A Spork in the Drawer

Rigged Game (As If You Didn't Know That Already)

Example #1:

Traders at some of the world’s biggest banks manipulated benchmark foreign-exchange rates used to set the value of trillions of dollars of investments, according to five dealers with knowledge of the practice.

Employees have been front-running client orders and rigging WM/Reuters rates by pushing through trades before and during the 60-second windows when the benchmarks are set, said the current and former traders, who requested anonymity because the practice is controversial. Dealers colluded with counterparts to boost chances of moving the rates, said two of the people, who worked in the industry for a total of more than 20 years.

Example #2:

A contract signed by Thomson Reuters, the news agency and data provider, and the University of Michigan, which produces the widely cited economic statistic, stipulates that the data will be posted on the web for the general public at 10 a.m. on the days it is released.

Five minutes before that, at 9:55 a.m., the data is distributed on a conference call for Thomson Reuters' paying clients, who are given certain headline numbers.

But the contract carves out an even more elite group of clients, who subscribe to the "ultra-low latency distribution platform," or high-speed data feed, offered by Thomson Reuters. Those most elite clients receive the information in a specialized format tailor-made for computer-driven algorithmic trading at 9:54:58.000, according to the terms of the contract. On occasion, they could get the data even earlier—the contract allows for a plus or minus 500 milliseconds margin of error.

The only winning move is not to play.

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They Just Can't Help Themselves

Rep. Trent Franks takes to the microphone during a committee hearing:

The incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low.

Let a thousand Todd Akins bloom!

Franks proceeded to venture into complete incoherence:

But when you make that exception [allowing rape victims to get abortions], there’s usually a requirement to report the rape within 48 hours. And in this case that’s impossible because this is in the sixth month of gestation. And that’s what completely negates and vitiates the purpose of such an amendment.

Okay!

That the Republican Party still exists, and can actually get quite a few people actually elected, makes me sad.

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This Weekend Have A Few Rounds With The Boys WTF Wednesday

posted by gyma

UPDATE: Can't find anything better than this for the WTF Wednesday post, so this will have to do!

So says the ad for Helicopter Sniper Adventures out of Texas. For $795:

The Helicopter Sniper Adventure in Aubrey will take you and your buddies through an airborne obstacle course, giving marksmen the chance to take down targets from the air in a SEAL-style exercise.

Armed with military-style, semiautomatic rifles, customers soar through the air and shoot at targets in building windows, in ponds and on the ground as the helicopter sweeps over the plains-like trees and scrub.

Sounds like harmless fun, except if you happen to live in the area!

Your Liberal Media

Oy:

The Washington Post today announces “Sponsored Views,” a new online advertising feature that invites organizations to post commentary related to or in response to content from The Washington Post’s Opinion section.

[...]

“Sponsored Views’ premium placement enables participants to provide their perspectives with unparalleled contextual relevance, while still keeping the lines between news and sponsored messages crystal clear,” said Steve Hills, President and General Manager of The Washington Post. “This unique advertising initiative is yet another example of our business team’s dedication to create innovative products for advertisers,” Hills said.

This is everything wrong with what passes for journalism today. On growth hormones.

[Via Athenae.]

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Mindset

Lurking barely below the surface is a pretty strong authoritarian impulse:

"In World War II, the mentality of the public was that our whole way of life was at risk, we're all in. We censored the mail. When you wrote a letter overseas, it got censored. When a letter was written back from the battlefield to home, they looked at what was in the letter to make sure they were not tipping off the enemy," Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill. "If I thought censoring the mail was necessary, I would suggest it, but I don't think it is."

It seems necessary, for the umpteenth time, to point out that the current "war", defined as being against a tactic, cannot ever be over, let alone "won". So all these programs what "keep us safe" will never go away and, indeed, will have to be constantly expanded as, again, a tactic can't be eliminated.

But we'll be safe from them (until we're not). Safe from ourselves, not so much.

[Via watertiger.]

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Rockin'

New Neko:

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The Gay Lobby

Found at last.

Dominus vobiscum!

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The Most Important News You'll Read All Year. Perhaps All Century.

Sen. John McCain (who was once a POW, if you didn't know) approves of Apple's new iOS 7.

Now if only the Senator could remember in which one of the houses he's forgotten about he left his iPhone.

Boom! Pow!

