Political Randomness

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:05 pm

"Canadian" "bacon" is neither bacon nor Canadian.

Unlike Ted Cruz...

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:21 pm

My understanding of meat definitions has never been strong. Luckily understanding what I eat is not necessary for it to be delicious. *reaches for can of soylent chowder*

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:22 pm

http://www.wparesearch.com/issues/44-pe ... l-country/

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:33 pm

We had this discussion already, although it does seem obvious that refugees are refugees regardless of country in a way that bombing targets are not.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 9:50 pm

The moral of the story is the right thinks everyone on the outside needs bombing and the left thinks they are all refugees.

The fictional place part is of ZERO importance.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:00 pm

Rip wrote:The moral of the story is the right thinks everyone on the outside needs bombing and the left thinks they are all refugees.

The fictional place part is of ZERO importance.

Well, no. It means the left doesn't care where the refugees are from.

And that not everyone Googles.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 10:43 pm

Refugees are refugees. It's there in the name.

Those deserving of dying by having explosives dropped on their head is not as clear. Also, saving people is a pretty obvious default position. Killing people is a less obvious default stance. For most people, anyway.

It's clear that some people either don't understand or don't care about my point. Either way, there's little to be gained by continuing.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:11 am

Officials Say ‘Affluenza’ Teen, Mother Detained in Mexico

Authorities said a Texas teenager serving probation for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck after invoking an “affluenza” defense was in custody in Mexico, weeks after he and his mother disappeared.

Mexico’s Jalisco state prosecutors’ office said in a statement that its agents had been working with American authorities via the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara since Dec. 26 to track down and capture 18-year old Ethan Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch. The office said the two were located and detained Monday evening in a beachside neighborhood of the Pacific Coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta.

After their detention, they were handed over to Mexican immigration authorities for deportation, the statement said.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:22 am

Running for the border ain't like it used to be.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 1:27 pm

Now it's just Assfluenza.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 4:13 pm

Floridaman has been busy:

Florida Man Trashes Mosque, Leaves Bacon At Front Door

Surveillance video captured a man wearing a T-shirt and camouflage pants, using a machete to enter the Masjid Al-Mumin mosque in Titusville through a carport. He then tore down lights, broke windows and left bacon on the front doorstep. The Quran forbids Muslims from consuming pork.

NYT wrote:Florida man accused of attacking a store clerk in Queens last month while muttering “I kill Muslims” has been indicted on hate crime charges, authorities said Monday.

Piro Kolvani, 55, from Jacksonville, Fla., was hit with four charges, including third-degree assault as a hate crime and other assault counts, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 3:36 pm

The internet freaks out that a Hollywood actor (and hot shot pilot in Force Awakens) might be a fan of Ayn Rand.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 3:47 pm

Imagine what would've had happened had the paparazzi been there the day before when he was wearing his Mein Kampf t-shirt.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 10:33 am

How much of your life has the United States been at war?

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 12:01 pm

This sounds like someone has weaponized their SEO skills.

Google translated Russia to 'Mordor' in 'automated' error

Google has fixed a bug in an online tool after it began translating "Russian Federation" to "Mordor". Mordor is the name of a fictional region nicknamed "Land of Shadow" in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books. In addition, "Russians" was translated to "occupiers" and the surname of Sergey Lavrov, the country's Foreign Minister, to "sad little horse". The errors had been introduced to Google Translate's Ukrainian to Russian service automatically, Google said. The terms mirror language used by some Ukrainians following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Screenshots of the erroneous translations have appeared on social networks in recent days.

"Google Translate is an automatic translator - it works without the intervention of human translators, using technology instead," said Google in its statement. Although translations are managed automatically, it is possible for users to suggest alternative translations manually. However, the BBC understands that this was not how the errors were introduced. Google said that Translate worked by looking for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents but translation remained difficult as the meaning of words was tied to the context in which they were used. "This means that not all translations are perfect, and there will sometimes be mistakes or mistranslations," the statement added. "We always work to correct these as quickly as possible when they are brought to our attention."

The bug now appears to have been fixed.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:00 pm

The Hill

The liberal group Credo Action is demanding Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resign a day after the Florida congresswoman accused millennials of “complacency” on abortion rights.

In a petition sent to the 3.9 million progressive activists the group claims as members, Credo cited Schultz’s comments on abortion, which infuriated many liberals, as well as a litany of other offenses, in calling for her to be removed.
Credo also accused Schultz of “rigging the primary process to suppress Democratic turnout,” of “supporting warmongers by trying to undermine the president’s Iran deal,” and of courting special interest groups at odds with liberal values.

“As DNC chair, you have repeatedly failed to act in the best interests of progressives and the Democratic Party,” the petition reads. “You have lost the trust of grassroots progressives and Democrats. Please resign immediately.”

On Wednesday, Schultz said in an interview with The New York Times Magazine that women in their 20s and 30s are not committed to fighting for abortion right because their “entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided.”
...
Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have accused the DNC of seeking to bury the debates to protect front-runner Hillary Clinton from scrutiny.

They have fumed over the missed opportunity to get their message out.

