work.

63 Floral Giraffe  Sep 20, 2014 6:09:38pm

re: #56 lawhawk

The worst part of all of this, IMHO is it’s not just St. Louis.

64 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 6:09:48pm

re: #60 wrenchwench

This truly is the most annoying monkey I have ever seen. And I’ve seen some really annoying monkeys.

65 wrenchwench  Sep 20, 2014 6:12:09pm

re: #64 Charles Johnson

This truly is the most annoying monkey I have ever seen. And I’ve seen some really annoying monkeys.

The little dental exams are the best.

Later, lizards.

66 socrets  Sep 20, 2014 6:12:44pm

Lesson #1: Don’t let the world know you’re taking a course in how to “win” the media.

67 RealityBasedSteve  Sep 20, 2014 6:12:49pm

re: #60 wrenchwench

Pull on the cats ears, pull it’s lips, rub “monkey junk” all in it’s face. that cat has to be on industrial levels of thorazine.

68 Kragar  Sep 20, 2014 6:13:39pm

re: #66 socrets

Lesson #1: Don’t let the world know you’re taking a course in how to “win” the media.

69 dholmes32  Sep 20, 2014 6:15:45pm

re: #60 wrenchwench

I don’t think I can watch all 5 minutes of this.

[Embedded content]

It’s too cute!

Kitty is entirely too patient. My two cats would have been Out Of There way before 30 seconds.

70 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 20, 2014 6:17:01pm

Yesterday afternoon I posted that ISIS is to Islam what the KKK is to Christianity and this evening I found a shitload of Derp in my timeline.

HURR HURR TEH KKK WAS TEH DEMOCRATZ!!!!!!
HURR HURR ALL TEH GOOD CHRISTIANS DENOUNCED TEH KKK!!!!!!
HURR HURR TEH KKK NEVER CUT HEAD OFF!!!!!!

KKK preferred hanging to beheading, and no preacher, not even white preachers, dared to denounce the KKK during its heyday.

KKK committed many race murders 50 years ago which are unsolved to this day.

I just blocked all those idiots.

71 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 6:17:51pm

re: #69 dholmes32

Kitty is entirely too patient. My two cats would have been Out Of There way before 30 seconds.

My best cat, RIP, would have been “nom-nom-nom” on monkey on a stick immediately after the ear got pulled the first time.

72 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 6:21:53pm

re: #70 Pie-onist Overlord

Yesterday afternoon I posted that ISIS is to Islam what the KKK is to Christianity and this evening I found a shitload of Derp in my timeline.

HURR HURR TEH KKK WAS TEH DEMOCRATZ!!!!!!
HURR HURR ALL TEH GOOD CHRISTIANS DENOUNCED TEH KKK!!!!!!
HURR HURR TEH KKK NEVER CUT HEAD OFF!!!!!!

KKK preferred hanging to beheading, and no preacher, not even white preachers, dared to denounce the KKK during its heyday.

KKK committed many race murders 50 years ago which are unsolved to this day.

I just blocked all those idiots.

Up here we had no blacks for them to hate on. Jews and Catholics, OTOH?

No priest or pastor said anything against them.

Thankfully, Superman (via Stetson Kennedy) did. dangerousminds.net

73 Amory Blaine  Sep 20, 2014 6:25:23pm

My cat would puke on that monkey. Then he’d turn around and hiss at me because he was hungry!!

74 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 6:29:35pm

re: #71 William Barnett-Lewis

My best cat, RIP, would have been “nom-nom-nom” on monkey on a stick immediately after the ear got pulled the first time.

Yes, that is a very tolerant cat. Both of my mother’s last two cats would have grabbed the monkey with their forepaws, tucks their hind legs under, then used their back claws to rip the monkey’s intestines out.

Cat: “You’ve got guts, let’s see what they look like!” [starts clawing]

75 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 6:32:00pm

re: #68 Kragar

[Embedded image]

So how about we take a tape of one of Rosenthal’s classes and have Charlie Sheen go MST3K on it?

76 Aunty Entity Dragon  Sep 20, 2014 6:32:25pm

re: #73 Amory Blaine

My cat would puke on that monkey. Then he’d turn around and hiss at me because he was hungry!!

Olivia…our kitteh that gave wrenchwench a nose kiss a couple weeks ago….would be delighted at having a “new special friend” to play with. I’m not sure the monkey would agree.

77 Amory Blaine  Sep 20, 2014 6:38:33pm

To be fair to George the cat, he would only hiss. He’s such a crabby old man and hissing and low grumbling growls are his forte’. IOW he loves to bitch.

78 The Ghost of a Flea  Sep 20, 2014 6:39:07pm

As someone with literal, not figurative, monkey scars: no, do not let your cat tussle with a macaque. They are really, really strong for their size.

79 Rightwingconspirator  Sep 20, 2014 6:43:35pm

Media Management Class day two

When you threaten a news crew with your rifle, speak politely.

When you Bean Bag the TV camera, be sure to aim your CS gas carefully, place it at their feet.

Remember a cell phone looks just like a gun at all times.

80 b_sharp  Sep 20, 2014 6:46:21pm

re: #74 Dark_Falcon

Yes, that is a very tolerant cat. Both of my mother’s last two cats would have grabbed the monkey with their forepaws, tucks their hind legs under, then used their back claws to rip the monkey’s intestines out.

Cat: “You’ve got guts, let’s see what they look like!” [starts clawing]

Monkeys are pretty strong. I doubt the cat could have held on.

81 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 20, 2014 6:46:37pm

My parents had an old cat, it just like to lie on the heat register and snooze. My son was 2 years old and chased him around to give him “the tickles.” The poor cat ran from one heat register to another and my son chased him, having loads of fun playing “hide & seek” with old Sam.

82 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 6:50:11pm

re: #79 Rightwingconspirator

Media Management Class day two

When you threaten a news crew with your rifle, speak politely.

When you Bean Bag the TV camera, be sure to aim your CS gas carefully, place it at their feet.

Remember a cell phone looks just like a gun at all times.

Even though teh blehs deserve to be called the n-word, the media is full of Radical Progressives who will go after you for telling the truth.

/////

83 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 6:51:34pm

re: #81 Pie-onist Overlord

My parents had an old cat, it just like to lie on the heat register and snooze. My son was 2 years old and chased him around to give him “the tickles.” The poor cat ran from one heat register to another and my son chased him, having loads of fun playing “hide & seek” with old Sam.

At about that age my son decided that he needed to share his Nukkie with the cat. Hilarity for the adults ensued. Terror for the cat. Sadness for the boy who wasn’t able to understand that she just wasn’t interested in sharing.

84 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 6:53:32pm

re: #80 b_sharp

Monkeys are pretty strong. I doubt the cat could have held on.

Depends. Mine was a good hunter - had he gotten the neck bite in place, monkey wouldn’t have had long to be able to fight him off & he was a big muscular (not fat) cat.

85 Aunty Entity Dragon  Sep 20, 2014 6:55:13pm

Police chief of Indianapolis declares the police are “a paramilitary organazation” that serves the political class….not the public.

“We have historically been a paramilitary organization, and we serve whoever sits in that chair, regardless of race, gender, creed, or political party. I don’t know what we would do if we had to go to battle, and we had to make a determination, based on past practices, whether or not we wanted to go into battle. … I am a soldier in an army. We serve you in that way…. We should not be in a position where we’re going to have to decide how we’re going to police this city.”

Youtube Video

Just to reiterate: this chief of police sees himself in a military role.

86 b_sharp  Sep 20, 2014 6:55:29pm

re: #84 William Barnett-Lewis

Depends. Mine was a good hunter - had he gotten the neck bite in place, monkey wouldn’t have had long to be able to fight him off & he was a big muscular (not fat) cat.

I guess it depends on the monkey.

87 Floral Giraffe  Sep 20, 2014 7:05:47pm

Because…
Youtube Video

88 Gus  Sep 20, 2014 7:07:36pm

Racist

89 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 7:20:23pm

Apropos of nothing but sheer delight, two gal pals o’ mine (exactly two in the Euclidean sense of two) took me out for belated birthday drinks tonight and presented me with a cd of the album “Dylan’s Gospel” (Ode Records 1969), which I only knew from the scratchy vinyl bought from a San Francisco Mission District Goodwill ages ago. If you’re a Bob-bleheaded completist like me, you must get the superbly transferred cd. A total revelation.

The Times They Are A-Changin’

90 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 7:22:57pm

History tidbit for tonight. Papa Hemingway in Spain, 1938…

Robert Capa (c) International Center of Photography
View profile
SPAIN. Mora de Ebro. US writer and journalist Ernest HEMINGWAY at the front lines with members of General LISTER’s Loyalist Vth Army Corps, who were holding out against General FRANCO’s offensive.The bridgehead of Mora la Nueva, on the East Bank of the Ebro River, Franco’s troops had held the West Bank for 5 months. November 5th, 1938.

Mosin-Nagant in Spain

91 HappyWarrior  Sep 20, 2014 7:26:36pm

re: #88 Gus

Racist

Yikes.

92 HappyWarrior  Sep 20, 2014 7:28:10pm

re: #90 William Barnett-Lewis

History tidbit for tonight. Papa Hemingway in Spain, 1938…

Mosin-Nagant in Spain

That’s a neat image. By the way, thought you would be possibly interested but there’s a new book out about the Civil War called Hotel Florida. Read a review on it right before I left for Europe. It sounds interesting. Papa Hemingway is featured in it I believe.

93 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 7:33:56pm

re: #90 William Barnett-Lewis

History tidbit for tonight. Papa Hemingway in Spain, 1938…

Mosin-Nagant in Spain

With a hat tip to Forgotten Weapons, since I’d wager that’s where you first saw this one. (If you hadn’t posted that, I’d have linked there and asked if you seen it).

94 HappyWarrior  Sep 20, 2014 7:36:59pm

Anyhow, still haven’t caught the final ep of the Roosevelts yet but I’ve come out of watching the series a bigger admirer of Eleanor Roosevelt than I was before. Still admire TR and FDR but Eleanor Roosevelt was an amazing woman herself. I just found myself shaking my head hearing a letter read to her deploring her actions pushing for social equality. It’s too bad that she did not grow up in an era more friendly to women and their aspirations because I think she could have done even more. I also was not aware of the wonderful work she did with wounded service members in both world wars. Knew about her racial equality efforts and support for working people but the stuff for the troops was also really cool too. I can see why President Truman made her a political appointee to the UN.

95 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 7:37:44pm

re: #93 Dark_Falcon

With a hat tip to Forgotten Weapons, since I’d wager that’s where you first saw this one. (If you hadn’t posted that, I’d have linked there and asked if you seen it).

Yep, though I went to Magnum Photos for the image file which is why I neglected to mention Ian.

96 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 7:42:11pm

re: #94 HappyWarrior

That civil rights work is why she had a New York State concealed carry permit and was known to have a S&W .32 next to her on the front seat of her car when driving through the deep south. From the image, i’d say she knew how to us it…

97 HappyWarrior  Sep 20, 2014 7:44:59pm

re: #96 William Barnett-Lewis

That civil rights work is why she had a New York State concealed carry permit and was known to have a S&W .32 next to her on the front seat of her car when driving through the deep south. From the image, i’d say she knew how to us it…
[Embedded image]

Yeah they’ve talked a little about her being armed during the series. Tough lady. I really want to learn more about her after the Burns series. His series are great at that- provoking more interest in a subject. They’ve had (H.W Brands) who wrote the FDR bio I read on so far. Always good to see McCullough too, he’s one of my favorite historians.

98 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 7:46:04pm

The kids aren’t always alright.

99 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 7:52:44pm

re: #94 HappyWarrior

Anyhow, still haven’t caught the final ep of the Roosevelts yet but I’ve come out of watching the series a bigger admirer of Eleanor Roosevelt than I was before. Still admire TR and FDR but Eleanor Roosevelt was an amazing woman herself. I just found myself shaking my head hearing a letter read to her deploring her actions pushing for social equality. It’s too bad that she did not grow up in an era more friendly to women and their aspirations because I think she could have done even more. I also was not aware of the wonderful work she did with wounded service members in both world wars. Knew about her racial equality efforts and support for working people but the stuff for the troops was also really cool too. I can see why President Truman made her a political appointee to the UN.

