Happy I Got Nuthin’ Tuesday.
- South Korea seeks to assure citizens that the US will not strike North Korea preemptively. I can’t decide which Animal House clip will be more correct at this time next year — (A) or (B)
- Lol, can’t tell whether Notorious RBG is senile or just fired off a sick burn.
- How we can blame Canada for AGW! Any of my professors would have chewed my ass if I submitted that first chart on an assignment.
- How crazy was 2016? The Cubs raised the Championship flag for 2016 last night. As someone who cheered the Cardinals during my stint in IL, this hurt to watch.
- If you only work on your malware during the traditional workday, Symantec thinks you’re a CIA hacker. But you could be the Walter White of hacking.
- 3D printing titanium. Plus, the process is called rapid plasma deposition.
And for music, Suicidal Tendencies. I always loved their sense of humor.
And now they’re experiencing a seven-month championship drought. When will it end??
Statistically, not 110 years from now. Pretty sure the Astros will own that record one day. About 55 years from now.
As a sort-of Astros fan – I live two hours away from Houston – I’d settle for them not getting swept the next time they reach the WS.
I’ve lived in the Greater Houston area twice now. I have a soft spot for the Big Orange Losers, especially the new Correa, Springer, Altuve group. The Cards were the first team I really loved, being an undersized short-stop in the mid-80s when Ozzie Smith was there and going to see them in spring training.
MUHUHUHUWAHA.
/White Sox
You White Sox fans are the best!
I was raised a Cubs fan and they are still my NL team, but my primary rooting (verb-take THAT Oxford comma) is for the Mariners. They are on track to smash the Cubs record of WS futility.
Featherheads are now drought kings!
Ah, those cheeky Icelanders….
I can’t imagine Obama or Trump doing this.
Yeah, but only about 18 people live in Iceland, so they know the President just as “Guth,” and he rents out the limo on weekends for extra revenue.
Uber driver!
I could imagine Trump doing this. He loves this populist PR shit. Obama? He would have to be seen in public with the peasants. No chance.
Unless the teens were two 14 year old girls, literally dressed like hookers, the Secret Service isn’t going to give them the chance. Now if they were dressed like hookers, the Secret Service would probably chat them up.
….good point.
You can’t buy that kind of positive PR from an ad company.
Sure you can. Hire them to arrange for the hitchhiker and a conveniently placed smartphone for capturing it “spontaneously”.
+1 Casual walk in the woods
I can imagine Trump trying to do it, and the Secret Service having an epic meltdown.
“As someone who cheered the Cardinals during my stint in IL, this hurt to watch”
Downstate Cardinal fans are the worst
Cardinal fans are the worst, period, full stop.
http://www.twitter.com/bestfansstlouis
They misspelled ‘Busch’ beer on their logo. Is everyone from St. Louis illiterate?
What about Yankees fans? Are they just chopped liver?
I respectfully disagree. Dodger fans beating attacking opposing team’s fans comes up from time to time.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/two-men-plead-guilty-to-2011-beating-at-dodger-stadium/
beating or*
Lol, can’t tell whether Notorious RBG is senile or just fired off a sick burn.
Why can’t it be both?
Well said.
Soon to be replaced by Justice Gary Busey
^ Still an upgrade
“Utah! Get me two!”
http://cdn.hark.com/images/000/460/782/460782/original.jpg
Hate to miss the links today, but I’ll have to drop this one and run.
The wonders of socialized medicine , ladies and gentlemen
Something about death panels…
As always when the State controls limited resources, their solution is to pick who dies.
But hey, unlike the scumbags that do it for profit, the state means well. This shit is cultish. I am an agnostic, but to go from believing in some all mighty entity in the sky to believing in the almighty government, seems like some horrible backwards step (and stupid to boot).
Sorry, but belief in government makes more sense than belief in invisible sky god. We have zero evidence that any of this stuff we call reality was ‘created’ by such a being. But we have indisputable evidence that the government fucks up every damn thing they touch, therefore:
Government == Real
I think the real crux is infallibility. Nothing is infallible, not the Pope, not God or gods, not government. Everything is flawed, nothing is perfect, and we are all alone.
My suggestion? Drink heavily.
By the very same reasoning, it is profoundly more stupid to worship government as it has objectively been proven to suck.
Perhaps its not so much “Does God/Gov exist” that is the object of faith, but “Does God/Gov love me and care for me”. There is more falsification of the Gov version of that faith than of the God version.
Yes but Government is the shit you know doesn’t work or love you and God is “What’s in the mystery box?” I’ll take the box.
“Cost controls”
You take that back!
There is organs they can harvest or something..
That’s just too much British in too few words.
Sure. Why not.
https://www.bindmans.com/our-people/profile/laura-hobey-hamsher
Wow – she’s got great teeth! Must be an immigrant.
She looks like a weird British version of Judy Greer
I first read that as Hobly Hamster, I swear.
Anyone think the High Court judge’s grand kids ever got skimped on the treatment?
3D printing titanium has been around for awhile (DMLS, EBAM, etc), but I’m curious to learn about a new process. The super cool shit that’s happening now are those crazy Germans combining a metal printing system with a 5 axis CNC. Total game changer.
5 axis… So it travels through time and inter-dimensional space?
I mean, every CNC travels through time at a pretty constant one second per second (I don’t know the metric conversion though). But most 5 axis means translate in three and rotate about two of them.
