Oooops...
I think we need a thread for public blunders...
Los Angeles Times
Michael Hiltzik
4/16/13
How an Excel error fueled panic over the federal debt
One of the most fearsome statistics in the war against the federal deficit
has always been the country's ratio of debt to gross domestic product.
When this ratio reaches 90%, the argument goes, watch out --
<snip>
This idea comes from Harvard economists Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart,
who featured it in a 2010 paper and popularized it in a book entitled
"This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly."<snip>
A new study by three researchers at the University of Massachusetts finds
that Rogoff and Reinhart made several mistakes that invalidate their thesis.<snip>
Most important, they made a spreadsheet error that resulted in their leaving five countries
out of an all-important average of countries with higher than 90% debt-to-GDP ratios.
By restoring the full average, the UMass authors say, the growth rate for countries
in that range becomes 2.2%, not the -0.1% cited by Rogoff and Reinhart.
That makes the average growth rate at that ratio "not dramatically different
than when debt/GDP ratios are lower."<snip>
Rogoff and Reinhart haven't yet responded to the UMass paper.
But if the new analysis holds up, it knocks a key leg out from under the argument
that our economic growth depends on cutting the deficit and reducing the national debt without delay.
<snip>
Now, who will be the first to quote Regan and Chenney
I think we need a thread for public blunders...
How an Excel error fueled panic over the federal debt
Now, who will be the first to quote Regan and Chenney
You mean Reagan and Cheney? Is that a public blunder? ;)
I couldn't help it. All I could think was "I know what love is, Chenney."
And it was ironic. Wasn't it? Is that ironic? Everyone gets all weird about what is really ironic but it seems kind of ironic and therefore worth a chuckle. :p:
Our esteemed village idiot governor here in Kansas had a spreadsheet error himself recently:
Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director said Friday that he offered his resignation after a $2 billion error on a spreadsheet found its way into a chart the governor used to claim credit for spending cuts that never happened.
...
While the actual state budget book was accurate, the $2 billion error in spending was incorporated into a PowerPoint chart that Brownback used for months, as he sought support for his fiscal policies from influential groups across the state, including the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Brownback’s chart showed state all-funds spending peaking at $16 billion in 2010, the last year of Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson’s administration. Spending that year actually was $14.04 billion.
Based on the incorrect number, Brownback claimed credit for the "first bending down of the cost curve in 40 years for the state."
However, the corrected figures showed the state spent more under Brownback’s administration than Parkinson’s.
full storynot as much as speling
Did you mean an early example? Aaron's daughter? Eventually, even she learned.
Mitt Romney held a political retreat in Utah yesterday.
Billed as a Republican strategist, Nicolle Nikpour said on a tv talk show today:
"Romney is the adult Chucky, he just keeps on coming back"
Oooops !
Forbes
6/15/13
He's Not Dead! Reuters Publishes Premature Obituary Of George Soros
Reuters published an obituary of billionaire investor
and philanthropist George Soros on Thursday.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Only one problem: he’s not dead.[/COLOR]
In a wide-ranging 1,222 word report written by reporter Todd Eastham,
Reuters eulogized Soros with this fill-in-the-blank lede: “George Soros,
who died XXX at age XXX, was a predatory and hugely successful financier and investor,
who argued paradoxically for years against the same sort
of free-wheeling capitalism that made him billions.”
It was his older brother, Paul, who died. :rolleyes:
Tom's Hardware
By Jane McEntegart
June 23, 2013
Facebook Security Flaw Exposed Details of Six Million
Facebook says it recently received a report about a bug
that allowed some of a user's contact information to be accessed
by people who either had some contact information about that user
or some connection to them.
<snip>
Facebook says that roughly six million users had email addresses
or numbers shared as a result of this bug.
<snip>
Facebook is emailing affected users and regulators in Canada,
the U.S. and Europe have been notified about the incident.
Don't worry, the info was exposed only to people who want to be your friend.
.
.
BBC
'Master key' to Android phones uncovered
A "master key" that could give cyber-thieves unfettered access
to almost any Android phone has been discovered by security research firm BlueBox.
The bug could be exploited to let an attacker do what they want
to a phone including stealing data, eavesdropping or using it to send junk messages.
The loophole has been present in every version of the Android operating system released since 2009.
Google said it currently had no comment to make on BlueBox's discovery.
Oh, by the way, there is this too...
BBC
3 May 2013
US military approves Android phones for soldiers
The approval is the start of a process that will see
many different types of mobile devices used by US soldiers.
Approval for other Android devices as well as Apple phones
and tablets is expected in late May.