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Raising The White Flag

Obama gives up trying to restrict Plan B access.

I can't for the life of me figure out why the Administration chose that hill to die on.

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Team Players

Poll:

A large majority of Americans say the federal government should focus on investigating possible terrorist threats even if personal privacy is compromised, and most support the blanket tracking of telephone records in an effort to uncover terrorist activity, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll.

And here is the key:

But with a Democratic president at the helm instead of a Republican, partisan views have turned around significantly.

If I've learned only one thing over the past four-plus years it's that few people have any principles beyond their team winning.

[Via digby.]

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The Power Of Marketing To Young Minds

posted by gyma

This is an interesting look at branding from a five-year old's perspective.

 

Does Not Bode Well

posted by gyma

Summer hasn't even begun and I'm already sick of it.

The United Stasi Of America

Daniel Ellsberg:

The government claims it has a court warrant under Fisa – but that unconstitutionally sweeping warrant is from a secret court, shielded from effective oversight, almost totally deferential to executive requests. As Russell Tice, a former National Security Agency analyst, put it: "It is a kangaroo court with a rubber stamp."

For the president then to say that there is judicial oversight is nonsense – as is the alleged oversight function of the intelligence committees in Congress. Not for the first time – as with issues of torture, kidnapping, detention, assassination by drones and death squads –they have shown themselves to be thoroughly co-opted by the agencies they supposedly monitor. They are also black holes for information that the public needs to know.

The fact that congressional leaders were "briefed" on this and went along with it, without any open debate, hearings, staff analysis, or any real chance for effective dissent, only shows how broken the system of checks and balances is in this country.

Obviously, the United States is not now a police state. But given the extent of this invasion of people's privacy, we do have the full electronic and legislative infrastructure of such a state.

The chances of us seeing a 21st Century Church Committee are vanishingly small, I assume, given that Congress, and specifically the Intelligence Committees, seem all too happy to allow this to go on. Of course, when domestic spying is exposed some members are also all too happy to hypocritically attempt to score political points off it. Until we see a new Church Committee or a real attempt to repeal most, if not all, of the comically misnamed PATRIOT Act, those people can be safely ignored.

Then again, there are safegurds:

Detailed algorithms try to determine whether something is U.S. citizen-related or not. “It shows analysts, ‘we’ve got a U.S. citizen here, so we’ve got to be careful with it,’” he said.

But the process isn’t perfect, and sometimes what should be private information reaches agencies not authorized to see it.

In that case, there are policies in place to “destroy that kind of information not file it or keep it if an American’s name coincidentally or serendipitously comes up,” John Negroponte, the first director of national intelligence, said in an Associated Press interview Friday.

This would be the same John Negroponte who also ran deathsquads in Honduras so if you can't trust his judgement, whose can you trust?

In the meantime...

We're catching a lot of flak for giving #Snowden an ultra top secret security clearance, but in fairness to us HEY LOOK, A SQUIRREL

— PRISM US Gov (@PRISM_NSA) June 10, 2013

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This Much Is True

Glaswegians don't really grasp the concept of Mardi Gras.

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Source

Edward Snowden.

Although I'm not sure Hong Kong is best place to seek sanctuary.

–––

ADDED: Video interview with Snowden.

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Heh

Repurposed:

[Via Dan Gillmor.]

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It's About Time

The NYT finally notices that the Sabbath Gasbag teevee programs tend to have the same guests on week after week:

Yet on many given Sundays — over 60 of them since 2010 — Mr. McCain repairs to a television studio in Washington to hold forth. On “Face the Nation” alone, Mr. McCain has appeared more than any other politician in the program’s 60-year history.

His Sunday ubiquity has set off some grumbling in Washington that producers give him too much airtime. It also tends to solidify the impression in living rooms across America that he remains the spokesman for, and titular head of, his party.

Steve Benen, at his old place, kept tabs on how often McCain (who was once a POW, if you didn't know) appeared on these shows. At least until it became a given and totting up the total became superfluous.

The programs’ producers and members of Congress — and, to some degree, White House officials — collaborate in a weekly seduction ritual in which producers try mightily to get the most powerful guests and newsmakers of the moment, as the guests’ staffs weigh the risks of stepping before some of the toughest questioners in Washington.

