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Sarah Palin is the reason compasses point North.

calendar   Thursday - April 24, 2014

Art Again

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Lady Godiva, John Collier, 1897. click for bigger version




A real person. An actual “Lady”, though more properly a Countess, as Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. ( In America, the wife of an Earl is usually called Raylene ) She lived in the 11th century, survived the Norman invasion of 1066, and is mentioned by name in the Doomsday Book. Although they called her Godgyfu, English being a lot more Celtic and Danish in those days. But on official documents she signed her name as Godiva Comitissa, the countess Godiva, because official meant doing it in proper Latin. She was loaded. Her sister Wulviva was loaded. Her brother Thorgold was loaded. Her husbands were loaded. They were old money, in the year 1050. Now that’s really old old money!

We don’t see too many Streakers For Tax Relief these days, more’s the pity maybe.

Anyway, the legend says Miss Lady did her ride to curb her avaricious husband’s greedy government, but in a bit of Medieval Modesty, commanded the peasants to keep their shutters closed. And they did. Except for one horndog, known forever after as Peeping Tom. Who closed his shutters, but drilled a peephole first. And the sight blinded him. Maybe Miss Lady was a bit more Wookie than we want to remember her? History tells us “lots of hair”, but they don’t tell us where.


These days, a blonde Lady Godiva rides out, every hour on the hour, as part of a large mechanical clock in Coventry. And Peeping Tom still sneaks a peek, then is struck blind. 

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Mercia was the Dark Ages kingdom in the middle of England, the lands in the middle, today known as the Midlands. Godiva probably took her ride when Canute was king, and most of England was part of his Scandinavian North Sea Empire, today known as IKEA.




PS - thanks once again to Stoaty teh Woozle for the inspiration, and for the news that Coventry is going to have a streaker festival, but not to honor Godiva. They’re doing it to promote a microwavable hamburger in a box. Riiiight? Because, bacon. Bacon?? OMG. Everybody get naked!!!


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/24/2014 at 09:30 PM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peonsEye-CandyHistory •  
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Up, up, and away!!

Who Needs Planes?

The Paradise Tree Snake Can Fly

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I ain’t goin anywhere near that muthafuggin jungle!!



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This may be the last thing that anyone with a touch of ophidiophobia — fear of snakes — would want to hear: flying snakes have surprisingly good aerodynamic qualities.

Scientists studying the amazing gliding proficiency of an Asian species known as the paradise tree snake say it does two things as it goes airborne. It splays its ribs in order to flatten its profile from round into a more triangular form, and it undulates while airborne — sort of swimming through the air.
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The paradise tree snake is one of the world’s five species of flying snakes, all from the genus Chrysopelea. To be precise, they are gliders, not actual flyers like birds and bats that achieve powered flight.

The mildly venomous snake — green and black with occasional touches of red and orange — has a diameter roughly equal to a human finger and is up to three feet (one meter) long. It lives in rainforests in Southeast Asia and South Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The snake takes to the air from trees, and is capable of gliding about 100 feet (30 meters).

Chrysopelea is also known by its common name “flying snake”. It climbs using ridge scales along its belly, pushing against rough bark surface of tree trunks, allowing it to move vertically up a tree. Upon reaching the end of a tree’s branch, the snake continues moving until its tail dangles from the branch’s end. It then makes a J-shape bend, leans forward to select the level of inclination it wishes to use to control its flight path, as well as selecting a desired landing area. Once it decides on a destination, it propels itself by thrusting its body up and away from the tree, sucking in its abdomen and flaring out its ribs to turn its body into a “pseudo concave wing”, all the while making a continual serpentine motion of lateral undulation parallel to the ground to stabilize its direction in midair in order to land safely.

The combination of sucking in its stomach and making a motion of lateral undulation in the air makes it possible for the snake to glide in the air, where it also manages to save energy compared to travel on the ground and dodge earth-bound predators. The concave wing that a snake creates in sucking in its stomach flattens its body to up to twice its width from the back of the head to the anal vent, which is close to the end of the snake’s tail, causes the cross section of the snake’s body to resemble the cross section of a frisbee or flying disc. When a flying disc spins in the air, the designed cross sectional concavity causes increased air pressure under the center of the disc, causing lift for the disc to fly. A snake continuously moves in lateral undulation to create the same effect of increased air pressure underneath its arched body to glide.[

Wiki says the critters can glide for 100 meters.

