Political Randomness

[Rip]

Almost forgot, an anonymous source has let me know that Congressman Charles Boustany will be seeking Vitter's Senate seat. It will be announced at his mother's home on Dec. 14th.



I'm invited.

[Pyperkub]

Almost forgot, an anonymous source has let me know that Congressman Charles Boustany will be seeking Vitter's Senate seat. It will be announced at his mother's home on Dec. 14th.



I'm invited.

Is Vitter announcing he's running again from a brothel?

[Holman]

Almost forgot, an anonymous source has let me know that Congressman Charles Boustany will be seeking Vitter's Senate seat.

He's really gonna want to wipe down that seat.

[Moliere]

Show-Me State Suckers Shell Out Super-Subsidies For NFL Rams

Despite generally sucking—the Rams won two NFL titles back in the old days and just one Super Bowl, in 1999—St. Louis and the entire state of Missouri is so desperate to keep the team that they are ponying up at least 40 percent of the $1 billion-plus cost of a new stadium.
...
Lost in all these tense negotiations and greenmail schemes is a variety of basic truths: having professional sports teams lowers an area's per capita income; the stadiums and infrastructure never pay for themselves; cities are far smarter to focus on roads, police, school, and education if they want to increase quality of life.

[Isgrimnur]

Admiral fired:

Rear Adm. David Baucom was removed from his job as the director of Strategy, Policy, Capabilities, and Logistics at U.S. Transportation Command in October after an investigation into his misbehavior in April while attending the National Defense Transportation Association's Transportation Advisory Board in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

On the night of April 7, Baucom attended a dinner with about 70 conference attendees and imbibed all or part of at least eight drinks, according to an investigation released by the Navy after inquiries from Navy Times.

Baucom, 56, became so intoxicated that he was unable to stand and had to be brought by a hotel employee back to his room. Later, he was discovered wandering naked through public areas of the hotel, seeking a towel to cover himself, the investigation found.

Baucom, 56, blames his mistake of mixing alcohol and prescription medications for his lewd behavior and asked that his 34-year career not be judged on a single incident.

"After extensive medical testing and diagnoses, four doctors have stated in writing that I most probably experienced an atrial fibrillation event the evening of April 8th which caused lightheadedness, disorientation, dizziness and confusion," Baucom said in a statement provided to Navy Times. "These symptoms may last up to 24 hours. I am now being treated for those symptoms and other medical conditions.
...
After reading the investigation, TRANSCOM decided to remove Baucom from his joint billet. Baucom was transferred to Fleet Forces Command in October. Adm. Phil Davidson, the FFC boss, found Baucom guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and disorderly conduct at a Nov. 20 admiral's mast.

[Isgrimnur]

Well, you've got to admire Alabama's chutzpah.

Step 1: Enact state voter ID law.

Step 2: Close DMV offices in predominantly black counties.

At this rate, I expect to see Step 3: In the face of public criticism, begrudgingly re-open the DMV offices, then announce that in order to keep them operating, the state will implement a poll tax.

DOT investigation

The U.S. Department of Transportation has just launched an investigation into whether Alabama is discriminating against African-American residents after announcing plans to shut down or reduce service at 34 state drivers license offices.
...
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says his agency is specifically looking into whether the closures violate the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin on programs and activities receiving federal assistance.
...
The agency will be requesting all documents and information that explains why these specific 34 DMV locations were picked for closure or reduced service "and why not others," Foxx said.

DOT says it has not reached any conclusions but if it finds these closures are discriminatory, the agency will first allow the state to come into compliance by making those services available once again. If Alabama does not comply, the Department of Transportation says it could strip the state of millions of dollars in federal funding that's used towards DMV programs.

Questioned whether stripping the state of federal funding would only further negatively impact the communities DOT is trying to protect Foxx said the agency is still gathering information "I don't want to presuppose the outcome at this point, we need to go and get the facts but I think that the recourse we have is fairly effective we've seen it work in previous cases. Hopefully we won't get there but if we do we will be very aggressive."

In October, Rep. Terri Sewell, the only African-American in the state's congressional delegation, asked the Department of Justice to launch an investigation.

