What's in the news?

Started by Beorning, September 21, 2014, 07:02:11 AM

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Lustful Bride

Quote from: Caehlim on October 06, 2015, 04:03:05 PM
Unfortunately it's sadly true that many people use violence when they don't get what they want. Even when the violence still won't get them what they want, they use it to 'make someone pay' or somesuch nonsense.

It just still doesn't make sense... ah ive got a headache now >3< Staring into the mouth of madness for too long.

eBadger


Cycle

And...  California now has an equal pay law.  Imagine that.  Paying women and men the same to do the same job.  About freaking time!


Beorning

In less uplifting (IMHO) news, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal has ruled that our laws allowing for punishing people for "offending religious beliefs" are indeed constitutional. Hm.

The part of the verdict that especially annoys me is that the Tribunal also ruled that there's nothing unconstitutional in the fact that there are no laws protecting religious feelings of the atheists. Meaning, we atheist are still going to have no laws to call upon when the priests say that atheism leads to genocide, that atheist husband respect their wives less than the Catholic husbands etc.  >:(

Ironwolf85

Quote from: Beorning on October 06, 2015, 06:42:05 PM
In less uplifting (IMHO) news, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal has ruled that our laws allowing for punishing people for "offending religious beliefs" are indeed constitutional. Hm.

The part of the verdict that especially annoys me is that the Tribunal also ruled that there's nothing unconstitutional in the fact that there are no laws protecting religious feelings of the atheists. Meaning, we atheist are still going to have no laws to call upon when the priests say that atheism leads to genocide, that atheist husband respect their wives less than the Catholic husbands etc.  >:(

American part time baptist here! I'm calling bullshit on the tribunal!
Those laws never EVER have a good effect, prepare for the legal courts to get clogged up the ass by people using it as an excuse to do stupid shit.
Prudence, justice, temperance, courage, faith, hope, love...
debate any other aspect of my faith these are the heavenly virtues. this flawed mortal is going to try to adhere to them.

Culture: the ability to carve an intricate and beautiful bowl from the skull of a fallen enemy.
Civilization: the ability to put that psycho in prision for killing people.

ThePrince

Things are slowly getting back to normal here in Columbia. Most of the dams not broken are stable and the rivers are starting to recede. Practically everyone has had some sort of water damage due to the heavy rain. Just about every stream and pond overflowed and went into someone's house.

I was extremely lucky as I didn't loose power or electricity and our apartment didn't get flooded. Suffered a major leak that ruined the ceiling that the landlord needs to fix.

All and all I am grateful for the blessings I have.
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So come take a look, Give me the hook or the ovation.
It's my world that I want to have a little pride in.
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Life ain't worth a dam till you can say I am what I am.


Beorning

Quote from: Ironwolf85 on October 07, 2015, 03:41:24 AM
American part time baptist here! I'm calling bullshit on the tribunal!
Those laws never EVER have a good effect, prepare for the legal courts to get clogged up the ass by people using it as an excuse to do stupid shit.

Oh, these laws have been in effect for years now... As far I know, they didn't end up clogging up the courts - still, there have been trials based on them. Like the case of Behemoth's frontman, Nergal, who was prosecuted (although, ultimately, acquited) because of having torn up the Bible on stage.

The Tribunal's ruling was prompted by another singer, a pop star named Doda. A few years ago, during a radio interview, she made some off-handed comments about the Bible's authors having been drunken or smoking weed and seeing stuff because of this. She was brought to trial because of this and was punished with an over $1000 fine. Doda was trying to fight the verdict and, eventually, asked for the Tribunal's ruling, which came a few days ago.

As I mentioned, my biggest beef with these laws is the lack of symmetry. Doda was prosecuted (and convicted) because of one stupid remark made during one interview. Meanwhile, we have a priest here (one Dariusz Oko) who is regularly preaching about the evils of homosexuals, atheists etc. He makes tons of judgemental statements, like saying that atheist husbands are somehow less predisposed to respecting their wives etc. Still, no-one prosecutes him - and there might well be no law this guy could be prosecuted. Because there are no laws protecting the feelings of atheists... And now, even the Tribunal has ruled that this kind of situation is indeed okay.