Before now, phone maker Blackberry was the only firm
whose products were approved for use by US service personnel.
<snip>
I'm sorry this rocket launch failed, but the video is spectacular.
[YOUTUBE]Zl12dXYcUTo[/YOUTUBE]
I'm sorry this rocket launch failed,
The Proton M has destroyed about 10 satellites in the past few years. This one destroyed, I believe, three satellites.
I'm not sure if this is a public blunder or just being an enormous jerk, but:
http://www.forwardprogressives.com/texas-officially-loses-it-bans-tampons-and-diabetic-supplies-from-senate-chamber-guns-ok/
The Texas Department of Public Safety forced women to hand over their tampons and pads before entering the Senate chamber today. Not only that, but they were also forcing diabetics to hand over sugar packets and other diabetes supplies which are lifelines when dealing with low blood glucose levels.
And the kicker — those with concealed handgun licenses who wanted to enter the Senate chamber were not only allowed to keep their handguns, but they were allowed to bypass the long lines and enter through a “special” CHL (concealed handgun license) line.
That makes sense.
Everyone knows women are dangerous at that time of the month.
Diabetics shouldn't have a problem if they are calm and not causing trouble, but if they do they'll fall over dead.
Now the persons with concealed carry permits are obviously there to prevent trouble.
Oh, and it's Texas. ;)
It's very common (in prison), for women to hide shiv's and other contraband, inside tampons.
An insulin injection can kill someone quite quickly, if you inject it into a non-diabetic, in a large dose.
I haven't read the article, but the abortion debate they've had, has been very heated. I'm sure they're looking to take all possible precautions.
Except a woman with a concealed carry license had her tampons taken away, and not her gun. Not really taking all possible precautions, are they? Perhaps we should license only those responsible enough to carry tampons without misusing them.
"You can have my tampon when you pry it from my cold, dead..."
It's very common (in prison), for women to hide shiv's and other contraband, inside tampons.
An insulin injection can kill someone quite quickly, if you inject it into a non-diabetic, in a large dose.
I haven't read the article, but the abortion debate they've had, has been very heated. I'm sure they're looking to take all possible precautions.
As can a lead injection.
I believe the reason for confiscating the tampons was because someone tipped them off that the tampons were going to be hurled at the speakers as a form of protest.
No idea what the insulin is about. Seems improbable that one could inject someone with insulin that easily unless they've been watching the godfather.
[YOUTUBE]5uK3wYrl3aU[/YOUTUBE]
And the insulin supplies, well, those just looked sneaky. (Actually, I'm pretty sure it was only one case of a security guard confiscating a woman's sugar packets, thinking they might also have been thrown, not realizing--or not believing the story--that diabetics may carry them around for a quick glucose adjustment.)
The athletic club membership is quite low,
but the facilities are on the 40th floor.
They have bungy cords for rent.
NY Daily News
Julian Arenzon
8/9/13
Spanish skyscraper missing elevators in monster goof:
‘Standard for the Future’ or sign of current decline?
The InTempo, a 47-story building in Alicante, Spain,
has had its construction fraught with problems, including allegations of fraud
from both customers and suppliers, who are owed $3.3 million.
In what will surely go down in history as one the greatest architectural blunders,
the town of Benidorm in Alicante, Spain, had almost completed its 47-story skyscraper
when it realized it excluded plans for elevator shafts.
that story's hard to believe, but the article seems legitimate. still... :facepalm: wtf~!
Other articles say that elevators were installed up to the 20th floor.
But then financial (whatever ?) problems stopped the construction.
When construction was re-started, they used an elevator and cranes
on the outside of the building.
So, their may well be the elevator shafts in the design, but not the
where-with-all to move people the rest of the way up to the top floors
If this was the only time such a thing happened it would be surprising.
But it's not...
The Independent
Heather Saul
8/14/13
US gun-safety instructor shoots a student during demonstration
A gun instructor in Ohio accidentally shot a student whilst
leading a class for people seeking permits to legally hold a concealed firearm.
73-year-old Terry Dunlap was demonstrating with a 38 calibre pistol
when it went off and shot Michael Piemonte, 26.
He and his wife were attending the all day class on how to carry guns
for their own safety, he reportedly told local media.
<snip>
The police have ruled the shooting an accident and Mr Dunlap has not been charged.
Now now, let's be fair.
Piemonte caught a ricochet, not a straight shot.
And Dunlap said he didn't know the .38 was loaded.
:smack: :rolleyes: :facepalm:
...And Dunlap said he didn't know the .38 was loaded.
Didn't they write a song about that ?