The "toughest questioners in Washington" line is simply to remind readers that the NYT has a sense of humor. I assume. (They couldn't possibly be serious, right?)

Many guests believe that the talk shows also contribute to the partisan disharmony in Washington, though that may be like blaming a speck of pepper for the flavor of a 10-gallon pot of soup. Even the highest-rated programs attract fewer than 2.5 million viewers, a tiny audience by the standards of network television.

While there's no way to measure it, the influence these shows have goes far beyond the number of viewers who tune in: what is said sets the terms, the limits, of what is acceptable debate. That's what matters. And that's why constricting the range of voices on these programs is so damaging.

Let's see Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein and Barbara Ehrenreich, to name just three, become regular Sunday bloviators. Then perhaps we can have a conversation.

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Noted Without Comment



Here at PRISM we've been flooded with offers of volunteer surveillance help. Nice of you! But folks, you've all been volunteering since 2007

— PRISM US Gov (@PRISM_NSA) June 8, 2013

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Because It's Sunday

posted by gyma

This made my head hurt.

 

Saturday Palate Cleanser

Walt Disney presents!

Uncle Walt's frozen head thanks you for your attention.

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The New Normal

Not so much with the spreading the wealth around:

The first three months of 2013 saw wages fall 3.8 percent – the largest drop in hourly pay in the 65-year history of that statistic – despite an increase in worker productivity.

Shouldn't wages be rising with productivity? Well...

Note and consider the approximate date of the divergence.

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Housing Bubble Part II

posted by gyma

I've been wondering for some time what was behind the recent increase in housing prices. I've been looking for another job since the beginning of the year and it sure doesn't feel like an improving job market could be behind it.

And then I read this and this. Aha! Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night.

Seems the banksters (remember those guys) are behind the feeding frenzy, particularly in Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Sacremento. My sympathies if you own a home in one of these markets.

Institutional investors are piling into those markets. They are instrumental in slowing down foreclosures in order to artificially restrict the market, which raise prices. This is how they intend to get 7.5% to 8% ROI and they have invested billions to snatch up thousands and thousands of single-family homes they intend to rent to families pushed out of their homes due to foreclosures.

Jamie Dimon's too-big-to-fail piece of crap bank, JPMorgan Chase, estimated institutional investors have a total of $10 billion to invest in such properties. And you won't be surprised to know the Obama administration has sweetened the pot by providing taxpayer financing to reduce the risk while maximizing the profit.

Sound familiar? You just *know* this ain't going to end well.

Speaking Of Our Cousins Across The Pond

Popping in on the peasants:

The Queen "photobombed" the news on Friday in one of the more surreal moments in live broadcasting history as she officially opened the BBC's revamped Broadcasting House in central London.

As BBC News presenters Julian Worricker and Sophie Long addressed viewers from their glass-windowed studio, the Queen, who was being given a studio tour, loomed into view behind them, peering intently from the newsroom.

The two turned to see the diminutive Queen, resplendent in turquoise coat and hat, linger for several long seconds as BBC journalists crowded behind her raised a resounding cheer.

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The Special Relationship*

Across the pond:

The UK's electronic eavesdropping and security agency, GCHQ, has been secretly gathering intelligence from the world's biggest internet companies through a covertly run operation set up by America's top spy agency, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.

Perhaps an interesting question about all of this is why have the floodgates been opened on this program? Is somebody fed up with the domestic spying? Or is somebody officially unofficially strategically leaking in order to divert attention from something else (known or unknown) and is confident that exposure of Prism will be shrugged-off in short order (and it will be shrugged-off before too long)?

*Cf.

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UPDATE: Question possibly answered. I missed this earlier.

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Passing Strange

The Atlanta Tea Party is demanding more solar power generation.

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Panopticon

Tony:

In a national security state, lawmakers who aren't competent enough to run a midsized lemonade stand think nothing of drafting and enacting draconian laws they insist are compatible with democracy. That's why our elected representatives were able to conceive and pass the Patriot Act in the panicky weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks. Their wisdom has proven so irrefutable in the dozen years since that neither the Democratic nor Republican parties even flirts with the idea of repealing the Patriot Act. Excesses? What excesses?

