Random News Stories

[Cain]

Because there isn't enough crime going on in Somerset and Avon, the police there have resorted to stealing bikes to instill a fear of being a victim in the public

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-20248535

A police force has filmed an officer "stealing" bicycles in full public view to show "just how easy" it is for a thief to get away unchallenged.

PCSO Neil Spiring, of Avon and Somerset Police, used bolt croppers and brute force to 'steal' four bikes.

To further highlight his staged activity the officer at one point dressed in a skeleton outfit.

The force said it wanted to encourage members of the public to call 999 as soon as they saw a crime taking place.

According to UK crime statistics, there are less than 100 robberies a month for the entire Avon and Somerset area.  This includes but is not limited to bikes, it is the total amount of robberies which do not require a break-in (which is a burgalry) or mugging (which is a violent crime).

[Prince Glittersnatch III]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/11/israels-netanyahu-takes-heat-after-obama-victory/

Politicians and commentators pounded Bibi, as he’s known here, for wading into U.S. politics and damaging the strong relationship between the two countries by backing the wrong horse.

“So Sorry, President Obama, Please Forgive Netanyahu,” read the headline of a Haaretz column today by Yossi Sarid, a former longtime Knesset member and leader of the liberal Meretz Party.

“Bibi Gambled, We’ll Pay,” was another in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the highest-circulated in Israel.

“In his behavior with the Americans, Netanyahu was like the well-known joke about the difference between a schlemiel and a schlimazel – a schlemiel is the one who spills hot soup on the schlimazel,” wrote Sima Kadmon in the Yedioth op-ed. “But in this case, Netanyahu is both the schlemiel and the schlimazel: He spilled the hot soup on himself, and he is not the only one who got burned. We all did.”

The same newspaper reported that the prime minister’s office was “stunned” by the news of Romney’s defeat. Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev called such reporting  “certainly not accurate.”

“It’s rubbish, it’s just not true,” Regev told ABC News when asked about the support for Romney.

Netanyahu was “totally neutral the whole campaign,” he said. “It’s clear there are some people who, for all sorts of reasons, are trying to develop this narrative but it’s just not true. He made every effort to stay out of the election.”

Israeli politicos from the other end of the political spectrum happily piled onto the narrative. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is mulling another run in Israel’s upcoming elections, said, “Our prime minister meddled in the U.S. elections in the name of an American billionaire, who used the prime minister of Israel to promote his own candidate for president. This is a significant violation of the basic rules in the relations between countries, certainly when we are talking about allies such as Israel and the United States.”

Glorious. 

[Waffleman]

Jesus Harold Ramis Christ, what a fucking crybaby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20270325

[M. Nigel Salt]

Jesus Harold Ramis Christ, what a fucking crybaby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20270325

"I murdered a bunch of innocent kids and now I have to wear a fucking sweater".

[stelz]

Jesus Harold Ramis Christ, what a fucking crybaby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20270325

"I murdered a bunch of innocent kids and now I have to wear a fucking sweater".

"And I need MORE BUTTER."

[Don Coyote]

Jesus Harold Ramis Christ, what a fucking crybaby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20270325

"I murdered a bunch of innocent kids and now I have to wear a fucking sweater".

"And I need MORE BUTTER."

"and I have to shave FAST."

[Mangrove]

I'm sorry, but serious mass murderers don't use moisturizer.

[Cain]

Well, all except one...

[Mangrove]

Jesus Harold Ramis Christ, what a fucking crybaby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20270325

"I murdered a bunch of innocent kids and now I have to wear a fucking sweater".

But it's a particularly ugly sweater. It's probably the moose sweater I got when I was 10, or something like it.

[LMNO, PhD (life continues)]

CIA Director David Patreus resigns over extramarital affair.

Congressional hearings, anyone?

[Waffleman]

Jesus Harold Ramis Christ, what a fucking crybaby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20270325

"I murdered a bunch of innocent kids and now I have to wear a fucking sweater".

"And I need MORE BUTTER."

"and I have to shave FAST."

"and my pen is ergonomically incorrect, making it hard for me to write my crap".

[M. Nigel Salt]

Jesus Harold Ramis Christ, what a fucking crybaby. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20270325

"I murdered a bunch of innocent kids and now I have to wear a fucking sweater".

"And I need MORE BUTTER."

"and I have to shave FAST."

"and my pen is ergonomically incorrect, making it hard for me to write my crap".

It is certainly cruel and unusual punishment to give a mass murderer an ergonomically incorrect pen for writing his manifesto.

[Telarus]

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/08/1420230/australia-scales-back-internet-blacklist-nixes-full-scale-censorship

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/11/08/1716244/do-recreational-drugs-help-programmers

http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/11/09/0322230/navy-seals-disciplined-for-revealing-secrets-as-consultants-on-video-game

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/08/2315251/romney-campaign-accidentally-launches-transition-web-site

That last one made me 

[Elder Iptuous]

Firestorm Erupts Over Virginia's Education Goals

Heard about this on NPR yesterday.
jesus...

As part of Virginia's waiver to opt out of mandates set out in the No Child Left Behind law, the state has created a controversial new set of education goals that are higher for white and Asian kids than for blacks, Latinos and students with disabilities.
....
Here's what the Virginia state board of education actually did. It looked at students' test scores in reading and math and then proposed new passing rates. In math it set an acceptable passing rate at 82 percent for Asian students, 68 percent for whites, 52 percent for Latinos, 45 percent for blacks and 33 percent for kids with disabilities.

[Luna]

Firestorm Erupts Over Virginia's Education Goals

Heard about this on NPR yesterday.
jesus...

As part of Virginia's waiver to opt out of mandates set out in the No Child Left Behind law, the state has created a controversial new set of education goals that are higher for white and Asian kids than for blacks, Latinos and students with disabilities.
....
Here's what the Virginia state board of education actually did. It looked at students' test scores in reading and math and then proposed new passing rates. In math it set an acceptable passing rate at 82 percent for Asian students, 68 percent for whites, 52 percent for Latinos, 45 percent for blacks and 33 percent for kids with disabilities.

Bloody hell.