"I didn't know the gun was loaded.
"And I'm so sorry my friend.
"I didn't know the gun was loaded.
"And I'll never do it again.
....
[YOUTUBE]SGJMtnRMpjM[/YOUTUBE]
According to Robert Burns, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Union Bulletin
8/17/13
No special treatment for Congress in health-care law
No matter whether you support or oppose the 2010 Affordable Care Act,
you may take some comfort in knowing the bill puts members of Congress and their staffs
in the same situation as many of their constituents.
The law allows everyone to keep their health-care plan if they want to.
Everyone except the federal lawmakers and their employees.
They will have to find a plan sold through the new exchanges in their districts or place of residence.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, added this amendment
in the hope it would serve as a poison pill and kill the bill.[/COLOR]
While Grassley opposed the health-care bill he said he believed politicians
should live with their own laws.
Since the bill was passed and signed into law, members of Congress
and their staffs will lose their federal coverage on Dec. 31.
They will begin an open enrollment period on Oct. 1.
<snip>
And then too, sometimes you've just got to keep a sense of humor...
that story's hard to believe, but the article seems legitimate. still... :facepalm: wtf~!
We used to live in Havertown School District. They were adding a wing to a building when they noticed towards the end of construction that the addition was higher (or lower) than the main building by several inches. The legal circus that followed would have been a lot funnier if I wasn't paying for it.:mad:
The internet is now legally illegal in Florida
Huffington Post
7/8/13
Florida Accidentally Banned All Computers, Smart Phones
In The State Through Internet Cafe Ban: Lawsuit
In April Florida Governor Rick Scott approved a ban on slot machines
and Internet cafes after a charity tied to Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll was shut down
on suspicion of being an Internet gambling front
-- forcing Carroll, who had consulted with the charity, to resign.
Rick Scott reportedly called the ban, "the right thing to do for our state."
[COLOR="DarkRed"]The ban defines illegal slot machines as any
"system or network of devices" that may be used in a game of chance.[/COLOR]
Florida's 1,000 Internet cafes were shut down immediately,
including Miami-Dade's Incredible Investments, LLC, a café that
provides online services to migrant workers, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The owner, Consuelo Zapata, is now suing the state after her legal team found
that the ban was so hastily worded that it can be applied to any computer or device
connected to the Internet, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Miami Herald.
If the internet is outlawed, only outlaws will have the internet.
.
.
Where have all the flowers gone ?
The POLITICS forum seems to be my own personal space lately.
So I ask myself this question:
With the ubiquitous N.S.A. spying on telephone and internet and US Mail
and street camera's and facial recognition software and Google- and
MicroSoft- and Apple- and Facebook- data collections and back-doors
to proprietary software and who knows what else...
... [COLOR="DarkRed"]why did NSA not detect and stop the Boston Bombers ?[/COLOR]
Incompetence - too much $ - or just Oooops ?
Because they have neither the manpower nor the money to analyze all the info they have. They file it, then when something happens they go back and try to ferret out everyone involved from the stored information.
And here I thought they just didn't want to tip their hand about having mind reading capability until something bigger was going to happen.
Because they have neither the manpower
nor the money to analyze all the info they have.
They file it, then when something happens they go back and
try to ferret out everyone involved from the stored information.
I hope that's not the case (i.e., the NSA program design).
That would be like banning high capacity assault rifle magazines.
... We'll give you the first 6 or10 or 20 shots for free,
but then you have to re-load if you want more ... or carry more guns
It's hard for me to believe the NSA doesn't have the manpower or money (2013 - $53billion),
but it
is believable to me that for whatever reason, NSA dropped the ball with Boston,
or that will be all they can do after future bombs have gone off.
That is hardly the level of protection the current NSA budget should provide.
And here I thought they just didn't want to tip their hand about having mind reading capability until something bigger was going to happen.
... or CYOA
Where have all the flowers gone ?
I think you answered your own question. The joke about getting on a government list doesn't seem so funny anymore.
I could not even get on Nixon's enemy's list. Does that mean the NSA also cannot list me?
NSA is checking its list
And checking it twice
Gonna find out if tw's
Been naughty or nice
OMG! Only 100 days till Christmas. Soon we will have non-stop weeks of this music. Enough to make me want to rip the christ out of Christmas.
tw, some people already beat you to it...
Modern Readers
David Romanski
September 14, 2013
United Airlines Shuts Down Site After Posting $0-10 Fares
<snip>The airline said that it erroneously filed certain fares for $0.
This has happened to a number of airlines before, and is typically due to an airline
accidentally dropping a digit when entering fare prices into its online system.
