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Shlomo Palestein posted:The most baffling thing about the last decade and a half to me has been this whole "This is obviously not [THING], it's just [THE VERY DEFINITION OF THING]" legal tactic that somehow works 99% of the time. This isn't a bill of attainder, it's a broadly-worded law that just happens to narrowly favor several of my biggest campaign donors while narrowly harming some of the biggest donors to my opponents. It isn't bribery either. Quid pro quo requires actual British Pound Coins and I don't see any around here, do you?
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Jul 3, 2014 14:12
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Ok, given that GDP sucks, exactly what were all those workers added in Q1 hired to do?
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Jul 3, 2014 14:14
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Kill Comcast. http://bgr.com/2014/07/02/comcast-twc-merger-doj-emails/
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Jul 3, 2014 14:18
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I love an article that sources another article that's literally "comments on the internet show negativity towards [thing]".
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Jul 3, 2014 14:20
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Shlomo Palestein posted:The most baffling thing about the last decade and a half to me has been this whole "This is obviously not [THING], it's just [THE VERY DEFINITION OF THING]" legal tactic that somehow works 99% of the time. To be fair it seems like the SCotUS hasn't been keen on blindly playing along with this, at least from their cell phone search ("It is just an administrative search!"), patent eligibility ("It isn't an abstract idea, we said it was on a computer!"), and Aereo ("It isn't a distribution service, we just rent antennas!") decisions. Of course the right wing will play along with it when it meets one of their policy goals so it isn't perfect. In other news there are a lot more people in poverty now. The South in particular is a horror show: 
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Jul 3, 2014 14:21
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computer parts posted:I love an article that sources another article that's literally "comments on the internet show negativity towards [thing]". BGR is a legitimate source on the level of Kotaku, you should have more respect for tech's Valley Swag.
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Jul 3, 2014 14:22
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None the less  at the idea of requiring sources to find just cause in destroying Comcast as a business and summarily executing all of their executives.
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Jul 3, 2014 14:23
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Pope Guilty posted:Can't mercenaries pretty much just be killed if they're caught on a battlefield? Yes. http://i.imgur.com/m5jAr0Q.jpg   Most countries have laws making mercenaries illegal. Russia has a law that makes it illegal, yet there are about 30 Russians sitting in a prison in Libya because they went to Libya to fight for Qaddafi. The Russian government says these men weren't sent by them but the Libyan authorities insist otherwise. HUGE PUBES A PLUS fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 14:25
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That was a good week for the Democratic Party, I still remember the scuttlebutt and how owned Republicans were going to be by 2006.
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Jul 3, 2014 14:27
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Shifty Pony posted:
There's also a county breakdown, though looking at the actual article the biggest changes in poverty also include Indiana, Oregon, Michigan and Nevada whereas in Louisiana and West Virginia poverty rates went down. 
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Jul 3, 2014 14:28
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Shifty Pony posted:To be fair it seems like the SCotUS hasn't been keen on blindly playing along with this, at least from their cell phone search ("It is just an administrative search!"), patent eligibility ("It isn't an abstract idea, we said it was on a computer!"), and Aereo ("It isn't a distribution service, we just rent antennas!") decisions. Of course the right wing will play along with it when it meets one of their policy goals so it isn't perfect. Those drat democrats, making the most republican States the poorest states. And they keep electing republicans so you know it isn't the Republicans fault, why would they make their own state poor?
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Jul 3, 2014 14:29
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I'd keep the OP to just developments that happened in the previous month. Just my opinion though
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Jul 3, 2014 14:29
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:Yes. http://i.imgur.com/m5jAr0Q.jpg Well in that case the dead mercs were pretty much treated like regular forces (in that the regular forces carried out reprisal by killing thousands in Fallujah).
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Jul 3, 2014 14:30
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greatn posted:Those drat democrats, making the most republican States the poorest states. And they keep electing republicans so you know it isn't the Republicans fault, why would they make their own state poor? The poorest areas are minority concentrated counties. 
