Our Wacky World— 10/26/2015

Almost a Darwin Award:

"Man tries to put out garbage fire by driving over it in a van loaded with ammunition"

Kansas City Star

Matt Drudge: idiot, liar, both?

"I had a Supreme Court Justice come up to me and say to my face it is over for me. Matt, it is over for you, they've got the votes to enforce copyright laws, you're out of there. They're going to make it so you can't even use headlines.To have a Supreme Court Justice say that to my face, that it is over, they've got the votes. It means time is limited. Time is not forever, how many more moons and sunrises will you see in your life rise and fall, not that many, it is a small amount.”​

Both. And a narcissist. (Esquire)


The comments to this are great. The usual idiots show up:

"With the rise of both marijuana use and public support growing, this could make for a precarious political issue for politicians in a presidential election year. Forget about the chicken in every pot, these citizens just want the pot.”

Jonathan Turley

Ben Carson M.D., who like so many right-wing talking heads has bafflingly become relevant in our time, rather like comets appearing from out of nowhere one night on Fox News (or returned from purgatory after an unexpectedly less-than-perpetural period of public disgrace). Carson is the classic intelli-educated screwball in whose mind all things make sense without a requisite basis in fact:

"What is it with brain surgeons? The strange ideas of leading GOP presidential candidate and retired brain surgeon Ben Carson have been making the headlines a lot lately… The statements that Carson has made are staggeringly ignorant for a man with an advanced science education.”

Skeptic

And now he’s being "threatened" by “progressives”:

“I’d prefer not to talk about security issues but I have recognized — and people have been telling me for many many months — that I’m in great danger, because I challenge the secular progressive movement to the very core”

People have been "telling him." (Dispatches From The Culture Wars)

'A regular guest commentator on Fox News who has been lying for years about working for the Central Intelligence Agency was arrested on Thursday...by federal authorities following his indictment by a federal grand jury for allegedly committing major fraud, wire fraud, and making false statements to the government. Simmons claims to have worked for the CIA from 1973 to 2000, and "used that false claim in an attempt to obtain government security clearances and work as a defense contractor, including at one point successfully getting deployed overseas as an intelligence advisor to senior military personnel”'

Huffington Post

"China was tired of the Nobel people giving a human rights price to human rights advocates, particularly Chinese dissents or the Dali Lama. So it created its own prize to give those hard-working dictators an opportunity to shine. So this year, China is honoring a man who has destroyed the economy of Zimbabwe, starved his people, oppressed dissidents, and maintained one of the most disgusting levels of corruption and personal excess of any dictator in the world.”

Jonathan Turley


Carly Fiorina has a moment of startling clarity:

“Finally my degree in medieval history and philosophy has come in handy… because what ISIS wants to do is drive us back to the Middle Ages, literally.”

So your degree was worthless before? (Sun Times)

'But the session became violent, the police chief said. "Both brothers were continually subjected to physical punishment over the course of several hours in the hopes that each would confess to prior sins and ask for forgiveness” ...Leonard was taken to the hospital after church members found he wasn't breathing, Inserra said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.’

‘… [an] ex-member denied reports the church is a cult. "I realize this situation makes it look like this," she said, "but if you listen to the teachings, they are accurate to the Bible.”'

But then everyone does "what the bible says," don't they? (CNN)

More:

"Lucas Leonard, a 19-year-old whose family was immersed in Word of Life’s secretive practices, said that he was the [witch], that he wanted church elders to die and that he had considered making a voodoo doll of a church leader.”

New York Times

Our Wacky World—10/4/2015

From the great and... well, the terrible Rush Limbaugh:

“Don't know how long it's going to take, but this news that there is flowing water on Mars is somehow going to find its way into a technique to advance the leftist agenda.”

Politico

Why stop there?:

"‘Dems and Leftists’ Want to Genetically Modify Us to Combat Climate Change”

Mediaite


Yogi Berra, great philosopher, dead at 90. "It ain't over 'till it's over” is one worthy of Sun Tzu. Rene Déscartes? Also-ran.

"The man charged in a California kidnapping that police initially dismissed as a hoax told a television news reporter he had a psychotic break and a side effect from a vaccine was to blame in part for his behavior"

Doubtful News (original article unavailable)

An historic breakthrough:

"An English historian has come across the word ‘fuck’ in a court case dating to the year 1310, making it the earliest known reference to the swear word.”

Swear word? I thought it was an obscenity. (Medievalists)

'At a council meeting this month, Goodman explained how drooping denim is “disrespectful,” a bad example to children, and bars the wearer from gainful employment. He told his colleagues what he told a Daily Beast reporter: “I prayed about this. I know that God would not go around with pants down.”'

Liberaland


Carly Fiorina’s HP legacy is costing her contributions—from former employees:

“I don’t care if she’s a Democrat, Republican, or Independent. I would not support her for president,” Soderstrom said. “I would not give her two cents.”