Customer Maura Leahy was able to book a ticket from Houston to
Washington, D.C. (at Christmas, no less) for a whopping $5.
“It was $5 round trip, no fees, nothing. This is nuts,” she said.
She also noted that two of her co-workers learned about the glitch
and bought their own discount tickets for the holidays.
United won’t say yet whether or not it will honor the zero-cost tickets it sold.
“As always, we will do what is appropriate,” company spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.
United experienced a similar outage in 2008. In that instance,
the airline mistakenly dropped its fuel surcharge,
which reduced ticket prices by as much as $130.
It ultimately decided to honor the tickets that were sold during that period.
“As always, we will do what is appropriate,” company spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.
:smack: Bwahahahahahaha :lol2: Ahahahahahahaha :rotflol:
Washington Post
10/9/13
Oops: Azerbaijan released election results before voting had even started
Azerbaijan's big presidential election, held on Wednesday,
was anticipated to be neither free nor fair.
President Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father 10 years ago,
has stepped up intimidation of activists and journalists.
<snip>
Even still, one expects a certain ritual in these sorts of authoritarian elections,
a fealty to at least the appearance of democracy, if not democracy itself.
So it was a bit awkward when Azerbaijan's election authorities released vote results
– a full day before voting had even started.
The vote counts – Aliyev was shown as winning by a landslide –
were pushed out on an official smartphone app run by the Central Election Commission.
It showed Aliyez as "winning" with 72.76 percent of the vote.
That's on track with his official vote counts in previous elections:
he won ("won"?) 76.84 percent of the vote in 2003 and
87 percent in 2008.
bwaaaahahahahahahhahaha!!
It's like something from a Saturday Night Live skit.
NY Times
GAIA PIANIGIANI
October 11, 2013
Coins Celebrating Pope Misspell Name Above All Names
ROME — It seems absurd that any official Vatican memorabilia would misspell the name Jesus.
Or that the Italian institute that mints coins, passports and postage stamps would make such an error.
And yet the fact remains: a new series of special commemorative coins honoring Pope Francis got it wrong.
They call him Lesus.
[ATTACH]45666[/ATTACH]
“Everybody makes mistakes,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, on Friday.
“Even people who make coins.” <snip>
The sentence, by the Venerable Bede, a seventh-century theologian,
contains Pope Francis’ self-chosen motto, “miserando atque eligendo,
which loosely translates as “lowly but chosen.”<snip>
Daniel Burke, who co-edits a religion blog on CNN.com, wrote,
“For the love of Lesus, the Vatican could sure use an infallible copyeditor.”
I saw that yesterday. They were struck by the Italian State Mint; however, by all other accounts I've seen they're papal commemorative mint medals and not coins. Much lower interest.
I'm in the middle of enrolling. I've been confused by a couple questions (for instance I used my pers payout to pay off student loan, etc) but so far it's working.
are you using the federal website?
I'm really confused as to the options I pick from. I think I'll stop now and look into it later.
are you using the federal website?
healthcare.gov? Yeah.
Is there another one??????????
There are state run exchanges that let you shop for a health insurance plan, distinctly different from the federal online exchange. I was not sure where you're shopping. For example, here in Washington, the online marketplace is:
https://www.wahealthplanfinder.org/so, I followed your link IM, just to see it, see where it took me. I was just browsing, and after a couple clicks, it sent me to the same place I'd just posted about,
https://www.wahealthplanfinder.org/.
I started out at healthcare.gov. It asked me what state I'm in. OHIO tells you you are going to use healthcare.gov. I suppose in WA they tell you they will be transferring you to your state site.
So it obviously varies state to state. I was in some part of HEALTHCARE.GOV the entire time.
thanks for the clarification. I'm keenly interested to hear about your experience with the whole process. Good luck and please keep us posted. :)
Just as another data point:
I just got our first email regarding open enrollment for health insurance with my employer. My current insurance plan is going to increase about 7% in the next year. That's a little higher than it has increased in previous years, but not dramatically higher.
I bet my pay will increase by about 1% next year. Another year, another opportunity to figure out how to tighten the belt some more.
An interesting new plan option is a very high deductible, low cost plan paired with a pretax medical savings account that will rollover unspent contributions from one year to the next. I wonder if we should gamble on our health?
The family deductible will be $3000/year under the new plan. I wonder how much cheaper the premiums will be? It would have to be at least $250/month cheaper for me to even consider that gamble.
I just got our first email regarding open enrollment for health insurance with my employer. My current insurance plan is going to increase about 7% in the next year. That's a little higher than it has increased in previous years, but not dramatically higher.
