The Watering Hole, Tuesday December 16, 2014 – Environmental News and Food Politics

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Supposedly MIT scientists have found new insight as to what killed off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The more important question is why are there still Republicans around?

 

Open thread. Discuss.

66 thoughts on “The Watering Hole, Tuesday December 16, 2014 – Environmental News and Food Politics”

  1. I’m guessing that Republicans are descended from the dinosaurs that Noah reportedly had on his ark. That should all be clarified once Ken Ham’s Ark Park opens in Kentucky and truths of origin are revealed once and for all. Speaking of Ken Ham, is he descended from one of them “sons of Ham” mentioned in the buybull?

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      • So I’ve been told (clearly I wasn’t there, but . . . etc.). Still, the irony attracts — I mean, here’s whitey dork Ken Ham doing a bogus Noah’s Ark thingee all the while way too many whitey Christers rail against Obama and Muslims and Mexicans and . . . well, you know. It’s the irony! I’d sure love to ask Herr Ham out loud and publicly IF . . . etc. 🙂

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  2. Is this what it’s going to take for the Pakistanis to rise up and eradicate the Islamic scourge they’ve been complicit in aiding for years?

    Or will this be their version of Sandy Hook?

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    • I will happily contribute one month’s amount of my upcoming Social Security COLA to the cause of putting each and all of those guilty bastards away for good! I know $18 by itself won’t be sufficient, but it’s a start!

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      • This may not go over well but, here’s my opinion:
        Just because some one gives advice does not mean you have to listen to it.
        John Yoo is an amoral jackass. The fact that Darth Cheney the puppet master and his toady George decided to act on this advice is where the criminal act lies.
        My mom always used to say “just because your friends jump off a cliff doesn’t mean you should try it”.
        He provided the dubious legal justification for the actions of horrible people.
        I’m not saying he is innocent by any means but he was a tool for an administration that had already made up its mind.
        Conspiracy is difficult to prove in court.
        Was he part of a conspiracy?
        Yeah, but getting it into the court system internationally or otherwise will drag on for decades.
        It would be far more convenient for society and the tax payers if he just had an “accident” like falling into a wood chipper.

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        • I like the wood chipper idea. Yoo was, indeed, what amounts to an amoral stooge in the whole scenario. He “justified” the whole thing. Bush was/is clearly too dense to understand much of anything. I suspect Cheney was the muscle behind the whole thing, that he was the string tugger on each of the marionettes on the stage.

          But that doesn’t free Yoo et al from their share of the reality — maybe legally he’ll get off with the rest of them. Unless there’s a wood chipper handy.

          Too bad they’re not each and all dark skinned. If they were, all it would take to effect the final justice would be to turn each one loose wearing a hoodie in, say, Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Staten Island, Los Angeles . . . the options are myriad.

          Or maybe all we’d need are a dozen wood chippers.

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  6. Some 100,000 or more WordPress sites infected by mysterious malware

    About 100,000 or more websites running the WordPress content management system have been compromised by mysterious malware that turns the infected sites into attack platforms that can target visitors, security researchers said.

    The campaign has prompted Google to flag more than 11,000 domains as malicious, but many more sites have been detected as compromised, according to a blog post published Sunday by Sucuri, a firm that helps website operators secure their servers. Researchers have yet to confirm the cause of the infection, but they suspect it’s related to a vulnerability in Slider Revolution, a WordPress plugin, that was disclosed in early September. Update: In a new blog post published after Ars went live with this brief, Sucuri says it has confirmed the so-called “RevSlider” vulnerability is the culprit.

    OK, don’t be eating any Krystal or White Castle burgers!

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  8. Elizabeth Warren was interviewed by National Public Radio Monday and was asked the standard question several times. “I’m not running for president,” she said. What is she telling liberal independent groups? “I told them, ‘I’m not running for president.’” Never ever? “I am not running for president,” she replied. “You want me to put an exclamation point at the end?”

    Elizabeth Warren may be the last liberal in America who doesn’t want Elizabeth Warren to run for president.

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      • They’re “Clintonistas.” It’s not political philosophy that they adhere to, it’s more an ‘-ism’ of sorts, kinda like the slightly left-of-center version of McCarthyism, of Reaganism, of Bushism — iow, there ain’t much there there.

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  9. This topic was mentioned on Thom Hartmann. I’d never heard this, but it seems logical. This is a three part series.

    Loaded With Lead

    Lead poisoning is a major threat at America’s shooting ranges, perpetuated by owners who’ve repeatedly violated laws even after workers have fallen painfully ill.

    Could the gun-humper/ammosexuals be rendering themselves stupid with lead contamination?