The state of Alabama declined to comment on the investigation.

It's unclear when the DOT will complete its investigation or whether it will be done before the November 2016 election, though Foxx said the agency is working to get it done as soon as possible.

[Max Peck]

In other news, The Doctor has taken over the presidency of Argentina...

The new President of Argentina, the so-called "Mauricio Macri":


UNIT file photo of the Twelfth Doctor:

[Defiant]

First women elected to office in Saudi Arabia

Who knows, maybe some day they'll be able to drive themselves to work.

[Max Peck]

Well now, it appears that Sarah Palin is all hot for Marion Maréchal-Le Pen (and who can blame her).

I have a political crush, but one I couldn’t vote for today – because she ran for office in France.

Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is the new deserved “It Girl” of French politics and a clear voice of courage and common sense in a country and continent in need of both.

In 2012, she earned the distinction of being France’s youngest elected Member of Parliament. Last week she handily won the first round of a race for the leadership of a large important region in southeastern France that’s home to the beautiful port city of Marseilles. Unfortunately, she lost the run-off election today because the two establishment Parties joined forces to defeat her.

But despite today’s tough losses, Marion and her aunt Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front (FN) Party, have established themselves and their supporters as a force to be reckoned with in France’s 2017 presidential race, in which Marine is sure to be a contender with her talented niece right behind her.

For some time now, I’ve admired the bold style of Marine Le Pen, who wrestled control of the leadership of her populist party in order to purge it of any trace of anti-Semitism, which it had unfortunately been tainted with in the past. But I’m especially impressed with the courage of her young niece who is a devout Catholic and unapologetically pro-life – not an easy thing for a politician to be in a country that’s aggressively secular.

More importantly, young Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is unashamed to champion France’s Judeo-Christian identity and heritage as something worth preserving and fighting for. She publicly proclaims it, setting an example for even American politicians to be so bold. With France (and indeed all of Europe) caught up in an existential crisis against radical Islam, these are the sentiments they need in their leadership.

[Holman]

This is the kind of thing that makes me think we might eventually need the term "fascist" after all.

[El Guapo]

in order to purge it of any trace of anti-Semitism, which it had unfortunately been tainted with in the past.

This is a world-class sentence in terms of obfuscation, given that it makes it sound like the party had a few enthusiastic members who took things a bit too far, as opposed to being founded by a holocaust denier.

Granted, they hate Muslims way more than Jews these days.

[Holman]

I'd be willing to bet that every non-Muslim anti-Semite in France votes for Le Pen's party. What she has purged is the rhetoric, not the sentiment.

But, hey, that's enough for Sarah Palin because the anti-Muslim rhetoric is what matters.

[Max Peck]

Hrm, just in time for December midterms?

LA schools shut over 'threat'

Los Angeles schools have been closed as an unspecified "electronic" threat is investigated, police have said. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles police department confirmed that the Los Angeles Unified School District received a threat. Police could not confirm the validity or specificity of the threat, which sent school buses back from their routes to the depots. A schools spokesman said they were exercising "an abundance of caution". "Earlier this morning we did receive an electronic threat that mentions the safety of our schools," said Steven Zipperman, chief of the Los Angeles school police department. We have chosen to close our schools today until we can be absolutely sure that our campuses are safe." The district is the second largest in the US and has 640,000 students and more than 900 schools.

[GreenGoo]

Police could not confirm the validity or specificity of the threat

That sounds scary. Plus, children. I'm thinking the time is right for a national gene registry.

[malchior]

This is freaking out many people in my office (downtown NYC). I just don't understand this fear. I get why terrorism works - because I feel that people *want* to be afraid for some reason. Sitting around talking about it, etc. It's completely pointless - and even where we are it's unlikely we'd be affected by anything but the biggest threats (nuclear weapon). I just don't get it.

[Max Peck]

Neil Macdonald has a few words on the subject of fear...

We've been terrorized, that's why they call it terrorism

How will Canadians react to a San Bernardino-style attack on our home soil when the time comes?