Does that include the refunds you've gotten?
I tried out the healthcare.gov web site for a relative in PA. It transferred me to PA and I was able to find the available plans. Everything worked fine.
Does that include the refunds you've gotten?
It should. The refunds were a lot smaller this year. They warned us about that.
keep us posted on how this works. so far in Mississippi, only 35 people have been able to register. i'll have to pick up insurance for the kids next year when I lose tricare
I caught the back end of a local (NYS) NPR report that a lot of people signing up are finding out they're eligible for free coverage under Medicaid.
Call Adak..... It's baaaaack !
[ATTACH]45989[/ATTACH]
Remember Lindsey Graham's political manoeuvre of blocking ALL of Obama's nominees ....
NY Times
BILL CARTER and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
11/8/13
CBS to Correct Erroneous Report on Benghazi
As it prepared to broadcast a rare on-air correction Sunday
for a now-discredited “60 Minutes” report, CBS News acknowledged on Friday
that it had suffered a damaging blow to its credibility.
Its top executive called the segment “as big a mistake as there has been”
in the 45-year-old history of the celebrated news program.
The executive, Jeff Fager, conceded that CBS appeared to have been duped
by the primary source for the report, a security official who told a
national television audience a harrowing tale of the attack last year
at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
On Thursday night it was disclosed that the official, Dylan Davies, had provided
a completely different account in interviews with the F.B.I.,
in which he said he never made it to the mission that night.
After that revelation, CBS decided to take multiple actions Friday.
It removed the report from the CBS News website,
and the correspondent for the segment, Lara Logan, appeared on the CBS
morning news show to apologize personally for the mistakes in the report.
And the company’s publishing division, Simon & Schuster, said it was suspending
publication of a book by Mr. Davies, in which he tells the same narrative
he recounted on “60 Minutes.”<snip>
Informed Thursday night by The Times that the F.B.I. version diverged
from what Mr. Davies said on “60 Minutes,”
CBS News quickly checked its own F.B.I. sources, Mr. Fager said, and learned
that what Mr. Davies had told the F.B.I. “differed from what he told us.”<snip>
[COLOR="DarkRed"]The compelling account from Mr. Davies had provided congressional Republicans
with new ammunition to criticize the Obama administration.[/COLOR]<snip>
The day after the CBS report, several Republican senators held a news conference,
demanding that the administration allow congressional investigators to interview
survivors of the Benghazi attack.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]In particular, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that he would block
all administration nominations until it met the Republicans’ demands.[/COLOR]
As a kid in California, I was taken by the name.... Point Mugu...
thinking it's where everyone wore coke bottle glasses.
LA Times
11/17/13
Drone hits Navy ship, 2 sailors hurt; officials seek cause
Officials are trying to determine why a drone being used as part of
a Navy training exercise malfunctioned off the Ventura County coast Saturday.
Two sailors suffered minor burns in the incident, the Navy said in a statement.<snip>
The sailors aboard the USS Chancellorsville were using the drone
to test the ship's radar-tracking system, something done on a regular basis.
The drone, a 13-foot-long aircraft with a wingspan of nearly 6 feet,
was being controlled from Point Mugu.
Around 1:25 p.m., the drone slammed into the port side of the ship,
a guided missile cruiser with a crew of about 300.
It could have been worse. The original battle of Chancellorsville used obsolete technology and resulted in 30,400 casualties. This time only two were hurt. And it may have cost about the same amount of money.
Operator probably had to go take a pee. :p:
I have never heard of an Ambassador being killed by terrorists, and the survivors of that attack, not being allowed by the President, to talk with either the press or Congress, for over a year.
If Bush EVER did that shit, the Dem's would have gone for impeachment, in a heartbeat. Laura Logan, CBS chief foreign affairs correspondent, has been working this story for over a year now, despite being unable to get in touch with the survivors.
In a recent interview, she said there's a lot more to come out on Benghazi, and she's staying with it.
If Bush EVER did that shit, the Dem's would have gone for impeachment, in a heartbeat.
BOO !
[ATTACH]46044[/ATTACH]
Impeachment starts in the House of Representatives.
The GOP controls it... the option is there to call a vote on it.
Operator probably had to go take a pee. :p:
I have never heard of an Ambassador being killed by terrorists, and the survivors of that attack, not being allowed by the President, to talk with either the press or Congress, for over a year.
If Bush EVER did that shit, the Dem's would have gone for impeachment, in a heartbeat. Laura Logan, CBS chief foreign affairs correspondent, has been working this story for over a year now, despite being unable to get in touch with the survivors.
