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newtboy
(Member Profile)
First time I'm hearing this. Sweet zombie Jesus.
Republicans tried and nearly succeeded in secretly changing abortion to prosecutable murder with their tax bill......
https://www.snopes.com/gop-tax-bill-fetal-personhood-legislation/
Those sneaky lying snakes.
newtboy
(Member Profile)
Police commissioner: Slain Baltimore detective was to testify in case of indicted officers
The following day. He was scheduled to testify before a federal grand jury against corrupt cops the day after he was killed with his own weapon.
How unfortunate.
newtboy
(Member Profile)
You're going to like this one:
Shot, sodomized, shot again, detained, isolated from legal counsel.
Mesquite Police Department. Off to the gulag with everyone involved in this shit.
newtboy
(Member Profile)
One for your collection:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/11/08/another-civil-asset-forfeiture-outrage-2/
It's a short one, so no excerpts needed. The url basically speaks for itself.
newtboy
(Member Profile)
A different type, but yeah, they can be found under just about every pot these days. Every somewhat covered crevice seems to harbour some, really.
I had only seen singular examples in damp corners until maybe 3 or 4 years ago when they started popping up in ever increasing numbers. Nowadays, go outside and lift any pot, you'll find 5+ of them scrambling. When I pulled up the edge of an old sheet of rolled roofing the other day, there were dozens of them.
Since you've noticed such a decline in insects where you are, have you noticed a corresponding increase in pill bugs (really crustaceans)? I have here in N Cali
newtboy
(Member Profile)
The data of the study came out of Germany, where the effects of a change in temperature are much more moderate than in many other areas. Basically, this decline is attributed mostly due to farming, the saturation of everything with pesticides, and, generally speaking, the destruction of the ecosphere. Even worse, this is in a country with comparably extensive regulation on all these matters, unlike, say, India.
As you say, this really is no bueno.
Driving past fields of rapeseed in the late '90s meant a windshield full of bugs. We used to head into the fields wearing yellow shirts just to see who can get the densest armor of bugs. Now, I can walk past the very same fields outside the town I grew up in with less than 5 bugs on a yellow shirt.
Or how about another anecdote: when I grew up, barbecue in my (grand-)parents yard meant paying attention to all the wasps, so that you don't swallow one by accident. I haven't seen a single one over several barbecues this year. Bees and bumblebees are still around, though less plentiful, but wasps are a complete no-show. Haven't seen a hornet in two years.
So much for keeping temperature rise below 2 degrees above preindustrial averages (or even the Paris 1.5 degree goal) being "safe". We're at 1.2 degrees and rising last year, and it seems like Ragnarok is upon us.
This is pretty good evidence that the anthropogenic extinction event is well under way, not something to fear might happen in a dystopian future. Both the natural food web and agriculture are dependent on insects. A 3/4 reduction is probably at or beyond the tipping point.
This business is going to get out of control, and we'll be lucky to live through it.
Fuck. We all better call up Jim Bakker for some apocalypse food buckets quick.
newtboy
(Member Profile)
One for your collection: Recordings Capture Brutal FBI Tactics to Recruit a Potential Informant
The 89-Year Old Who Built the Train of the Future
Keeping a sealed pneumatic tube along the entire track? Sounds like a maintenance nightmare, to be honest. How do you switch rails? How do you get a stranded propulsion module off the track (can't just get a diesel locomotive to drag the thing, can you now)? What are the backup breaking systems for failures on those 10% grades?
I suppose this might at the very best be a niche thing, more so than the current Transrapid/Maglev system. Airport shuttles, maybe.
An Elevator That Actually Goes Sideways
So, vertical maglev with turntables?
newtboy
(Member Profile)
For your collection:
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/877916375209181184
The Basics of Modern Money
Related:
Bank of England: Money creation in the modern economy
Bank of England: Banks are not intermediaries of loanable funds — and why this matters
Deutsche Bundesbank: How money is created
Deutsche Bundesbank: The Role of Banks, Non-Banks and the Central Bank in the Money-Creation Process (German only, remove the automatically added space near the end of the link)
I intentionally did not list any of the UMKC material nor any of Mosler's work, because people seem to ignore this stuff unless it comes from people/institutions they consider to be authorities in the field. Ergo two of the most important central banks.
Or if you prefer a short video, here's Greenspan taking Paul Ryan to school: There is nothing to prevent the government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody."
Atheist Angers Christians With Bible Verse
We had this event in Germany last week. A group of activists showed up with a statue of Martin Luther that had some quotes of his printed on his cape. Result: activists got removed by the cops and charged with incitement.

Guess people don't like to be reminded that Luther's antisemitism in 1524 might very easily be mistaken for quotes by Hitler.
newtboy
(Member Profile)
Another one for your collection.
"Sheriff Sandra Hutchens claims the veteran officers were unaware they were required to testify honestly during prior court appearances for the death penalty case marred by astonishing degrees of government cheating."
http://www.ocweekly.com/news/orange-county-sheriffs-deputies-refuse-to-testify-under-oath-in-jailhouse-snitch-scandal-8139758
How Russia Stopped The Blitzkrieg
[Nerd-mode]The animation at 5:34 pits the Somua against a P4 with a KwK 40 L/43, which was first introduced with the F2 in early '42, almost two years after the campaign in France.[/Nerd-mode]
Why Do Americans Smile So Much?
The corresponding article:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/why-americans-smile-so-much/524967/