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Upon lift off, the snake snake stretches out its ribs, instantly flattening the body and taking on an s shape. This action also causes the belly region of the snake to take on a concave shape that acts as a parachute. The snakes plan is to merely enlarge its surface area and increase air resistance, thus slowing its descent. During this period of flattening, the body expands to nearly double normal width. While aloft, the snake undulates and the body contorts to catch air drafts and glide. While the undulations help propel the snake, their true propose is to control the snakes direction. C. paradisi is unique among the flying snake species by the method it uses to change direction. Most species simply bank in the direction they wish to go. C. paradisi on the other hand, turns by moving the anterior portion of the snakes body. The reason as to why the this snake Genus evolved the ability to glide may be twofold; it could be an adaptation to avoid predation or it may have evolved in response to the two Genus’s of lizard and one Genus of frog prey items that also inhabit this area, the Genus Rhacophorus (Flying Frogs), Genus Draco (Flying Dragons or Gliding Lizards, and the Genus Ptychozoon (the Gliding Geckos).

As far as I could tell, the act of flying snakes hunting other flying reptiles while airborne has not yet been observed by Official Science. Could be it’s just a matter of time.

Flying snakes. They’re real. Next thing you know, it’ll turn out that Australia’s infamous Drop Bears are real too. Crivens.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/24/2014 at 12:18 PM   
Filed Under: • AnimalsFun-Stuff •  
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The Power Of Obama

Yes, this is real. It was sent to the Register-Guard of Eugene Oregon and was published March 19, 2014.

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h/t to Doc


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/24/2014 at 11:24 AM   
Filed Under: • Obama, The One •  
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Persian doorways

Iwan to hide my pendentive squinches behind your pishtaqs

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Both pictures are Iwans on the Jameh Abbasi mosque in Isfahan Iran, built in 1629. An Iwan is a deep, open ended gateway, often with a vaulted ceiling. A portal. More properly, it’s a gateway area that projects from a building, usually a mosque, rather like an attached ramada or a porte-cochere. A pishtag is the flat front plate of the iwan; the ones visible here are decorated with blue tiles. Squinches and pendentives are architectural transitions used where a rectangular building needs to support a circular or semi-circular dome or open archway. In the real world, you probably would not see squinches used with pendentives ever, since they are different solutions to the same problem; if you use one, you don’t use the other one. So I’m just having fun with that.

For a bit more fun, free caulk to the first person besides McGoo who spots the science behind all these man-made stalactites. What do they actually do? Hint: they’re also called honeycombs. Tons of pictures online. Second hint: once you left the building through the iwan, you were usually in a large busy courtyard, probably the bustling bazaar in the middle of town. Out in the blazing sun, buying spices, trading camels, trying to get your flying carpet fixed.

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/24/2014 at 09:22 AM   
Filed Under: • ArchitectureMiscellaneous •  
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calendar   Wednesday - April 23, 2014

Overnight Disgust At Two More End Runs

Two stories I saw today that just make me sick. Sometimes I want to cover stories, but they just upset me too much for reasoned rhetoric. I want to throw a hissy fit, fling monkey poop, and violently silence the opposition. In other words, I want to act like a Democrat.



One, from the 15th: Leftie New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the “National Popular Vote Bill”, pledging to work under the table with a bunch of other states to do an Obama end-run around the Electoral College, by holding off assigning New York’s 29 electoral votes until all the votes in the nation are counted up, at which point NY’s electoral votes would go to the popular vote winner. Regardless of how the people of NY actually voted. And this was done, as far as I know, with no ballot initiative at all. In other words, the people of NY are having the power of their votes taken away from them, pretty much by fiat from the capital at Albany. Nice. Doooouche. But don’t worry, all the talking-points-puppets at the news article think it’s all kinds of wonderful.

AFAIK, California, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Rhode Island, DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Washington state are the ones signed on for this end run.

