Miscellaneous: April 2015 Archives
Captain America is a racist: he called a Nazi a "thug." 
I think I know the answer ... but if we come out with strong evidence that Gray died because he tried to injure himself and succeeded, will the protestors stop protesting and admit they were wrong?
I know, I know: there's a "greater truth" that they are protesting about. Then don't protest aout Gray, if you are really protesting about the "greater truth." Of course, the problem there is that without a specific example to rally around, you can't get as much interest; but with a specific example, you might end up being proven wrong.
So maybe you just wait until it is something we know, or at least have very strong evidence, is true? And I think I know the reason why: because when we have strong evidence, we tend to hold accountable the people responsible, so there's nothing to protest about. "We demand justice!" doesn't mean as much when those responsible are already charged with murder.
This all drives me to conclude that yes, this is about a "greater truth," but that truth isn't "police brutality," but just about expressing anger, regardless of the reason for the anger, let alone how well-justified that anger is.
According to a police document obtained by The Post, a prisoner in a separate compartment of the same Baltimore police van as Freddie Gray told officers he heard Gray “banging against the walls.”
Everyone please stop linking to Andy Borowitz. He's not funny, and you're only encouraging him.
Powers was quite good. Not as good as Daredevil, but that's a pretty high bar. Eddie Izzard was excellent as the main villain. If you have PlayStation Plus, it's free, and you should watch it.
Powers, PlayStation's first ever scripted original series, delivers an exciting season finale today. Since the inaugural episodes launched on March 10th, the response from the PlayStation Nation has been every bit as awesome as we had hoped.
Remember: it is Ted Cruz who is the intolerant one. Right?
Dr. Oz claims that his critics are trying to silence him, when all he is doing is exercising his right to free speech.
But that's not really true. Oz gives really poor or questionable advice (most of the time, according to this study).
And they are not trying to silence him: they are trying to remove the air of authority that comes with his position of vice chairman of Columbia University’s department of surgery.
I don't think I've ever watched Oz, but I do have an aversion to medical treatments that aren't proven by science. While I recognize that some such treatments might still have positive effects, and that scientific studies are often flawed, and so on ... stuff like what Oz pushes are often silly to me.
If he wants to push them, more power to him. But if I were a doctor, and especially I were a doctor affiliated with Columbia University, I probably wouldn't want Oz representing me, or having any prestigious position that made people more likely to believe him.
After investigating claims made on popular medical talk show, study warns, "The public should be skeptical about recommendations"
Summary: the WA state treasurer, James McIntire, says that we cannot fully fund education with existing revenues, and we therefore need an income tax. The problem: the facts clearly show that we do have enough money, and that his income tax proposal is clearly unconstitutional.
McIntire Doesn't Know Constitution, Math, or Both. WA State Treasurer James McIntire says that fully funding K-12 education is mathematically impossible, and so he wants a new state income tax. But we know that's not true, that we have enough money right now from taxes to fully fund K-12 ...
The standard view from the left about the proposed repeal of the estate tax is that it is, as MSNBC said, a "massive tax break for millionaires, billionaires."
But the reason they generally justify the estate tax is that it is not actually taxing anyone, because the person supposedly being taxed is, well, dead.
They cannot have it both ways. If it is a person, it is double taxation. If it is not a person, it is not a massive tax cut for the wealthy.
Of course, you could argue that it is a tax on the recipients of the inheritance -- after all, the estate tax only kicks in if the value of the estate is over $5 million -- but that doesn't fit because the inheritors very well might not be millionaires, even after receiving the inheritance, depending on how it is valued, how many ways it is split, and how much debt the heirs have.
Also, if you're talking about it being a tax on the heirs, then the tax should not be based on the value of the estate, but on the income of each individual heir.
Calling this a tax break for rich people is simply dishonest, no matter how you slice it.
With rising economic inequality, a $269 billion tax break, exclusively for multi-millionaires and billionaires, seems obscene.
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We finally got Hussein's Ginger General.
Fugitive Iraqi militant leader Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former right-hand man to Saddam Hussein, has been killed, Iraqi media say.