Does anyone know if the post-war episode talks about the younger Kermit Roosevelt’s role in overthrowing Mossadegh in Iran in 1953?

100 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 7:53:06pm
101 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 7:56:25pm

re: #96 William Barnett-Lewis

That appears to be Eleanor’s Hyde Park estate. My friend Paul lives a few miles from there, and every few years we take the tour and chat with the caretaker, who’s family has managed the place for years and who loves to tell the tale about being a boy during WW II and hoarding Winston Churchill’s cigar butts. It’s a lovely little place, much more relaxed than FDR’s parent’s place up the road, which is also a nice tour.

102 HappyWarrior  Sep 20, 2014 7:56:41pm

re: #99 Dark_Falcon

Does anyone know if the post-war episode talks about the younger Kermit Roosevelt’s role in overthrowing Mossadegh in Iran in 1953?

No idea sorry. Anyhow though, it’s interesting, I was reading the wiki bios and read that Archibald Roosevelt ended up being a JBS member. His older half sister Alice OTOH ended up moving more to the left in later years though she was a close friend of Nixon’s too.

103 Dark_Falcon  Sep 20, 2014 7:58:03pm

re: #102 HappyWarrior

No idea sorry. Anyhow though, it’s interesting, I was reading the wiki bios and read that Archibald Roosevelt ended up being a JBS member. His older half sister Alice OTOH ended up moving more to the left in later years though she was a close friend of Nixon’s too.

Well, Nixon wasn’t a conservative.

104 Aunty Entity Dragon  Sep 20, 2014 8:00:16pm

Just finished this weeks episode of Outlander.

Whew! That was…ahem…steamy.

105 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 8:01:11pm

re: #100 teleskiguy

[Embedded content]

The first real “grown-up” job I ever had was being co-owner of a kite store in Tucson in the early seventies, and one of the kites we sold looked just like that bird, which we imported from Thailand. The workmanship was absolutely superb and surprisingly dirt cheap. I wished I’d kept one.

106 HappyWarrior  Sep 20, 2014 8:01:39pm

re: #103 Dark_Falcon

Well, Nixon wasn’t a conservative.

You’re right, he wasn’t but he was more closer to being a conservative by that era’s standards than he was a liberal. She also was apparently friendly with the Kennedys too and voted against Goldwater who the same aforementioned Nixon campaigned hard for.

107 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 8:08:57pm

And now it’s off to the motel desk. I leave you with this bit of Sam Cooke that’s a little too close to home for my tastes :D but is a great song nonetheless…

Youtube Video

108 prairiefire  Sep 20, 2014 8:14:50pm

re: #104 Aunty Entity Dragon

Just finished this weeks episode of Outlander.

Whew! That was…ahem…steamy.

A very, ahem, intellectual episode full of gorgeous Scottish scenery and strong thighs.

109 Lidane  Sep 20, 2014 8:15:03pm

re: #103 Dark_Falcon

Well, Nixon wasn’t a conservative.

He wouldn’t be a conservative now, but back then? Yeah, he was.

110 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 8:19:21pm

Listening to a bootleg of Johnny Cash playing Austin in 1994. “I’d like to thank Willie Nelson for letting me play in Austin.”

Best rendition of “Delia” ever. Miss ya, Johnny. You’re the best.

111 retired cynic  Sep 20, 2014 8:28:49pm

re: #99 Dark_Falcon

No, it didn’t. It did feature Ted Jr’s role at Utah Beach.

112 Aunty Entity Dragon  Sep 20, 2014 8:30:17pm

re: #108 prairiefire

A very, ahem, intellectual episode full of gorgeous Scottish scenery and strong thighs.

Verra intellectual…

113 KiTA  Sep 20, 2014 8:42:11pm

Mm, new Who once I get home. The high point of the week.

114 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 8:43:26pm

Paul Klee, Cat and Bird, 1928

115 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 8:54:12pm
116 Rightwingconspirator  Sep 20, 2014 9:01:12pm

re: #115 Charles Johnson

117 Amory Blaine  Sep 20, 2014 9:03:30pm

re: #115 Charles Johnson

Looks like some kind of Friday bomb dropped re: policy.

118 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 9:04:28pm

re: #115 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

As an old publishing hound and long time observer of the press, I can’t say I’m shocked, but this is sad.

119 Charles Johnson  Sep 20, 2014 9:05:01pm

Kinda hard to figure out exactly what’s up at AJE but it looks like they’re trying to be more like Buzzfeed, and getting rid of people who aren’t focused enough on trivial bullshit.

120 Amory Blaine  Sep 20, 2014 9:07:02pm

They want more pizzazz and less substance on the op-ed page. Oh joy.

121 Amory Blaine  Sep 20, 2014 9:07:45pm
122 Jocko's Rocket Ship  Sep 20, 2014 9:11:01pm

re: #103 Dark_Falcon

Well, Nixon wasn’t a conservative.

Sure he was. Or if anything, he was an especially ambitious, complex, and paranoid version of a conservative. He may have been more high-minded on foreign policy than the current crop of conservatives, and didn’t care as much about purity on the domestic front (he mostly cared about making a name on foreign policy), but that time was different. He still expressed the id of the conservative mind pretty consistently.
Look at his supreme court adds. Or read Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland.

Ted Cruz is the modern child of Richard Nixon.

123 Rightwingconspirator  Sep 20, 2014 9:11:40pm

re: #119 Charles Johnson

Kinda hard to figure out exactly what’s up at AJE but it looks like they’re trying to be more like Buzzfeed, and getting rid of people who aren’t focused enough on trivial bullshit.

Have you seen Borderland there?

124 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 9:14:22pm

re: #121 Amory Blaine

It’s a sad day when opinion pieces need to toe a particular line. Ask any “renegade” who’s ever been rejected by the Wall Street Journal editorial department.

125 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 9:27:28pm

re: #103 Dark_Falcon

Well, Nixon wasn’t a conservative.

Anything Nixon did that could be considered liberal he did only because he came after LBJ’s already enacted programs and he was up against a Democratic Congress. Dick was a true blue McCarthyite.

Compared to Reagan and the Bushes, Nixon appears to be more liberal, but I think liberals give him way too much credit. Maybe it’s time to to put that myth, based on a false comparison, to rest?

126 Rightwingconspirator  Sep 20, 2014 9:32:09pm

Kashkari campaign DOA

A show of disunity at California GOP convention

Kashkari also urged the party to reach beyond conservatives. His campaign displayed rainbow-flag signs outside the banquet room and co-hosted a reception with gay and Latino Republicans.

But party leaders omitted Kashkari from a flier promoting the convention. It featured photos of Swearengin, Paul and U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield). McCarthy was the headline speaker Saturday night; Kashkari was relegated to lower-profile proceedings Sunday morning.

127 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 9:57:45pm

Another sovereign citizen?

128 BeachDem  Sep 20, 2014 9:59:14pm

re: #126 Rightwingconspirator

Kashkari campaign DOA

A show of disunity at California GOP convention

Loved this:

But befitting tradition, the convention, at a hotel near LAX, was dominated by the party’s conservative wing. A tea party caucus ran a $10-a-ticket raffle for a shotgun. A person in a pink pig costume walked the corridors with a “No More Environmental Pork” sign in protest of Proposition 1, a $7.5-billion water bond measure.

129 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 10:00:12pm
130 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 10:03:47pm

re: #127 teleskiguy

I’ve been to Idaho, a very lovely state, Only a compleate idiot would want to barricade themselves away from this

131 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 10:08:28pm

re: #130 De Kolta Chair

I’ve been to Idaho, Only a compleate idiot would want to barricade themselves from this

[Embedded image]

It must be said that the vast majority of Idaho’s population live in the Snake River Plain, much of which looks like this:

132 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 10:13:38pm

re: #131 teleskiguy

It must be said that the vast majority of Idaho’s population live in the Snake River Plain, much of which looks like this:

[Embedded image]

That’s mighty pretty as well. Makes me wonder if RW extremists ever get out and look at the wonderful world around them. I’m just assuming he was a rightie. I could be wrong, and he’s actually a — gulp — independent voter.

133 BeachDem  Sep 20, 2014 10:20:19pm

I think Orly might just have some competition for Looniest Lawyer in California.

A Los Angeles attorney faces a possible six-month suspension for posting doctored photos on her firm’s website that implied she mingled with high-profile politicians and celebrities, including President Obama, George Clooney and Kim Kardashian…

But during a July trial, experts testified that “many, and perhaps all” of the photos were Photoshopped “to make it appear as though [Sangary] was in the presence of a celebrity…”

The judge said Sangary failed to appear for several hearings, including a deposition, and failed to meet some deadlines in the case. Instead, he wrote, she filed erratic responses that had “little to no rational connection to the charges at hand.”

In one 16-page filing, Sangary repeatedly referred to herself in the third person and launched into tangential discussions that appeared to have nothing to do with her case, such as Natalie Portman’s performance in “Black Swan.”

Yep—this one could give Orly a run for her money.

134 austin_blue  Sep 20, 2014 10:20:20pm

re: #129 teleskiguy

[Embedded content]

Looks like Central and West Texas. Nothing like a four year drought to highlight an entire Region’s vulnerability:

waterdatafortexas.org

Lakes Austin, LBJ, and Inks are hiding ponds between dams and maintained at or above 90%. Everything west of Lake Brownwood (at a higher elevation) is the water supply for San Angelo, Big Spring, Midland, Odessa, and surrounding communities. Their sum reservoir capacity is well below 10%. Oh, and they are tracking the shit out of that area right now.

is water for tracking by oil and gas companies in Texas regulated? Oh my goodness, no. They can use as much as they want wherever they can get it.

As for the people and ranchers of the Region? Suffer!

135 Jocko's Rocket Ship  Sep 20, 2014 10:23:29pm

re: #131 teleskiguy

It must be said that the vast majority of Idaho’s population live in the Snake River Plain, much of which looks like this:

[Embedded image]

True that. I’ve driven from the Chicago to Jackson Hole then to Colorado two times, and from Portland to central Oregon just last month. There are a few parts of that territory that are stunningly beautiful, but much of the rest is scary sparse and ugly (some stunningly ugly, which is something worth seeing.)

136 klys  Sep 20, 2014 10:24:59pm

Lizards, you all slacked and nobody mentioned the Kindle update that I saw.* Much more important than the iPhone crap. Up to 4 gigs for books on the new one!

*Note: I was kind of spacey yesterday, so this may be my fault.

137 dog philosopher  Sep 20, 2014 10:25:19pm

re: #103 Dark_Falcon

Well, Nixon wasn’t a conservative.

this is a sign of just how much “conservatism” today has deviated from the mainstream of the american spirit

138 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 10:28:36pm

re: #136 klys

Lizards, you all slacked and nobody mentioned the Kindle update that I saw.* Much more important than the iPhone crap. Up to 4 gigs for books on the new one!

Does that come in a landline version? Not that I’d ever answer the damned thing if it did. /

139 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 10:29:18pm

Note: @HavanaTed is a parody account, if scrolling through his TL wasn’t obvious.

140 klys  Sep 20, 2014 10:30:50pm

re: #138 De Kolta Chair

Does that come in a landline version? Not that I’d ever answer the damned thing if it did. /

I adore my Kindle so much (first gen Paperwhite) but I have been out of memory on it for so long. This is fantastic news for me.

141 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 10:32:40pm

re: #139 teleskiguy

142 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 10:40:22pm

re: #140 klys

I used to guffaw like a hyena at those contraptions, but they’ve improved so much that I can definitely see the appeal.