The national security state insists that its presidents have a bipartisan disregard for such abstract concepts as civil liberties so long as a single terrorist roams free somewhere on the planet. President Barack Obama may have won two elections by appealing to the hopes and dreams of an electorate hungry for a progressive vision of government power, but that doesn't mean he wants civil libertarians erecting statues in his honor. He's determined to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with his predecessor down the path to 24-hour government surveillance of everything.

[...]

But in a national security state, we're taught that our enemies are everywhere, not just overseas. A couple of days ago, we woke up only to discover that the enemy looks and sounds suspiciously like -- us!

Meanwhile, by way of Kevin, we find out yet more:

NSA has established similar relationships with credit-card companies, three former officials said.

Combine cellphone and landline data and credit and debit card data and that's pretty much the whole ball of fish. It would not surprise me in the least if we at some point find out the NSA (or the Ministry of Homeland Security or some low-level White House political drone) has the power to surreptitiously turn on the web cameras on our computer monitors and watch what we do at home. Not in the least.

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ADDED: Very interesting.

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What Digby Said

True:

The FISA vote was a memorable moment and one that sparked some particularly nasty infighting, even among a few Obama supporters. I was extremely unimpressed, as was Dday, who wrote here in those days. Atrios even anointed Obama "wanker of the day." But the usual frenzied beat down of all criticism ensued and we were never able to muster the sustained opposition to the president on this issue that might have made him think twice about pursuing these policies. Spilled milk. But there's a lesson in it: listen closely.

He was very careful with his words in that earlier statement. And his words implied the opposite of what he has ended up doing . (He used similar misdirection about deficit reduction and the Social Security issue on the stump last year.) He's a politician and a very, very good one. And much of the liberal left has never been able to really hear him.

That said, I don't think it's that liberals haven't been able to hear Obama but simply they aren't willing to listen.

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Maybe Someday Enough People Will Give A Damn

But probably not.

The latest:

The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.

The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called PRISM, which allows them to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.

[...]

The NSA access was enabled by changes to US surveillance law introduced under President Bush and renewed under Obama in December 2012.

[...]

Some of the world's largest internet brands are claimed to be part of the information-sharing program since its introduction in 2007. Microsoft – which is currently running an advertising campaign with the slogan "Your privacy is our priority" – was the first, with collection beginning in December 2007.

It was followed by Yahoo in 2008; Google, Facebook and PalTalk in 2009; YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL in 2011; and finally Apple, which joined the program in 2012. The program is continuing to expand, with other providers due to come online.

–––

ADDED: The WaPo has yet more.

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Remember Ken Buck?

posted by gyma

Weld County, where Buck is currently district attorney, is soooo pissed off at the Colorado legislature for passing gun control laws that it wants to form its own state.

The Weld County Board of Commissioners has proposed the formation of a new state, North Colorado, following what they consider "overreach" by the state legislature during the most recent legislative session.

Commissioner Mike Freeman said that some of the actions taken by the legislature this year constituted an "outright attack on rural Colorado." Specifically, Freeman pointed to gun control measures passed earlier this year and the signing of Senate Bill 252 on Wednesday.

SB 252 has to do with renewable energy so you just know it has to be controversial!

Can't Be Disputed

In regards to the massive domestic spying operation revealed by Glenn Greenwald, Sen. Dianne Feinstein declares:

It’s called protecting America.

Yes, that justification certainly can go a long way.

As a side note, every time I hear the term homeland I think of jackboots.

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Millennials

posted  by gyma

If you work with Millennials you'll find this both funny and frustrating. And if you *supervise* Millennials, you'll want to retire ASAP.

 

Official Get Off My Lawn Status

posted by gyma

I'm going to go on the record as an official old fart. Yesterday I took the car to our mechanic because the check engine light came on. It was caused by the wear and tear of the gas cap seal so a new gas cap fixed the problem.

The OEM cap cost $26, but the entire bill was just over $161. Then I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some apples. Six apples cost almost $10.

No wonder I feel so damn old and cranky!

Can You Hear Me Now

posted by gyma

Will Eric Holder pursue The Guardian (and Glenn Greenwald) with the same zeal his department is pursuing Julian Assange?

The court order expressly bars Verizon from disclosing to the public either the existence of the FBI's request for its customers' records, or the court order itself.

If you squint you can clearly see this constitutes aiding and abetting the enemy. So who leaked this information?

Okey-Doke

New York City's bicycle-sharing program is a plot by Nazis (the original, German kind) and Islamists.