It was already covered, but the extra axes are rotational. While not true axes in the traditional sense they do give much greater manufacturing flexibility.
I watched a movie last night called “Copperhead”. It’s about a guy somewhere in upstate New York who doesn’t support the War (the one going on in 1862).
I haven’t decided what I think about it. It probably didn’t suck, but it seemed awfully trite. Maybe I’m just jaded.
Anybody else seen it?
Does he die in a hail of musket fire during Lincoln’s martial law?
No, although I remember it getting a fairly favorable writeup at the Other Site a while back. Thought it sounded interesting.
Not the Lionel Barrymore movie, I presume.
Reading a book about Lincoln right now. I want to believe all the stuff the guy’s saying, and he’s definitely from the Austrian school, but it flies in the face of so much I’ve heard about Lincoln.
Title?
Lincoln Unmasked by Thomas J. DiLorenzo.
It’s very vociferous, which is always an issue with your Austrian school history. I get it’s trying to correct falsehoods and propaganda, but it’s offputting.
Particularly interesting is Lincoln’s pre-presidential life. I always kind of believed the whole “log splitting country lawyer” thing, but apparently Lincoln was actually a big time attorney for the railroads. Like, offered a 10,000 dollar a year job (that’s like 300,000 in today’s dollars) but turned it down because he was making more working different cases.
I mean I obviously knew all the war time Constitutional violations, but there were some I hadn’t heard about. But there’s a lot of interesting stuff I didn’t know about Lincoln, assuming its true.
IMDB gives it a 5.5, which is really shitty.
As promised, I had beans for lunch.
you sharing it yet?
Very much so.
Dude. Beano. Seriously.
STEVE SMITH HEAR YOUR CALL. STEVE WILL PLUG THAT LEAK
Did you crop dust the office? If not you may want to.
This made me happy, I hope when I check out the link it won’t disappoint.
Why did you link to an article that talks about Boeing’s cash flow instead of the process.
I don’t care about what boeing is going to do with it, I care how it works and if it’s within my means.
I don’t know anything about RPD machines, but a Stratasys DMLS machine (that will let you 3D print titanium) starts around 700k and you still need a mill to do post processing. Sooooooo if that IS within your means, then I wanna come stay at your house
It’s not 🙁
You work for the government, just convince someone at work that you need it for your job.
It looks like RPD is basically the same as EBAM. They use a wire feedstock and melt that to make the build layers.
Yep, I just want to know when I can get my own 3D printer and print something more interesting than a plastic bong or dildo. I’m not sure why I need more of those.
The hybrid bongdo is a nice X-mas gift?
Meh, everyone is boring, no one appreciates a good bongdo these days.
the process is called rapid plasma deposition
That’s a highly technical euphemism.
So sorry!
United was trying to be cheap and not offer people what they could under the law to entice them to take the next flight. Now it is going to cost them a bundle.
That’s not correct. An airpline has to solicit volunteers under the law but there isn’t a minimum of maximum amount the airlines is required to offer, nor are they required to accept counter offers. If they don’t get enough volunteers for their offer(s), then it goes to involuntary provisions of 400% cash or equivalent (check, not a travel voucher unless the passenger accepts one) of the passenger’s ticket price for the flight up to $1350.
1) United offered $800 for volunteers. Didn’t get any. Proceeded to involuntary deny boarding. Personally, I think they should have offered more until they got volunteers, including tickets on another airlines, upgraded cabin, or hiring a taxi for the drive but that’s just me and United is not required by law to do so.
2) United followed their published procedures for involutary denial of boarding. One passenger refused to deplane, which is crime for (take your pick, SLD) of failing to follow a crewmember’s instructions or trespass after being told to leave by United’s staff.
3) United called airport security/police to remove the passenger.
4) Security/police do what they do best, accomplish their task with the maximum of force.
5) Ignorant populist outrage ensues.
They most certainly did not offer $800. They offered vouchers that are notoriously difficult to use.
If a Stewardess strolled through the plane with $800 in cash and a ticket for the next flight people would have jumped at it.
Yes, $800 in vouchers. Ymmv, I’ve never had trouble using them. The wife’s last trip to Europe was paid for thanks to taking a bump.
As far as I know, the only US carrier that offers something close to cash for voluntary, not involuntary, is Delta and their Amex gift cards.
That’s good. I just booked a couple flight on Delta instead of United.
Delta does something that is awesome and uses a pre-boarding silent auction. That is NOT remotely close to what United did. I just got off a Spirit flight and they offered two full round trips ticket and 50$ cash…like two 20s and a 10 cash.
To your point about violating a law (sld as always) If david Lane were this man’s attorney, United would be totally fucked as they are criminal law breakers. The police were willing conspiratorial accomplices. Breach of contract, threats of bodily harm, theft, fraud, slavery (always my favorite). The amazing thing about law in a free society is that the populous being governed needs to consent, we get into a coutr with a jury and this guy has no concerns. THEN we go a a civil court and this guy doesn’t need to work again. So I find the comment about law breaker trespass a little flippant. The “law” here is far from clear when all things are taken into account (yes I get he has no right to sit on their plane but his case is he paid for such a right and that is a solid case.)
Also…WTF is this shit?
Dao’s player profile on the World Series of Poker website lists his total earnings as $234,664 since he joined the poker circuit in 2006.
