Random News Stories

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The 80's were pre-Nickelback, I'll give them that.
Stella
developing a belated appreciation of Hey Mickey 

NOPE.

With the exception of The Talking Heads, the entire decade of the 80s can kiss my diseased and festering arse.

Even Elton John sucked in the 80s.

I still like a lot of the music that came out in the 80's, like Cyndi Lauper and Peter Gabriel.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I like that I failed for both genders! 

[LMNO]

Um, some of the greatest post-punk and college rock albums were made in the 80s.

Guess I'm gonna have to start another music thread.

[Junkenstein]

This could fit is so many threads:
http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/some-cops-allowed-to-work-after-drinking/nbsbF/

Law enforcement officers in some area communities can strap on a gun and issue tickets for drivers who are more sober than they are, a Journal-News investigation found.
The newspaper reviewed union contracts for local public safety offices, including the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and found that officers and firefighters are sometimes protected from discipline when they are at work with alcohol in their system.
These rules are often enforced by union contracts.
In Lebanon, where officers and firefighters can work with a .04 blood alcohol level, Police Chief Jeff Mitchell said he's actively pursued more stringent alcohol rules to be written into the city's union contracts.
Mitchell, who's been in charge for nearly two years, said he negotiated his first union contract this past summer. He got the unions to remove a clause that allowed officers to suck on a breath mint before they were tested for alcohol, but couldn't get union representatives to reduce the .04 limit to zero.
"When I came across that, I thought, 'Wow, that's different,' " Mitchell said, adding that breath mints can distort breathalyzer readings.
"Doesn't that sound odd to you that you would have that in a contract with police?"
Mitchell said he's never had to discipline an officer for using alcohol on the job and he believes the alcohol provision was added to the contract decades ago.

Never had to discipline anyone? Nothing to do with the fact you CAN'T discipline anyone. No end of shady shit likely to have occurred here.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/42/4259.asp

In August, the city put in an order for nine Tasers at a cost of $12,500. Last month it approved purchase of eight Glock simunitions handguns and the purchase of a $12,083 mobile device used to crack the passwords and grab the data from mobile phones while in the field.

"The upgrade will allow police investigators to pull data from the most technically advanced cell phones and tablets," Salisbury Police Major David Meienschein wrote in a September 5 memo. "The Cellebrite UFED Touch is a device that is used to perform data extractions from cell phones, tablets, iPads, GPS and other electronic devices. Investigators have been able to obtain stored and deleted data files to include but not limited to: text messages, photographs, videos and contact lists."

Police asset seizure paying for itself in all kinds of interesting ways. Get pulled over for a traffic ticket, get your personal information violated and stolen for free. No problems here.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/16/colo-sex-assault-twin/3615975/

Man tries to use "Evil Twin defence". It may work.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-be-working-with-saudi-arabia-on-iran-strike-plan/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Hey Cain, This looks interesting. 2 nuclear powers upset that a 3rd nation may gain nuclear capabilities. Should we expect to see shenanigans inside Iran soon?

[Junkenstein]

Hey, Remember Ken Starr?

http://gawker.com/he-took-the-time-to-chat-ken-starr-s-plea-for-a-chil-1464516616

Fuck off Ken.

[Cain]

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-be-working-with-saudi-arabia-on-iran-strike-plan/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Hey Cain, This looks interesting. 2 nuclear powers upset that a 3rd nation may gain nuclear capabilities. Should we expect to see shenanigans inside Iran soon?

I still don't see Israel making a move without US approval.  For all their wigging out lately, even an Israeli-French-Saudi alliance doesn't have the necessary wasta to make an Iranian hit look legit.

And to be honest, it's not entirely in Israeli or Saudi interests.  "Iranian hegemonism" is a big pair of words, and mostly meaningless, but if there is no Iran to scaremonger about, then two things happen:

- an increasingly unpopular and isolated Israel lose diplomatic clout with the Sunni Arab dictatorships, and also cannot pull on the heartstrings of American political leaders for diplomatic protection, money and support.  Israeli preferences over the Palestinian question will also likely become less important to US policy-makers, and

- Saudi Arabia is left in the position of protecting the Middle East from liberal democracy.  Which, you know, it is, but by running around claiming its nefarious Shia allies of Tehran, it gets a level of western support that such a project would otherwise not get.

Neither suits them, so they have to keep drumming up the threat, while not actually doing anything. 

[Junkenstein]

Cain, Appreciated as always.

Also, this has parallel construction written all over it

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/11/silk-road/

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24997876

Accusations flying around about who dun it. Taking all bets.

[Junkenstein]

The above has absolutely no connection to this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24993269

No connection whatsoever.

[Cain]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24997876

Accusations flying around about who dun it. Taking all bets.

I'll take "Sunni extremist outfit virtually no-one has heard of because it's a Saudi intelligence cut-out" for $1.

Because no matter how much I bet, it's a near certain one on the odds.

Worth noting, the AAB in Lebanon are actually known as Ziad al Jarrah Battalion (after the Lebanese 9/11 hijacker).  However, shadowy groups using the name in Lebanon existed prior to the 2009 founding of the group, and BBC analysts have stated it's not so much an organization as a name of convenience.

And the founder of the AAB is also a Saudi citizen...allegedly.

[Junkenstein]

My first instinct was that there's a Saudi angle, so it's always reassuring to not to feel totally crazy. I'll have to look into that group, there's got to be some seriously shady shit associated with it. Moreso than already stated I mean.

[Cain]

Well it's definitely Syrian Civil War related...the group demanded that Hezbollah withdraw from the conflict, and that its members be released from prison.

The AAB is taking part in the Syrian conflict...and in contrast to al-Nursa, they're apparently advising no car bombs on crowded streets etc because they don't want to "alienate" the Syrian people.  Sensible advice, but the fundamentalist set consider Assad an apostate, along with his supporters, and the only fit fate for apostates is a sword to the neck.  So it's something of an anomaly.