Ok, I don’t see the real point of having an Electoral College these days, IF those delegates are pledged to vote for their party’s candidate. And I don’t think I’d want them if they weren’t. There has to be a better way in this day and age. Something like, 2 Electing votes per state.  I’m rather tired of the vast majority of states being pushed aside during Presidential elections, and I’m beyond tired of the over-represented, urban voter, often a minority, piss and moan about disenfranchisement, when it’s those very urban areas that usually dictate policy to the rest of the state. What, do you really think New York is just New York City? Nope, that’s just 2 or 3 tiny counties out of 50 or so. Is Michigan only Detroit? Hardly. We need a more equal system at the county level of the states first, to give back some political power to the rural and suburban citizens. After that we’ll figure out how to fix the Electoral College.

But this NPVB? Pure garbage. Unless you want California, New York City, Philadelphia, and Miami Beach to decide who the President will be. Forever. And yeah, those are all totally Dem areas, and this is a totally Dem ( and Dim, and Dum ) idea.



Two, Obama and his boy Holder are going to try and help out “his people” to an extreme. He wants to issue clemency to all the folks in jail for smokin and dealin crack. Probably 85% or more of whom are black urban youths. So while other presidents have done a few pardons, with Obama we’re talking tens of thousands. And an army of homies back on the street. I don’t know about regular stoners, or acid droppers, line snifferes, or other drug users or sellers. But crack heads? Let “my people” go!

In the meantime, however, thousands of inmates are still serving federally mandated sentences that imposed strict penalties for the possession of crack cocaine. The Fair Sentencing Act, which President Obama signed in 2010, reduced the disparity between convictions for crack and powder cocaine, and Obama has called sentences passed under the older guidelines “unduly harsh.” The law also eliminated the five-year mandatory minimum sentence for the simple possession of crack cocaine.

“There are still too many people in federal prison who were sentenced under the old regime — and who, as a result, will have to spend far more time in prison than they would if sentenced today for exactly the same crime,” Holder said Monday. “This is simply not right.”

For about two decades, strict sentences were imposed on offenders convicted of trafficking or possession with intent to traffic crack cocaine in the belief that the substance was more addictive than powder cocaine, inexpensive and linked to violent crime.

Personally, I don’t think he’s going far enough. I mean, for starters, it was the mostly useless US Congress that demanded those onerous penalties and mandatory sentences, “to get tough on crime”. Which is pure crap, just like Zero Tolerance in school systems, Mandatory’s first cousin. So, in an effort to “promote social justice”, Lord Obama is once again - as usual, as ALWAYS - trying to do an end run around the Legislature. He doesn’t even try to work with those stiffs. He just goes around them, every time.

No, not far enough. Anyone in jail, anywhere, for recreational use of any substance, or possession of any drug-like substance with no actual proof of actual distribution, not the BS “intent” ... no weapons or violence involved ... let them go. Do a little bit of fast judicial review, figure out if the DA ran up a fat nonsense rap sheet to make himself look good, and if so, adios muchacho. On the other hand, and this is my big fear that the federal government will screw this up, is that violent felons, gang bangers, and other serious criminals also tend to be recreational drug users. And the cops will bust the fence or the racketeer, and also charge them for the rocks and roaches they find lying around. Those folks, you leave in jail. But Obama and Holder will be “accidentally” stupid and let them out if they happen to be black. You know they will. And we’ll have something like a Charles Bronson movie to deal with. 


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/23/2014 at 09:56 PM   
Filed Under: • Obama, The One •  
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Just playing with guns again

Two wildcat cartridges from the drawing board. Both are designed to fire the .375” 225 grain bullet at about 2000 feet per second, and be short enough and small enough in case diameter to properly stack in an unmodified AR-15 magazine.

One cartridge uses the .35 Remington as its parent, the other one is based on the old Italian 6.5 Carcano.  Either one should work, but both have rather tiny shoulders, and that could lead to headspacing problems. On the third hand, these short cases are formed by cutting down military brass, so the case walls at the shoulder may be exceptionally thick and strong. That kind of thing is hard to tell on a simple computer modeling.

