News Miscellany

[Watser?]

I keep reading news that doesn't necessarily need its own thread but don't really want to throw it in Miscellany as it is kinda newsy. So this is where I'll throw that from now on.

So in Egypt this happened today: 21 Egyptian soldiers killed in rocket attack in Al-Wadi Al-Gedid

[JoeP]

This probably deserves its own thread. But I also felt it warranted a generic disaster porn thread. So I've gone with neither and come here.

BBC News - Japan volcano: Search suspended as toll rises

At least 36 people are believed to have died when Mt Ontake erupted unexpectedly on Saturday.

I don't think I can link it here but there's a pretty good under- and inside-the-ash-cloud video.

[Watser?]

Pittsburgh's 'Conflict Kitchen' is latest battleground over Palestine, free speech and criticism of Israel

[erimir]

Originally Posted by Watser?

Pittsburgh's 'Conflict Kitchen' is latest battleground over Palestine, free speech and criticism of Israel

I've eaten there before. If it's open when I visit Pittsburgh again, I might try to get some of that...

[SR71]

Man Arrested in Bizarre Naked Rampage at Boston Airport - NBC News

Authorities in Boston arrested a man who allegedly stripped naked inside a women's restroom at Logan International Airport, climbed into a drop ceiling, crashed through and then attacked an 84-year-old man, state police said. A motive for the bizarre rampage, which played out at 11:58 a.m. Saturday at Logan’s Terminal C, is unknown.

Motive? Who needs a motive? I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you guys that a bizarre, naked rampage is its own reward. Wooh hooh! Good times!

[jerkules]

I wonder what kind of crap they will find in his system?

[Watser?]

European Parliament Opts For Watered-Down Palestine Motion, Court Rules Hamas Should Be Removed From Terror List

[LadyShea]

Guy writes this You don’t protect my freedom: Our childish insistence on calling soldiers heroes deadens real democracy - Salon.com

Feels the wrath of the 'Murka Fuck Yeah crowd My Week in the Right-Wing Lie Machine: When Fox News and Montel Williams Declared War on Me | Alternet

Michelle Malkin, whose claim to fame is defending the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, followed all of the action closely and provided her fans with updates on Twitchy – a conservative Us Weekly without the charm – and contributed to the conversation about war, peace and militarism by calling me a “jack ass” and “douche bag.”

The inclusion of my own personal experiences with veterans, and the testimony of their own heartbreak over the costs of carrying out the orders of Empire, would have humanized my argument. But I wonder if it would have made any measure of difference. The overwhelming majority of readers who reacted with rage to my article showed no evidence of actually reading it. Had the people who accused me of “hating the troops” or “supporting terrorism” given the essay even a cursory look, they would have seen that I twice stated that some of the troops are heroes, but that many are not. They would have also learned that, unlike many of the political pawns of the Pentagon who can’t cry enough tears for our “heroes,” I support providing all veterans with the best possible healthcare and psychiatric services. My antiwar advocacy and resistance to militarism is, partially, motivated by solidarity with the military – a term I used in the original essay. Fewer soldiers fighting fewer wars translates into fewer funerals, and less waste and betrayal of the bravery that active duty military personnel do display on the battlefield. In the words of historian Thaddeus Russell, “calling soldiers heroes gets more soldiers killed.”

[viscousmemories]

I don't understand the fuss. It's not like he suggested giving Christians the benefit of the doubt on an Atheist forum.

[LadyShea]

'Bitcoin Jesus' Visa Application Denied - Business Insider

Ver complains that the decision has forced him to miss speaking appointments at conferences and that the US embassy in Barbados refused to even consider the evidence for his application.

The official reasoning behind Ver's rejection is that he doesn't have sufficient "ties" to his country of residency in the Caribbean and has not demonstrated he has "the ties that will compel [him] to return to your home country after your travel to the United States," according to a picture he tweeted of a letter that appears to be from the embassy.

Read more: 'Bitcoin Jesus' Visa Application Denied - Business Insider

[erimir]

[Dingfod]

Sad Trombone

[lpetrich]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

'Bitcoin Jesus' Visa Application Denied - Business Insider

I saw that news also. What great news it was. He renounced his US citizenship because he doesn't want to pay US taxes, then he's not allowed back in.

His adopted home is St. Kitts and Nevis Islands in the Caribbean, and he's encouraged others to join him there. Will he also rename his new home the Galt Islands?

[Angakuk]

The Man Without a Country

[ChuckF]

This is just sort of a random 'bortion miscellany. Today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade () so they have that big silly anti-bortion demonstration on Washington. Whatevs.

NPR had some audio this evening of the demonstrators' chant, which I am pretty sure was exactly this: "Hey Obama, yo momma chose life." It rhymes, like rap music, I guess.

I was a little surprised that the pro-life folks included both a mom burn and a reference to choice in their six word chant, so when I got home I googled it to be sure I hadn't misheard, and it turns out that this is a whole thing on the internet. (Google helpfully includes results for "hey obama your momma choose life.")

So I guess my question is, what is that intended to mean? Like yeah, the president's mother chose not to have an abortion. Therefore ________. I guess if she had chosen to have an abortion, Obama would not have been born? And therefore...? What is this getting at?

[LadyShea]

Pro lifers are terrified of their own non-existence...that's why they are mostly theists...and so assume that the very thought of not existing must be terrifying to everyone. They've always said that "What if your mother chose abortion?" like that should cause your feels to get all bad. When countered with "If my mother chose abortion I wouldn't be here to even know or care" they get a short circuit in their brain, mostly, and change the subject to whores or whatever. They don't go at it logical or anything.

[LadyShea]

In other words

So I guess my question is, what is that intended to mean? Like yeah, the president's mother chose not to have an abortion. Therefore Obama.

I guess if she had chosen to have an abortion, Obama would not have been born? And therefore No Obama.

A world with No Obama is a horrible, terrible, awful, scary place to Obama in their minds, so they remind him of that other possible world with No Obama

[Kael]

"If my mother had me aborted, then someone else who thinks about this issue in more depth than 'babies=good/whores=bad' would be here talking to you."

[ChuckF]

Yeah, ok I guess, fine. The literally uncountable contingencies that could have resulted in my non-existence aren't as catchy. Like, what if my great grandfather had elected to settle in Pennsylvania and as a result my grandfather would not had the job opportunity that resulted in a job in Chicago where he met the woman who would become my grandmother? WHAT THEN YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT IT

Their other chant was something like "We like babies, yes, we do!" Who am I to say otherwise?

[erimir]

If Hitler hadn't killed millions of people, none of us would likely be here. Since my existence is contingent on that event, I guess I must consider it a good thing.

[LadyShea]

Those are good pro lifer brain borking arguments as well.

[erimir]

But also my mom and dad are assholes for not giving birth to my 15 other siblings who are undoubtedly very upset that they don't exist.

[BrotherMan]

I'd say the real genocide is all the pregnancies you women don't have every month. You should really feel bad about that.

[Kael]

And what about all the babbies that might have fromed if women weren't so selfish that they only released one egg at a time, when men go through all the effort of releasing 200-500 million sperm per ejaculation? That's like 18-45 Holocausts every time! All those unborn babbies! Did you every think of that? Huh? HUH?!

#everysperm

[Angakuk]

Every Sperm Is Sacred