143 austin_blue  Sep 20, 2014 10:41:21pm

Well! Oregon is in a shootout with Mike Leach’s Washington State. Oregon is up, just scoring, 38-31 with around 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

144 CuriousLurker  Sep 20, 2014 10:42:11pm

re: #119 Charles Johnson

Kinda hard to figure out exactly what’s up at AJE but it looks like they’re trying to be more like Buzzfeed, and getting rid of people who aren’t focused enough on trivial bullshit.

Yeah, fewer facts + more hyperbole = clickbait *smh*

Speaking of researching things, I was poking around the St. Louis County PDFs with Google to see what else I could find. I didn’t find anything particularly disturbing aside from a meeting of the Board of Election Commissioners of St. Louis County from back in November 2008.

Apparently voters were having various problems such as voters being misdirected, machine malfunctions, long lines, absentee ballots being requested but not cast, and an intimidating police presence.

According to a voter who signed up to be heard, a Mr. Michael Moore, these sorts of things only happened in “North County”, which I assume means the northern part of St. Louis County. That would be where Ferguson is (and I assume other majority black neighborhoods).

Imagine my surprise—black voters turn out in droves to vote for the first black man ever nominated to run for president, and they run into all kinds of problems trying to cast their votes. Just a coincidence, I’m sure. //

Judging by the report on the BoEC meeting after the 2012 elections, the problem appears to have been rectified by then.

Anyway, back to the police stuff.

If the PDF Charles linked to disappears or people start claiming it didn’t come from the county, then I call BS based on several other PDFs having similar patterns in terms of “Author” naming conventions and the use of MS Word for many of the documents. Just throwing that out there so you guys notice it.

Now if only we could figure out exactly who the letter/number designations refer to…

Officer-Involved Shooting — You Can Win with the Media
File: Mediashoot.pdf
Title: Microsoft Word - Media - Officer-Involved Shooting You Can With The Media - Rosenthal
Author: acs005

St. Louis County Police Department Application
File: applicat.pdf
Title: Microsoft Word - PERSONAL HISTORY QUESTIONNAIRE.doc
Author: aca001

Executive Summary [2014 Budget]
File: 2014recommendedbudgetexecutivesummary.pdf
Title: Microsoft Word - County Officials
Author: bd0a01 [same author as below]

2013 Adopted Budget
File: 2012RecommendedBudgetSummary.pdf
Title: Crystal Reports - 2-Topbound All Funds Total
Author: bd0a01

2012 Recommended Budget
File: 2012RecommendedBudgetSummary.pdf
Title: ST
Author: Paul Kreidler [according to the title page he’s the county’s Budget Director]

County Executive Kicks off Effort Targeting Vacant, Abandoned Eyesores and Problem Properties
File: glasgowdemo.pdf
Title: News from CHARLIE A
Author: “Scott, Mac” [Mac Scott was the county’s communications director until September 2013]

Before I go, here are two other tidbits from the Ferguson area that might be of interest:

A 19-year-old (black) male pointed a gun at an STL County police officer on August 13 and lived (though he was critically injured). A judge has removed his $200K cash-only bail requirement and released him “to live ‘exclusively’ at his father’s home.” It basically sounds like he’s been put under house arrest while he undergoes physical therapy for his injuries. The PD is majorly pissed that they weren’t notified.

A 21-year-old woman died in a STL County jail cell. Suicide they say. No mention of her race: St. Louis County Police investigating hanging death in Pagedale jail cell

Okay, I’m off to go watch Stand Up Guys on Amazon Prime.

Later, lizards.

145 klys  Sep 20, 2014 10:42:40pm

re: #142 De Kolta Chair

I used to guffaw like a hyena at those contraptions, but they’ve improved so much that I can definitely see the appeal.

I waited until 2010 for my first. They are fabulous. Packing for trips is so. Much. Easier. (I was that person taking 10-15 books for a two week road trip, if not more.)

Now I always have something to read with me.

146 CuriousLurker  Sep 20, 2014 10:48:10pm

re: #140 klys

I adore my Kindle so much (first gen Paperwhite) but I have been out of memory on it for so long. This is fantastic news for me.

Dammit! I just bought my first Kindle last year. I guess I’ll wait for the Xmas sales… Now I’m really leaving, I mean it!

147 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 10:49:06pm

re: #143 austin_blue

Well! Oregon is in a shootout with Mike Leach’s Washington State. Oregon is up, just scoring, 38-31 with around 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Don’t care.

American Football is a fucked up thing. I won’t be a spectator this season or any other. It’s a nasty sport and the upper echelons engage in utterly unethical business practices. Fuck American Football!

148 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 10:53:06pm

The new Space-X module is about to make a journey to low Earth orbit!

149 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 10:53:54pm

re: #147 teleskiguy

Don’t care.

American Football is a fucked up thing. I won’t be a spectator this season or any other, It’s a nasty sport and the upper echelons engage in utterly unethical business practices. Fuck American Football!

Arsenal stomped on Aston-Villa today. That I can care about. The NFL or it’s minor leagues? Not so much.

150 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 10:56:31pm

re: #145 klys

I waited until 2010 for my first. They are fabulous. Packing for trips is so. Much. Easier. (I was that person taking 10-15 books for a two week road trip, if not more.)

Now I always have something to read with me.

I’m curious. Say, for example, I’m reading a Nabokov story that references a Pushkin poem. I can then summon up the book that contains that poem? If so, that would be most cool. I’m all about cross referencing.

151 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 10:57:42pm
152 austin_blue  Sep 20, 2014 10:57:53pm

re: #147 teleskiguy

Don’t care.

American Football is a fucked up thing. I won’t be a spectator this season or any other, It’s a nasty sport and the upper echelons engage in utterly unethical business practices. Fuck American Football!

I like the college game, mostly. Those kids just play their guts out and make nothing. The NFL? Meh. It’s just a cash machine for billionaires. It’s what has made them turn a blind eye to the “personal issues” of their players. If you are paying an employee $8 million a year, you want value for your sunk cost.

So does the viewing public. It’s bread and circuses, my man. The English Premier League is no different. Sport is a product, like any other.

153 austin_blue  Sep 20, 2014 11:00:04pm

re: #149 William Barnett-Lewis

Arsenal stomped on Aston-Villa today. That I can care about. The NFL or it’s minor leagues? Not so much.

And my Chelsea play some team from The Midlands tomorrow. Can’t wait!

154 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 11:00:31pm

re: #151 teleskiguy

[Embedded content]

Someone once told me that if you ever want to hear the LOUDEST sound you’ve ever wanted to hear, go to a NASA rocket launch.

Bucket list.

155 WhatEVs  Sep 20, 2014 11:05:22pm

re: #100 teleskiguy

That’s a stunningly beautiful picture. I never imagined a peacock flying.

156 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 11:09:02pm

re: #152 austin_blue

I like the college game, mostly. Those kids just play their guts out and make nothing. The NFL? Meh. It’s just a cash machine for billionaires. It’s what has made them turn a blind eye to the “personal issues” of their players. If you are paying an employee $8 million a year, you want value for your sunk cost.

So does the viewing public. It’s bread and circuses, my man. The English Premier League is no different. Sport is a product, like any other.

Well then I’ll spend all my money and time on ski porn!

:-D

157 dog philosopher  Sep 20, 2014 11:10:18pm

re: #152 austin_blue

I like the college game, mostly. Those kids just play their guts out and make nothing. The NFL? Meh. It’s just a cash machine for billionaires. It’s what has made them turn a blind eye to the “personal issues” of their players. If you are paying an employee $8 million a year, you want value for your sunk cost.

So does the viewing public. It’s bread and circuses, my man. The English Premier League is no different. Sport is a product, like any other.

my uncle, he died last year at 88, he always told me he only watched college ball. pure talent and heart

professionals doing for a living? he didn’t see the point in it…

158 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 11:11:45pm

Speaking of bucket lists…

Though I hear obtaining the spare parts is a mofo. The car, not the Scotsman.

159 klys  Sep 20, 2014 11:12:32pm

re: #150 De Kolta Chair

I’m curious. Say, for example, I’m reading a Nabokov story that references a Pushkin poem. I can then summon up the book that contains that poem? If so, that would be most cool. I’m all about cross referencing.

I don’t know if we’re quite that far yet but Amazon is working on it, that’s for sure. Footnotes have gotten a lot better, for example (not that most of what I read on there involves footnotes).

160 ausador  Sep 20, 2014 11:12:50pm

So hackers released nude selfies of Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Hudgens, and Hope Solo today, along with a bunch more pics of Jennifer Lawrence. Reddit and 4chan strike again. :(

Seen the K.K. ones already (I ran into them without looking), ehh…not bad, but what with the internet nowadays if you’ve seen one attractive, large breasted, big bootied woman naked you’ve pretty much seen them all. Over saturation of the marketplace as it were… ;)

161 teleskiguy  Sep 20, 2014 11:14:16pm

The game of G.N.A.R (hardcore skiing fucks know what this is), explained.

Vimeo

162 austin_blue  Sep 20, 2014 11:16:19pm

re: #154 De Kolta Chair

Someone once told me that if you ever want to hear the LOUDEST sound you’ve ever wanted to hear, go to a NASA rocket launch.

Bucket list.

My dad packed all five of us kids up and drove us with mom down to Titusville to see a Saturn 5 Moonshot. Anyone who hasn’t experienced one simply has no concept.

I thought my teeth were going to fall out. I thought my skin was going to fall off. I was yelling just to see if I could hear myself yell (nope). It was Gotterdammerung in a three-minute aural acid trip.

It was the most thrilling thing I have ever had hit me over the head with a sledgehammer.

163 WhatEVs  Sep 20, 2014 11:18:01pm

re: #145 klys

I waited until 2010 for my first. They are fabulous. Packing for trips is so. Much. Easier. (I was that person taking 10-15 books for a two week road trip, if not more.)

Now I always have something to read with me.

I love Kindle for iPhone. I bought a new (last year’s model) kindle paperwhite and the page turns are so slow it ruins the experience. I literally used it twice.

New Me policy: no new toys. My iPhone does it all.

164 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 11:24:42pm

re: #162 austin_blue

My dad packed all five of us kids up and drove us with mom down to Titusville to see a Saturn 5 Moonshot. Anyone who hasn’t experienced one simply has no concept.

That’s a great story. When we were stationed in Germany in the early sixties, dad took us to a lot of Les Mans racing events, which were pretty loud, and as a teen I hanged out a lot at the drag strip. But a rocket launch sounds (pardon the pun) like the creme de la creme of sheer noise.

165 William Barnett-Lewis  Sep 20, 2014 11:28:00pm

re: #158 De Kolta Chair

Speaking of bucket lists…

[Embedded image]

Though I hear obtaining the spare parts is a mofo. The car, not the Scotsman.

Loved the use of the car in Skyfall.

166 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 11:32:31pm

re: #165 William Barnett-Lewis

Loved the use of the car in Skyfall.

I loved the 50th anniversary jokes about that, especially coming from such a classy broad like Dame Judi Dench. Best scenes in the flick. And when the great Albert Finney, one of my very favorite actors, showed up, I practically popped my Blofeld.

167 De Kolta Chair  Sep 20, 2014 11:49:18pm

Until we meet again, SPECTRE kittehs

168 ausador  Sep 20, 2014 11:52:47pm

re: #162 austin_blue

My dad packed all five of us kids up and drove us with mom down to Titusville to see a Saturn 5 Moonshot. Anyone who hasn’t experienced one simply has no concept.

I thought my teeth were going to fall out. I thought my skin was going to fall off. I was yelling just to see if I could here myself yell (nope). It was Gotterdammerung in a three-minute aural acid trip.

It was the most thrilling thing I have ever had hit me over the head with a sledgehammer.

Saw one Apollo launch at cape Canaveral as a kid, range safety minimum distance requirements means that it wasn’t quite so intense as your experience. I went to two shuttle launches at the beginning of the program, they were awesome to watch because you could follow the shuttle for so long with the naked eye.

I was working a contract at Brevard Correctional Institution when the Challenger disaster happened, about 12 miles from the cape. It was during the pre-lunchtime head count of inmates so my four man crew and two officers were standing outside on an otherwise deserted compound.