In a recent interview, she said there's a lot more to come out on Benghazi, and she's staying with it.
It's LARA Logan.
Can you please cite this 'recent interview? All I can find out there are stories about the discredited story she did on 60 minutes. Here are excerpts from just
one:
But her mistaken “60 Minutes” report about a supposed eyewitness to the Benghazi consulate attacks has put Logan under a different kind of pressure. Despite two on-air apologies, including one Sunday night on “60 Minutes,” Logan, 42, has come in for widespread criticism and demands for a more complete explanation of how her Oct. 27 report went so wrong.
Questions about her Benghazi report began to swirl days after her “60 Minutes” story aired, when a Washington Post story revealed that her primary source, British security contractor Dylan Davies, had contradicted his account to Logan in an “incident report” to his employer. Logan had reported that Davies had raced to the compound amid the attack, scaled a wall and fought off terrorists who killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens.
Logan originally defended her reporting, but apologized to viewers Friday on “CBS This Morning,” saying the source had “misled” her. The drumbeat of criticism against Logan began almost immediately.
CBS News said Monday that its news executives are no longer giving interviews on the subject. Logan also was not available.
I have never heard of an Ambassador being killed by terrorists,
and the survivors of that attack, not being allowed by the President,
to talk with either the press or Congress, for over a year.
Maybe there are too many specifics in your statement to find an exact match,
but you might look up the current information available on the sequence of events:
... leading to the execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,
... the coup leading to the reign of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan,
... the the role of the CIA and the death of U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel
--- the latter under the presidency of Ronald Regan
Oh, so you think Obama is bad... it could be worse:
The 1979 death of U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs is closer to your specifics,
but in a obverse way.
The Ambassador was killed by terrorists during an aborted kidnapping,
... and there was only one survivor of the attack.
That survivor was executed before he could give an accounting.
from
here:
"the KGB adviser on scene, Sergei Batrukhin, may have recommended the assault,
as well as the execution of a kidnapper before U.S. experts could interrogate him....
Only one hub cap was lost in the making this post.
Why it is Lamplighter cannot spell Ronald Reagan's surname correctly is but a side issue. It is, however, most odd.
Maybe I get it mixed up with the demon-possessed character in "The Exorcist". :rolleyes:
It was for a radio broadcast, and I just caught a few minutes of it, unfortunately.
We know that there were survivors to the attack, of course. What they know about the attack, is a mystery to the public.
Obama's lies via his U.N. ambassador's mouth, of a "video demonstration", was THE most blatant lie I've heard in a long time. Since it didn't concern our wallets, and Obama is such a darling with the liberals, it was another no-matter event, quickly passed over.
They caught him up though on his lie about keeping your healthcare plan if you liked it.
And your doctor.
And the lie that he said to cover up the lie about keeping your healthcare plan if you liked it. "What I said was if ..." :sweat:
He's so stupid when he does that. He acts like he's some city councilman out in podunk, Illinois, whose words are never recorded.
Mr. Obama, we KNOW EXACTLY what you said. It's all recorded, in clear digital audio, fer Chrissakes, and you repeated it umpteen times.
I expect politicians to lie, simply because they have to sway public opinion, and get votes. I hate it though when they act like we don't have a lick of brains in our heads, and give stupid lies.
"We have evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq"
I have evidence you have your head up your ass George, and need to pull it out for a breath of fresh air!
Call Adak..... It's baaaaack !
NY Times
BILL CARTER and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
11/8/13
CBS to Correct Erroneous Report on Benghazi
As a followup to this event...
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
David Hinckley
11/26/13
Lara Logan, producer ordered to take leave in aftermath of '60 Minutes' Benghazi reporting scandal
An embarrassed CBS News Tuesday sent reporter Lara Logan on a leave of absence
in the wake of her discredited "60 Minutes" report on the Benghazi attack.
CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager called the report "a regrettable mistake."
He said Logan and her producer, Max McLellan, had been asked to take
the leaves of absence and had agreed to do so. There was no indication how long they will last.
In a CBS memo obtained by the Huffington Post, Fager also said,
"As executive producer (of '60 Minutes'), I am responsible for what gets on the air.
I pride myself in catching almost everything, but this deception got through and it shouldn't have."
As CBS News Chairman of 60 Minutes, Jeff Fager says he is responsible.
IMO: ... so Fager should also take a leave of absence.
I suspect Grace Hopper was a much better programmer than the
Google mathematician/editor who created this Google Doodle...
You know how Obama and Co. have said they didn't lose anything saving GM?