This isn't a very Christmas-y thought, but somewhere in this country, somebody who couldn't care less about Christmas is probably daydreaming about, or even planning, an act of politically inspired mass murder. That is reportedly the assessment of Canada's Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, which last summer set the likelihood of an attack in several Canadian cities at medium — meaning there are people with the capability and intent, and that those people could act. And why not? Why should Canada be any different from the United States, Great Britain, France or Spain, all of which are allies in the half-baked war against ISIS, all of which have suffered pitiless attacks on their civilian populations?

The question is, how will Canadians handle it when it comes? Will we take the rational view, which would be to absorb the blow and put it in perspective? Canada has, after all, had all sorts of mass murders in schools, multiple police slayings, serial rapist/murderers and drive-by gang killings, and we've dealt with the perpetrators. Most of them are dead or in prison, and we've moved on without disruption to our civil society. Or would we take the raw fear view, which is that terrorism threatens all of us every single day, and that we are at war with an entire ethno-religious group, and it's just too much for our justice system to handle, so we must give up more freedoms and give our police even more powers and shut our doors to immigrants and intensify racial profiling? Would our television programs feature crawls across the bottom of the screens screaming "Terror"? Would our mainstream media lose its critical faculties, the way the American media did after 9/11? Would such an attack disrupt our society on just about every level? Probably more the latter than the former, given our behaviour in the year we are about to put behind us. It was a year of fear for the Western world, more so than any year since 9/11. And, fear being what it is, it was not rational. The very fact that Donald Trump is riding to the top of the polls in America is evidence.

And despite what a lot of Canadians might like to think, we aren't much different. Canada has suffered far less extremist violence than several other Western countries, and yet many of us, led by our former government, dove down a tunnel of fear for most of 2015. We let an unhinged character who shot one soldier in Ottawa at the end of 2014, and an extremist who ran down and killed another in Quebec a few days earlier, push us into passing a sprawling new "anti-terror" bill. ​Well, it was more than that, really. Fear poured in from outside, too — from the massacre at Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket in Paris, the videos of beheadings and immolations and ISIS gunmen exalting death and their god, and the second wave of attacks in Paris last month. On the periphery of our vision, because our media places far more value on Western life, fear also flowed from the bombings in Beirut, the attacks in Mali, and the endless explosions and carnage in Baghdad.

Fear also wafted up from America, which just a few weeks ago went through the deadliest extremist attack since 9/11. The normally stoic, non-alarmist New York Times, which polled roughly 5,000 of its readers after the San Bernardino shooting, recently ran this headline: "Fear in the Air, Americans Look Over Their Shoulders." "The killings are happening too often," began the story. "Bunched too close together. At places you would never imagine." The story went on to conclude that Americans are "engulfed in a collective fear … The fear of the ordinary. Going to work. Eating a meal in a restaurant. Sending children to school. Watching a movie." Of course, the events in San Bernardino took on the significance they did only because the attackers were radicalized Muslims. So many mass shootings occur in America that they aren't big news anymore, unless they involve murders of worshippers in a church, or students, or patients at a Planned Parenthood clinic (all of which happened in 2015). Like all the other attackers, the San Bernardino shooters loaded up on the guns and ammo that are so easily available in America. In that sense, the United States is an extremist's candy store, but Americans don't tend to look at it that way. In any event, their gun lobby is determined that nothing will change; Americans have many admirable traits, but a sense of irony isn't one of them.

Back to Canada, though. The man who championed our fear, Stephen Harper, is now gone, along with his niqab ban, and his "barbaric cultural practices" hotline, and his warnings that militants operating out of a "terrorist war zone" stalk all of us all the time. But a lot of us bought into it. And the underlying fear of a human wave, mostly Muslim, emanating out of the Middle East into the West, remains. We Canadians congratulate ourselves for welcoming refugees, even as a slew of American governors declare their states closed to them, period, and nativist voters there cheer the idea of a Muslim registry. But if the people among us in Canada who incubate dreams of mass attacks actually carry one out, how differently will we act? Remember 1970: martial law nationwide because of one body in the trunk of a car in Quebec and the kidnapping of a British diplomat. Perhaps fear is the normal human condition. It certainly was for most of the centuries leading into the second millennium.