When the shuttle blew it created a ball of smoke/vapor and the solid rocket boosters diverged leaving smoke trails of their own. One of the officers standing next to me said “OMG it looks like the playboy bunny” it honestly did for just a second. The left booster had flipped downward and the smoke trails from the two of them looked like the ears of the iconic rabbit coming from the large smoke ball “head.”

It took us all a few seconds to realize what we had just seen, it doesn’t immediately hit you that you just witnessed a catastrophe like that. You could see the larger pieces of debris falling towards the treeline, some leaving their own vapor trails.

I looked at my watch when the thought struck me and remember saying “I hope they’re dead” because I couldn’t imagine anything much more horrible than falling helplessly for so long. It took the debris over two minutes to drop below our horizon of treetops surrounding the Institution.

Considerably later the NASA investigation revealed that guarded switches on the flight deck had been manipulated and that four of the emergency air-packs had been activated. So…yeah… :(

169 ausador  Sep 20, 2014 11:58:41pm

re: #164 De Kolta Chair

That’s a great story. When we were stationed in Germany in the early sixties, dad took us to a lot of Les Mans racing events, which were pretty loud, and as a teen I hanged out a lot at the drag strip. But a rocket launch sounds (pardon the pun) like the creme de la creme of sheer noise.

Go to a power boat race like the one at Lake Maggiore in St. Petersburg, Fl. you can easily hear the boats from nine miles away across town. Up close the noise is absolutely horrendous, much louder than Les Mans street racing.

170 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 12:16:17am

Nasa video of the liftoff, If you want to get a more authentic experience just turn your speakers up to max before clicking the link! ///

171 goddamnedfrank  Sep 21, 2014 12:28:44am

This is gross.

A Chinese hospital in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, has introduced a new machine that makes sperm donation even easier- an automatic sperm extractor. I’m all for hands-free technology, but have scientists gone a little too far with this invention?

Youtube Video

172 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 12:35:55am

Wealth inequality isn’t just a U.S. problem…

“The past quarter of a century has seen wealth become ever more concentrated in the hands of fewer people… The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half.”

85 people who hold as much wealth as the bottom 3,550,000,000 human beings on this planet. All I can say is that if this trend keeps accelerating as it has been they better start spending some of that money on private armies too, they are going to need them. :(

173 Mich-again  Sep 21, 2014 12:41:23am

Just coming across this post… Are you F-ing kidding me? Crimeny. What the F is wrong with these people. Get rid of them all.

174 Jenner7  Sep 21, 2014 1:01:26am

Watching part five of The Roosevelt’s and this quote seems relevant today:

It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you are trying to lead — and find no one there.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

175 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 1:06:38am

Meanwhile a GOP multimillionaire attempts to provide his own (tone deaf) “re-branding” outreach to women.

Americans for Shared Prosperity to launch women-focused ads

Jordan said he is bothered by the Democrats’ focus on a “war on women” that emerged in the 2012 campaign cycle, but also believes Republican messaging has been weak in pushing back.

So the ads he commissioned from Florida-based ad-maker Rick Wilson feature a woman speaking direct-to-camera about issues like the economy and national security, in a 30-second spot and a 60-second one. She accuses Democrats obliquely of treating women like single-issue voters, and talks about President Barack Obama as if he’s a boyfriend she’s stuck with for a few more years. “The goal here is to communicate with women voters in a way that outside groups and campaigns haven’t,” Jordan said.

“Women voters care as much about the economy jobs death and spending as do other groups - but certainly on the Republican side there’s been no effort to reach that group,” he said.

60 second ad version:
Youtube Video

You women need to remember that you only voted for Obama because “You fell in love” with someone you thought was “smart, charming, handsome , and articulate. Someone with all “the right values” someone you trusted, but by 2012 you should have known that it was all nothing but lies you dumb B**ches!

EDIT: Comments are open on that video and I just got the first one! I wonder how long it will take them to close them?

176 austin_blue  Sep 21, 2014 1:13:08am

re: #168 ausador

Saw one Apollo launch at cape Canaveral as a kid, range safety minimum distance requirements means that it wasn’t quite so intense as your experience. I went to two shuttle launches at the beginning of the program, they were awesome to watch because you could follow the shuttle for so long with the naked eye.

I was working a contract at Brevard Correctional Institution when the Challenger disaster happened, about 12 miles from the cape. It was during the pre-lunchtime head count of inmates so my four man crew and two officers were standing outside on an otherwise deserted compound.

When the shuttle blew it created a ball of smoke/vapor and the solid rocket boosters diverged leaving smoke trails of their own. One of the officers standing next to me said “OMG it looks like the playboy bunny” it honestly did for just a second. The left booster had flipped downward and the smoke trails from the two of them looked like the ears of the iconic rabbit coming from the large smoke ball “head.”

It took us all a few seconds to realize what we had just seen, it doesn’t immediately hit you that you just witnessed a catastrophe like that. You could see the larger pieces of debris falling towards the treeline, some leaving their own vapor trails.

I looked at my watch when the thought struck me and remember saying “I hope they’re dead” because I couldn’t imagine anything much more horrible than falling helplessly for so long. It took the debris over two minutes to drop below our horizon of treetops surrounding the Institution.

Considerably later the NASA investigation revealed that guarded switches on the flight deck had been manipulated and that four of the emergency air-packs had been activated. So…yeah… :(

I had just come off of a job on a near Hellhole Bayou (no shit) where I got my five mile pin (deep well, more than five miles, a complete duster, an expensive mistake that Federal tax law allowed Royal Dutch Shell to write off as a loss) and was sitting in the ExLog office in Lafayette when the Challenger disintegrated.

An odd time. In December of ‘85, the price of oil collapsed and I knew I was going to get laid off, as exploration budgets were also collapsing. So I’m waiting for the hammer to fall (it happened a month later, with no work being offered in between) and we were watching the launch and the space ship blows up. It’s clear to me what has just happened and I am looking at the various streamers coming off of the detonation (“Obviously, a major malfunction”…no shit, mission control) and there are big chunks flying off the front end. And I knew. I knew that the crew compartment had remained pretty much intact, as it was the strongest component on the ship. And it was furthest from the explosion of the external tank.

As an ex-AF pilot, my biggest fear was always about being trapped in a crashed plane and burning to death. Watching the unfolding horror, I realized that those people in the crew capsule were going to hit the Atlantic Ocean conscious, if they deployed supplemental oxygen (and why wouldn’t they?) and were perfectly aware of their fate.

I just started crying, and the other people in the room asked me why.

177 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 1:27:02am

re: #176 austin_blue

I had just come off of a job on a near Hellhole Bayou (no shit) where I got my five mile pin (deep well, more than five miles, a complete duster, an expensive mistake that Federal tax law allowed Royal Dutch Shell to write off as a loss) and was sitting in the ExLog office in Lafayette when the Challenger disintegrated.

An odd time. In December of ‘85, the price of oil collapsed and I knew I was going to get laid off, as exploration budgets were also collapsing. So I’m waiting for the hammer to fall (it happened a month later, with no work being offered in between) and we were watching the launch and the space ship blows up. It’s clear to me what has just happened and I am looking at the various streamers coming off of the detonation (“Obviously, a major malfunction”…no shit, mission control) and there are big chunks flying off the front end. And I knew. I knew that the crew compartment had remained pretty much intact, as it was the strongest component on the ship. And it was furthest from the explosion of the external tank.

As an ex-AF pilot, my biggest fear was burning to death. Watching the unfolding horror, it was the realization that those people in the crew capsule were going to hit the Atlantic Ocean conscious, if they deployed supplemental oxygen (and why wouldn’t they?) and perfectly aware of their fate.

I broke into tears.

I remember that was one of the questions people had at the time: was the crew conscious immediately after the explosion? Even if they had survived the impact with the water, there were no contingency plans for evacuation at sea — the existing plans all assumed an intact fuselage. As it was, the flight deck would have been flooded immediately and sunk.

178 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 1:40:09am

re: #177 wheat-dogghazi

The force of striking the water was estimated at almost 200Gs, it crumpled the crew cabin, no one could have survived the impact force anyway.

179 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 1:46:56am

Seems a bit harsh for mistaking his surname for a Roman numeral…

180 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 1:50:05am

re: #179 ausador

Seems a bit harsh for mistaking his surname for a Roman numeral…

[Embedded content]

Fitting. Newsreaders shouldn’t be clueless robots.

181 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 1:54:00am

As the world continues upon the slide downwards into near universal idiocy…

182 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 2:04:01am

The explanations put forward here sound fairly reasonable…

183 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 2:06:29am

Turkey really has to be loathing having to work hand in hand with Peshmerga forces…

184 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 2:20:12am

This may possibly be the stupidest thing you see all day…

Yes, there is an actual whitehouse.gov petition for this now, not just idiots sending snarky derp tweets saying it:
petitions.whitehouse.gov

185 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 2:45:36am

re: #184 ausador

TOTAL SIGNATURES ON THIS PETITION 170

186 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 2:54:33am

re: #185 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

TOTAL SIGNATURES ON THIS PETITION 170

Only 99,670 to go before they are entitled to an official response to the petition, which I presume would be “Get Bent” or something along that line anyway. ;)

/

187 Shiplord Kirel  Sep 21, 2014 3:02:24am

Lubbock’s “Mr. Conservative,” Dr. Donald May, sounds this clarion call of warning:
It is Time to be Really Alarmed

Western Civilization now faces the greatest and most dangerous challenge it has ever faced. This danger is ISIS, whose Terrorists are already in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States.

The danger is the greatest civilized people have faced because ISIS is the most barbaric culture in known history. This renders ISIS highly attractive to a large number of violent people who prefer butchering real people to blowing up video images with animated computer games.
(emphasis added)

Hyperbole anyone?

188 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 3:09:50am

re: #187 Shiplord Kirel

Lubbock’s “Mr. Conservative,” Dr. Donald May, sounds this clarion call of warning:
It is Time to be Really Alarmed

Hyperbole anyone?

Are you trying to say that you don’t consider 10 to 15,000 radicals running around killing fellow Muslims in Syria and the Iraqi desert to be the largest threat ever faced by civilized humanity worldwide? Wake up man! That is just what they want the western sheeple to think!

/

189 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 3:10:36am

re: #187 Shiplord Kirel

Lubbock’s “Mr. Conservative,” Dr. Donald May, sounds this clarion call of warning:
It is Time to be Really Alarmed

Hyperbole anyone?

Replacing Commies as the greatest major threat to Life As We Know It.

190 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 3:20:14am

Courtney has no problems at all with double standards…

From her now defunct Facebook page, saved by someone wanting to point out her “Christian” hypocrisy…

Because Black Kenyan Muslim Socialists Don’t Deserve God’s Blessing, That’s Why!

191 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 3:24:22am

re: #190 ausador

I don’t get it. Who is Jessica, the fitness dancer?

192 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 3:29:18am

re: #191 wheat-dogghazi

I don’t get it. Who is Jessica, the fitness dancer?

Kinda besides the point isn’t it?

She hopes someone goes into the white house and shoots Obama but back in March she was expressing her thanks to God for keeping “jessica” safe during a burglary in her home.

(links to “Jessica” if it helps any… dancefitnesswithjessica.com
facebook.com )

193 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 3:32:33am

re: #192 ausador

Kinda besides the point isn’t it?

She hopes someone goes into the white house and shoots Obama but back in March she was expressing her thanks to God for keeping “jessica” safe during a burglary in her home.

Oh, now I get it. I didn’t catch the part about the WH intruder.

194 Timothy Watson  Sep 21, 2014 3:41:10am

re: #181 ausador

As the world continues upon the slide downwards into near universal idiocy…

[Embedded content]

Anyone remember Carl Everett?