Seems the facts now coming out, show that to be a 10 Billion dollar lie:
US government lost around $10bn on GM bailout
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25309673
I believe Obama did the right thing by saving GM, but he should STOP lying about it, over and over.
On Benghazi:
I was duped as well as CBS and the reporter. I guess Davies wanted to be a "big shot" for awhile, and made up the story quite well.
Unfortunately, we STILL can't speak to the actual survivors of the attack at the Consulate in Benghazi, by Obama's decree!
What a sorry state for getting the truth out - which would make Obama look like a stupid ass, of course. That's WHY we have the shut up decree in place. If his popularity dropped any lower, we'd have to use negative numbers - and mid-term elections are coming up in 2014.
It was 12 Billion, but subtract the preserved $39.4 billion in personal and social insurance tax collections in 2009 and 2010.
You know how Obama and Co. have said they didn't lose anything saving GM?
Seems the facts now coming out, show that to be a 10 Billion dollar lie:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25309673
I believe Obama did the right thing by saving GM, [COLOR="DarkRed"]but he should STOP lying about it, over and over.[/COLOR]
<snip>
We'll call that one Adak#3
But to your point about GM...there were two components to the GM bail out:
1) Loans to GM which [COLOR="DarkRed"]GM did paid back in full[/COLOR] years ago,
2) and then [COLOR="DarkRed"]just last Friday the Government sold it's stock[/COLOR] in GM" - at a loss of ~$10B
- No "Obama lie" with either one of these components
Stock and bond owners and others did lose $ with the GM bankruptcy
and sale of GM operating assets to a "new GM" financial body.
So did the government, but people like to say: "That's capitalism"
But since you say you "believe Obama did the right thing by saving GM", where's the beef ?
USA Today
24/7 Wall St.
December 9, 2013
Report: GM bailout saved 1.2 million jobs
Here is an analysis by 24/7 Wall St. of the report on bailout benefits in jobs and taxes:
That bailout involved about $51 billion in taxpayer funds overall -- with $49.5 billion going
into GM directly for what was originally a 60.8% equity stake in the company.
The Treasury Department said late today that it recouped $39 billion from the sale of that stake, for a loss of $10 billion.
In a new report released Monday, the Center for Automotive Research [QUOTE](CAR) reckons that the federal government bailout of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM)
saved 1.2 million U.S. jobs and preserved $34.9 billion in personal income
and social insurance (Social Security, Medicare) payments.
The bulk of those jobs and tax payments would have been lost in 2009 and 2010
and would have recovered (mostly) by now without federal intervention,
but the U.S. auto industry would look considerably different had both GM and Chrysler been allowed to go under. ...
... Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) did not accept any federal bailout funds,
but CEO Alan Mullaly said last year, [QUOTE]"If GM and Chrysler would've gone into free-fall,
that could've taken the entire supply base into free-fall also,
and taken the U.S. from a recession into a depression.
That is why we testified on the behalf of our competitors even though
we clearly did not need precious taxpayer money."
Chrysler received $1.9 billion in federal funds before being taken over by Italy's Fiat SpA.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]What U.S. taxpayers avoided[/COLOR], according to CAR, was the loss of about $105.3 billion
in transfer payments plus the loss of personal and social insurance tax collections
to the tune of 768% of the net investment of $11.8 billion in GM
and $1.9 billion (none recovered) in Chrysler.
Including jobs related to the auto industry, the federal bailout preserved 2.6 million jobs'
in the U.S. economy in 2009 alone and $284.4 billion in personal income in 2009 and 2010.
<snip>[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
Adak #2
[strike]On Benghazi:[/strike]
I was duped as well as CBS and the reporter. I guess Davies wanted to be a "big shot" for awhile, and made up the story quite well.
Unfortunately, we STILL can't speak to the actual survivors of the attack at the Consulate in Benghazi, by Obama's decree!
What a sorry state for getting the truth out - which would make Obama look like a stupid ass, of course. That's WHY we have the shut up decree in place. If his popularity dropped any lower, we'd have to use negative numbers - and mid-term elections are coming up in 2014.
I bet you can't prove this, mr "getting the truth out".
Of course, you ALREADY believe the President looks like a stupid ass, so, whatever you find will only reinforce your already made up and closed mind. Your posts are simple and boring.
How's this for 'in your face' jurisprudence...
Business Insider
Brett LoGiurato
Dec. 20, 2013
Judge Completely Trolls Justice Scalia In Striking Down Utah's Gay Marriage Ban
When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia handed down a scathing dissent
in United States v. Windsor
— the case in which the high court deemed the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional —
he warned of the domino effect it would have on state bans on gay marriage.
