Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. – P.J. O’Rourke
As I predicted last week, this one was rather quiet. That probably won’t last long; December actually seems to be a busy time of year for hooker news and other topics in which I’m interested. Well, we’ll see. As so often happens, this week’s top link source was Radley Balko, who provided all of them down to the first video. That one was called to my attention by Korhomme, and the second by Antonio Lorusso; the links between the two arrived via EconJeff, Jesse Walker, Nun Ya, Deep Geek, Mike Siegel, Amy Alkon, Grace and Furry Girl.
- The TSA has is directly responsible for the equivalent of a September 11th every month in fatalities.
- If not for dental hygiene licensing, there just wouldn’t be anything to charge this guy with.
- Cop murders 50-year-old woman for sitting on the side of the street in her car.
- Nevada politician wants to criminalize being homeless without a license.
- “All I wanted was a Snickers bar.”
The best lawyer ad of all time.
- Strange how police dashboard cameras always manage to fail at the most convenient times.
- Bill intended to protect email privacy rewritten to virtually eliminate email privacy instead.
- If you’re 27 or younger, you’ve never experienced a colder-than-average month.
- Cops raid home of 9-year-old girl, confiscate Winnie-the-Pooh laptop.
- Absolutely hilarious review of the latest Twilight movie.
- Man arrested at airport for having a strange watch.
- The newest online scam: ransomware.
- My hovercraft is full of eels.
A perfect metaphor for American politics.
- Wendy McElroy on the futility of campaigns to repeal laws, and the better alternative.
I think that if a citizen files a complaint against a law enforcement officer, and camera footage that should have revealed the incident turns up missing and/or damaged, there should be a summary judgement in favor of the person making the complaint.
On the flip side, if the camera reveals that the person filing the complaint is clearly lying about what happened, they should be prosecuted.
One of the few ways to keep camera footage from being mysteriously unavailable in cases like is to make it so that missing footage results in a worst-case scenario for law enforcement.
Not to worry, Maggie, the TSA has that little problem under control.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/20/nation/la-na-terror-checkpoints-20111220
(in case y’all are wondering, yes, I am speaking in “ironic voice.”
A fascinating, infuriating and hilarious collection of links Maggie. I’m going to have to invest in one of those oversized novelty foam “my local sports team is #1” gloves, so the facepalms don’t hurt so much…
Maggie wrote,
If not for dental hygiene licensing, there just wouldn’t be anything to charge this guy with.
Well, it does look like he missed his calling. He appears to be the ideal TSA recruit.
Gare Reeve,
I like your policy idea. In the absence of available footage we should treat cops like they treat “civilians” – assume that they are lying.
And I’d go one better. Cops that kill citizens should always be prosecuted with the death penalty on the table. That jackass cop in Spokane should get the needle.
Gary Reeve, that idea makes too much sense to work.
That’s a typical way propagandists sensationalize numbers. I’ll prove it.
Damn … that article is just all over the place.
First – the article says that TSA has increased driving fatalities by 242 per month. First, it’s citing a garbage study – since the study it cites cannot prove a cause / effect relationship here. There are other factors and as a frequent flyer I know them. First, the coach class seat size has declined in volume since 9/11. Airlines have generally haulted a lot of the food service and it’s not uncommon to have to buy a coke if you want one. On time arrivals and departures rates have declined and it’ s not uncommon to sit on a tarmac for three hours these days waiting to take off. Additionally, due to the economic meltdown – families are taking vacations closer to their homes – within driving distance to save on air fares. This study cannot possibly sort out all the nuances driving the decline in air travel to come up with such a “declaritive” number as 242.
Second – in order for the TSA to cause the “equivalent” of a 9-11 every month – then THOUSANDS would have to die per month. We didn’t lose 242 people on 9-11 – we lost around 3,000. So there’s the sensationalism that only someone impossibly unfamiliar with the scope of 9-11 could buy.
Third – Oh, that’s right, the article “cherry picks” the 9/11 casualties here and says …
Uhm – except that we lost more than 242 people on the planes – more like around 266. Then again, it would seem that the article is “cherry picking” the flight crew deaths out of that number – as if somehow they don’t count.
Also – the article is so badly written – that certain of it’s claims can be interpreted in different ways. This is also a safe harbor tactic of the propagandist.
I just laughed at this article – but then I remembered how it’s basically trying to excite emotion from the reader by tieing this up with the 9/11 deaths. So, after the initial laugh – I got rather angry at the people who would stoop to this level.
Sort of like the Human Traffickers who play on emotions by citing little Indian Girls having their virginity sold at auction and then making claims about “millions of slaves”.
This article is basically in the same category.
And guess what – I don’t like the TSA and think it should be abolished – but these garbage propaganda studies do nothing but hurt the cause.