Everett is quite outspoken with his beliefs, and his remarks have proven controversial on several occasions. Perhaps the best-known of these was his denial of the existence of dinosaurs. He was quoted as saying, “God created the sun, the stars, the heavens and the earth, and then made Adam and Eve. The Bible never says anything about dinosaurs. You can’t say there were dinosaurs when you never saw them. Somebody actually saw Adam and Eve eating apples. No one ever saw a Tyrannosaurus rex.” He also derided fossils of dinosaur bones as man-made fakes.[3] In reference to these comments, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy dubbed Everett “Jurassic Carl.” Everett, in turn, referred to Shaughnessy as the “curly-haired boyfriend” of Globe beat writer Gordon Edes.[4]

en.wikipedia.org

195 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 3:48:57am

re: #194 Timothy Watson

Anyone remember Carl Everett?

en.wikipedia.org

Mind numbingly obtuse, that one. “Someone” saw Adam and Eve — who? God? The Serpent? Those dinosaur remains, meanwhile, are fake or left by the Devil to trick us.

Sadly, he is not alone in such beliefs.

196 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 3:49:02am

re: #194 Timothy Watson

This then is only a natural extension of his caveman worldview:

In 2011, Everett was arrested at his home in Tampa on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and tampering with a witness. Everett reportedly held a handgun to the head of his wife of 18 years.[8]

197 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 4:01:31am

People are not using their critical thinking skills here, if you read her story it just doesn’t seem either coherent or believable. I think she probably needs counseling more than she needs “social justice.”

Didn’t stop this from getting over 4000 retweets though, did it…?

198 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 4:17:45am

re: #197 ausador

Does one have any credibility? Does one have any evidence beyond one’s word? These are the questions to ask before accepting similar claims.

199 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 4:18:54am

re: #195 wheat-dogghazi

Mind numbingly obtuse, that one. “Someone” saw Adam and Eve — who?

Could have been Cain’s future wife, or maybe the people who helped him build a city for he, his wife, and one son to live in?

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

200 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 4:20:45am
I have to admit that I experienced an epiphany of sorts watching Part II. A light went on. This film. What it is. What the book is.

It’s the libertarian Left Behind.

intercollegiatereview.com

201 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 4:21:18am

re: #199 ausador

See, incest is fully biblical.

202 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 4:24:16am

If people reference Adam and Eve (and not Adam and Steve) to establish what is appropriate today, then it’s fully appropriate to marry your own sibling. For the humanity could’ve no other way to appear from a single pair of humans.

203 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 4:24:52am

re: #198 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Does one have any credibility? Does one have any evidence beyond one’s word? These are the questions to ask before accepting similar claims.

It certainly helps if one can tell the story of a single incident in a manner that isn’t piecemeal gibberish. This seems to be the partial telling of several different incidents mixed together without reference and that simply makes one seem somewhat deranged. :(

204 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 4:32:47am

re: #200 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

This is a must-read, btw. More:

Played by Paul Johansson in Part I and D. B. Sweeney in Part II (but again, more as shadowy figures than full-frontal main players), Galt finally comes to the fore in Part III. And it turns out … he’s sorta tubby. Not fat, mind you. Don’t go saying I said he was fat. But he could spend some more time in the gym, maybe lay off the chocolate cake (which he indulges, apparently, whenever he’s depressed).

205 Timothy Watson  Sep 21, 2014 4:36:19am

Stupid question, but what exactly is the meaning of “DWI and the Media” on the flyer? The only meaning of DWI I can think of is driving while intoxicated.

206 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 4:47:34am

re: #205 Timothy Watson

Stupid question, but what exactly is the meaning of “DWI and the Media” on the flyer? The only meaning of DWI I can think of is driving while intoxicated.

I wondered that too and three possibilities leapt to mind:

1. How to handle media surrounding a DWI involving a person of famous stature. (possible)

2. How to keep departmental boo-boos like in-house DWI charges away from the media. (unlikely)

3. It is another cutesy title like his other topic headings and he is referring to the media as being “intoxicated” in its driving pursuit of a specific narrative when telling the story. (probable?)

207 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 5:04:21am
208 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 5:13:51am

The GOP has found huge flaws in Obamacare and are ready to go on the attack again! What flaws you may ask? Well…

“The news that we’ve seen over the last week and a half really emphasizes what conservatives and Republicans were trying to do last year, which was preventing a lot of this from happening,” said Dan Holler, a spokesman for the conservative political group Heritage Action for America.

“What I hope happens is that the Republican Party as a whole says, ‘Yes, there is a reason besides politics that we’re fighting ObamaCare: It’s hurting people,’” Holler said.

One report by the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that some insurers were ignoring federal rules that prevented women from paying for abortions through their subsidized plans - one of the most divisive pieces of the law.

A second GAO report found security weaknesses in healthcare.gov, the website for the federal exchange.

Honestly this has gone beyond silliness now. :(

209 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 5:16:38am

re: #207 ausador

First thought: giant octopus.

210 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 5:22:01am

Store this away for your next truthiness battle with a Fox viewer…

211 ausador  Sep 21, 2014 5:31:00am

re: #209 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

First thought: giant octopus.

Will a ferocious killer swan do?

Youtube Video

212 Frenchy  Sep 21, 2014 5:34:31am

So, I can only assume that Darren Wilson will be indicted any day now, right?

///

We know where he IS, right?

/////

213 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 5:34:36am

re: #211 ausador

Sweet.

214 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 21, 2014 5:53:31am

Now idiots are KKKsplaining me that the KKK is better than ISIS because they only hanged people instead of beheading them.

I just can’t even.

215 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 5:56:36am

re: #214 Pie-onist Overlord

Now idiots are KKKsplaining me that the KKK is better than ISIS because they only hanged people instead of beheading them.

I just can’t even.

If they have to explain this, they have lost.

216 Ryan King  Sep 21, 2014 5:58:42am

re: #205 Timothy Watson

Stupid question, but what exactly is the meaning of “DWI and the Media” on the flyer? The only meaning of DWI I can think of is driving while intoxicated.

Dying While Innocent

217 b.d.  Sep 21, 2014 6:01:47am

re: #214 Pie-onist Overlord

Now idiots are KKKsplaining me that the KKK is better than ISIS because they only hanged people instead of beheading them.

I just can’t even.

At least the ISIS gives their victims a chance to convert.

//

218 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 21, 2014 6:05:32am

This is the Tweet that went through the #tcot like a ping pong ball in a bunch of set mousetraps:

219 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 6:06:03am

re: #199 ausador

Could have been Cain’s future wife, or maybe the people who helped him build a city for he, his wife, and one son to live in?

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Genesis could have been originally intended as an origin story for the Hebrews, and not for all humanity. So, Adam and Eve were the founders of the Hebrews who later became the Israelites and the Jews, and who lived alongside other peoples with whom they intermarried and came into conflict with. Otherwise, how could Cain have found someone to marry, and why we he go to Nod to find her? Notably, the verse says he “went out from the presence of the Lord,” which you could take to mean the Lord was not the Lord of all, and only Eden was his special domain.

Those limitations were later glossed over, of course.

220 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 21, 2014 6:06:24am

I’ll take off Westboro since they are just annoying fucks but they have never killed anybody.

221 Ryan King  Sep 21, 2014 6:06:50am

re: #218 Pie-onist Overlord

What? You’re daring me to retweet it?

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

222 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 21, 2014 6:08:39am

re: #221 Ryan King

What? You’re daring me to retweet it?

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Retweet this one instead:

223 Bubblehead II  Sep 21, 2014 6:12:14am

re: #222 Pie-onist Overlord

Retweet this one instead:

[Embedded content]

Too late. We both retweeted the original.

224 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 21, 2014 6:14:08am
225 freetoken  Sep 21, 2014 6:14:58am

It’s the last day of summer, and feeling quite autumnal here. After last weeks scorcher I now need a jacket.

226 b.d.  Sep 21, 2014 6:15:53am

re: #224 Pie-onist Overlord

[Embedded content]

That should get them going.

:P

227 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 6:17:40am

re: #226 b.d.

That should get them going.

:P

Please do not feed or tease the animals.

228 thedopefishlives  Sep 21, 2014 6:19:16am

re: #227 wheat-dogghazi

Please do not feed or tease the animals.

Oh jeez, you guys. You’re just asking for a derpnado now.

Morning Lizardim.

229 Pie-onist Overlord  Sep 21, 2014 6:20:10am

Well I think I will go to the swimming pool. BBL

230 Ryan King  Sep 21, 2014 6:21:49am

re: #229 Pie-onist Overlord

Well I think I will go to the swimming pool. BBL

Oh, the infamous Tweet and Swim again.

231 Ryan King  Sep 21, 2014 6:25:18am
232 1Peter G1  Sep 21, 2014 6:37:23am

re: #206 ausador

The guy was a journalist for quite a while. I posted his link above. He knows exactly how journalists behave. And now he makes a living telling people how to manage them. Specifically telling cops how to manage them. Most journalists suck terribly at their jobs so there is plenty of demand for spin doctors which is exactly what this shmuck is.

233 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 6:40:52am

How is life this morning?

234 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 6:44:06am

Death Panels!!!
OBAMACARE PROMOTER ZEKE EMANUEL SAYS EVERYONE SHOULD DIE AT 75

235 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 6:48:00am
236 darthstar  Sep 21, 2014 6:48:12am

Mornin’ everyone. I’m off to Alcatraz today. Got a cousin visiting from Canada so we’re all taking the tour together. Screws up my morning but I should be back in time for an afternoon surfing session…water’s really nice right now…66 degrees or so. Normally 55-57 around here.

237 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 6:48:41am
238 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 6:49:07am

re: #236 darthstar

Mornin’ everyone. I’m off to Alcatraz today. Got a cousin visiting from Canada so we’re all taking the tour together. Screws up my morning but I should be back in time for an afternoon surfing session…water’s really nice right now…66 degrees or so. Normally 55-57 around here.

Say hello to the ghosts for me.

239 Bubblehead II  Sep 21, 2014 6:50:15am

re: #234 FemNaziBitch

Death Panels!!!
OBAMACARE PROMOTER ZEKE EMANUEL SAYS EVERYONE SHOULD DIE AT 75

Carrousel!

Youtube Video

240 darthstar  Sep 21, 2014 6:51:33am

re: #238 FemNaziBitch

Say hello to the ghosts for me.

We had him for dinner the Friday he flew out. Last weekend, I took him to a ballgame and he went out fishing with my brothers. Today it’s Alcatraz. Tomorrow he flies home. Whew.

241 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 6:52:21am

re: #240 darthstar

We had him for dinner the Friday he flew out. Last weekend, I took him to a ballgame and he went out fishing with my brothers. Today it’s Alcatraz. Tomorrow he flies home. Whew.

Forced Family Fun.

I hate it when it involves playing tour guide.

242 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 6:54:46am

re: #219 wheat-dogghazi

Unlikely. There doesn’t seem to be evidence for this hypothesis. It was a general mythical motif in antiquity for the appearance of humankind. It was rather the story of Abraham that was created as an etiological myth for the Hebrew people.

243 darthstar  Sep 21, 2014 6:56:05am

The Onion’s editorial cartoonist is pretty good…

http://www.theonion.com/articles/spreading-the-good-nudes,36921/

244 urbanmeemaw  Sep 21, 2014 6:56:58am

re: #97 HappyWarrior

Yeah they’ve talked a little about her being armed during the series. Tough lady. I really want to learn more about her after the Burns series. His series are great at that- provoking more interest in a subject. They’ve had (H.W Brands) who wrote the FDR bio I read on so far. Always good to see McCullough too, he’s one of my favorite historians.

I would recommend “Eleanor and Franklin”, written by Joseph Lash who is cited in the documentary. It was published back in the 70’s or 80’s, I think. Excellent read - lots more insight into Eleanor, who has long been one of my heroes.

245 darthstar  Sep 21, 2014 6:57:50am

re: #241 FemNaziBitch

Forced Family Fun.

I hate it when it involves playing tour guide.

He’s been touring around with my brother - they’ve been friends for decades - but three weekends in a row?

246 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 6:59:32am

re: #245 darthstar

He’s been touring around with my brother - they’ve been friends for decades - but three weekends in a row?