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No, neither cartridge is a super barn burner. Both throw out a big fat chunk of lead at fairly leisurely velocity. Both would actually be superb deer rifles for shorter ranges. Like a .45-70, a .444, or a .375/.38-55 but with less recoil. And on an evil black rifle platform. Mwaaahahaaahaha.

One advantage both these cartridges have is that, on the modeling software, both are very efficient at burning up their powder charges in a short distance. So they’d work as AR pistol rounds too, burning clean in barrels as short as 8” with the right powders, and still giving better velocity than a typical .44 Magnum with nearly identical bullet weight. 


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/23/2014 at 03:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
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nothing new really

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/23/2014 at 03:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East •  
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mid-nite tea

3am again ... up for a bit, feel completely parched. Good time for a nice mug of PG Tips Rich. With a spoonful of sugar but no milk. Mmm, soothing.

We took all 7 tonight at Greed League. I think we only have 1 week left in this season. Right, so we played the almost-last-place team tonight, and fought them to the end. We can get out of last place, right here at the very very end of the season, but to do that we have to beat this team 6 games in a row. We’re halfway there now. Next week will be the clincher. I bowled Ok tonight, 207/147/200. Yeah, I hit a rough patch in Game 2, with 5 opens. Grrr. Some nights I have trouble getting the ball to go where I want, while getting enough hand on the ball to make it do anything (hook, rev, carry, etc).  After adjusting my feet, my hand, and my target I finally got back in the groove. Annoying. But we won that game too, so no biggy.

And who knows, maybe we’ll even have all our guys next week. Maybe. You can never tell with Bob, because his job sends him back and forth to Texas and South America all the time. Almost weekly. He’s missed 2/3 of the season. Again. And this will probably be the last time together for this team. Oh, we’re a good mix personality-wise. No troubles there. It’s just that, with 3 and 1/3 members, we don’t stand a chance in a 5 man team league. So we’re probably going to go our separate ways. And Greed League is so close to dying anyway, sputtering along with 8 teams and unwilling to change it’s old Big League rules to better suite a tiny membership. Besides, I did 3 leagues this year, and that’s at least 1 too many for me. I have no time for hardly anything else.

Back to bed soon. It’s very relaxing, sitting here in the silence and near dark, drawing warmth from the tea mug as it slowly cools. Gaah, I left the tea bag in too long. Ok, now it’s a bit on the acid side, but I’ll drink it anyway.

‘Tay, what’s new at 3:20am in the news??

Oh looky, the IRS is a dirty birdie again. Giving bonuses and paid time off to workers who mouthed off and/or didn’t pay their own taxes. Hey, just like their boss, right? Good old Turbo Tax Timmy Geitner?

IRS employees who had been disciplined for tax and conduct issues were nonetheless rewarded with monetary awards or time off, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday.

The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that while for the most part the reward program for IRS workers complied with federal regulations, employees who had themselves failed to pay their federal taxes and had discipline problems were also rewarded.

“While not prohibited, providing awards to employees who have been disciplined for failing to pay federal taxes appears to create a conflict with the IRS’s charge of ensuring the integrity of the system of tax administration,” Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said.

The watchdog found that in the period from October 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012 over 2,800 employees who had been disciplined for conduct problems, including issues with federal tax compliance, had received over $2.8 million in monetary awards and over 27,000 hours in time-off awards.

Golly. Hey, did you notice how the numbers there line up nearly perfectly? 2,800 workers, $2.8 million in bonuses. That means EVERYONE gets $1000 bonus, across the boards, no matter what. And these are the fuck-ups, don’t forget. And 2,800 workers, >27,000 hours bonus time-off ... just about 10 hours each. EVERYBODY gets a bonus day off with pay, no matter what.  It’s like they’re declaring a dividend. With your tax dollars. And now we need THOUSANDS more of these jokers, ARMED, to make you comply with Obamacare.

The watchdog found that the more than 1,100 employees who had issues with tax compliance received more than $1 million in monetary awards and more than 10,000 hours in time-off awards.

Yup, the numbers stay the same. Even if you work at the tax office and don’t pay your taxes, you STILL get the “guaranteed minimum” bonus of $1000 and 10 hours off with pay.