Scalia warned that the Supreme Court's reasoning that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act
— which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples —
could be used to strike down state laws banning same-sex marriage.
Scalia, who's notoriously anti-gay marriage, was saying this was a bad thing. In an interesting twist,
[COLOR="Red"]Utah's Judge Shelby quoted Scalia's negative prophecy in his pro-gay marriage opinion.[/COLOR]
Shelby then wrote that he "agreed" with that part of Scalia's opinion, and offered his response.
Though Scalia meant it as some kind of dire warning,
[COLOR="Red"]Shelby cited the Supreme Court's decision as a reason to overturn Utah's law[/COLOR]:
[QUOTE]The court agrees with Justice Scalia’s interpretation of Windsor
and finds that the important federalism concerns at issue here are nevertheless insufficient to save
a state-law prohibition that denies the Plaintiffs their rights to due process and equal protection under the law.
Shelby also cited Scalia's dissent in 2003's Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark case
in which the Supreme Court ruled that laws banning sodomy were unconstitutional:
The court therefore agrees with the portion of Justice Scalia’s dissenting opinion
in Lawrence in which Justice Scalia stated that the Court’s reasoning logically extends
to protect an individual’s right to marry a person of the same sex.
[/QUOTE]
Washington Post
Andrea Peterson
December 20,2013
This FBI agent had a boneheaded plan to copyright a secret interrogation manual
<snip>The author of a sensitive FBI interrogation manual submitted the document for copyright protection
-- [COLOR="DarkRed"]in the process, making it available to anyone with a card for the Library of Congress to read[/COLOR].<snip>
First is that the American Civil Liberties Union fought a legal battle with the FBI over access to documents just like this
… But the copy they released to the ACLU was heavily redacted --
unlike the 70-plus page version of the manual Baumann reviewed at the Library of Congress.
<snip> For instance, the full version includes a sentence that says
the manual is intended for the FBI's "clean" teams
-- the investigators charged with collecting information for use in federal prosecutions.
"That raises the question of whether teams collecting information that's [COLOR="DarkRed"]not for use in federal courts[/COLOR]
would have to follow the manual's (already permissive) guidelines at all," says Baumann.
And second, the manual almost certainly shouldn't even qualify for a copyright because it is a government work.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Anything "prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government
as part of that person's official duties" is not subject to copyright in the United States.[/COLOR]
And yet, according to Baumann, the author of the manual deposited a version
of the interrogation manual dated 2008 with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2010.
I feel like I've read this
story before.
I feel like I've read this story before.
Griff, what a great reference !
...
In the Penal Colony -> "The Colony" -> GitMo
This end of video is not quite accurate, but so what...
[YOUTUBE]StwAGxbPxlU[/YOUTUBE]
Scientists abandon highly publicized claim about cosmic find
Sacramento Bee = MALCOLM RITTER - 01/30/2015
Scientists who made headlines last March by announcing that they hadd found
long-sought evidence about the early universe are now abandoning that claim.
New data show that their cosmic observations no longer back up that conclusion, they say.
The original announcement caused a sensation because it appeared to show evidence that
the universe ballooned rapidly a split-second after its birth, in what scientist call cosmic inflation.
That idea had been widely believed, but researchers had hoped to bolster it
by finding a particular trait in light left over from the very early universe.
This article doesn’t say so, but what seems to be the situation is that
“dust” in this particular region of the universe (sky) gives off infrared radiation
at 7 distinct wavelengths. These astronomers (the Biceps group) were collecting data
at only 1 of these 7 wavelengths. They did not have access to the data for the other 6.
The initial results were publicly challenged by the astronomers who first described the 7 wavelengths.
When these astronomers eventually shared all of their data, both groups came to this
agreement that the Biceps data is due to cosmic dust.
Oh well, so they will now start playing nicely with one another
and working together to gather additional data. :hug:
Unfortunately this reporter could only get an abbreviated telephone interview with Brian Keating of the University of California, San Diego, a member of the BICEP2 team. He and the rest of the team are busy moving their offices and equipment to the brand new Koch Brothers Science Research campus. :noevil:
The KB's are as contagious as the measles...
Scooter is going to cut funding to the UW system by 300 million dollars. Now he tells the Professors to teach more classes and work harder to make up the short fall. What a boob.
PDX's "finest" were particiipating in "Take Your Child To Word" Day.
But the Morrison Bridge decided to impose a pound of embarrassment.
:o
Word up.
Yes, that's another Oooops on my part :o