Merry Christmas, in any event. May the common sense, compassion and rational humanism we claim to embrace as a nation endure, come what may.

[GreenGoo]

edit: Crap. The thesis of your article touched on some things I've been meaning to write down for awhile so I started tow write my response without reading the article (It wasn't a response to the article, so I didn't need to know what was in it at the time) it turns out I just paraphrased large sections of the article. Which is impressive, since I hadn't read it fully when I wrote my post. My apologies, I thought I was writing original thoughts, but now it just looks dumb. Ah well.

I just want to point out that Americans aren't special in their fear, and other countries aren't special in their defiance. Both are natural outcomes of scary things.

Bush, I was amazed and excited to see, called for calm on the streets, a rational response to 9/11 and unified the country during a very scary time. He was the very definition of a leader and a statesman. As I've said many times (and I think it's important to remember, especially to myself) that I supported Bush after 9/11 not out of fear but out of admiration. He went off the rails later but his response to 9/11 was really, really strong.

We call them leaders because they lead us. Bush was an example of a leader who led the American people into a strong, unified, proud and defiant response to 9/11. Trump is a leader who leads people until they are running away screaming in fear to their basements. Bush was brave and called upon the American people to be brave with him. Trump is a clown and gets any attention he can any way he can, and the path of least resistance right now is to magnify xenophobia, one of the shittiest traits of mankind.

Canada could just as easily fall into paranoia and fear. Harper (edit: Shit, I didn't see the Harper reference in your article until now) tried to go down this path as the election approached, and it worked for some Canadians. And we're under the least amount of threat of any western country and some people still had their fear exploited.

So I don't think Americans are especially weak or fearful or paranoid, and I don't think Canadians are particularly strong or brave or rational. We're all human. What we need, what everyone needs, are leaders who can inspire great feats of humanity from us, not leaders who will exploit our fears for their own benefit.

[Rip]

So says the people dripping in fear of climate change and guns.

[Max Peck]

So says the people dripping in fear of climate change and guns.

[ImLawBoy]

Don't engage Rip on his dodge and weave tactics. He'll just take you further and further away from what is actually being discussed.

[Rip]

Don't engage Rip on his dodge and weave tactics. He'll just take you further and further away from what is actually being discussed.

Or so you fear............

[gilraen]

Hrm, just in time for December midterms?

LA schools shut over 'threat'

Los Angeles schools have been closed as an unspecified "electronic" threat is investigated, police have said. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles police department confirmed that the Los Angeles Unified School District received a threat. Police could not confirm the validity or specificity of the threat, which sent school buses back from their routes to the depots. A schools spokesman said they were exercising "an abundance of caution". "Earlier this morning we did receive an electronic threat that mentions the safety of our schools," said Steven Zipperman, chief of the Los Angeles school police department. We have chosen to close our schools today until we can be absolutely sure that our campuses are safe." The district is the second largest in the US and has 640,000 students and more than 900 schools.

And that's how you hit a local economy with a single email. Now you have tens of thousands of parents that suddenly have to leave work early or call in sick, because they have no one to watch the kids at home on such short notice. Hundreds of thousands school breakfasts and lunches that won't get sold today, hundreds of gallons of diesel won't get sold to school bus depots. Teachers may be salaried but support personnel isn't...they either have to burn a day off or not get paid today.

[Isgrimnur]

Unless my search-fu is lacking, as it often is, we never discussed the kid who got drunk and killed four people, then claimed that he wasn't responsible because he was a spoiled rich kid who had never been held responsible for anything before. Somebody coined the word "affluenza" for this lad's condition, and that's the term that eluded my site search.

Apparently a judge agreed. No jail time for this misguided lad; instead, 10 years probation plus a year of mandatory rehab at a cost of $450,000...which his parents can pay.

I think the term was coined for a book written at the beginning of the century. As a defense, it's laughable.

Warrant issued:

An arrest warrant has been issued for the Texas teen who avoided jail time in the drunken-driving deaths of four people two years ago because he has failed to check in with his probation officer, according to Tarrant County Juvenile Services and the teenager's lawyers.