Meanwhile, the rest of America is asking, “What’s a bonus? Is that anything like a raise? I think I remember those, but I haven’t seen one in several years.”

The IRS had about 100,000 workers during the period under review.

In the 2011 budget year, more than 70,000 IRS workers got cash bonuses totaling $92 million, the report said. In the 2012 budget year, nearly 68,000 workers got cash bonuses totaling $86 million.

That’s $1278, and $1265 per “standout” worker, the “upper” 70% of their workforce. So the difference between Hero and Zero is about $266.

The IRS. So non-discriminatory that everybody gets a slice of happy pie, because pie are free!!

PS - WTF is ANY government agency doing, handing out bonuses of any kind? The friggin’ gall of these bastards knows no bounds.




Hey, gas prices shot up 10 to 15 cents a gallon last week alone! Looks like we’re getting our summer hit a couple months early. Gee, thanks for that Big Stinker Oil.

The average price for regular gasoline at U.S. pumps jumped 8.5 cents in the past two weeks to a 13-month high of $3.69 a gallon, according to the latest survey of prices. Frankly, that doesn’t sound too bad in Walla Walla where the prices are closer to $3.79 a gallon.

This increase (up 43 cents a gallon for the year) is being attributed to a rise in crude oil prices and a higher demand for motor fuel, according to Energy Information Administration data.

Plausible. However, these and other plausible (or semi-plausible) explanations are rolled out year after year just before school lets out and families hit the road for summer vacations. It’s suspicious.

No, it’s bullshit. A new bit of pipeline is open, and the oil is flowing down-country to the Gulf refineries. Where it’s turned into gasoline. And shipped off to other countries.

After reaching a 13-month average high of $3.65 a gallon for regular unleaded in Georgia, gas prices have finally stopped climbing.  At least for now. Gas prices stabilized during the weekend after continually rising over a 20-day period, the AAA said on Monday.

The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.67 on Sunday, an increase of three cents from last week. The average in Georgia rose 7 cents to $3.65, AAA said. Prices in Georgia, Tennessee and Florida didn’t increase at all this past weekend, AAA said, and increases in gas prices last week were smaller than those occurring in previous weeks.

“During the past week, gas price increases slowed until they finally stopped over the weekend,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA, in a press release. “It is too soon to know whether we have seen the peak price for the season, but this is a good sign that relief is on the way for motorists at the pump.”

It’s pretty common for gas prices to rise in the spring, AAA said, with peaks occurring during spring months for the past three years.

Really? Because I’ve been watching carefully for years now, and the real hit comes on the last Wednesday before the Labor Day Weekend. That’s when the boosted up summer prices come in. And stay in. To stick it to you during the part of the year when you might actually want to drive somewhere just for the fun of it. Like, vacation. So what I think I’m reading here, from the Georgia AAA, is more “lie down, shut up, take it and be happy” from our ruling class. Behave peons, and pay!

Bleh. Sod it all, I’m going back to bed.

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PS - WTF?

Oh, Puh-Leeez

Obama sends troops to Poland to pressure Putin ... he sent 150 paratroopers. A hundred. And fifty. For joint exercises with Poland and three other eastern European nations. 4 countries. 150 troops. So that’s what, about 37 troops per country? A bus full each?

Oh yeah, that’ll leave a mark.

Meanwhile, Putin probably moved 40,000 troops and 10 tank brigades to the Belarus border, because they were just sitting around doing nothing. Just in case. And maybe gave them some of those new helmets and new body armor like the troops down in Crimea have, the kind that stops our poodle-shooter bullets. Nice. 


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/23/2014 at 01:55 AM   
Filed Under: • Bowling BloggingNews-Briefs •  
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calendar   Tuesday - April 22, 2014

Count along with me boys and girls!!

One and two and three dead terrorists

Four and five and six dead terrorists

Al Asiri and 54 dead Yemeni terrorists

Not all of them killed by drones

Special Forces Strike In Yemen Yields Bonanza

Al Qaeda Master Bomb Maker and dozens of others taken out

Al Qaeda Chief Explosives Expert Dead in ‘Unprecedented’ US Op.