I just got back from a trip where I took Spirit as my airline. I was less than impressed by the product I received.
3 of the 4 self check in kiosks were not working (at both boston and fort lauderdale somehow) and the ladies working behind the counter were more interested in “dabbing” than helping out the line forming at the kiosks. The 55 dollar carryon charge (per bag) seemed excessive and the flight information screen at the gate was obscured(somehow) by the card cascade effect you get when you win a game of Solitaire.
Spirit sucks…no argument
I am now a southwest fan, i used to hate the cattle call but then saw it for the beauty it was.
I agree with Drake. If you want the seat I paid for, pay for it using American dollars, not United Airlines Fun-bucks
They may have followed those procedures… but they were inappropriate because they’d already boarded the aircraft. Which puts them in Rule 21 of their Contract of Carriage
Since he wasn’t wanted by the cops, had paid for his ticket, hadn’t lied about who he was, didn’t pose a safety hazard… United was violating their contract with him.
Moreover, even if they hadn’t boarded, as a paying customer, he under federal law got priority over the deadheading crew. Thus, involuntarily denying him boarding so that they could get a non-paying crew member in his seat would violate federal law.
Federal law doesn’t prioritize him over a deadheading crew. (Which is another United mistake, but it happens. The alternative is to cancel the flight that the crew was deadheading to and inconvenience even more people, without compensation).
Boarding in involuntary denied boarding doesn’t refer to just physical entering the aircraft. It can (and does) happen after the passenger sits down.
United made mistakes. Passenger made mistakes. Security made mistakes. Internet mob made mistakes.
Not me.
I did not make even one mistake in this incident.
I am mistake free.
One passenger refused to deplane, which is crime for (take your pick, SLD) of failing to follow a crewmember’s instructions or trespass after being told to leave by United’s staff.
Perhaps, if its covered in the ticket contract. Without looking it up, I recall a disclaimer that they may oversell a flight, but I don’t recall it giving them permission to forcibly remove me from a seat I have paid for. Under what circumstances I would forfeit my license to be on their plane, I don’t know, but I bet its either an unenforcable contract of adhesion, or a state-imposed set of requirements that I never agreed to.
You guys are way ahead of me. A quick scan of Rule 21 does not reveal the presence of a rule allowing removal of a passenger who declines to volunteer to take another flight. Even the bit on not doing what you are told by the crew doesn’t apply:
Rule 25. He was being denied boarding and refused to leave the craft. It’s not voluntary and he’s not volunteering.
Not how I read it. Elsewhere (again, on a quick scan), being denied boarding means you aren’t allowed on the plane. There are references to being denied boarding OR being removed from the flight elsewhere in the “contract”. He had already boarded – that window (and rule) had closed.
Plus, that rule applies only when there is an “Oversold Flight”:
Doesn’t sound like this flight qualifies as an Oversold Flight, because it doesn’t sound like they had checked in their people before the check-in time closed – otherwise, they wouldn’t have had to go onto the plane to kick people off. But, that’s not clear.
Not only that, but there is a rule on how to pick people for involuntary denial of boarding, and it doesn’t mention random draw, but rather sets up a priority system.
Bottom line: I think he’s got a winning case.
I greatly appreciate this intro to the airline’s contracts of adhesion. I’m going to check on the one for my airline next time I have a business flight, just in case.
Keep an eye on YouTube – I may be the next star!
Boarding is more than physically entering the aircraft. Particularly the weight & balance issue on smaller aircraft, people get removed (usually on their own power, but it’s still removed) after being seated. Broken seat and none other left on the flight. It happens.
Yeah, United should have handled it prior to beginning boarding. Or they weren’t aware that they needed to the seats for the deadheading crew yet. In any case, United had fewer seats than ticketed passengers due to the need to use 4 of those seats for the deadheading crew. Which is an oversell. Check in times would not apply to the deadheading crew as they’re not paying passengers.
Correct about the non-random involuntary order. Assuming United followed it, allowing a passenger to continue who is refusing to leave and then picking the next name on the list instead would likely be a violation in itself.
It’s a multi-pronged approach. I guess they decided to say sorry after the smear campaign failed.
If its a smear campaign, everyone’s getting in on it
i hate this story, i hate the way its being covered, and I hate the people who scream and yell about the obvious conclusions that should be drawn from nothing more than a short video clip.
I also realize that this, plus “hey look! Someone said something on twitter!” is the new mode of journalism, and that “actual reporting of important stories” is basically dead.
Hate it too. The airline was wrong but I have a hard time sympathizing with a man who throws a worse tantrum than my first grader.
That, and you’ve got more press-coverage of this story than the Syrian civil war we just decided to join in on.
That was my takeaway from this. It sucks that it happened to this guy, or anyone. He wanted to get home, but it didn’t work out.
I would have left quietly but angrily, because I’m a fucking adult. This guy is not right in the head. Probably shouldn’t be allowed to practice medicine, actually.
The lesson here: throw a fucking tantrum, and it gets results.
Plus he is a *shudder* poker player
Guess he had more than one out if he has cashed for $265k.
I liked Ann Althouse’s take:
I can’t bring myself to look at the video, but I’m not as sympathetic to this person as most people seem to be. I don’t like the bumping of passengers, but if it’s going to happen, and if the airline uses some random method to select the ones to bump, I don’t see how the chosen person should be allowed to avoid the bad luck by refusing to leave.