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    • Makes sense. Leaded gasoline was the former culprit, and iirc lead from expended bullets, having fallen back to earth, has been linked to California Condor survival difficulties in the upper reaches of the Grand Canyon. Still, I do wonder if maybe humans have to be born stupid in order to go for that gun shit to begin with. Maybe lead from expended bullets exacerbates their obvious genetic deficiency?

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    • oh, that sounds like a great Twilight Zone episode…
      the shooters don’t need to kill each other…the lead will do it.

      (lead ammo is outlawed in CA – lead poisoning is lethal to Condors)

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    • Jeb Bush Just Flushed Marco Rubio’s 2016 Hopes Down the Toilet

      Jeb Bush is running for president. Or at least he has “decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States.” The former governor of Florida made the announcement on Twitter and Facebook Tuesday morning. He intends to form a PAC in January.

      If there is one loser from Bush’s decision to explore a presidential run, it’s Senator Marco Rubio, also from Florida. Bush has deep connections to the donor base in Florida thanks to his eight years running the state. If Bush does choose to run—and the signs clearly point that way now—it will leave little room for Rubio to mount his own presidential campaign.

      I added this article just to bring out the term ‘reformicons’, and who some of them are.
      If Rubio is a proponent of these ‘reformicon’ ideas, money will find its way to his campaign. He won’t need the Jeb Bush donors.

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  20. A partial list of people who are responsible for the deaths of fewer Americans than Dick Cheney:
    Bin Laden
    Both Kims from North Korea
    All the varied leaders of The Taliban
    Castro
    Chavez
    Putin
    Qaddafi
    Idi Amin
    “Carlos the Jackal”
    Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and all the serial killers of the new century combined
    I could spend the rest of the year making the list complete, and my arthritis is acting up a bit, so I’ll just round the list off with…
    THE GREAT SATAN HIMSELF

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  21. So far, Americans have been herded into blind acceptance of universal police-state surveillance, permanent war and summary police executions of unarmed people in the street. Now many are cheering for state torture, and Fox News just applauded the idea of slowly cutting off prisoners’ fingers and toes. It’s pretty unnerving to consider what we’re being softened up for.

    ~Dan Hagen~

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    • The Senate just passed a spending bill that cuts $93 million in food assistance to low-income families while putting taxpayers on the hook for Wall Street investments worth an astounding $300 trillion. In short, Congress is destroying the safety net for regular folks while creating a life raft for Wall Street banks when the next crisis hits.

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  22. Under a new Ohio law, Gov. John Kasich (R) will require schools to partner with a religious group in order to receive state funding for mentoring programs.

    The state legislature passed a measure that would direct $10 million in casino revenue toward a mentorship program. The original language did not require schools to work with religious organizations, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

    But now the state requires schools to work with both a faith-based group and a nonprofit set up by a business in order to receive funding.

    Buddy Harris, a senior police analyst for the Ohio Department of Education, told the audience at a Thursday information session about the requirement.

    “The faith-based organization is clearly at the heart of the vision of the governor,” he said after the session, according to the Plain Dealer.

    “We do not forsee any proseletyzing happening between mentors and students,” Harris added. “That’s not really what we’re seeking.”

    The program was always meant to include religious groups, but their participation was not originally required in order for schools to qualify for the funding.

    “Eligible school districts shall partner with members of the business community, civic organizations, or the faith-based community to provide sustainable career advising and mentoring services,” the original law reads.

    Rob Nichols, a spokesman for the governor, told the Plain Dealer that Kasich included the requirement because he “believes faith-based organizations play an important role in the lives of young people.”

    H/t Salon

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  24. ‘Do No Harm’: Doctors Blast Medical Professionals for Role In CIA Torture Regime

    ‘The profound betrayal of medical ethics uncovered by the Senate’s investigation is reprehensible and demands nothing less than full accountability’

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  27. Cenk get’s it right. “Is it too hard to say?”

    Notice that this freak keeps saying “male with a gun”. What if it was “female with a gun” let alone a “white female with a gun”?

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      • One of the “rules” of fascism is to always depersonalize your victim. Don’t use the kid’s name. Don’t even call him a kid. He’s “the male” who these cops whacked. My God! It’s cold. Even If I wasn’t on the cusp of suing a police department I would say that recent events suggest we should fire every cop in the country and start over from scratch. The saddest part is that, with the inmates firmly in charge of the asylum again, the new batch would be even worse.

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        • Unfortunately the cops get to be ‘in charge’ and never have to answer for their actions. No consequences equals running amok with the protections of all the damn courts, up to and including SCOTUS.

          How’s your health coming along, pete?

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