Reports indicate that a massive US military operation in Yemen on Saturday and Sunday killed well over 55 Al Qaeda terrorists. Among the dead reportedly is Ibrahim al-Asiri, the chief bomb maker of the terrorist organization.

A 4x4 truck which the 32-year-old al-Asiri was thought to be in was ambushed by US special forces over the weekend, according to the Daily Mail.

The US special forces, who were dropped in by helicopter, reportedly took position by the road and waited for the truck to arrive before showering it with a hail of bullets. While the occupants managed to fire back, all were killed in the barrage.

Trained dogs were used by soldiers to identify those in the truck, and troops later confirmed that one was a “high value militant.” If the rumors of al-Asiri’s death are true, he would be the most senior Al Qaeda terrorist killed since Osama Bin Laden in May 2011.

Al-Asiri is considered an explosives expert, and was the mastermind behind the failed 2009 “underwear bombing” attempt on a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit. An upgraded underwear bomb, also thought to be Al-Asiri’s work, was foiled by the CIA in 2012.

An Al Qaeda mastermind whose plots included a notorious aircraft underpants bomb is believed to have been killed by special forces in Yemen.

Ibrahim al-Asiri, who was also suspected of concealing explosives in ink cartridges found on planes at East Midlands Airport, is said to have died in a shootout.

Officials in Yemen said they were ‘confident’ the terror chief, who specialised in building devices for mid-air attacks, was one of the victims of the ambush.

Efforts were yesterday being made to identify the body but, if confirmed, the strike will be the most high-profile against Al Qaeda leaders since Osama bin Laden and hate cleric Anwar al-Awlaki were killed in 2011.
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A Yemeni government official said: ‘The body of a high-value Al Qaeda target is being tested to confirm its identity.’

The shooting, on Sunday night, was part of a three-day operation against AQAP.

At least 65 militants were killed in the offensive involving CIA-controlled drone strikes, bombing raids by Yemeni jets and missions by US and Yemeni special forces.

The raids followed the release of a video showing al-Wuhayshi urging a large group of extremists at an open-air meeting to ‘eliminate’ America.

The ambush took place on a road in the lawless southern Shabwa province, east of the capital Sanaa. Al-Asiri is Al Qaeda’s most notorious bombmaker and is the prime suspect in several airliner plots.



Is it a total victory? Hella no. But it’s a big set back for them. And a nice training exercise for those troops: I’ve read in other places that these were US supported troops, not necessarily US forces; that implies that they were nearly-local boys trained up to do the job. Like Saudis, or Yemenis, or Iraqi troops. And that would make this a better win than if it was just Uncle doing the cleaning out of the sandbox.

But ... whatever. Nearly 5 dozen brain baked loonies taken down. That’s 3888 raisins in the afterlife, at 72 each. Not a bad haul for a holiday weekend.

h/t to Rusty


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/22/2014 at 09:46 PM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists •  
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burning up an hour

Via the Rott, a massive, hour long read of a superb essay ... from Taxicab Depressions blog comes The Pig Trap.

From a conversation in a taxi to the Declaration of Independence, to the NSA, Fast and Furious, civil war, limited government, and more and more and more ... it’s all here.

And some of the conclusions are the polar opposite of “feel good, win-win solutions” ...

“These people are playing with matches… I don’t think they understand the scope and scale of the wildfire they are flirting with. They are fucking around with a civil war that could last a decade and cause millions of deaths… and the sad truth is that 95% of the problems we have in this country could be solved tomorrow, by noon… simply by dragging 100 people out in the street and shooting them in the fucking head.”

And lemme tell ya, he had the list… he rattled off 25 or 30 names of well-known, prominent politicians, mostly Democrats, but a few Republicans, several members of the current Cabinet, a couple of Obama’s “czars”, a couple of figures from the Bush administration and the Republican establishment, several media company executives and on-camera newscasters, reporters, and pundits, a couple of people who are active in leftist politics but not in elected office… he had obviously thought about this to some degree already.

I was struck by his cold, detached, matter-of-fact tone. I said, “Dude… that’s more French Revolution than American Revolution. Do you really think that is the way to go?”

