September 19, 2012

Weapons Porn/Grab Bag Thread
— DrewM

Two mostly content free threads? Yes we can!

There's probably something happening in the presidential campaign but I just can't care about it today. I'll wait for tomorrow's outrageously outrageous outrage.

But a flying bomb controlled by troops on the ground? Yes please!

The compact BattleHawk Squad Level Loitering Munition is armed with a 40mm high-fragmentation charge. It has a video camera built into its nose, so ground troops can remotely pilot it over rooftops or hills to attack hiding enemy forces.

The BattleHawk weighs about five pounds when itÂ’s packed inside its special launching tube. A spring propels the drone into the air and the electric motor starts up the tiny, rear propeller.

...

Using a small remote control, ground troops can fly the BattleHawk at speeds up to 60 miles per hour for approximately 30 minutes. The BattleHawk is designed to attack dismounted enemy and light-skinned vehicles, Textron officials said.

We should give these to the Marine guards at embassies.

Speaking of Marine guards, they better get ready for riots in heavily Christian countries.

A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, `My wife ...’ ”

The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”

The finding is being made public in Rome at an international meeting of Coptic scholars by the historian Karen L. King, who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries and is the first woman to hold the nationÂ’s oldest endowed chair, the Hollis professor of divinity.

Wait, you mean "researchers" (blasphemers really) say something contradictory to the teachings of Christians and they aren't going to attack our embassies and raise flags with crosses over them? Surely Obama and the US government will denounce this insult to Christians around the world.

No? None of that will happen? It's almost like there's a difference between a certain "religion of peace" and an actual religion of peace. Huh.

FTR- The papyrus scrap is probably bogus (not that that would matter to Muslims)

Not at all related: If you want bitching about the Romney campaign, the press and of course President SCOAMF...my Twitter feed.

Also not related: My electoral college phone/tablet app. Make your predictions as the news changes and post your results on facebook and Twitter. We have iPhone/iPad, Android and Kindle Fire versions.

If you don't like it, all my tweets and blog posts are free for the next year!

Posted by: DrewM at 08:44 AM | Comments (239)
Post contains 479 words, total size 4 kb.

Mid-Day Open Thread
— andy

ewok_signal

Posted by: andy at 08:16 AM | Comments (180)
Post contains 6 words, total size 1 kb.

Top Headline Comments 9-19-12
— andy

Hump day. Up and at 'em!

In an apparent shift in strategy based on Islamists' keen abilities to locate obscure videos on the Internet, President Obama went on Letterman and made an appeal to the Muslim world to not hurt our people.

“The message we have to send to the Muslim world is we expect you to work with us to keep our people safe,” Obama said during a taped interview with CBS’s David Letterman in New York. “We expect their full cooperation because that’s the only way the world works.”

I understand he's also considering making a speech, sending a sternly-worded letter and, if these don't work, pursuing a UN resolution to address the problem.


Matt Yglesias out-beclowned himself yesterday on Twitter. I have to hand it to him - I didn't think this was possible.


Posted by: andy at 02:51 AM | Comments (408)
Post contains 172 words, total size 2 kb.

September 18, 2012

Late Night Bedspins: Mystery Karaoke Singer Wows Mall Patrons again! [dri]
— Open Blogger

Welcome to Late Night Bed Spins, the AoSHQ's late night showcase for forgotten, obscure, and now, amazing undiscovered musical talent. Two weeks ago, I posted this gem of a clip to the sidebar of an unknown girl singing at a grocery store karaoke display. (autoplay). Everyone assumed that it was a one time goof by some random teen at the mall. The new clip below the fold shows her back again, this time belting out an old Whitney Houston/Dolly Parton classic. Don't be surprised if you start seeing more of this girl as she becomes discovered and promoted. Remember, you saw her here first! more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:58 PM | Comments (37)
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

Overnight Open Thread (9-18-2012)
— Maetenloch

So Who Isn't Paying Income Tax?

Well the short answer is about 47% of American households which is Romney was getting at with his 'gaffe' comment. And the moral hazard of not paying any income tax at all is that you become insulated and indifferent to the costs of ever higher government spending and growing tax rates. So why not take all the guvvie bennies you can get - it's not gonna cost you anything.

taxnonpayerschart

And here's a breakdown of which states have the most non-income tax payers. And you can see that the 10 states with the lowest average incomes are also the states with the fewest tax payers - which is not surprising given how progressive our income tax rates are.

Now this is supposed to undermine Romney's point since it makes it appear that the (literally) red states are also net takers - but the colors are misleading since the percentage of non-payers doesn't vary by all that much across the country. Is New York with its 35% of no-payers really more virtuous than Texas with 39%? I doubt it.

20100524-229-nonpayers-map-

more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:14 PM | Comments (629)
Post contains 1204 words, total size 12 kb.

Flashback, June 8, 2012: Hundreds of Well-Armed Militia Demand Sharia Law... In Benghazi
— Ace

Via @morgenr.

The media has no questions about the ill-wisdom of having no security at the consulate except for locked doors, huh?

White House: Gee, That Libya Attack Might Have Maybe Sort of Been Partly Pre-Planned. Breaking news.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 04:28 PM | Comments (284)
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

Evening Open Thread
— Ace

Just plum tired.

Cabin in the Woods is now available on video. I liked it a lot.

Romney created 52,000 jobs this week.

Posted by: Ace at 03:36 PM | Comments (354)
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

Emails Show Close Coordination Between "Justice" Department and Left-Wing Agitprop Organization Media Matters;
"Thanks again for all your help," Media Matters Staffer Gushes to DoJ

— Ace

What's the Justice Department doing in bed with a left-wing group?

What is the supposedly-mainstream press doing pushing stories that originate from such a plainly partisan source?

A sample of the close coordination:

“Several media outlets, including Fox News this morning, are claiming that Fast and Furious was paid for with stimulus dollars,” Gertz wrote to Schmaler. “My research suggests that this is not true, and I was hoping you’d be able to confirm that.”

Gertz added that he needed a response “by 1 p.m.” because he thought the issue was “likely to snowball if it isn’t stopped.”

In less than two hours, Schmaler responded with an answer from her “budget folks” in DOJ. “You’re right,” she told Gertz, before explaining why she thought so.

At 1:13 p.m., Gertz responded, writing, “Thanks again for your help, here’s the piece” and adding a link to his online article.


Posted by: Ace at 01:56 PM | Comments (299)
Post contains 197 words, total size 1 kb.

Clever: Romney Now Apparently Answering Every Question About "47%" By Noting He Doesn't Believe In Redistribution of Wealth
— Ace

The media don't want to cover "redistribution," but boy oh boy do they want to cover "47%."

How do you make sure they mention the "I actually believe in redistribution" quote? By linking the two in every single soundbite.

If I were Romney I would not let three words pass in any quote without mentioning "redistribution."

A New Poll... Shows Obama losing 5 points on foreign policy, despite the media running interference for him. And:

Still, in the current NBC/WSJ poll, only 41 percent of independents approve of Obama's foreign-policy handling, versus 53 percent who did so last month.

This is just a tease of the poll, which will be released at 6:30. It's an NBC poll, so I expect Obama will once again be well ahead of Romney (as they tell it).

Incidentally, just over 47% (49%) of the US still approves of Obama's foreign policy. Even as the world is on fire.

That Romney -- what a simp!


Posted by: Ace at 01:28 PM | Comments (206)
Post contains 196 words, total size 1 kb.

<< Page 17 >>
82kb generated in CPU 0.0618, elapsed 0.412 seconds.
43 queries taking 0.3728 seconds, 151 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.