Well, it is much more fun when you are tour-guiding one person you really like. One-on-one time with someone you don’t get to see too often is rather nice.

247 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 7:00:12am

bbl

248 FemNaziBitch  Sep 21, 2014 7:02:43am

Came back to share these new book titles from CATO.

Just can’t wait to read them

/

249 darthstar  Sep 21, 2014 7:04:59am

re: #246 FemNaziBitch

Well, it is much more fun when you are tour-guiding one person you really like. One-on-one time with someone you don’t get to see too often is rather nice.

Yeah. It’s just a busy time for us so we’ve been shuffling plans a bit. Still, it’s family.

250 HappyWarrior  Sep 21, 2014 7:07:35am

re: #244 urbanmeemaw

I would recommend “Eleanor and Franklin”, written by Joseph Lash who is cited in the documentary. It was published back in the 70’s or 80’s, I think. Excellent read - lots more insight into Eleanor, who has long been one of my heroes.

Thanks sounds good.

251 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 7:08:10am

re: #242 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Unlikely. There doesn’t seem to be evidence for this hypothesis. It was a general mythical motif in antiquity for the appearance of humankind. It was rather the story of Abraham that was created as an etiological myth for the Hebrew people.

Abraham needed a backstory.

252 urbanmeemaw  Sep 21, 2014 7:08:27am

re: #237 FemNaziBitch

[Embedded content]

I am shocked. Shocked I tell you, that the paper of record is reporting this.

253 Jay in Oregon  Sep 21, 2014 7:11:06am

re: #28 Charles Johnson

Why do I want to watch some guy talk about penis bones? Jesus, the Palin scam machine just keeps turning…

254 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 7:11:42am

re: #248 FemNaziBitch

Came back to share these new book titles from CATO.

Just can’t wait to read them

/

Gripping reads, all of them, I am sure.

255 Bubblehead II  Sep 21, 2014 7:16:34am

re: #254 wheat-dogghazi

Gripping reads, all of them, I am sure.

Actually Codebreaker sounds like it will be.

Alan Turing set in motion the computer age and his World War II codebreaking helped save two million lives. Yet few people have heard his tragic story, or understand how repressive laws ended the life of this celebrated scientist. In 1954, Turing committed suicide at age 41 after being forced to undergo chemical castration because he was gay. What else might Turing have accomplished if society had embraced his unique genius instead of rejecting it? And what else is lost when societies choose to stifle individuality rather than let humans and their accomplishments flourish?

/ probably included by mistake

256 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 7:18:37am

re: #251 wheat-dogghazi

Abraham needed a backstory.

Yes. That backstory was the 1. the creation of the world; which leads to 2. the creation of humankind in general; 3. which soon leads to the Flood, which kills everyone but Noah’s family - also all Cainites; 4. which leads to the first division of the peoples and tongues (Babel); 5. which can now proceed to the creation of specifically Hebrews through the first Hebrew, Abraham.

There is nothing here that so much as hints at A&E being an etiological myth or allows it.

257 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 7:21:04am

re: #255 Bubblehead II

Actually Codebreaker sounds like it will be.

Alan Turing set in motion the computer age and his World War II codebreaking helped save two million lives. Yet few people have heard his tragic story, or understand how repressive laws ended the life of this celebrated scientist. In 1954, Turing committed suicide at age 41 after being forced to undergo chemical castration because he was gay. What else might Turing have accomplished if society had embraced his unique genius instead of rejecting it? And what else is lost when societies choose to stifle individuality rather than let humans and their accomplishments flourish?

/ probably included by mistake

It’s a movie, so I stand by my cursory book reviews.

But you’re right about Turing. A genius forced against his will to conform to societal expectations and mores. His death was a great loss in many ways.

258 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 7:24:38am

re: #256 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

I defer to your summary. It’s been a while since I studied the OT and its origins. But if Cain was born in Eden, and left to go to Nod, what was happening in Nod while A & E were busy raising Cain (so to speak)?

Or to put in another way, where did the people of Nod come from?

259 Eventual Carrion  Sep 21, 2014 7:27:16am

re: #258 wheat-dogghazi

I defer to your summary. It’s been a while since I studied the OT and its origins. But if Cain was born in Eden, and left to go to Nod, what was happening in Nod while A & E were busy raising Cain (so to speak)?

Or to put in another way, where did the people of Nod come from?

Wynken and Blynken got busy?

260 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 7:29:57am

re: #259 Eventual Carrion

Wynken and Blynken got busy?

That probably got edited out during the Babylonian captivity.

261 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 7:30:04am

re: #258 wheat-dogghazi

I defer to your summary. It’s been a while since I studied the OT and its origins. But if Cain was born in Eden, and left to go to Nod, what was happening in Nod while A & E were busy raising Cain (so to speak)?

Or to put in another way, where did the people of Nod come from?

And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.
And the days of Adam after he begot Seth were eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters.

262 Targetpractice  Sep 21, 2014 7:31:55am

re: #258 wheat-dogghazi

I defer to your summary. It’s been a while since I studied the OT and its origins. But if Cain was born in Eden, and left to go to Nod, what was happening in Nod while A & E were busy raising Cain (so to speak)?

Or to put in another way, where did the people of Nod come from?

Westwood Studios.

//

263 Eventual Carrion  Sep 21, 2014 7:41:58am

Hey beautiful, come here often?

264 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 7:45:33am

re: #261 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.
And the days of Adam after he begot Seth were eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters.

Well, I suppose one man could father a lot of kids during 930 years. But quoting Scripture is not answering my question, really. I’ve read the OT and I know the text implies that Adam (and Eve, too, unless Adam had additional unmentioned wives) was the ancestor of the people of Nod and everywhere else. Cain, then, would have inevitably married a younger sibling or a cousin of some sort.

But “the land of Nod” suggests an entirely different area from Eden, and to me, suggests a fairly populous area at that. It’s not the next village over, in other words. That would have required Adam to have been the direct ancestor of tens of thousands of people within a millennium, who in turn popped out a lot of kids without a great deal of genetic diversity.

Genesis is not to be taken literally, and this particular population question is one reason why. Let’s not even get started with the whole reboot after the Flood, when Noah and his family were the new ancestors of all the people of the Earth.

265 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 7:54:17am

re: #264 wheat-dogghazi

But “the land of Nod” suggests an entirely different area from Eden, and to me, suggests a fairly populous area at that. It’s not the next village over, in other words. That would have required Adam to have been the direct ancestor of tens of thousands of people within a millennium, who in turn popped out a lot of kids without a great deal of genetic diversity.

Having re-read the text, it doesn’t even say that there were any people in the land of Nod. In fact, Cain had to build a city there for his offspring - supposedly the first one ever. So what follows from the text is that he went to the land of Nod with his sister and populated this land. (Note that the text doesn’t say that this land was named Nod back then. Bible is sometimes anachronistic like that. Like, when it describes Eden being associated with Euphrates - which of course would not have been named Euphrates back then.)

266 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 7:55:41am

re: #265 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Having re-read the text, it doesn’t even say that there were any people in the land of Nod. In fact, Cain had to build a city there for his offspring - supposedly the first one ever. So what follows from the text is that he went to the land of Nod with his sister and populated this land. (Note that the text doesn’t say that this land was named Nod back then. Bible is sometimes anachronistic like that. Like, when it describes Eden being associated with Euphrates - which of course would not have been named Euphrates back then.)

Genesis would have benefited from a decent continuity editor.

267 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 7:57:55am

re: #266 wheat-dogghazi

Also, Nod supposedly means “wandering”, so it’s more of a symbolic name, since Cain was cursed by God to be a restless wanderer (which doesn’t quite mesh with him building a city and living there, but that’s ancient mythology for you.)

268 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 8:00:55am

re: #267 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Also, Nod supposedly means “wandering”, so it’s more of a symbolic name, since Cain was cursed by God to be a restless wanderer (which doesn’t quite mesh with him building a city and living there, but that’s ancient mythology for you.)

Right. Sorting out Greek mythology is a headache, too, because it’s a conglomeration of stories from various sources and time periods, some of which are contradictory.

269 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 8:02:02am

re: #266 wheat-dogghazi

Genesis would have benefited from a decent continuity editor.

If one accepts the documentary hypothesis (which has not gone unchallenged as of late), the editor tried as much as he could to save all the details from Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomy and the Priestly source to create the Torah as we know it now, which was not exactly conductive to the “smoothness” of the narrative flow.

270 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 8:07:42am

re: #269 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

If one accepts the documentary hypothesis (which has not gone unchallenged as of late), the editor tried as much as he could to save all the details from Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomy and the Priestly source to create the Torah as we know it now, which was not exactly conductive to the “smoothness” of the narrative flow.

If you’re writing one text intended to be acceptable to a variety of readers, the result is going to be a mishmosh of styles and traditions. I suppose the modern equivalent is writing legislation that most members of Congress could find acceptable, or a movie version of a multiply retconned comic book character.

271 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 8:08:30am

re: #270 wheat-dogghazi

If you’re writing one text intended to be acceptable to a variety of readers, the result is going to be a mishmosh of styles and traditions. I suppose the modern equivalent is writing legislation that most members of Congress could find acceptable, or a movie version of a multiply retconned comic book character.

Exactly.

272 Flounder  Sep 21, 2014 8:25:43am

re: #263 Eventual Carrion

Is your name Google? Because you have everything I’ve been searching for.
You make my software turn into hardware!
Is your name Wi-fi? Because I’m really feeling a connection.
Are you sitting on the F5 key? Cause your ass is refreshing.
You had me at “Hello World.”
Want to see my HARD Disk? I promise it isn’t 3.5 inches and it ain’t floppy.
You can put a Trojan on my Hard Drive anytime.
You still use Internet Explorer? You must like it nice and slow.
I hope you’re an ISO file, because I’d like to mount you.
My servers never go down… but I do!
My ‘up-time’ is better than BSD.
Are you an angel, because your texture mapping is divine!
You’ve stolen the ASCII to my heart.
Are you a computer keyboard? Because you’re my type.
You got me stuck on Caps Lock, if you know what I mean.

273 stpaulbear  Sep 21, 2014 8:30:52am

re: #195 wheat-dogghazi

Mind numbingly obtuse, that one. “Someone” saw Adam and Eve — who? God? The Serpent? Those dinosaur remains, meanwhile, are fake or left by the Devil to trick us.

Sadly, he is not alone in such beliefs.

Don’t you remember the scripture that said that God created Adam, Eve, and their biographer?

274 Snarknado!  Sep 21, 2014 8:38:38am

re: #214 Pie-onist Overlord

Now idiots are KKKsplaining me that the KKK is better than ISIS because they only hanged people instead of beheading them.

I just can’t even.

I’m getting to this late (good morning, all!) but please note that they hanged what was left after … various “treatments.”

Terrorists are terrorists and to try to distinguish less bad and more bad terrorists is to engage in nonsense.

275 Timothy Watson  Sep 21, 2014 8:45:12am

Oh, FFS, a police K9 died after being left in a police cruiser and the sheriff’s deputy hasn’t been charged:

276 Wendell Zurkowitz (slave to the waffle light)  Sep 21, 2014 8:46:16am

re: #220 Pie-onist Overlord

I’ll take off Westboro since they are just annoying fucks but they have never killed anybody.

They have advocated death for gays, haven’t they?

277 Belafon  Sep 21, 2014 9:06:10am

re: #258 wheat-dogghazi

But if Cain was born in Eden

Cain was born after Adam and Eve left Eden.

278 ObserverArt  Sep 21, 2014 9:16:57am

Good afternoon (Eastern)!

I totally forgot to tune in to Meet The Press. That’s a big deal for me. I would be considered a religious watcher in the past, but that started to change over the last year with David Gregory as host. Now that Chuck Todd is in the seat I care even less.

And I actually feel better having missed it. Nothing to cringe about, nothing to wonder what the hell.

I guess it is no longer my job* to tune in as a regular.