Wheeler said, “I believe in efficiency and economy of action. You wouldn’t trade one hundred of those criminal bastards for ten million of your fellow Americans?”

I don’t remember if I actually answered out loud, but in my my head, the answer was, “Yeah, I probably would…”

It’s not all a 3% solution or a Reset Button pushing. There is some sipping of some rather bitter tea, along with some barbecue ..

All I want is the government that I was promised by my ninth grade civics teacher… a government of laws, not of men, a government with checks and balances, lawfully enforced to restrain and contain the government from infringing on the rights of populace. But all of this has been swept aside in my lifetime; now criminals like Eric Holder and Charlie Rangel and Al Sharpton and Lois Lerner and Jon Corzine suffer no sanction or consequence for openly and nakedly breaking the law. They are now part of a protected class, when 250 years ago, they would have been lucky to only have suffered being tarred and feathered.

... and the wonderful, classical allegory of trapping pigs ...

He said that commercial traps are available, but pigs are smart, and will often be wary of a new metal object suddenly appearing in their environment, and his home-made trap was much more effective. He told me that these three sections are left up year round, and over time, the pigs learn that this metal object poses no threat, and there is frequently delicious corn, slop, and beer to be had here. The scent of the slop and beer travels a long way across the property, and over time, the pigs are conditioned to not fear the strange metal object.

... national debt ... gun control ... even nasty ol’ Mooch comes into play. 

Wow. well done.  Read it. React to it. Opine on it. Let the debate and discussion commence.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/22/2014 at 02:15 PM   
Filed Under: • FREEDOM •  
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adding some color

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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/22/2014 at 01:50 PM   
Filed Under: • Eye-Candy •  
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the sorry state of france today.

Just so ya know, it isn’t just the French who have problems with these vermin.
That said, it does often appear to be worse there than it is here.  I have not heard or read of it happening as often in say London, as I have Paris.
If the authorities could only wake up.  Shoot and kill the bastards as soon as they are caught. Bang,bang and continue until the rest of their verminous kind get the message and stay away.  If word got out that people were no longer willing to put up with their shit, things would change for the better.  I have no doubt about that. 

More then 30 yrs ago the wife and I spent three days there.  Never saw or heard of a problem. This was long before the new agreement among the lefty euros who roped what became the EU, into that disastrous open border thing. We even went out late at night walking in Paris, others were out also, no problem. Never saw a Roma camp or any of those sub species.

The police can call for ‘systematic eviction’ all they want, til the cows come home if it makes em feel any better. But what will cure the slime invasion isn’t systematic eviction, it is plainly and rightly systematic extermination.  And especially those young enough to breed more of their kind. No age restrictions. Total elimination to cut the cancer out once and for all. 
Since that logical course will never occur, we can look for more of the same, and look for it to become worse. And there is no ‘if possible’ about it. There is no ‘if’, as it will be possible. Time will prove me correct in this.

Caught on camera: Moment brazen cash-point thieves swarm around middle-aged tourist near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and take his money

An aggressive gang of Roma sneak thieves surround a tourist
Within seconds they casually try to help themselves to his money
Police last week called for the ‘systematic eviction’ of Roma

By Peter Allen

With the bells of Notre Dame heralding a glorious Easter Sunday morning, a tourist uses a cash point a short stroll from the ancient Paris cathedral.

Within seconds he is surrounded by an aggressive gang of Roma sneak thieves, who make no secret of what they want from him.

Feeling hands on his back and arms, the middle age man turns around in horror to see the utterly fearless gang casually trying to help themselves to his money.

Such scenes have become so common in the French capital that police last week called for the ‘systematic eviction’ of Roma.

Groups of thieves, many of them teenagers, swarm around the main tourist landmarks day and night.

‘They respect nobody – they just want money or anything else they can steal,’ said another tourist who witnessed the incident at the cashpoint between Notre Dame and the Louvre museum, in the 1st arrondissement.

image

‘It might have been Easter, but the gangs were everywhere,’ she said. ‘One minute the man was making a cash withdrawal, the next he was a crime victim.

‘If the police come anywhere near the Roma, they just laugh and then run off. Areas are becoming completely lawless.’