Obviously, choosing people by race would be unacceptable, but this man seems to have resorted to that accusation only after his go-to I’m-a-doctor argument failed. That is, at first he argued in favor of discrimination, that he should get a special doctor privilege. That amounts to an argument that people with less important jobs should be discriminated against — class discrimination.
Maybe it would be a good idea for the airline to have a policy of giving doctors a special privilege over other passengers, but if it hasn’t, I don’t see why the doctor should get a different outcome through civil disobedience tactics, physically resisting. If the airline actually had a race discrimination policy, I would support resistance, but I don’t believe that accusation. I think this was someone who, like everybody else who didn’t volunteer to leave, wanted to stay on the flight. Should everyone willing to resist get to stay and the burden of the bumping fall on the people who are too polite and unselfish to go into resistance mode? I just don’t understand how caving into people like this will work.
And, again, I don’t like bumping, but my understanding is that airline fares are kept low by overbooking and bumping when needed. Doesn’t everyone know they are exposed to that risk when they buy an airline ticket?
ADDED: This post already had a “hypocrisy” tag (aimed at the doctor), so check me for hypocristy by reading what I wrote back in 2004 about a bumping incident
I believe the negative reactions are natural. People are instinctively upset when a vendor breaks a contract (even the implied one that passes for an airline ticket).
They also get pissed when a paying customer gets treated like an unruly medieval serf.
This was suggested by a friend elsewhere:
Tell the passengers that the plane won’t leave until the guy disembarks. The problem will handle itself.
Is throwing off the attendants and making the food and drinks self-serve an option?
NO THEY ARE THERE FOR YOUR SAFETY!!!1111!!
Plus there’s probably some kind of union rules that don’t allow for the 4 extra crew to just replace 4 members of the regular crew. Not that that would be much of a solution.
if the airline uses some random method to select the ones to bump, I don’t see how the chosen person should be allowed to avoid the bad luck by refusing to leave
If someone can point us to where in their contract (helpfully linked above) they have the right to remove people who don’t volunteer, I’d be grateful. I didn’t see it on a quick read. And without that, they have no right to remove anyone who doesn’t volunteer, method of selection be damned.
“cost the airline over a billion dollars in market cap as traders dumped its shares on fears of a Chinese backlash”
Chinese Backlash would be a good band name
The way Trump is going, it’s going to be a popular one.
If Trump wants to hang himself by increasing the price of electronics, the best thing the Chinese can do is give him more rope.
No shit. I found a good quality 65″ 4K TV on Amazon yesterday, for $500. No one had better be fucking this shit up. Needz MOAR cheap technology!
Dang, and I thought my $500 Samsung 55″ was an awesome deal!
Second choice for The Slants if they lose their name trademark case.
Which is ridiculous. Chinese airlines have far shittier customer service than United. Advance seat assignment? Hope you remember to bribe the counter agent when checking in, otherwise, so sorry, here’s your new boarding pass.
1) Sorry not sorry
2) Sorry for the stock drop
3) Sorry I got caught being a douche
4) All of the above
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Monday appeared to mistakenly designate Lindsey Graham — a male Republican senator from South Carolina — one of the “women of the Senate.”
*outright, prolonged laughter*
He pees standing up!
But also has the same taste in men.
According to the social justice typers, that doesn’t matter.
He pees standing up!
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Lindsey Graham looks, talks, and has the mannerisms of a guy who dresses in a wig and high heels when he’s alone.
An Ancient Regime French Nobleman?
“Would yew fuck me? Ah’d fuck me. Ah’d fuck me hoard.”
*cues up Goodbye Horses*
That’s his role play routine with John McCain
Go on….
That’s Sugarfree’s turf.
I don’t mind. And I want to hear more…
NONONONONONO!!!!!!
*runs from room*
Link?
South Korea seeks to assure citizens that the US will not strike North Korea preemptively.
I’m sure Trump and China will be able to come to an amicable agreement about DPRK and all things.
They should hire the ladies fat Kim sent after his brother…
I visited Utah for some quality time with my folks in the cottonwood canyons. The Delta clusterfuck cost me some time, so I made this. I think it’s my best one yet.
2 more feet at Mammoth this week
This is the season that never ends. I picked up a mountain collective pass for 17/18. It includes Mammoth and Valle Nevado in Chile. I can reasonably make the trip in late August. I may go no more than 60 days without skiing through mid 2018. woot!
You should have let me know, i work right off the canyons. Could have done a small meet-up.
Damn. Though we skied hard enough to make for some pretty boring evenings.
Meh. I’m a boring guy, so don’t worry about it.
That was mesmerizing. Trees and mountains, my two favorite things. Thanks!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! I’ve looked at a lot of ski footage in my quest to not suck. Good first person perspective really requires some visual reference to register well. I love skiing trees so it all works out gravy.
I was waiting for the crash scene – into a tree.
Impacts are bad but not the leading killer. Tree wells eat skiers. My style is risky as I like to float over the well area using a duck and pray technique. If I die I’ll have my assistant post the video.
Nice.
Here’s a fingerpicked version of the Chrono Trigger – Corridors of Time song you used. (huge fan of the music in that game)
I have the tab and have tried playing this one on the guitar and it’s quite difficult. I do play Millennial Fair, which is quite a bit easier (and pretty fun in general).