Or so say our friends on the right.

So you've been warned, I guess, or something.

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Our Glorious Monsanto Future

There might be a problem here:

One week after the revelation that an Oregon farmer had found genetically engineered wheat growing in his fields, scientists remain mystified over how the strain — apparently the remains of a test crop shut down a dozen years ago — got there.

But few are surprised. Even with extensive precautions, gene-altered plants turn up in unwanted places regularly enough that farmers have come to consider a few of them weeds, and even a threat to their livelihood.

That strikes as a not good thing.

Farmers can accidentally mix bags of natural and modified seed. Combines that harvest a gene-altered crop can pick up its seeds, then drop them while harvesting a field of natural plants.

[...]

Concerns about transfers to the wild already had stalled approvals of genetically altered crops like sunflowers and rice. During tests in Oregon of a pesticide-tolerant bentgrass in 2003, “introgression of the transgene into weedy populations was detected at a considerable distance from the test sites,” the report stated.

GMO crops are one thing, and I'm not necessarily against them, but this is the sort of thing that should give everyone pause. Considering the amount of profit involved, pause is the last thing we're likely to see.

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Our Conservative Friends

So, so devoted to the spirit of the Constitution.

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The Invisible Hand

What, you expect them to live like the rest of us chumps?

More than 100 members of Congress are upset that nonstop flights out of a Washington, D.C., airport to their hometowns could be a thing of the past, which they say isn’t fair to smaller communities.

[...]

The lawmakers say their primary concern is the economic impact the moves would have on small- and medium-sized destination cities.

I don't recall hearing that more than 100 members of Congress became upset about Pittsburgh (and many other cities and towns) losing most of its nonstop flights. I assume I just wasn't paying enough attention. Yes, it must be that I just wasn't paying enough attention.

Or, as Duncan says, "It's not fair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, too, Teh Market." But that's just being cynical, isn't it?

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Or, Y'Know, Not

Oklahoma Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine took to the floor of the House and said:

Mr. Speaker, the President’s dishonesty, incompetence, vengefulness and lack of moral compass lead many to suggest that he is not fit to lead.

The only problem is that his vice president is equally unfit and even more embarrassing.

Hold on, wait for the punchline, coming up....now:

Bridestine compared his tirade to Patrick Henry’s famous speech “give me liberty or give me death,” in which the 18th century politician convinced the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution in support of America’s Revolution against Great Britain.

Bridenstine is exactly like Patrick Henry, oh yes he is.

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WTF Wednesday

posted by gyma

There's art, and then there's art. I'm not sure in which group this belongs.

The images are created from finger smudges created by reading your email and playing Fruit Ninja and Temple Run.

Can you guess which is which? [no cheating!]

That Worked Out Well

The walk for the stupidity:

Breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which suffered a publicity backlash last year after it sought to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, said on Tuesday it was canceling fundraising walks next year in seven cities where money goals have not been met.

Whoops.

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The Definition Of Insanity.... (Redux)

House Republicans, doing the nation's business:

House Republicans are scheduled to vote on two separate budget bills this week, each of which would reject funding for the poverty activism group ACORN, despite the fact that ACORN disbanded three years ago.

A significant chunk of the American people not only vote for Republicans, but support actions like this.

[Via Hunter.]

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Imagine That

posted by gyma

Germany is seeing floodwaters at their highest levels in more than 500 years and in parts of Germany it hasn't stopped raining since last Thursday.

I hope they've found that Bible passage that explains to Noah how to build an ark. They're going to need it.

(Photo credit: Peter Kneffel - AP)

More photos at WaPo.

Going Big

This may be the perfect example of the limitless nature of conservatives' insanity: Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Steven Palazzo are pushing a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

A Constitutional amendment.

Think about that for a moment.

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He Works In Mysterious Ways

Looks like the Congressional GOP radicals - I use that term in a relative sense - attempted to overthrow the cruel King Boehner at the beginning of January. Why did the coup fail?

[Florida Rep. Steve] Southerland, who has previously talked about his role only with the conservative Weekly Standard, said he read the Old Testament the night before the vote. He read the story of Saul and David, as the king of Israel tried to kill the future king. David wins and, with a chance to kill the king, decides to spare Saul.

Southerland woke up convinced that Boehner should be spared. Others, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they, too, prayed before siding with Boehner.