Paris is the most popular tourist destination in the world, and the British make up the city’s biggest visitor group, but its battle against the Roma is a losing one.

read and see more


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/22/2014 at 12:46 PM   
Filed Under: • FRANCETravelers/Gypsies/Squatters •  
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Affirmative Action Dies In Michigan

SCOTUS: 6-2 Ruling:

States Can Decide Whether Race Is College Admission Factor



The Supreme Court has upheld Michigan’s affirmative action ban, ruling that the state has the right to determine whether racial preferences can be considered in college admissions.

In a 6-2 ruling on Tuesday, the justices said that a lower federal court was wrong to set aside the change as discriminatory. The Supreme Court ruled that Michigan voters had the right to change their state constitution to bar public colleges and universities from using race as a factor in admissions.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, suggested that right extends even beyond college policies.

“There is no authority in the federal constitution or in the [courts’] precedents for the judiciary to set aside Michigan laws that commit to the voters the determination whether racial preferences may be considered in governmental decisions, in particular with respect to school admissions,” he wrote.

Kennedy said voters chose to eliminate racial preferences because they deemed them unwise.

“This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved. It is about who may resolve it,” Kennedy said.

Well, kind of. And the answer about who is ... We The People. Always was anyway.
And one way to “resolve” them is to eliminate them. And make college a choice for the best students, ignoring race, gender, religion, sports ability, and sexual alignment entirely.

The decision reads inside-out: the federal government does not have the power to annul state laws that give the people of that state (ie the voters) the power to shut down Affirmative Action programs in state institutions, primarily regarding school admissions, but extending to all government functions.

Hell, that still isn’t very clear, is it? Here: The people can vote to get rid of race preferential policies at the state government level. That includes the state colleges. The people can also vote to put Affirmative Action stuff into place at the state government level if they want.

Bottom line: the power’s to the people. Right on.

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision tramples on the rights of minorities, even though the amendment was adopted democratically. “But without checks, democratically approved legislation can oppress minority groups,” said Sotomayor, who read her dissent aloud in the courtroom Tuesday. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sided with Sotomayor in dissent.

At 58 pages, Sotomayor’s dissent was longer than the combined length of the four opinions in support of the outcome.

Yeah, well what else would you expect from a crazy chola? She had to pitch a fit or somebody could cut a bitch.

I would like an absolute social avalanche to come of this. I don’t want there to even be a box to check for race or gender on any state mandated form. Not on a college admission, not on a mortgage application, not on your driver’s license. And I want to see those columns dropped from all the government databases, everywhere. They simply aren’t necessary, and their very existence degrades real equality.

Today is a great day in American history.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 04/22/2014 at 10:46 AM   
Filed Under: • FREEDOMRacism and race relations •  
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to think this could be ours but for being short of spare change.

In US currency .... at current rate of exchange, that makes this pile $5,046,211.68.

And worth every penny too.

OK so .... the sell price is only the beginning. There’s upkeep and grounds and all sorts of other neat stuff. But I could see living here.
Get a printing press and make my own money.

Wife on some sort of diet that’s making me crazy. Or is it just dizzy? Or both? 

Anyway ,,, here’s a nice change from the usual.

Gone With The Wind actress Vivien Leigh’s country retreat where her ashes were scattered goes on sale for £3.5 million

Country estate, which includes bluebell wood, walled garden and gardener’s cottage, bought by the actress in 1961
She used the estate to get away from London, spending hours in the garden and receiving many famous guests
On the market for around £3.5million, estate agents expect a surge in interest because of the famous former-resident

By Richard Spillett

The former country home of one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses has gone on the market for £3.5million.

Tickerage Mill, near Uckfield, East Sussex, was bought by Vivien Leigh for just £20,000 in 1961 and, after she died of tuberculosis in 1967, her ashes were scattered on the pond of the country estate.

Estate agents say interest in the property has soared since its current owners, Ken and Honer Hoggins, decided to sell up.

image

more photos here


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Posted by peiper   United Kingdom  on 04/22/2014 at 09:42 AM   
Filed Under: • ArchitectureUK •  
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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