How we can blame Canada for AGW! Any of my professors would have chewed my ass if I submitted that first chart on an assignment.
Hyperventilating freakouts like that article are ultimately the most self-defeating thing imaginable. Despite however many ‘green jobs’ or carbon taxes or subsidies for ‘renewables’ you blatter on about, the reality is that, if your charts and data are correct, there’s really only one efficient solution: massive population die-off, breeding control, and crippling the developing world, particularly India and China, from industrializing (also has the added benefit of likely adding a couple million to that population die-off).
So stop feeding me bullshit and at least be honest about what the actual ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ has to be.
Justin Trudeau just let out a Homer scream.
“Even the increases are increasing”
What does that mean?
Acceleration?
I’m just here to say that I already blame Canada for everything and need no convincing of that fact to begin with.
AGW is just an anti-Canadian meme. Those fucking leafs are trying to make their country habitable! The nerve of them!
You know who else had an efficient solution?
Clorox?
William of Ockham?
Haber-Bosch?
The guys hawking Colloidal Silver?
Sherlock Holmes?
And for music, Suicidal Tendencies. I always loved their sense of humor.
“Whatever, I’ll probably get hit by a car, anyway.”
Anybody got a Pepsi?
Does it explicitly have to be a Pepsi, or will any carbonated beverage sold by PepsiCo work?
^ This is why Mike-o went Psycho, right here.
No, I heard from his mom he was on drugs.
He was just thinking!
Just one would have done the trick.
Somewhat relevant.
http://www.livingstondaily.com/story/news/2017/04/10/pepsi-mops-up-unusual-mountain-dew-spill/100170964/
All I wanted was a Pepsi . . .
I can’t help but notice that whenever the Russians/Putin (or Trump until he bombed Syria, for that matter) say something, the media points out how there’s no proof being offered. But yet there’s rarely a demand for proof of any kind for the accusations the other way. It’s the damndest thing.
It’s pretty much accepted at this point that Russia hacked something during the election despite not a shred of evidence being provided to the public. I’m not going to let that one go.
It is a really glaring example of “let’s just repeat something totally baseless over and over again until people just start assuming it’s true.” It’ll be interesting to see whether it sticks. After the failure of HRC’s campaign, which was essentially 100% shit like this, I’m more encouraged about the ineffectiveness of these strategies on non-partisans.
Tell the lie oft enough, and it becomes the truth….
“Jerry, it’s not a lie if YOU believe it”
Did the 1987 World Series hurt, too, Brett?
Fucking Twins.
LOL
You have my interest, please continue
Make something up!
Fucking Twins.
Go on…
I’m sitting in the waiting area at Logan, ready to fly home. Bets on whether the airline will have me beaten for Passover?
Are you flying Lufthansa?
Make American Great Again.
Lufthansa air crew are actually very friendly.
Air France and Delta Overseas Service were the best flights I’ve ever been on. Air France handed out champagne for a short Paris-to-Lyon flight. And the aircrew was hot af.
KLM was pretty nice. Also Schiphol is a great airport to have a long layover in. LA to Schiphol I was sitting next to horse trainers who smelled pleasantly of camphor horse lineament when they weren’t tending to the horses in the pressurized cargo space of the combi aircraft.
American can suck a bag of dicks. They put us in an airplane that would’ve been mid-tier in 1987 for a transatlantic flight. Also Korean Air screwed me over by putting me in an exit row without informing me that the emergency exit door was 3/5 the width of the seat. LA to Seoul with my legs across the lap of a very annoyed Korean businessman was miserable.
I used to really like KLM. Whatever happened to that band?
They burnt a million quid or summat.
Thai Airlines is a treat as well. Friendly service, attractive cabin crew, free booze and even the food is edible. It is not as good as what you can find in Thailand to eat, but is suffices.
Foreign exchange student I tried desperately to bang in high school is now a stewardess for Thai Airways. The attractive cabin crew part is very accurate
Most foreign carriers have the kind of standards for stewardesses that airlines in this country are no longer allowed to enforce. JAL has some total knockouts, and I’m not even one of those guys who fetishizes Asian women.
Singapore Airlines FTW!
In the Sactown airport a Gillespie look alike refused to go through the rapescan device. I asked him if he was an editor with TWTSNBN and he didn’t answer.
Was he wearing The Jacket?
The Jacket was busy getting rapescanned.
Dang, man!
We could have had a Boston meet up!
No, it was a hit and run (sorry) trip. In last night, dinner with customers and my boss, meetings today, now heading back. Sloopy is jealous because he knows who my customer is.
Lil Wayne?
https://dancehallhiphop.com/2017/04/11/lil-wayne-chris-brown-caught-up-in-fbi-drug-case/
Here’s United’s new cabin layout.
Bravo. Does that mean you can’t talk about your flight?
Ask these guys.
I’m a Bayern fan, but fuck whoever bombed Borussia’s team bus.
Woah. That got serious
My patience for those motherfuckers committing these crimes is wearing thin.
Fake news!
The linked piece says that was used as evidence that the malware was government-sponsored.
DOJ to Return Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet Player Money Seized on Black Friday
You have to beg for it back though.
My favorite phraseology of the day:
“So when a new idea is getting masticated in the gaping maw of a big bureaucracy lets not go overboard with fears of a ‘shadow government’. Surely there’s some of that but most of the workforce is chained to their desks as usual; filling out TPS reports, changing their budget plans, and wondering what was really in the office coffee pot.”