WA State Auditor Troy Kelly was indicted today. Q13 Fox reports, "Speculation has been swirling around Kelley, a Democrat elected in 2012, since federal agents searched his home last month."
There's one problem with that: we knew about it before he was elected:
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/015547.html
Maybe Q13, and all the other local media, should've investigated it back in 2012.
SEATTLE -- Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of filing false tax returns, obstruction of justice and possession of stolen property. The grand...
Dear Harry Reid:
After more than a decade of being in the minority (except for one Congress, where a Republican switched parties to give you the majority), you were given control of the Senate in 2006, not because you have great ideas, but simply because many people hated President Bush. Bush still being President, you increased Democratic seats in 2008, when President Obama was first elected.
Every election since, you've lost Democratic seats, and then a few months ago, you lost the Senate.
Sorry: who's the loser?
Free month of Marvel Unlimited. It's a pretty good service, if you have that much time to spend. I will add a bunch of comics to my MU Library, and then subscribe to MU for just one month, do a bit of a binge, and then cancel the service.
Unlimited access to over 15,000 Marvel digital comics now with over 500 issues of Star Wars Legends!
Netflix delivering the cold hard facts.
Wow. So the guy who landed a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn did it to bring attention to his pet issue: taking away freedom from the American people, specifically, the freedom to speak, and to spend money toward that speech, as we wish.
Hello - I'm Doug Hughes, a mailman, pilot and the author of this web site. In my time, I've delivered a lot of letters, and I'm delivering 535 letters by 'air mail' today - a special delivery to every member of the US Congress. Congress knows the corruption I am writing about - the voters know ...
Um. Why would anyone think that federal taxes should reduce income inequality?
The premise of this video is nonsense. I wish the left would abandon this intellectually bankrupt idea that there can be economic equality, or that government should try to do something about economic inequality.
Just how unequal is the U.S. before taxes? How much--or how little, depending on your perspective--does the tax code change that? David Wessel, Director of t...
If Hillary really cares about Americans and their productivity, she should be in favor of effectively abolishing the existing tax code, which -- other than wars -- has been the biggest productivity killer for individuals in businesses that our country has every seen.
Setting aside the cost of the taxes paid -- which we can argue about the right amount for, of course -- businesses and individuals waste tens of billions of dollars annually on federal tax compliance. And I see no way of arguing that this isn't a massive waste, when we could get the same tax revenues from a much simpler -- and at least as fair -- system, such as a flat tax or consumption tax.
Remy channels One Direction to help us understand the tax code. Written and performed by Remy. Music tracks and background vocals by Ben Karlstrom. Produced ...
Hillary is trying hard to push the left-wing populist agenda. The problem is that the facts don't line up with the philosophy ... and the philosophy often doesn't make much sense anyway.
* “There’s something wrong when CEOs make 300 times more than the American worker"
a. They do not, and b. if they did, it isn't indicative of something wrong.
This is one of the core myths of progressivism today: that income inequality is a bad thing. It might be indicative of a problem, but in itself it is not "something wrong."
But again, CEOs make nowhere near that amount.
* "There’s something wrong when American workers keep getting more productive … but that productivity is not matched in their paychecks."
a. Compensation is going up with productivity, and b. even if it wasn't, it isn't indicative of something wrong.
Compensation should be based on relative value. Maybe your productivity is going up, but maybe your replacement cost is going down, so there's no reason for your compensation to increase. That better than bad: it's good.
But again, compensation has been increasing with productivity.
* "there’s something wrong when hedge fund managers pay less in taxes than nurses or the truckers I saw on I-80"
They don't pay less in taxes, either in percentages or sum total.
Granted, if they did, that might be indicative of something wrong, but they categorically do not. It's just a lie.
(While I am for more equality in taxation, we shouldn't be in the position of rich people paying less in total taxes. As for percentages, I think ideally everyone pays the same amount of taxes, with the lower wealth brackets exempted, but that's not going to happen; and, of course, as long as we have a graduated system, it should actually be graduated. But again: they pay more in both taxes, and in percentage of their income. It's a lie.)