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Jul 3, 2014 14:50
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greatn posted:Those drat democrats, making the most republican States the poorest states. And they keep electing republicans so you know it isn't the Republicans fault, why would they make their own state poor? The south has gotten absolutely hosed by the exit of semi-skilled industries and aquaculture to (South) Asia, supply chains and trade agreements allowing agriculture to move to California/Mexico/South-America, and trade agreements allowing lumber to move to Canada/South-America. Of course the chronically underfunded pubic education system (in large part to keep minorities in poverty) screws the region as well for any modern industry that might want to move in. From all accounts that I have read the Boeing plant in SC has been a complete disaster, although the BMW assembly seems to be doing OK due to extensive partnerships with the regional education system.
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Jul 3, 2014 14:55
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Jarmak posted:You guys seems to not really understand how PMCs are utilized at all, they aren't mercs that are sent out to do the job soldiers are. The most offensive operations they ever did was acting as body guards for VIPs working for/with the state department (what blackwater was doing when it caused all its trouble). You mean if you ignore everything run through intelligence services, right? I was under the impression they relied heavily on contractors for staffing.
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Jul 3, 2014 14:56
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:You mean if you ignore everything run through intelligence services, right? I was under the impression they relied heavily on contractors for staffing. Based on what? And staffing for what?
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Jul 3, 2014 15:14
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Also, the breakdown of poverty by racial group (and state) is rather interesting: http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acsbr11-17.pdf   Compare with:
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Jul 3, 2014 15:18
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Bad news for Paul Ryan: his P90X sessions are losing members to Markwayne Mullin's (R-OK) crossfit group.
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Jul 3, 2014 15:28
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I note that nearly every state has higher black poverty than the worst state's white poverty.
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Jul 3, 2014 15:29
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I would toss in the Hispanic map as well: When visiting home in SC I notice that to a large extent "loving lazy blacks" racism has been replaced with "goddamn illegal Mexicans" racism. SC's position in the GOP presidential primary calendar pretty much guarantees there's no way in hell a GOP candidate will support immigration reform.
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Jul 3, 2014 15:30
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There's a great book called The Box, about containerized shipping, that tangentially shows the beginning of the modern PMC. Basically, Vietnam's ports were utter crap and everything was a logistics disaster, and Sea-Land said 'Yeah, we can do this for you for insanely low rates.' And it worked really well. So the Military went 'hm. Well. Instead of wasting our troops on this, because they half-rear end it anyhow, what other functions of the army can we privatize and improve?' And that worked pretty okay, too. For a while.
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Jul 3, 2014 15:31
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I also just realized that the original map was measuring people who are in a poverty area, not who are in poverty. Poverty areas are regions where at least 20% of people live in poverty.
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Jul 3, 2014 15:32
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I can't get over those human scum blocking the buses full of 8 year olds and chanting USA. It's like a scene from a horror movie.
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Jul 3, 2014 15:34
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At least they weren't tarring and feathering priests again. quote:Nativism became a new American rage: Know-Nothing candy, Know-nothing tea, and Know-Nothing toothpicks appeared. Stagecoaches were dubbed "The Know-Nothing". In Trescott, Maine, a shipowner dubbed his new 700-ton freighter, Know-Nothing.[17] The party was occasionally referred to contemporaneously in the slightly pejorative shortening, "Knism".
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Jul 3, 2014 15:40
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Speaking of nativism, FOX rips off the Bioshock Infinite logo for a "Defending the Homeland" piece. Irony abounds. http://www.avclub.com/article/fox-news-rips-bioshock-infinite-logo-irony-ensues-206519?utm_source=digg&utm_medium=email
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Jul 3, 2014 15:47
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mcmagic posted:I can't get over those human scum blocking the buses full of 8 year olds and chanting USA. It's like a scene from a horror movie. It seems like if you remove international sporting events from the equation, when you hear a USA chant there's a 95% chance those chanting are doing something repugnant. quote:Nativism became a new American rage: Know-Nothing candy, Know-nothing tea, and Know-Nothing toothpicks appeared. Stagecoaches were dubbed "The Know-Nothing". In Trescott, Maine, a shipowner dubbed his new 700-ton freighter, Know-Nothing.[17] The party was occasionally referred to contemporaneously in the slightly pejorative shortening, "Knism". Truly there is nothing new under the sun. Does this mean we can take comfort in knowing the current crop of patriots will be relegated to questions about historic foot note parties on AP US History exams? Gyges fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 15:51
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ReidRansom posted:Aside from blatant defense contract grifting, I've never quite understood it either. You can do the job cheaper per head with uniformed military and you get (theoretically) better accountability and versatility as a bonus. I mean, maybe we legit don't have the numbers and doing it properly would have required a draft which no one would have supported. But we've scaled back our overseas adventures and still continue to use them, so I don't loving know.