Ralph?
And it will never have any effect on even one of us peasants except that we’ll see rainbows and flying unicorns and paradise appearing right before our eyes. And it won’t cost anyone even a single dime!
That reminds me of a quote. I think it was by Terry Pratchett. I don’t remember it exactly, but the gist of it is: Oftentimes, the worst atrocities in history were carried out by a guy just doing his job, and then going home to his family.
That’s TDS not TPS reports.
Amen sir.
Developing…
Bus explosives, Europe
Ted S. got ya by 10 minutes!
List of probable suspects:
– White supremacists
– White anarchists
– White hispanics
– Asians
It might honestly be soccer hooligans.
I thought the same. But how many bomb attacks so far by soccer hooligans? I thought they just get drunk and beat each other senseless?
I blame Trump for this escalation of violence.
I say soccer hooligans, but I mean sports betting…
Russian mafia going whole hog fixing matches?
Basque terrorists agreed to lay down their *guns*, OK? Not their “serious explosives”.
I mean, who does “comedic explosives” nowadays anyway?
I mean, who does “comedic explosives” nowadays anyway?
Gallagher is still touring
“OK, other than Gallagher, who does “comedic explosives” nowadays anyway?”
We just had a thread about beans.
Where else but?
I knew it was FL before I clicked. It’s always FL.
UN Forces Applauded for “not nearly as terrible as they usually are” Humanitarian Intervention
– Gang rapes were minimal, and as far as anyone knows, they did not stand around and watch while a genocide/crimes-against-humanity occurred. Country still a chaotic shithole, but no one expected miracles
Gang rapes were minimal
Things are looking up!
Well, for the rapee.
It’s down to 20 to one from 40!
Anyone having monocle behave weirdly?
it was hiding most comments
I think if you accidentally click HIDE OLD THREADS that happens. I did that to myself once.
ah…. let me see.
yep. thanks
Well, I’ll be damned.
You fussy fucks and your plugins. All you have to do is memorize 3 HTML tags and get your eyes used to scanning the threading and you have auto-monocle.
Nobody need 23 kinds of plugin!
– MS Edge devs
Honestly though, the functionality ’round here is pretty good even without any enhancements.
I mean functionality is fine here without. I don’t mind checking on my phone whereas trying to check in on a thread from my phone on H&R was an exercise in futility, but Monocle has enough useful/timesaving features to make it well worth using.
I hit “Reply” and no bushy-tailed rodents eat my comment. That’s good enough for me.
I am making FREE CHARLES OAKLEY shirts as we speak
(ok, its just 1…. and its an old undershirt that i drew on with a sharpie. but still. i hope he punches the judge)
()@&*#$)@(#$*@
i give up.
i am averaging 2 thread-fails a day right now
If he beat the shit out of the Dolans, I’d vote to acquit.
Who wants to rescan every damn link in the thread every time just to see if there’s any new comments? That’s not Auto-monocle, it’s Waste-of-timeocle.
Meh. If you just F5 every 10 minutes all the new replies are shaded blue. It ain’t supposed to be a chat room.
That was a VERY good use of my time
Yes, I posted about that twice in the last couple of days. Either all or part of the links randomly disappear. Had to start using Firefox because of it.
Hill County in dispute with man who wrote ‘sexual favors’ on property tax check memo line
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/hill-county-in-dispute-with-man-who-wrote-sexual-favors/article_27f21cf9-84e9-5aab-b056-b2168182b4a3.html
*tilts head in confusion*
I would try that if I didn’t pay by wire transfer.
Oops, wrong check. I hate it when that happens.
“rapid plasma deposition”
Somehow I do not think you puny mammals under what that means…
“mammals under what”
It’s why we’re still here, byotch.
+1 small furry mammal skillz
And despite all your bluster, still no edit button
We don’t want the commenters getting soft.
I cannot dispute the logic of the large forest mammal representative
Learned today that trying to debate Neocons is just as bad as trying to debate Proggies. Same use of definitive statements, logic gaps, and diehard partisan support.
Been there. Had one of those a ways back with a Beck head who called himself a Libertarian. If was immediately obvious that he had no idea what that meant.
Do you mean actual “neocons” or just people who are more aggressively hawkish than you are?
I would equate people who believe in the US being the world police with neocon ideology for the most part.
Seems to be the general definition of them by and large. Interventionist, supposedly for Constitutional rights, but still like their federal benefits.
No.
They hated the idea of the US being ‘reactive’…. or being responsible for anyone else’s failed states. The purpose of use of force in the Neocon concept is to
Neocons believed specifically that force should be used to exploit the post-cold-war fall of Soviet power to pre-emptively crush potential new threats to US hegemony or global peace.
Basically, “We have biggest stick on earth = make hay while the sun shines, and whack Iran/North Korea/Iraq/anyone else who looks at us funny”
Not = “let’s fix everyone else’s problems and take over for the UN.” that was the exact opposite of what they believed. They felt the purpose of the US is to smash foes – not save civilians from their own shitty societies.
Well when you consider the neocon support for nationbuilding and spreading democracy it gets quite muddier.