“He’s not a God of chaos, he’s a God of order,” Southerland said.

And thus God spake.

[Via TPM Livewire.]

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Oy

posted by gyma

The Jewish National Fund is paying Bill Clinton half a million dollars to give a 45-minute speech at Shimon Peres' 90th birthday celebration.

Holy Smoley!

Tender Butts And Sweet Racks

posted by gyma

Intentional or not? You decide!

[via Criggo]

It's About Time

posted by gyma

This is probably too little, too late, but I'm pleased to see someone finally say "Enough, already". We've been taught to believe elections have consequences yet so far Democrats are failing to do what they were elected to get done.

[Communications Workers of America President Larry] Cohen asked, “How does a President campaign for 2 years, win overwhelmingly and then his nominees never even get a vote?” Later saying, “We are not going to sit back and see these agencies fall apart, not see 1/10 of 1% literally take over the nation.”

[snip]

Cohen is asking Senate Democrats to change Senate rules so that at least nominees — if not bills with majority support — can start to make their way through and at least some of the government can function again. Cohen said the Republicans are acting in concert with the Chamber of Commerce, corporate law firms, right-wing media and others, blocking about 80 judicial vacancies, the EPA nominee, the Labor Department nominee, the nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relation Board, among others.

This is worth watching to see if it gains any traction, although I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

Scalia Is Correct

Yes, I said it. While maybe as unusual as the thirty-year Leonid meteor shower, Fat Tony Vaffanculo lets go:

The Court disguises the vast (and scary) scope of its holding by promising a limitation it cannot deliver. The Court repeatedly says that DNA testing, and entry into a national DNA registry, will not befall thee and me, dear reader, but only those arrested for “serious offense[s].” I cannot imagine what principle could possibly justify this limitation, and the Court does not attempt to suggest any. If one believes that DNA will “identify” someone arrested for assault, he must believe that it will “identify” someone arrested for a traffic offense. This Court does not base its judgments on senseless distinctions. At the end of the day, logic will out. When there comes before us the taking of DNA from an arrestee for a traffic violation, the Court will predictably (and quite rightly) say, “We can find no significant difference between this case and King.” Make no mistake about it: As an entirely predictable consequence of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national DNA database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason.

The most regrettable aspect of the suspicionless search that occurred here is that it proved to be quite unnecessary. All parties concede that it would have been entirely permissible, as far as the Fourth Amendment is concerned, for Maryland to take a sample of King’s DNA as a consequence of his conviction for second-degree assault. So the ironic result of the Court’s error is this: The only arrestees to whom the outcome here will ever make a difference are those who have been acquitted of the crime of arrest (so that their DNA could not have been taken upon conviction). In other words, this Act manages to burden uniquely the sole group for whom the Fourth Amendment’s protections ought to be most jealously guarded: people who are innocent of the State’s accusations.

Today’s judgment will, to be sure, have the beneficial effect of solving more crimes; then again, so would the taking of DNA samples from anyone who flies on an airplane (surely the Transportation Security Administration needs to know the “identity” of the flying public), applies for a driver’s license, or attends a public school. Perhaps the construction of such a genetic panopticon is wise. But I doubt that the proud men who wrote the charter of our liberties would have been so eager to open their mouths for royal inspection.

I therefore dissent, and hope that today’s incursion upon the Fourth Amendment, like an earlier one, will some day be repudiated.

Ginsberg, Kagan, and Sotomayor joined the dissent; the "liberal" Breyer voted with Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy.

The Fourth Amendment is basically a dead letter at this point.

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The Definition Of Insanity....

House to vote on repealing Obamacare.

Again.

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Because It's Sunday

posted by gyma

Going... going... gone!

Here's an interesting story of an ex-Orthodox Jew who tried selling his spot in Heaven on eBay. Bids started at 99¢ and within a few hours reached $100,000 before eBay pulled the plug on him.

The enterprising 31-year-old posted the prime spot on the auction website Tuesday morning. The winner would have received two signed contracts — one guaranteeing Mandel’s “timeshare” in the skies and another promising that Mandel would keep the spot open by staying free from sin.

He assured bidders that he had lived a life full of mitzvos (good deeds), never worshipped false gods and is still 98% vegan.

I want to know who the smuck is who bid $100,000, because I have a bridge in Heaven to sell.