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Jul 3, 2014 16:01
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Gyges posted:
Yes. Short of a literal military coup (this won't happen) their influence has already peaked and there's no momentum for their policies any longer.
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Jul 3, 2014 16:04
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computer parts posted:Yes. Short of a literal military coup (this won't happen) their influence has already peaked and there's no momentum for their policies any longer. They have a bulwark against any board progressive policy agenda though.
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Jul 3, 2014 16:13
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Jarmak posted:Based on what? And staffing for what? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/20intel.html http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112064709 http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/07/the-terrifying-background-of-the-man-who-ran-a-cia-assassination-unit/259856/ http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/21/nation/na-cia-blackwater21 Is this a solid enough example for you? How is this not mercenaries being sent out on offensive operations, which you categorically claimed was something that did not happen? Jarmak posted:The most offensive operations they ever did was acting as body guards for VIPs working for/with the state department. AreWeDrunkYet fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Jul 3, 2014 |
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Jul 3, 2014 16:16
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Mayor Dave posted:Happy Fourth to everyone, and may I post a link that proves that sometimes good things happen despite everything being utter poo poo? And Phoenix might finally get its water supply cut off so it can become the Desertroit it so richly deserves to be 
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Jul 3, 2014 16:34
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This is good news for John McCain!
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Jul 3, 2014 16:42
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Munkeymon posted:And Phoenix might finally get its water supply cut off so it can become the Desertroit it so richly deserves to be It is a monument to man's arrogance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PYt0SDnrBE
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Jul 3, 2014 16:54
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Munkeymon posted:And Phoenix might finally get its water supply cut off so it can become the Desertroit it so richly deserves to be Phoenix is a huge problem, but I would say the two larger ones for the colorado river are Vegas and especially southern CA. Just one more reason I'm glad I'll be moving out of CA in two years after my wife finishes her MBA.
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Jul 3, 2014 17:01
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Blackwater and certain PMCs basically became Cheney's off the books secret intel group. They did what he wanted that if he used regular soldiers would be a problem. I think a lot of this was about circumventing oversight since Blackwater is not a part of the government. We still hire PMCs to do anti-terror stuff in coordination with the CIA and SOCOM since a lot of former operatives work for PMCs now since they pay better.
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Jul 3, 2014 17:28
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My Imaginary GF posted:However, with the court reaffirming Johnson's executive power, Nixon came into office with an honest mindset. He was correct: When the President does something, that makes it legal. Otherwise, how can one justify the legalities of Bush II's administration? Hell, just last afternoon it was leaked that we've had 120 combat troops deployed in Somalia since 2007, without direct public Congressional authorization. Wiretaps, surveillance, drones: they're legal under the authority of the Executive Branch. You can kill an American citizen convicted in trial by absentia, so long as they aren't (yet, may get interesting cases in the future/Syrian issue tangent) on American soil. What makes you think that congress has the authority to micromanage the Commander in Chief? Unless those 120 are going to war with Somalia their authority begins and ends with funding.
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Jul 3, 2014 17:58
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HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:Most countries have laws making mercenaries illegal. Russia has a law that makes it illegal, yet there are about 30 Russians sitting in a prison in Libya because they went to Libya to fight for Qaddafi. The Russian government says these men weren't sent by them but the Libyan authorities insist otherwise. Russia is trying to make it legal for PMCs to incorporate and operate.
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Jul 3, 2014 18:29
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Swan Oat posted:Russia is trying to make it legal for PMCs to incorporate and operate. Probably to make it logistically easier for Putin to run his "Totally not Russian troops!" invasions.
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Jul 3, 2014 18:46
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Joementum posted:Bad news for Paul Ryan: his P90X sessions are losing members to Markwayne Mullin's (R-OK) crossfit group. Who will then lose members to the physical therapy group when every hurts themselves doing cross fit.
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Jul 3, 2014 18:54
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