Yes, I know the starting gun for the next Presidential election has been fired. Yes, I know that I shouldn't let this sort of thing get to me. But in her first official campaign stop Hillary Clinton made three statements of fact about the economy. And in those three statements [...]
Lovick seems like he's just trying to be offended. And I hate having to take Somers' side.
TULALIP - A leadership breakfast here Friday was supposed to bring Snohomish County and Tulalip tribal governments closer together.Instead, fallout...
Is it weird that this in no way diminishes my enthusiasm for trying it out myself?
A passenger was killed at a pay-for-play exotic-car driving event. This one happened at Walt Disney World in Florida when driver Tavon Watson, 24, lost control of a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera ...
"It was revealed that a new stamp featuring the late poet Maya Angelou contains a quote that she did not write. Now, that's bad, but not as bad as none of you noticed that this is actually a picture of Della Reese. Oh, you feel a little racist now, don't you? And you should, 'cause I'm lying, this is actually Toni Morrison." -- Jay Pharoah, on SNL Weekend Update
I didn't know who it was, but I immediately knew it wasn't Maya Angelou. So no, JAY, I do not feel "racist."
My favorite part of the Edward Snowden interview is where he keeps saying that he wants American people to make choices and decide what kind of government they want to have.
Except, of course, that the American people had already done that, and by electing people to decide what should be kept secret, and he took it upon himself to reject the choice of the American people.
Like many statists, Edward Snowden thinks it's great if you have choices, as long as they are choices he agrees with.
The biggest NCAA championship game of the year is set for Saturday, and it's two East teams: Providence, and the hometown favorites, Boston University. Go Terriers!
(Also, go Flyers ... keep the Bruins' dream alive.)
Dear +ESPN: your mock NFL draft does not constitute actual news, such that you should include the first round results in the news crawl bottom of the TV screen, or send me alerts on my phone. It's embarrassing, frankly.
His bracket is better than President Obama's.
Apparently, Dove doesn't understand math.
I wanted someone in the commercial to say, "I believe I am beautiful, and I believe most people are beautiful, and therefore I am average."
Dove wants women to #ChooseBeautiful. As part of the brand's latest campaign, which launched on April 7, Dove set up signs above side-by-side doors in five cities around the world. In each city, one door read "Beautiful" and the other &q...
Since Obama is questioning the faith of his fellow Christians, his own faith is fair game for others to question.
Obama stops himself before going further off script.
My concern about creating special legal protections is historically in our country we've only done that in extraordinary circumstances. And it doesn't appear to me where at one of those moments today.
I will say this: I think there are many that turn to the heavy hand of government to solve society's problems too easily. I think that instead, we need to be working with people on their hearts and minds. And I have faith and confidence in the people of America and that people of New Orleans and that people of Louisiana to not tolerate discrimination, to not support businesses that wanna support discrimination.
So absolutely we need to have a society where we're not discriminating against people. I do think we need to be very careful about creating special rights.
-- Governor Bobby Jindal
MEET THE PRESS -- SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015 CHUCK TODD (V/O):This Sunday, the Iran deal. Appeasement of an enemy or a historic agreement that makes the world saf...
I'm trying to create an account on the Washington department of fish & wildlife's site. (#WDFW)
They emailed me to let me know I'd set my password. And included my password. facepalm
It should be noted they have some pretty strict password requirements: 10 characters, one number, one uppercase. If you change it, it has to be "suitably dissimilar".
Way to miss the point guys.
As a reminder, passwords should never be stored anywhere. Not your database, not your email system, not my email system, and not the entire internet in between your email system and mine.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: Providing information resources to protect, restore, and enhance Washington's fish and wildlife.
First Post!
I am a Practitioner of Chef Style DevOps.
@adamhjk:"A cultural and professional movement, focused on how we build and operate high velocity organizations, born from the experiences of its practitioners."
To join the movement, fork the repo, add your name, and create a pull request. Or, fork the repo and create your own movement.
Neal McDonough should be The Watcher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Batteries should never read 100% unless the device is plugged in.
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