I would agree with you that nether group wants to be associated with the other. Like a lot of left-right distinctions though I see two sides of the same coin for the most part.
nope. that neither.
the fact that they ended up owning one of the largest nation-building projects (iraq) is mostly an ironic outcome of the failure of their original plans, which aimed to avoid that whole aspect.
the Rumsfeld plan was to go in, decapitate Iraq, leave behind some flunkies as a temp-govt, and run away ASAP and leave the locals to sort out their own mess. Unfortunately they got ‘mugged by reality’, and ended up having to stay so that their fake-govt didn’t fall apart immediately.
this whole “no one uses the term “neocon” correctly“-thing has been bugging me for about a decade+ now. I think people need to understand that there are lots and lots of different flavors of “Interventionism”. Just because someone supports dropping bombs doesn’t make them “neocon”, necessarily. I think liberal Wilsonianism is actually even worse than Neoconservatism from a libertarian POV; at least in the sense that its more-divorced from US interests, and more motivated by “saving other people from themselves”, etc, or sticking our fingers into other people’s business simply to increase the reach of Western internationalist institutions.
If a Neocon were talking about Syria, they’d probably make the following argument =
– “”we should attack and destroy Assad *personally*. Destroy his criminal regime as a warning to all potential enemies of the US, principally Iran and Russia, that threatening the western world will result in your instant erasure.””
– ‘but what happens afterward’?
– “The Syrian people will figure that out for themselves. If the UN wants to help out in reconstruction, we won’t stop them.”
something i should have mentioned =
Neocons were almost all former-democrat, fanatically-pro-israel jewish intellectuals
And their ME policy view was based entirely around the idea that Israel is effectively “Little USA”; so when i said Syria was a criminal regime that threatens the West, i basically mean “he’s anti-Israel”, therefore must go at the soonest possible opportunity.
You can’t have a Neocon who isn’t also 100% “Anything that is good for Israel is good for the US”
Ran out of Reply buttons but yeah, I scoured the PNAC website back in the day and am aware of the trotskyite and Israeli connections so I get where you are coming from. I just don’t see overwhelming US national interest coming out of either camp. Just a lot of wasted blood and treasure.
Yeah – I’ve said before, but haven’t been able to locate a reference, that the first time I heard the term “World Police” I do believe it was from Al Gore, and I do believe it was during the 2000 campaign.
The paradigm of the 2000 campaign was largely “do we use America’s newfound absolute military dominance of the world to refashion the world as a ‘good’ place that Al Gore approves of, or do we use America’s newfound absolute military dominance of the world just to make America more powerful?”
I think the Neo-Cons were the latter, with one of their distinctions being that this particular element of the Team Red worldview was far more important to them than the elements about limiting government and freeing markets. They came in with “you know what, if me advocating welfare expansion and economic protectionism leads you to allowing me to bomb more people, then why the hell not? It’s a win-win!”
Oh yeah, when the whole let’s bomb Iran campaign was going on they were ready to drop their knickers for whichever party would comply.
Yeah, lots of progressives meet the general criteria for fitting in the neocon box *coughHillarycough*
Agreed
In fact, the neocons had sold the regime change in Iraq idea to Bill prior to 9/11. He sent Cohen and Albright out to sell it to the American people but there were no takers at the time. Bill was strictly a finger in the wind prez so it died there. Actually it died in Columbus at OSU where hippies and vets alike shot it down in a town meeting. Much to the chagrin of Bill’s media sycophants at the major networks. They were like what can you expect from a “college town”.
Pretty damn sure she was a neocon. Particular conversation was about foreign policy, to which her argument was literally the same as the CNN reporter that interviewed Massie (the babies! we have to help them!) She was actually getting pretty choked up/emotional over it, so I didn’t press her too hard, but she’s so committed to war in Syria that she doesn’t care what else havens with Russia or Iran over it.
However, she’s fairly free market as far as I can tell, except when it comes to health insurance, to which she thinks that pre-existing conditions need to be covered and that insurance companies are constantly trying to screw people over. (She didn’t like Obamacare, but she also hates everything about Obama, so not surprising.) She’s a diehard Trump supporter, except when it comes to the foreign policy stuff, she was applauding him over that. So I’m not sure if that moves her out of neoconservatism, but she’s not a left-winger, at least not much. Been a Republican her whole life, sees everything along partisan lines.
Also, she made the statement today (on the topic of Syria.) “We just need to vote in a bunch of women who aren’t controlled by their egos, unlike these bastards like Chuck Schumer.”
So my response was “You mean like John McCain, who wants to be at war with everyone?”
“Well I can’t blame him.”
Neocons objected strongly to the idea of “Humanitarian Warfare”; in fact it was their furious objection to Clinton’s use of the military as some sort of International Red Cross via Airstrike which brought them into power w/ Bush I.
The below addresses that point specifically =
http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/04/09/what-divides-neocons-and-liberal-interventionists/
I’m not even sure if she fits neatly into either one then. She wants to go to war to help the civilians, but she also believes in needing to establish America’s authority over the region because we “need to be great and feared again.”
Now that I think about it, I should have asked her what her position is on bringing refugees in. Probably would have helped to classify her.
Pedentry aside, pretty thin line between the global hegemonist and the global “humanitarians” if you ask me.
I don’t know if there’s a specific term for people who are both global humanitarians and hegemonists, and who want to drain the swamp while also keeping their benefits, but that’s where she fits. I don’t know if the alt-right is defined by those people or not.