Sometimes, I am so annoyed with my country...  >:(

TheGlyphstone


Oniya

"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Cycle

True.  I don't want to see the real Trump in those shorts...   O.o


eBadger

Hmm...torn between horrified, and triggering sadistic humiliation urges. 

Valerian

The crazy has been lying low for a while, but now it's back, and better worse than ever:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/republicans-propose-splitting-government-accountability-board-into-elections-ethics-commissions/article_1ea97d8f-d880-50d3-8457-65fb1171b130.html

Quote
Calling Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Government Accountability Board a “failed experiment,” Republican legislative leaders on Wednesday proposed splitting it into two commissions guided by partisans.

...

Both of the new commissions would be overseen by partisans appointed by legislative leaders or the governor. That’s a shift from the current board, made up of six nonpartisan former judges appointed by the governor and approved by the Senate. “We created (the GAB) with the best of intentions, but now it’s the time to make a change,” [(Republican) Assembly Speaker Robin] Vos said.

Rick Hasen, an elections expert at the University of California-Irvine School of Law, said the new commissions seem to be designed to deadlock, since it likely would be equally divided among partisan appointees. “In this hyper-polarized atmosphere, this looks to be a deliberate attempt to doom effective enforcement of Wisconsin election laws,” Hasen said.

...

The 2007 vote to create the GAB was bipartisan and nearly unanimous. In contrast, the bill unveiled Wednesday appears to be supported only by Republicans, said Jay Heck, director of Common Cause Wisconsin.

GAB critics, nearly all of whom are Republicans, say the board has not acted impartially. Calls for the board to be dismantled increased after the state Supreme Court ruled this summer to end the John Doe investigation into Walker’s 2012 campaign. The GAB assisted with the inquiry.
"To live honorably, to harm no one, to give to each his due."
~ Ulpian, c. 530 CE

Lustful Bride

Spencer Stone (one of the US service men who stopped the train attack in france) was rushed to the hospital after being stabbed multiple times. He is recovering and thankfully none of the hits were lethal.


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-hero-of-french-train-attack-stabbed-in-calif/ar-AAfexfe?li=AAa0dzB&ocid=HPCDHP


There aren't many details on who stabbed him and why but hey he's alive and on the road to recovery and that's what matters :)

gaggedLouise

#1989
More nuttiness: neurosurgeon Ben Carson told Fox News that the people of Pompeii failed to survive because they didn't run away from the lava - and moreover, they should have been able to fight the volcano and beat it: "you can't tell me that if eleven thousand people put their minds to it they couldn’t beat one volcano!" ::)

Okay, technnically he's right that people who dropped what they had at hand, got on a horse or something (horses were very much a status symbol at the time, and they too would have been vulnerable to the heat, or to a direct hit by pumice and red hot ashes) and dashed out of the city (perhaps even going on foot if they were grown up and fit?) as soon as they noticed a strange, thin kind of "warm snow" falling from the skies, those would have been able to survive. But these people didn't really know what was to come - there wasn't even a word for volcano in the Latin language at the time - and it's not as if there was a sudden torrent of lava pulling down from the slopes of the mountain at that time, early in the eruption. It was more like small heated rocks and boiling hot ash falling from the sky, like hot ember hailstones. By the time it became so powerful that everyone would have had to realize the city was doomed, it was just about too late to get anywhere and darkness and poisonous gases had enveloped the town.

(A quick reconstruction of the phases of the AD 79 eruption here)

Besides, after the rain of rocks and ash had become a steady flow, there were a few sudden,powerful heat shocks during the night and the next day, caused by collapsing heat and gas falling from up in the sky - basically swiftly killing off anything that was still alive on the ground and baking even the basements of Pompeii and Herculaneum to somewhere between 100 and 200 C (210 - 400 F). Even those who were around in the countryside and on the beaches within several miles of those cities were killed at that point.