Also, people need to stop asking Republicans how old the Earth is and ask that question of the climatologists instead. They seem to think that 27 years of a heat spell is significant in the BILLIONS of years of climate change this planet has actually experienced.
Just how old do they think the planet is? I’m guessing 200 years old? LMFAO!!
It’s not significant to the planet, it’s significant to us. Heating by even one degree would have major effects on corp yields and cause sea levels to rise by several meters. (more correctly, one degree is the average, temperatures in various regions could be much hotter than that.)
Now, All that stuff sounds really lame, but at the same time, it would still be a huge disaster and there’s a decent chance the shock could lead to the collapse of human civilization.
First – taking the measures that climate “scareologists” suggest will result in economic collapse which will result in the collapse of human civilization. Man’s contribution to greenhouse gasses aren’t even the majority of the cause of greenhouse gas – which is mostly produced by natural phenomena.
Second – no matter what you do – China, India, and the third world nations that have been waiting for their turn at the economic batter’s plate ARE NOT going to curtail their emissions. Unilateral action on the part of the US will do nothing to “thwart” the coming holocaust the “scareologists” want you to believe is coming.
In a few years (2017) China alone will have surpassed the per capita greenhouse emissions of the United States. They’ve already surpassed us in total emissions. Even if you are right that a calamity is going to befall us unless we act – you are totally WRONG about our ability to twart that calamity. I personally don’t believe in it – this nonsense that humans are causing the planet to warm. However, if I’m wrong about it – we’ll all know because there is no way this train is going to be slowed. So if we’re heading for a cliff on this – we WILL sail off it and nothing you – or anyone else can do will prevent that.
Even if we had a major revolution in solar power to make solar cells viable – we would not be able to convert enough of the power grid to make a difference in time. Not to mention the fact that solar power doens’t do much for running planes and ship and moving goods and commerce.
So let’s be clear here – the “scareologists” simply saying that economic collapse is coming through global warming and the only thing we can do to prevent it is economic suicide.
I’ll take my chances.
Last – on global warming … three words from our friends at East Anglia …
HIDE … THE … DECLINE
People who have a legitimate point don’t have to manipulate, withold, and obfuscate their data. That is NOT science.
Yeah, our place on earth is very insecure to the point where even the sea level rising a couple meter would far outstrip our ability to respond.
It’s a lot like thermodynamics. You can’t win, you can’t break even, and you can’t stop playing.
Also, like the “hide the decline” had to do with tree rings, as far we know temperatures are still going up.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/Mikes-Nature-trick-hide-the-decline-intermediate.htm
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the reasons I like Krulac. 🙂
Airline flight is a pain in the ass to me! My ass fits just fine in the seats and my waist doesn’t take up any more room than an average guy’s does. However, my shoulders – no matter what I do – jut out into the isle while also jamming the person who’s sitting on the other side of me. And guess what? It’s not usually some tiny, petite hot chick sitting next to me. Usually it’s the second biggest guy on the plane sitting next to me.
Funny story – about six monts ago I was in an exit row when a HOT TINY PETITE chick sat right next to me! Oh goodie! Made my day! 12 hours of flying right next to her and she smelled delicious. Flight attendant came by and asked if we could do the duties and open the emergency door in case of a problem. I said “yea” but Ms. Hot Chick says … “how much does it weigh? Flight attendant says “about 50 pounds”. Hot Chick says – “I don’t think I can lift that!” So Flight Attendant whisks away Hot Chick to another seat and replaces her next to me with … you guessed it …
Second biggest guy on the plane.
I’m actually travelling with tiny petite, NON-hot chick on this trip I’m on now. On the way out here – I looked at her in her normal economy seat … all asleep and curled up in it like a cat – plenty of room to spare.
I wish I could shrink myself to her size each time I get on a plane. 🙁
Nice take-down of something that hasn’t really been critically examined. I think the TSA’s procedures are terrible on their own merits (i.e., massive civil rights violations for no obvious increase in security), but trying to quantify the exact level of wrongness in this way is a fool’s errand.
After reading ” The TSA Is Killing Us ” which just proves an old adage (government if it’s not broke work on it till it is ) I noticed ” The Bizarre Sex Lives of Porcupines” at the bottom which answered the question .. How Do They ?, and while reading it I found out “Yes, porcupines climb mother-cussing trees! Unfortunately, being the second-largest rodent in North America, porcupines also fall out of trees quite a bit” Which lead to a second question; How many have been injured by falling porcupines ?
ADD it’s not just a mental impairment, it’s a form of entertainment.
The name of the city with the homeless permit is “Nevada City”, in California.
It’s not just “a” Nevada city.
I would like to thank the nine year old girl with the Winnie-the-Pooh laptop for letting me know about Chisu. She’s got a good sound.