Daily Beast

"The Australian government is fighting back against the unrelenting terrorist threat that threatens to consume every Western nation. It, too, has noticed that youngsters and their SnapChats are particularly prone to radicalization from outside forces. As Richard Chirgwin of the Register points out, it has chosen to address this threat to Australian society in the way only a government agency can: with a blend of the bizarre and the tone deaf.”

Techdirt

‘...public interest organizations raised alarm over his company buying a long-used medicine, Daraprim, in the treatment of AIDS and immediately raised the price of $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill. When a reporter asked him to explain the increase for a drug that has been on the market for 62 years, Shkreli called him a “moron” and refused to answer the question.’

Turley's Blog

Later:

"...hiking the price of a drug by 5,000 percent just because you can invites...government meddling, which is why the pharmaceutical industry isn't happy with Turing."

Chicago Tribune


How to torture your child:

'Although the patient was recovering, it appears that the team was at a loss until the child’s parents revealed a game-changing piece of information later in the admission. Six months before his pain and other worrisome symptoms began, they had sought treatment for his eczema from a “natural health practitioner.”'

Science-Based Medicine

"Donald Trump spoke at the Values Voters Summit on Friday...and told the crowd that if he’s elected president, people will damn well say Merry Christmas in department stores because, in the bizarro world he lives in, no one says that phrase anymore."

Dispatches From The Culture Wars

"If the goal of the pro-life movement actually were to end abortion, both tactics and results would be radically different. Imagine a fictional person whose chief life goal is to reduce abortion by, say, 90 percent over the next 20 years. It might come as a surprise to the audience of today’s antiabortion theater—but our protagonist’s goal is attainable. Armed with just the information and technologies available today, someone genuinely committed to reducing abortion by 90 percent in 20 years could map out a plan to get there—and even make people’s lives better in the process.”

But then that’s not what it’s about, is it? (Salon)


Let us once again visit one of my least favorite topics—the shit that will not die:

“The fact that this asshole has the audacity to offer expert testimony today is amazing. Ultimately, an eight-year-old kid was murdered, and I feel the medical professionals involved in that case are culpable and they’ve never been held accountable.”

“Americans prefer black-and-white problems with simple answers… Part of the appeal of Satanic ritual abuse was that when someone we knew molested a child after our protection efforts had failed, it was easier to escape guilt by blaming it on an evil Satanist...”

So did a dingo ate the baby? Don’t even bother to Google that. (Pacific Standard)


FINALLY:

"Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that copyright holders like Universal must consider fair use before trying to remove content from the Internet. It also rejected Universal’s claim that a victim of takedown abuse cannot vindicate her rights if she cannot show actual monetary loss.”

EFF

'States that defended same-sex marriage bans...are now being asked to pay the legal fees for those litigants under a 40-year-old federal law that says the court “in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party … a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs.” Or as Michigan attorney Dana Nessel put it: “It’s the price governments pay for defending bigotry.”'

al Jazeera

Our Wacky World—8/31/2015

Oliver Sacks, M.D.  dead at 82:

'Dr. Sacks discomfited some readers, who maintained that he capitalized on his patients’ suffering to form handy parables. Tom Shakespeare, a British disability rights activist, called him “the man who mistook his patients for a literary career.”'

Yeah, right. They said the same sort of shit about Carl Sagan's celebrity. Just can’t please everybody. Titicut Follies, anyone?

Sacks filled a gap that no one else did. Having read most of his books I find the criticism misplaced except for the possibility of his having been fooled by some charlatans, specifically some patients considered “savants”.  (Washington Post)

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina the lies are still going strong:

"There was, of course, the purported chaos at the city’s two shelters of last resort: the Superdome and the Convention Center. The rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl at the convention center, dozens of killings at the Superdome, bodies piled up at both. 

"But by the end of September 2005, reporting by The Times-Picayune debunked many of these stories. In fact, officials only confirmed one killing at either site: Danny Brumfield, who was shot by police."

The Lens

Well fuck me

'One of the “rarest creatures in the world” has been spotted for only the third time ever off the coast of Papua New Guinea by a US biologist.’

We can photograph a rare animal in the wild but there’s not so much as a decent shot of Bigfoot, let alone any bones. What does this tell you? (Doubtful News)


The latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer has an apalling article by one of the “guerilla skeptics” saying that all the talk of a Wikipedia “conspiracy” is just a “myth.” Here’s an overview of what’s really happening there (among other things):

'...the only hard conclusion I can reach is rather simple: that Wikipedia as an active community is dying, and no one can stop it. Because it is based on lies. The content? Hell with that. It was just the "honeypot" to build the community.'