Okay, Mr. Carson probably didn't read up about what happened with Mount Vesuvius in any detail - I get it that he's using Pompeii as a simile -but you'd think he would have seen from common sense that the chances of just running away  from that kind of a sudden, violent eruption, once it turned really nasty, were very slim. And when he's calling on them to "beat the volcano" I don't know what he's talking about. Even people in Iceland who are monitoring Mount Katla, another heavyweight, for signs of the next eruption - it is approaching and could happen in a few years time - are clear that once it strikes there's no way they could stop it or try to shut it down, even with present-day technology.




Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Oniya

Quote from: gaggedLouise on October 08, 2015, 07:14:26 PM
More nuttiness: neurosurgeon Ben Carson told Fox News that the people of Pompeii failed to survive because they didn't run away from the lava - and moreover, they should have been able to fight the volcano and beat it: "you can't tell me that if eleven thousand people put their minds to it they couldn’t beat one volcano!" ::)


That's actually from the humor section of the New Yorker.  Andy Borowitz is also known for creating 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
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Cycle

Yeah, but to be fair, that does sound like something Carson would say...


gaggedLouise

#1992
Quote from: Oniya on October 08, 2015, 07:20:05 PM

That's actually from the humor section of the New Yorker.  Andy Borowitz is also known for creating 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'

Yes, I noticed, was wondering if it was something out of the Onion  - but I saw several other articles about those comments in other news sources (and which didn't seem to be all derived from Borowitz) so it looked likely enough that he actually did say it. But Carson seems to have a knack for making mind-beats-matter-reality comments. The guy is in the GOP presidential nominee race, too - I knew I'd heard the name somewhere.

It may or may not have been a spoof by Borowitz of some comments Carson made on the Oregon shooting and on other stuff - it's actually hard to determine from here, even with the help of Google and US newspapers and blogs. I'll suspend judgment, but he does sound like just the kind of guy who could have said that about the Pompeii eruption.  ;) Sometimes, really good satire works by being so close to the bone you actually believe it was said in earnest.

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Oniya

There's actually one of those 'Internet laws' about the phenomenon - without a clear indicator of the author's intent, parodies of extreme views will, to some readers, be indistinguishable from sincere expressions of the parodied views.

I wouldn't be surprised, considering the amount of 'fact checking' that goes on in mainstream media today (i.e., 'Fact checking?  We don't have time for that!  Print this before it hits [rival media outlet]!'), if most of those other news sources ultimately trace back to Borowitz.  Maybe through a few iterations, but I'm pretty sure that's the origin point.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Cycle

Apparently today is World Octopus Day.  Japanese schoolgirls beware!


gaggedLouise

Okay, this is perfectly genuine: The head of the eBible Fellowship group admits that the world didn't come to an end on Wednesday, as he had calculated: ""Since it is now 8 October it is now obvious that we were incorrect regarding the world’s ending on the 7th,”, McCann said"


The time expected had originally been May 2011 (not the 2012 scare here, this is a group basing itself strictly on the Bible), established by Christian radio host Harold Camping, who would pass on in 2013, but the event did not happen at that time. Thus the prediction was subject to a few updates over the next three years by Camping and McCann.

Quote from: The GuardianPrior to 7 October he said there was a “strong likelihood” the world would be rent asunder, but did admit there was a chance he could be incorrect.

“Well, a strong likelihood means that something was pretty well set to happen (in this case according to the biblical evidence),” he said. “Yet there is a possibility it may not happen.
So it was surprising that it did not occur. But the comforting thing is that God’s will is always perfect.”

Indeed we hope so.  ::)

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

eBadger

I'm always filled with curiosity to know how these people spent that theoretical last day. 

Mithlomwen

Baby, it's all I know,
that your half of the flesh and blood that makes me whole...


Beorning

These news are tragic indeed :(

Not to argue, but... I really do think that the citizens of the United States need to re-examine the issue of firearm possession. Speaking from an outsider position, it really seems obvious that the amount of firearms available to the public in the States really is contributing to these kinds of tragedies.