I think you already nailed it. She listens to fox news and knows what sounds good to her and what doesn’t. She doesn’t think through the implications. Which makes her just like most people.
I believe the common term is “centrist.”
Wilsonianism is probably the closest.
It is centered with the idea that the US should ‘make the world safe for democracy’
ie. work with multilateral organizations against all non-democratic regimes, and intervene against them opportunistically, and then rebuild those places as democracies – because (false theory) “Democracies never fight one another”
Clinton’s FP could have been seen as “half wilsonian” – e.g. getting rid of Milosevich was very much a wilsonian idea; but sticking his nose into the Somalian civil war was something sort of different, which was referred to as “Humanitarian Interventionism”. It had no strategic goal of advancing western interests, and was just “use military to stop bad stuff”. This idea was expanded w/ Rwanda, which many people saw as a ‘failure to intervene’.
“Wilsonianism is probably the closest. ”
Ah, okay, that makes sense. Yup, sums her up pretty well.
I’m totally down with a constitutional amendment: “No acts of war, of any kind whatsoever, shall be conducted until a quorum of 5000 holders of the Purple Heart vote to enact said act of war with a 3/4 majority.”
Meh. If you just F5 every 10 minutes all the new replies are shaded blue. It ain’t supposed to be a chat room.
Huh. I learn something new every goddam day.
I thought the blue was just a two dimensional reference point.
trying to debate Neocons is just as bad as trying to debate Proggies. Same use of definitive statements, logic gaps, and diehard partisan support.
Argument by assertion, appeal to magic, I Know You Are, But What Am I?…
None of that stuff has intellectual property protection.
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, I guess it’s because the majority of right-wingers that I’ve debated have at least been somewhat open-minded and try to back up their points. She’s admitted before that she gets 100% of her news from Fox.
100%? So, O’Reilly and Hannity tell her what to think?
Glass-bottomed pool 500 feet above downtown Houston
Video not suitable for acrophobics.
Yup, I clicked the link and almost immediately puked.
Is Kenny Loggins staying there?
Is the pool called “The Danger Zone”?
I couldn’t find the scene I was looking for, but this was one from earlier in the episode.
Oh hell no
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg appears to call Sen. Lindsey Graham one of ‘the women of the Senate’ ”
No, she doesnt appear to. She does.
“Well, his name is Lindsey.”
Yes it is, but that isnt why she did it.
What a great two days it has been. Yesterday a great white breached at one of my surf beaches about 100 yards out. Today a whale serenaded us complete with a spray show.
You’re visiting a coastal university campus?
You are close, the local bar on a Tuesday.
Are there pics??
Her is the shark breach. Caught on Surline live camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z37A0GcurjQ
Nay-chur!
Yes two very active days at the beach for me. The Whites have been around here for a decade or so. Mostly 7-10′ but still not what you want to see nearby. I do surfer math though. 1 or 2 guys out odds bad, 10+ odds much better!
It’s cool to see from the beach, but makes me kinda glad I never went ocean swimming when my parents lived in San Diego. I spent more time up in the mountains and at Anza-Borrego.
Anza is beautiful. I captured my avatar photo from there. I’m retired so all I do is surf and ski during the day. Mammoth mountain will be open til the fourth of July. I’ve been going up every other week. Beautiful up there.
Nope, not jealous at all! There was this one storm this past winter where Jim Cantore was at the top of Gun Barrel at Heavenly, and there were skiers & riders getting first tracks. They would disappear over the edge of the camera shot, whooping & hollering. It looked and sounded like they were jumping in a hole into paradise. I don’t ski powder or diamonds, but I was tempted watching that!
Does anyone else see potential legal issues with that whole NASA giving away pieces of the Earth thing?
(I dare someone to call NASA and ask when you can start construction on your sex dungeon and ferret farm on the land they gave you)
Police officer slams woman to ground
“Lacks context,” what a joke.
Yeah it lacks the context that Police are superior beings who can assault anyone they choose.
“White House officials accused Russia of trying to cover up for the Syrian chemical attack, adding the U.S. has concluded sarin was used in the assault. They suggested Moscow may have known its ally was preparing to use the banned gas.”
—-Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tillerson-says-syrias-assad-regime-is-coming-to-an-end-1491911029
Two points:
1) It would be remarkable if Syria used chemical weapons without at least informing Russia (and Iran) beforehand.
The Assad regime is now basically a client state of Russia and Iran. If it weren’t for them (and Iran’s Hezbollah), Assad would have had his head on a pike a long time ago.
2) Is it possible for the White House to be too truthy?
After the last 16 years of lying sacks of shit in the White House, I can’t believe I’m saying this myself. But if you’re going to get the results you want, sometimes, maybe it’s better if certain things are left unsaid.
If the Russians wanted to see if Trump would roll over and capitulate like Obama did, okay, you’ve answered that trial balloon. But pointing that out to everybody on the world stage, maybe it’s better for American interests to just let the Russians sort of retreat with dignity.
Now there’s an incentive for them to show that they aren’t really in control of what Assad does–where there wouldn’t be if the White House had just kept his mouth shut. Wasn’t it Tolstoy (in the epilogue to War and Peace) who wrote that it was foolish to attack a retreating army when you want it to retreat?
I wonder if Trump and the deep state have put aside their differences, and this is the equivalent of make-up sex.