There is an arrest warrant or "directive to apprehend" Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to probation, but his case is still in juvenile court, Randy Turner, the chief juvenile probation officer for the county, told ABC News today.

Tarrant District Attorney's office spokeswoman Samantha Jordan said the office is "looking into the whereabouts of Ethan and [his mother] Tonya Couch at this time."

Couch's lawyers said the teen had been living with his mother and has not been in contact with his probation officer.
...
Couch is already under investigation after a video posted on social media appears to show him next to a drinking game, possibly in violation of this probation, Jordan told ABC News earlier this month. The six-second video, posted on Twitter Dec. 2, purportedly shows Couch clapping and laughing after another man jumps on a beer pong table in a room. That investigation is still ongoing, Jordan said.

[LawBeefaroni]

Unless my search-fu is lacking, as it often is, we never discussed the kid who got drunk and killed four people, then claimed that he wasn't responsible because he was a spoiled rich kid who had never been held responsible for anything before. Somebody coined the word "affluenza" for this lad's condition, and that's the term that eluded my site search.

Apparently a judge agreed. No jail time for this misguided lad; instead, 10 years probation plus a year of mandatory rehab at a cost of $450,000...which his parents can pay.

I think the term was coined for a book written at the beginning of the century. As a defense, it's laughable.

Warrant issued:

An arrest warrant has been issued for the Texas teen who avoided jail time in the drunken-driving deaths of four people two years ago because he has failed to check in with his probation officer, according to Tarrant County Juvenile Services and the teenager's lawyers.

There is an arrest warrant or "directive to apprehend" Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to probation, but his case is still in juvenile court, Randy Turner, the chief juvenile probation officer for the county, told ABC News today.

Tarrant District Attorney's office spokeswoman Samantha Jordan said the office is "looking into the whereabouts of Ethan and [his mother] Tonya Couch at this time."

Couch's lawyers said the teen had been living with his mother and has not been in contact with his probation officer.
...
Couch is already under investigation after a video posted on social media appears to show him next to a drinking game, possibly in violation of this probation, Jordan told ABC News earlier this month. The six-second video, posted on Twitter Dec. 2, purportedly shows Couch clapping and laughing after another man jumps on a beer pong table in a room. That investigation is still ongoing, Jordan said.

Can't blame the kid for taking the out that his parent's money and their lawyers gave him. What is he going to do, volunteer for jail time? But I can blame the judge for allowing it.

Having gotten his reprieve, however, that piece of shit should be more sober than a grey Pope and checking in with his probation officer on a daily basis. There should be zero tolerance for anything he does from now on.



Goddamned Oingo Boingo up in there.

[LordMortis]

The Fed just doubled short term loan basis interest.

DOUBLED!!! It's the end of free money!!!!

....

edit

And the stock market loves it. Things I'll never get.

...When I bought FGP before right it lost 20% more of its value, I almost bought CVS instead. Ah well... Long term... long term... long term... I won't hemorrhage like this long term, right?

[GreenGoo]

Skimming news article headlines earlier this week I noticed one that was talking about the possibility of a negative prime lending rate in Canada. I didn't get a chance to read it. have no idea what it was based on or how serious it was, but now I feel like I missed out.

[LawBeefaroni]

The Fed just doubled short term loan basis interest.

DOUBLED!!! It's the end of free money!!!!

....

edit

And the stock market loves it. Things I'll never get.

...When I bought FGP before right it lost 20% more of its value, I almost bought CVS instead. Ah well... Long term... long term... long term... I won't hemorrhage like this long term, right?

While a double sounds like a lot, it was just 0.25%. The signal that raising the rate sends, that the Fed thinks there is strength enough in the economy to support it, is what markets like. Not the rate hike itself.

Rates on consumer loans should stay roughly where they are for now.

[LawBeefaroni]

Skimming news article headlines earlier this week I noticed one that was talking about the possibility of a negative prime lending rate in Canada. I didn't get a chance to read it. have no idea what it was based on or how serious it was, but now I feel like I missed out.

See Sweden.

[LordMortis]

DOUBLED!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!