* Reference to Todd saying it wasn’t the media’s job to report on the inaccuracies the GOP was spewing about the ACA. You lose Chuckles. Not your job means its not mine to care about what you say. Not that you say much anyway.

279 Backwoods_Sleuth  Sep 21, 2014 9:26:19am

Banana-Walnut muffins and mini-loaves are in the oven and will be ready in about 20 minutes.

No shoving please, there are enough for everyone.

;)

280 b.d.  Sep 21, 2014 9:28:38am

re: #277 Belafon

Cain was born after Adam and Eve left Eden.

It was the no kids policy of Eden which really made it awesome.

281 Feline Fearless Leader  Sep 21, 2014 9:37:21am

re: #280 b.d.

It was the no kids policy of Eden which really made it awesome.

Though the ban on apple pie was also a downer.

282 allegro  Sep 21, 2014 9:40:08am

re: #279 Backwoods_Sleuth

Banana-Walnut muffins and mini-loaves are in the oven and will be ready in about 20 minutes.

No shoving please, there are enough for everyone.

;)

Want!

I made a big batch of spanikopita and cilantro/lemon dipping sauce yesterday for today’s football party. Guests here any minute which is good cuz I’m really hungry and wanting to nosh down on those delicious, crispy triangles of goodness.

283 Snarknado!  Sep 21, 2014 9:41:01am

re: #282 allegro

Want!

I made a big batch of spanikopita and cilantro/lemon dipping sauce yesterday for today’s football party. Guests here any minute which if good cuz I’m really hungry and wanting to nosh down on those delicious, crispy triangles od goodness.

Don’t forget to hide some of them for your next midnight munchies attack.

284 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 9:48:15am

re: #281 Feline Fearless Leader

Though the ban on apple pie was also a downer.

There was a ban only on one kind of apple pie, so they had it good. I don’t know what serpentine logic they used when they decided to break the rule.

285 slh2001  Sep 21, 2014 9:48:49am

First, let me say I am 100% on the side of the protesters in Ferguson. I live 15 minutes away and have lost count of the number of times I have visited the QuikTrip, Canfield Green Apartments and Greater St. Mark’s to join in whatever effort is underway at the time. And that’s why I don’t want to see this movement get carried away by red herrings and untruths.

I spent quite a bit of time researching this yesterday, and while I don’t have definitive proof, I think the Police Academy is the victim of a hack.

1) There is a similar course from the same instructor being offered by the Southwestern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission on November 5th (silec.org), however the title and language used are different. The conclusion one draws from reading that description is that there was a massive PR failure in Ferguson, stemming from lying to the media and general public. It is also apparent that this seminar existed prior to events in Ferguson and has been appended with newly relevant information, not that it was formed as a response. Most importantly, it has nothing to do specifically with officer-involved shootings.

2) Unlike all other flyers for training courses I looked at on the STL County Police Academy website, the one in question does not include a second page on the PDF with a registration form.

3) There is no mention of this course anywhere other than one listing on the STL County Police Academy online course catalog.

4) News of this broke on a Saturday. That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when it was posted, but it’s exactly when you would put something on someone’s website if you wanted it up the maximum amount of time before it was discovered and removed.

My guess is that a hacker used the SILEC course as a jumping-off point, made some edits to make it directly relevant to Ferguson and immediately enraging, then released some links on Twitter. Again, I have no proof positive, but the circumstantial evidence seems to say this is a fake, and no one’s been able to corroborate that it isn’t. There are enough actual horrific things revolving around this case that we don’t need to spend time on ones that have yet to be confirmed.

286 Mattand  Sep 21, 2014 9:53:43am

re: #285 slh2001

If it was a hack, I would imagine there likely would have been a fairly quick denial, weekend or not.

287 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 9:55:29am

re: #285 slh2001

3) There is no mention of this course anywhere other than one listing on the STL County Police Academy online course catalog.

Quoting from the catalog:

Officer-Involved Shooting - You Can Win With The MediaDate:
10/24/2014

Get Flyer
Register
Police Attendees
Closing:10/18/2014 Description:
In addition to the Ferguson case study, this fast-paced class is jam-packed with the essential strategies and tactics, skills and techniques that will help you WIN WITH THE MEDIA! It is practical training, not theoretical.
Location:
St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy
To Register:
CMPA Program

Sorry. Occam’s razor.

288 urbanmeemaw  Sep 21, 2014 9:59:19am

re: #279 Backwoods_Sleuth

Banana-Walnut muffins and mini-loaves are in the oven and will be ready in about 20 minutes.

No shoving please, there are enough for everyone.

;)

I want to go there.

289 Mattand  Sep 21, 2014 9:59:23am

re: #278 ObserverArt

Good afternoon (Eastern)!

I totally forgot to tune in to Meet The Press. That’s a big deal for me. I would be considered a religious watcher in the past, but that started to change over the last year with David Gregory as host. Now that Chuck Todd is in the seat I care even less.

And I actually feel better having missed it. Nothing to cringe about, nothing to wonder what the hell.

I guess it is no longer my job* to tune in as a regular.

* Reference to Todd saying it wasn’t the media’s job to report on the inaccuracies the GOP was spewing about the ACA. You lose Chuckles. Not your job means its not mine to care about what you say. Not that you say much anyway.

Probably a good thing you missed it. Todd turned the Derp-u-lator up to 11:

Chuck Todd Splits US Into ‘Starbucks Nation’ And ‘Chick-Fil-A Country’ (VIDEO)

One thing that bugs me about Rachel Maddow: constantly promoting the Toddler as a competent journalist.

290 Mattand  Sep 21, 2014 10:00:53am

re: #289 Mattand

Swear to God, this guy has what is supposedly a plum journalism job (Meet The Press), and he still comes off like he’s auditioning for Fox News.

291 Timothy Watson  Sep 21, 2014 10:09:28am

re: #289 Mattand

Probably a good thing you missed it. Todd turned the Derp-u-lator up to 11:

Chuck Todd Splits US Into ‘Starbucks Nation’ And ‘Chick-Fil-A Country’ (VIDEO)

One thing that bugs me about Rachel Maddow: constantly promoting the Toddler as a competent journalist.

Because there are no Chick-Fil-As in urban areas…right?

At Virginia Commonwealth University, there’s both a Starbucks and a Chick-Fil-A in a university building.

And I’ve never bought anything from a Starbucks in my life, but have been to Chick-Fil-A, doesn’t mean that I’m going to vote for a Republican anytime soon.

292 b.d.  Sep 21, 2014 10:10:50am

re: #289 Mattand

Probably a good thing you missed it. Todd turned the Derp-u-lator up to 11:

Chuck Todd Splits US Into ‘Starbucks Nation’ And ‘Chick-Fil-A Country’ (VIDEO)

One thing that bugs me about Rachel Maddow: constantly promoting the Toddler as a competent journalist.

I bet Morning Joe will give Chuck a pat on the head for that one

293 urbanmeemaw  Sep 21, 2014 10:10:51am

re: #289 Mattand

Probably a good thing you missed it. Todd turned the Derp-u-lator up to 11:

Chuck Todd Splits US Into ‘Starbucks Nation’ And ‘Chick-Fil-A Country’ (VIDEO)

One thing that bugs me about Rachel Maddow: constantly promoting the Toddler as a competent journalist.

I knew there was a reason I rarely watch her show. She’s smart, but she’s also a “team player”, which I get is what she needs to be I don’t need to watch another mainslime media apologist.

I’m certain a Republican “strategist” coached Chuckles to say that, and Chuckles likes that because a Republican told him and he can just continue to make shit up vs researching, analyzing and forming his own opinion. It’s a spin/win.

294 b.d.  Sep 21, 2014 10:11:50am

re: #291 Timothy Watson

Because there are no Chick-Fil-As in urban areas…right?

At Virginia Commonwealth University, there’s both a Starbucks and a Chick-Fil-A in a university building.

And I’ve never bought anything from a Starbucks in my life, but have been to Chick-Fil-A, doesn’t mean that I’m going to vote for a Republican anytime soon.

There is nothing progressive about a $4.50 cup of coffee

295 Mattand  Sep 21, 2014 10:13:07am

re: #291 Timothy Watson

Because there are no Chick-Fil-As in urban areas…right?

At Virginia Commonwealth University, there’s both a Starbucks and a Chick-Fil-A in a university building.

And I’ve never bought anything from a Starbucks in my life, but have been to Chick-Fil-A, doesn’t mean that I’m going to vote for a Republican anytime soon.

Someone in the comments for that article pointed out they were posting from a Starbuck in NC that was lousy with Republicans.

And I’m in the same boat as you: I’ve had about four cups of coffee in my life; none of them Starbucks; and I’m a fairly left leaning liberal.

296 ObserverArt  Sep 21, 2014 10:16:10am

re: #289 Mattand

Probably a good thing you missed it. Todd turned the Derp-u-lator up to 11:

Chuck Todd Splits US Into ‘Starbucks Nation’ And ‘Chick-Fil-A Country’ (VIDEO)

One thing that bugs me about Rachel Maddow: constantly promoting the Toddler as a competent journalist.

Phew! Sounds like I didn’t miss much. You know, when he tries too hard, he sucks even more. Sounds like his split comparison is trying too hard.

297 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 10:19:12am

re: #285 slh2001

The metadata shows that the PDF was created by the same author/program as the rest of them. On the hack hypothesis, the hacker must have been smart enough to fine-tune all the metadata - in addition to hacking into the database itself, yet forgot the last page. It’s simply more probable that whoever makes these PDFs forgot the last page.

298 Timothy Watson  Sep 21, 2014 10:19:16am

re: #296 ObserverArt

Phew! Sounds like I didn’t miss much. You know, when he tries too hard, he sucks even more. Sounds like his split comparison is trying too hard.

He apparently felt an undying need to come up with another expression for “red states (areas)” and “blue states (areas)”.

299 Charles Johnson  Sep 21, 2014 10:24:59am

re: #285 slh2001

No, it’s not a hack. This is a genuine course, and it’s listed with the other courses on their website here:

stlouisco.com

Set the start and end dates to 10/24/2014 and choose “Law Enforcement” as the category, and this is what you will see:

300 Mattand  Sep 21, 2014 10:28:32am

re: #293 urbanmeemaw

I knew there was a reason I rarely watch her show. She’s smart, but she’s also a “team player”, which I get is what she needs to be I don’t need to watch another mainslime media apologist.

I’m certain a Republican “strategist” coached Chuckles to say that, and Chuckles likes that because a Republican told him and he can just continue to make shit up vs researching, analyzing and forming his own opinion. It’s a spin/win.

Maddow has her problems like everyone else, but she’s honest about where she’s coming from (self-described liberal) and will fess up when she makes mistakes. Unlike much of her competition and some of her colleagues.

Her abilities as a journalist far outweigh any shortcomings she has.

301 Charles Johnson  Sep 21, 2014 10:29:31am

What’s more, the presenter of this course, Rick Rosenthal, has a long history of creating and teaching courses like this:

Ex-Anchor Offers Lessons in Media, but Some Don’t Like His Message - Chicago Tribune

302 Lancelot Link  Sep 21, 2014 10:54:51am

re: #289 Mattand

Chuck Todd Splits US Into ‘Starbucks Nation’ And ‘Chick-Fil-A Country’

That’s like a more stupid version of David Brooks’ schtick, something I never thought possible.

303 CuriousLurker  Sep 21, 2014 11:22:22am

re: #285 slh2001

I spent quite a bit of time researching this yesterday, and while I don’t have definitive proof, I think the Police Academy is the victim of a hack.

re: #299 Charles Johnson

No, it’s not a hack. This is a genuine course, and it’s listed with the other courses on their website here:

stlouisco.com

Set the start and end dates to 10/24/2014 and choose “Law Enforcement” as the category, and this is what you will see:

[Embedded image]

I just did a little more googling and I don’t thin it’s a hack either. In addition to it having a listing on the county website, the PDF also follows the format used in other PDFs belonging to the county, as outlined in my #144 last night. A hacker would have had to pay very close attention to detail to get that part right.