Accusations that Schultz and the DNC are in the tank for Clinton erupted again over how she handled the unauthorized use of a Clinton voter database by a Sanders staffer.
...
Furthermore, the DNC’s fundraising has been under scrutiny. The Republican National Committee has massively outraised the DNC this cycle and sits in a far better financial position.

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 5:22 pm

“Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.” ~Albert Einstein

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 6:07 pm

What is the purpose of the DNC here? To create a level playing field for all potential Democratic candidates or to field a single candidate to win the presidential election?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 2:39 pm

CNN

Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been captured, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday via Twitter.

"Mission Accomplished," the President wrote. "We have him."

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 4:11 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:CNN

"Mission Accomplished," the President wrote. "We have him."

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 8:36 pm

POLICE: SUSPECT CONFESSED TO PHILADELPHIA POLICE OFFICER SHOOTING 'IN NAME OF ISLAM'

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 8:53 pm

Defiant wrote:POLICE: SUSPECT CONFESSED TO PHILADELPHIA POLICE OFFICER SHOOTING 'IN NAME OF ISLAM'

There may be some question as to whether the shooter is radicalized or just mentally ill.

In the meantime, details of Archer's background gradually emerged Friday.

Reached at her home in Lansdowne, his mother, Valerie Holliday, said Archer was the eldest of seven children and suffered head injuries from playing football and a moped accident. "He's been acting kind of strange lately. He's been talking to himself . . . laughing and mumbling," Holliday said. "He's been hearing voices in his head. We asked him to get medical help."

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 10:25 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:CNN

Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been captured, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday via Twitter.

"Mission Accomplished," the President wrote. "We have him."

Let the tunneling begin!

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 1:25 am

Wasserman strikes back

Wasserman Schultz is also chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and ostensibly working to elect more Dems in 2016. Yet in a few short paragraphs, she insulted an entire demographic of female voters, made misleading statements about medical marijuana and the heroin epidemic, and suggested that drug addiction was not a problem “in the suburbs.”
...
In addition to her comments on abortion, Wasserman Schultz also made confusing and inaccurate statements about drugs and drug addiction. For example:
You’re one of a dwindling number of progressive politicians who oppose legalization of even the medical use of marijuana. Where does that come from? I don’t oppose the use of medical marijuana. I just don’t think we should legalize more mind-altering substances if we want to make it less likely that people travel down the path toward using drugs. We have had a resurgence of drug use instead of a decline. There is a huge heroin epidemic.

Heroin addiction often starts with prescribed painkillers. Pill mills were a problem in Florida, but the state didn’t make prescribing opiates illegal. There is a difference between opiates and marijuana.

Still, your opinion on this does seem like an outlier. It’s perfectly O.K. to not be completely predictable. I am a person, and I have individual opinions that may not line up ideologically. They’re formed by my personal experience both as a mom and as someone who grew up really bothered by the drug culture that surrounded my childhood — not mine personally. I grew up in suburbia.
...
Wasserman Schultz’s comments on drugs angered progressives not only because she is wrong on the facts, but because she also has been a major congressional supporter of private detention centers and private prisons, which in fact profit greatly from criminalizing drugs—especially among populations without the wealth and resources to get access to treatment instead of being sent to jail.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 12:09 pm

$iljanus wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:CNN

Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been captured, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday via Twitter.

"Mission Accomplished," the President wrote. "We have him."
Let the tunneling begin!

'El Chapo': Sean Penn interviewed Guzman before recapture

Hollywood actor Sean Penn interviewed Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman at a secret location soon after his jail break. The interview, conducted in October in the Mexican jungle, is published in Saturday's edition of Rolling Stone.

Guzman escaped from the maximum security Altiplano jail in July and was recaptured on Friday. Unnamed Mexican officials say Penn's secret meeting helped lead them to the fugitive who is back in Altiplano. Their comments chime with public pronouncements by Attorney General Arely Gomez, who said on Friday that an important aspect of his recapture "was discovering Guzman's intention to have a biographic film made". "He contacted actresses and producers, which was part of one line of investigation."

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:58 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Wasserman strikes back

Wasserman Schultz is also chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and ostensibly working to elect more Dems in 2016. Yet in a few short paragraphs, she insulted an entire demographic of female voters, made misleading statements about medical marijuana and the heroin epidemic, and suggested that drug addiction was not a problem “in the suburbs.”

There is nothing in what she said which disqualifies her from being chair of the DNC or a progressive. The journalist (and her "progressive" activists) are searching for reasons to be insulted.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:02 pm

Would one not expect the leader of a party to at least give lip service to the ideology of the majority of those the leader is supposed to represent and assist?

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:58 am

The Democrats do not have litmus tests. Other than not fully supporting drug legalization, none of these statements are even against the Democratic platform. Witch hunt.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:24 pm

Zarathud wrote: Other than not fully supporting drug legalization, none of these statements are even against the Democratic platform. Witch hunt.

I don't think legalization is part of the Democratic platform.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:59 pm

Covered in the 2016 New State Laws thread but showing up on the national stage now.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A state law requiring that doctors who perform an abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy supply an ultrasound to state officials has sparked a new and bitter front in the war over abortion here, with stakes that are both personal and political.