I'm waiting for my savings account rate to go from .09% to 5000000000%

DOUBLED!!!!!

[Max Peck]

Skimming news article headlines earlier this week I noticed one that was talking about the possibility of a negative prime lending rate in Canada. I didn't get a chance to read it. have no idea what it was based on or how serious it was, but now I feel like I missed out.

The idea is that if the Bank of Canada charges banks to store their money, then the banks will be motivated to put that money into circulation (i.e. loan it out) rather than sitting on it.

All the articles I read assured us that the banks won't actually charge consumers a negative rate for keeping money in savings accounts. I'm not sure that the analysts saying that are all that familiar with our banks' penchant for taking our money and making it theirs...

There's a CBC piece on it here.

[Holman]

In a new PPP poll, 30% of Republicans favor bombing Agrabah.

Spoiler:

Agrabah is the imaginary setting of Disney's Aladdin.

Spoiler:

Answers to other questions on the survey are equally unsettling.

[Moliere]

In a new PPP poll, 30% of Republicans favor bombing Agrabah.

Spoiler:

Agrabah is the imaginary setting of Disney's Aladdin.

Spoiler:

Answers to other questions on the survey are equally unsettling.

You sound surprised. Youtube is full of man on the street interviews showing people don't know basic facts on just about any topic.

[Rip]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJVZa9_Ha5c

[Jaymann]

In a new PPP poll, 30% of Republicans favor bombing Agrabah.

Spoiler:

Agrabah is the imaginary setting of Disney's Aladdin.

Spoiler:

Answers to other questions on the survey are equally unsettling.

Since most of the questions seem serious, how did that first spoiler slip in? Are you telling me the pollsters don't know what that is?

[Holman]

In a new PPP poll, 30% of Republicans favor bombing Agrabah.

Spoiler:

Agrabah is the imaginary setting of Disney's Aladdin.

Spoiler:

Answers to other questions on the survey are equally unsettling.

Since most of the questions seem serious, how did that first spoiler slip in? Are you telling me the pollsters don't know what that is?

The pollsters obviously know. The question tells us something about low-information voters.

[LawBeefaroni]

Q30 Would you support or oppose a bill barring
people on the terrorist watch list from
purchasing a firearm?
80%
Support a bill barring people on the terrorist
watch list from purchasing a firearm

13%
Oppose a bill barring people on the terrorist
watch list from purchasing a firearm

7%
Not sure

Q43 Do you believe that there are non-Muslim
people on the terrorist watch list?

80%
Do not believe that there are non-Muslim
people on the terrorist watch list

13%
Believe that there are non-Muslim people
on the terrorist watch list

7%
Not sure

[GreenGoo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJVZa9_Ha5c

And they deserve a bunch (edit: of fists) in the face.

If they wanted to do this poll right, they should have had some jack booted thugs with them. Anyone who signs the petition immediately gets arrested for signing the petition (i.e. arrested for their political views, which would be legal after the 1st was repealed, you see. ). Anyone who doesn't sign it, well, they get a lollipop.

P.S. Haven't seen the video yet. Videos during day time are not usually an option.

[Holman]

Apparently PPP is known for provocative questions in its polling.

[Defiant]

Youtube is full of man on the street interviews showing people don't know basic facts on just about any topic.

Yeah, but those are usually done by editing out those people who do know basic facts.

While I'm sure there are plenty of low information voters (eg, those supporting Trump despite that most of his statements have been flat out falsehoods), I'm not sure I quite buy the above question as evidence of it. How many of us knew right away that Agrabah was from Aladdin before clicking on that spoiler link? (I clicked on the link before thinking about it, but I'm not sure I would have). Would we be low information voters (regardless of how we would answer the question?)

[GreenGoo]

I thought it was a Harry Potter place at first, but I quickly did an "oh yeah, right" when I saw the spoiler. In fairness to the american public, I knew that Agrabah was not a real place because I spend a lot of time in not real places with my kids, not because I'm a master of real places.

Also in fairness, I don't typically agree to bomb places that I have no fucking idea whatsoever where they are or why they should be bombed, so there's that.