Additionally, the PDF was created almost 10 days ago, on September 12 at 8:11 PM. Without access to the server there’s no way to know when it was actually placed on the website, but it seems unlikely to me that a hacker would create such a document a week in advance of the intended release date. It does strike me as slightly odd that someone was working on the document well after regular business hours on a Friday night, but there could be legitimate reasons for that.

As for the wording, all four documents that I looked at—the one from STL County, the one from the Southwestern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission, and two others on the Washington state government’s website—all use the same language. Yes, they’re slightly different in tone, layout, and length, but they all reference the “900-pound gorilla”, the “DWI” principle of media relations, media “Rules of Engagement”, “Feeding the Animals”, “No comment” is a comment, and “Don’t Get Stuck on Stupid!”

My best guess is that this training has been around for a while and someone at STL County adapted it to fit recent events, doing so (whether intentionally or not) in a way that comes across as inappropriately lighthearted.

BTW, the adversarial language appears to originate with Mr. Rosenthal himself as he’s listed as the author of both PDFs on the WA state site, one dated 1/6/2012 and the other dated 8/12/2013.

304 Charles Johnson  Sep 21, 2014 11:35:48am

re: #303 CuriousLurker

This is just not the kind of thing a hacker would do. Anyone who spent the effort to break into a website protected by SSL (it’s an HTTPS URL) wouldn’t just quietly plant one document and hope somebody discovered it. That makes no sense at all.

It’s not a hack. I’m a little curious about slh2001’s motive for trying to push that theory here though.

305 Charles Johnson  Sep 21, 2014 12:28:57pm

Here’s the comment. 14 up-votes makes it one of the most popular ones on that page.

306 Dark_Falcon  Sep 21, 2014 12:48:11pm

re: #289 Mattand

Probably a good thing you missed it. Todd turned the Derp-u-lator up to 11:

Chuck Todd Splits US Into ‘Starbucks Nation’ And ‘Chick-Fil-A Country’ (VIDEO)

One thing that bugs me about Rachel Maddow: constantly promoting the Toddler as a competent journalist.

I was going to point out that in Chicago there are Starbucks And ‘Chick-Fil-As within easy walking distance of each other, but it’s already been done.

As for Rachel Maddow, her promoting Chuck Todd is like Edward R. Murrow lobbing network-approved softballs at Liberace in Good Night and Good Luck: It’s something she has to do as part of her job. If you have a public-facing position within a company, no matter how high or low it may be, you will on some occasions have to act a mouthpiece for something that company wants pushed.

307 lostlakehiker  Sep 21, 2014 2:04:08pm

re: #194 Timothy Watson

Anyone remember Carl Everett?

en.wikipedia.org

Somebody actually saw Adam and Eve eating apples? Who? There were, at that time, no other somebodys. Unless by “somebody” he means God. But that wouldn’t make any sense. Because, like, of course, when God sees everything, he sees that too. So why mention it?

The sheer staring contradictory force of their analysis is startling for its audacity.

308 slh2001  Sep 21, 2014 4:05:59pm

re: #304 Charles Johnson

I stated my motivation, but I guess I can go into more detail. It’s that I don’t like seeing people jump on bandwagons without any sort of research or confirmation. What we have here is a single page on a single website with all sorts of dubious elements I’ve already detailed above. The immediate move to outrage and condemnation is exactly the type of ammunition those who oppose the Ferguson protest movement want in order to say we’re making things up and that the “real facts” will prove their side of the story. So far all the facts have led me (and other reasonable people) to believe that Michael Brown was murdered while trying to surrender and that the community of Ferguson, like so many others across the nation, has been the site of an ongoing race war waged by the police on its residents. If we let down our guard and critical judgement and allow ourselves to take up banners that prove to be poorly-founded, we will lose the upper hand in the fact department. This may prove to be real, at which point I will amend my statements, but in the meantime, the facts we do have point toward fake.

(And yes, a hacker would absolutely plant a single page that looks real, then tweet it at influential accounts, then wait for it to spread through social media. That’s the only way they could make people think it’s real.)

309 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 4:40:57pm

re: #308 slh2001

I understand your caution, but this course looks authentic and not the result of a clever hack job. Charles and Curious Lurker have researched it, and they know their stuff, so I’m going to trust their judgment.

Since you live 15 minutes away from Ferguson, couldn’t you just ring up the PD there and ask someone if the course is real?

310 Varek Raith  Sep 21, 2014 4:42:16pm

re: #308 slh2001

You’ve shown no evidence of a hack.

311 Backwoods_Sleuth  Sep 21, 2014 4:44:56pm

Nobody told me that we had bandwagons…

312 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 4:50:47pm

re: #308 slh2001

I stated my motivation, but I guess I can go into more detail. It’s that I don’t like seeing people jump on bandwagons without any sort of research or confirmation. What we have here is a single page on a single website with all sorts of dubious elements I’ve already detailed above. The immediate move to outrage and condemnation is exactly the type of ammunition those who oppose the Ferguson protest movement want in order to say we’re making things up and that the “real facts” will prove their side of the story. So far all the facts have led me (and other reasonable people) to believe that Michael Brown was murdered while trying to surrender and that the community of Ferguson, like so many others across the nation, has been the site of an ongoing race war waged by the police on its residents. If we let down our guard and critical judgement and allow ourselves to take up banners that prove to be poorly-founded, we will lose the upper hand in the fact department. This may prove to be real, at which point I will amend my statements, but in the meantime, the facts we do have point toward fake.

(And yes, a hacker would absolutely plant a single page that looks real, then tweet it at influential accounts, then wait for it to spread through social media. That’s the only way they could make people think it’s real.)

You haven’t presented any semi-rational scenario.

Your scenario presupposes that the hacker was smart enough to hack the database (to add the announcement) and edit the metadata in the file in such a way that it corresponds to the other PDFs on the site and yet the same hacker would mysteriously forget the second page.

Notably, your explanation in brackets does not make any sense whatsoever, for a hacker would most probably plant a pdf with 2 pages.

Hence the absence of the last page means nothing and isn’t any sort of dubious detail.

The rest of your reasons are bunk.

Could it be a hack? Possibly. Have you given us any reasons to think that it is? No.

313 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 5:04:52pm

re: #311 Backwoods_Sleuth

Nobody told me that we had bandwagons…

Mine’s in the shop, and the band’s on vaca, anyway.

314 Charles Johnson  Sep 21, 2014 5:11:03pm

re: #308 slh2001

I don’t like seeing people jump on bandwagons without any sort of research or confirmation.

I did research this before writing the article, and confirmed that it is indeed posted at the stlouisco.com website. Then I researched the presenter of the course and discovered that he has a long history of presenting similar courses. Then I confirmed that the logos and typefaces used in the document match other similar documents for other courses, and that the PDF metadata is also very similar to the metadata in other course PDFs.

This is no “bandwagon.” I did the research and wrote the post only after being satisfied that it is not any kind of hoax. This is what I always do with these kinds of stories.

So far, you’ve presented no evidence at all that it’s a hack or a hoax, except your feeling that it might be. I think it’s absurd to suggest that a site protected by SSL could be so easily hacked for such a trivial reason — and this is also something I know more than a little about.

315 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 5:20:42pm

Will slh2001 duck and run?

316 Charles Johnson  Sep 21, 2014 5:26:16pm

Seriously - if someone proves to me that this document was somehow placed on the police academy’s SSL-protected web server by a “hacker,” just to make people look bad, I’ll be happy to post a retraction.

But it isn’t going to happen, because it’s not a hack.

317 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 5:40:21pm

Notably, not only is this course in the online catalog - one can register for it.

On the registration page there is a dropdown menu with all the offered courses - this one among them.

So again, the alleged hacker would have to have hacked into the central db to add this entry. (Yet he forgot the 2nd page, hurr hurr).

stlouisco.com

318 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 5:48:50pm

Moreover, the stupid hacker would also have to falsify this newsletter, which also contains info about this course:

October 24
Officer-Involved Shooting - You Can Win With The Media
To Be Held At: St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy
CMPA Program

As Rick Perry might have said: oops!

319 wheat-dogghazi  Sep 21, 2014 5:51:57pm

re: #318 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

It’s a clever ruse. Obviously, someone has infiltrated the St. Louis Police Academy IT department to plant these false flags.

//

320 Charles Johnson  Sep 21, 2014 5:52:31pm

re: #318 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator

Moreover, the stupid hacker would also have to falsify this newsletter, which also contains info about this course:

[Embedded content]

As Rick Perry might have said: oops!

Good finds.

321 Islamo-Masonic Conspirator  Sep 21, 2014 5:54:37pm

re: #319 wheat-dogghazi

It’s a clever ruse. Obviously, someone has infiltrated the St. Louis Police Academy IT department to plant these false flags.

//

The thick plottens!

322 CuriousLurker  Sep 22, 2014 2:38:44pm

re: #308 slh2001

I stated my motivation, but I guess I can go into more detail. It’s that I don’t like seeing people jump on bandwagons without any sort of research or confirmation. What we have here is a single page on a single website with all sorts of dubious elements I’ve already detailed above. The immediate move to outrage and condemnation is exactly the type of ammunition those who oppose the Ferguson protest movement want in order to say we’re making things up and that the “real facts” will prove their side of the story. So far all the facts have led me (and other reasonable people) to believe that Michael Brown was murdered while trying to surrender and that the community of Ferguson, like so many others across the nation, has been the site of an ongoing race war waged by the police on its residents. If we let down our guard and critical judgement and allow ourselves to take up banners that prove to be poorly-founded, we will lose the upper hand in the fact department. This may prove to be real, at which point I will amend my statements, but in the meantime, the facts we do have point toward fake.

(And yes, a hacker would absolutely plant a single page that looks real, then tweet it at influential accounts, then wait for it to spread through social media. That’s the only way they could make people think it’s real.)

I guess it’s time to start amending your statements, huh?

I won’t hold my breath. //

323 slh2001  Sep 22, 2014 4:48:41pm

re: #285 slh2001

While I do not regret my earlier skepticism one bit (it does no one any good to blindly accept what’s handed to them without further analysis), it appears in this case I reached the wrong conclusion. Proof came today in a quote from the Police Academy confirming the course and apologizing for some of the wording in the catalog (as if that was the biggest problem). The police are certainly hitting another low here in terms of their disconnect with the people they claim to be serving.

bigstory.ap.org

Thank you to those who engaged with me in good faith in a discussion of the issue as I presented it. To those who chose to believe I had some sort of nefarious motive and attacked based on false assumptions, next time please think about attempting a reasoned response first. We don’t have to agree, but respect goes a long way.

324 wrenchwench  Sep 22, 2014 5:08:47pm

re: #323 slh2001

While I do not regret my earlier skepticism one bit (it does no one any good to blindly accept what’s handed to them without further analysis), it appears in this case I reached the wrong conclusion. Proof came today in a quote from the Police Academy confirming the course and apologizing for some of the wording in the catalog (as if that was the biggest problem). The police are certainly hitting another low here in terms of their disconnect with the people they claim to be serving.

bigstory.ap.org

Thank you to those who engaged with me in good faith in a discussion of the issue as I presented it. To those who chose to believe I had some sort of nefarious motive and attacked based on false assumptions, next time please think about attempting a reasoned response first. We don’t have to agree, but respect goes a long way.

Welcome, hatchling.

I wasn’t here yesterday, but I read the thread since then. Looks to me as though you may have ignored some reasoned responses [#297, #303, #314] and turned defensive when told that analysis was done before the article at the top here was posted. Now you call it an attack.

When respect is extended, respect is returned.

325 Charles Johnson  Sep 22, 2014 9:25:12pm

re: #324 wrenchwench

When respect is extended, respect is returned.

This.

326 Charles Johnson  Sep 23, 2014 6:52:44am

re: #323 slh2001

…it does no one any good to blindly accept what’s handed to them without further analysis

It does even less good to continue characterizing my post like this, even after I explained the steps I took to verify that the document was real.

327 Charles Johnson  Sep 23, 2014 10:45:37am

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