Wikipedia Sucks Badly


How to make creationism sound… better, through bad science:

'If I'm holding a rock in my hand and I educate you that it has always existed, since infinite time in the past, and it's going to be around for infinite time in the future, do I need to stoop and concoct some ridiculous fairytale as to "What created the rock ?” NO ! It has ALWAYS existed . . . Period ! When things don't have "beginnings" and "ends", there's no need to entertain juvenile thoughts of "Where did it all come from ?". 

[C- so far for the really bad grammar etc. I don't have time to insert "sic" everywhere.]

'IF . . . you understand this, please help us. We are in a new era of atheism and need to unite this world. We can't be presenting ourselves as buffoons to the religious world. We're asking you for a puny $ 10 to assist us in spreading this HISTORIC awakening. 3 months from now you certainly won't be hurting that you gave 10 dollars, so why hesitate ?’

Are you saying that this theoretical “rock” has existed forever? As in “before our solar system formed” and “before the super nova that created the transferric elements in our solar system?”

What happens when our sun becomes a red giant? (sorry, it has to run out of fusible material some time). Where will this planet be then? Forget the fucking rock…

The only thing remotely infinite here is the sheer vacuity of this pseudo-scientific ass-cheekery. When did YOU turn up, son?

Big Bang No No No

'Our “Conspira-Sea Cruise and Seminar-at-Sea” takes place right on our luxury cruise ship during our seven-day cruise, in conference rooms on the ship, and during our port calls in Mexico. During this incredible, mind-blowing, truth-telling, spiritually enriching event, we will do our best to uncover the truth about things conspiratorial, including: 

'GMOs, Monsanto, bee colony collapse, ecology, global warming, climate change, fracking, HIV, autism, big pharma, medical suppression, vaccinations, flouridation [sic], political corruption, government corruption, forbidden archeology, forbidden religion, Federal Reserve, truth about money, World Bank, IRS, strawman, property title, admiralty law, martial law, Bohemian Grove, Skull and Bones, JFK, cover-ups, September 11, Star Wars agenda, nuclear plants, chemtrails, HAARP, crop circles, IRS, MK-Ultra, Fukashima [sic], NASA, NSA, Bilderbergs, sustainability, military industrial complex, pentagon [sic], Waco, Malaysia 370, Pan Am 103, TWA 800, Gulf Oil Spill, Halliburton, Obama, Ruby Ridge, OK City, Vatican, New World Order, false flags, Montauk, privacy, surveillance, Area 51, Dulce, Project Rainbow, Nazi Bell, Vrill, U.S.S. Eldridge, Iron Mountain, psyops, population mangement [sic], subliminal ads, Nibiru / Planet X, Cointel Pro, technology suppression, entity possession, electoral fraud, identity chips, 2nd amendment, and so much more.’

Did they forget anything? (Science Based Medicine)

'“You know there isn’t a single hamburger to be found on Taco Bell’s menu,” Clem asked our interviewer rhetorically while adding, “there is nothing more American than a hamburger. So I have to ask, what is about America that Taco Bell hates?” Would it kill them to put a nice steak and potato meal on their menu? I mean, steak and potatoes is American as fuck. But no, it’s all taco this and burrito that. It’s offensive to me…'

Hoax site.

Some good ones on Turlely's blog this month...

"Teixeira has been a regular critic of the mayor and officials in the City of Inglewood and has posted excerpts from city council video recordings. In an outrageous act, the city responded to the criticism by accusing him of infringing copyright laws in posting public meetings.”

Jonathan Turley

"There is another gruesome case of practicing medicine without a license in Florida where Mark D. Schreiber, 60, is accused of mutilating a patient’s penis while attempting to remove an implant from it. It probably should have tipped off the victim that something was not quite right when he was sent to meet Dr. Mark at a warehouse to pay him $1,000 cash to remove the implant.”

Jonathan Turley

"Florida Mom Jailed After She Allegedly Abandoned Kids In Running Car To Drink And Had 4-Year-Old Son Use Breathalyzer To Start Car”

Jonathan Turley

'Deaths related to the main pollutant...total 1.6 million a year, or 17 percent of China’s mortality level... “When I was last in Beijing, pollution was at the hazardous level: Every hour of exposure reduced my life expectancy by 20 minutes… It’s as if every man, woman and child smoked 1.5 cigarettes each hour.”'

Washington Post

"‘Fake’ Doctor Prescribed Ventura County Cancer Patient Bag of Dirt, Charged Her $2,000”

KTLA

Here’s the good “doctor”’s web site.

"I got a phone call on the phone telling me to bring the delivery back, saying that I couldn't do the delivery," Bradley said... "I asked him why I couldn't do it and he said because you're black and they don't want you at the house… I thought that Lowe's would take up for me."

IB Times

"At least 3,500 Americans have been detained inside a Chicago police warehouse described by some of its arrestees as a secretive interrogation facility, newly uncovered records reveal. Of the thousands held in the facility known as Homan Square over a decade, 82% were black. Only three received documented visits from an attorney, according to a cache of documents obtained when the Guardian sued the police.”

Guardian