Supporters say the purpose of the law is to verify that doctors and clinics are complying with state law, which outlaws abortions after 20 weeks but with an exception made for medical emergencies. Critics say the purpose is to intimidate and provide hurdles to women and doctors. The ultrasound provision, already a requirement in Louisiana and Oklahoma, is part of the continuing pushback against abortion in Republican-controlled states. In highly polarized North Carolina, it has raised the temperature of the abortion debate, which has been used to motivate conservative and liberal voters alike.

The law requires doctors who perform an abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy to send the State Department of Health and Human Services the method used to determine the “probable gestational age” of the fetus, the measurements used to support the assertion and, most controversially, an ultrasound showing the measurements. The provisions took effect Jan. 1.

Don't care which side you are on, that's weak sauce using shaming and intimidation.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:37 pm

Affluenza mom to get psych eval:

A court has ordered Tonya Couch, the mother of "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch, to undergo a mental exam.

Tarrant County, Texas, Magistrate Judge Matt King ordered Tonya Couch to be examined after the court found "reasonable cause" to believe that she suffers from "a mental illness or is a person with a mental retardation," according to court documents.

The order was issued Friday and must be completed within 30 days.
...
On Monday, Mothers Against Drunk Driving started a petition supporting Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson's decision to ask for Ethan Couch to be moved from the juvenile justice system to the adult criminal system.

If he ever gets extradited, that is.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:43 pm

And notification just came across that her bond was lowered to $75k. HEr attorneys were asking for $15k.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:13 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote:Covered in the 2016 New State Laws thread but showing up on the national stage now.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A state law requiring that doctors who perform an abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy supply an ultrasound to state officials has sparked a new and bitter front in the war over abortion here, with stakes that are both personal and political.

Supporters say the purpose of the law is to verify that doctors and clinics are complying with state law, which outlaws abortions after 20 weeks but with an exception made for medical emergencies. Critics say the purpose is to intimidate and provide hurdles to women and doctors. The ultrasound provision, already a requirement in Louisiana and Oklahoma, is part of the continuing pushback against abortion in Republican-controlled states. In highly polarized North Carolina, it has raised the temperature of the abortion debate, which has been used to motivate conservative and liberal voters alike.

The law requires doctors who perform an abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy to send the State Department of Health and Human Services the method used to determine the “probable gestational age” of the fetus, the measurements used to support the assertion and, most controversially, an ultrasound showing the measurements. The provisions took effect Jan. 1.
Don't care which side you are on, that's weak sauce using shaming and intimidation.

Probably against HIPAA too.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:26 pm

The next GOP debate is Thursday in South Carolina and hosted by Fox Business Network. Paul and Fiorina didn't make the top tier.

The main debate will include:

Donald Trump
Ted Cruz
Marco Rubio
Ben Carson
Chris Christie
Jeb Bush
John Kasich

The undercard debate is now Paul, Fiorina, Huckabee, and Santorum. (Actually an interesting lineup if social issues come up.) Incidentally, Kasich is in the main debate only because he is doing well in New Hampshire, which was made a factor this time.

Paul has earlier said that he would not accept a spot in the second tier. I haven't heard whether he intends to skip. It's probably time for him to bow out and focus on his senate campaign anyway.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:26 pm

Paul has indeed said he is not going to show up.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:20 pm

I was just wondering if Paul was still in this thing. Before Trump blew up, he was the crazy maverick. Kinda wonder how that niche got away from him.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 12:23 pm

VP endorses praises Sanders, calls Clinton a noob:

CNN wrote:Biden praises Sanders on income inequality, calls Clinton 'relatively new' to the fight

Washington (CNN) -- Vice President Joe Biden offered effusive praise for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders Monday, lauding Hillary Clinton's chief rival for doing a "heck of a job" on the campaign trail and praising Sanders for offering an authentic voice on income inequality.

And while Biden said Democrats had a slate of "great candidates" running for president, he suggested Clinton was a newcomer to issues like the growing gap between rich and poor.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 12:32 pm

Weird. I don't think of Hillary as new to the fight. I thought she was "fighting" against income inequality as a first lady. Heck she was the first person in my political lifetime to vocally push for "universal health care" Her problem, IMO, is that her idea of fighting is say some stuff and then lose, whereas Bernie walks the walk and really fights and doesn't just have people write speeches for him.

She's an old dog when it comes to the fight, she just never seemed to really care enough to fight for real.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 12:35 pm

LordMortis wrote:Weird. I don't think of Hillary as new to the fight. I thought she was "fighting" against income inequality as a first lady. Heck she was the first person in my political lifetime to vocally push for "universal health care" Her problem, IMO, is that her idea of fighting is say some stuff and then lose, whereas Bernie walks the walk and really fights and doesn't just have people write speeches for him.

She's an old dog when it comes to the fight, she just never seemed to really care enough to fight for real.

Her fight against income inequality has always been to try to get herself more money.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 12:46 pm

Don't watch the watchers

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/ari ... /78521262/

Nothing to record here. Move along. Move along.