Overnight Open Thread (8-3-2014) – WHO WAS PHONE Edition

Quote of the Day

Yet another example of President Obama's chief existential dilemma: nobody loves big totalitarian corporatist 1930s-era government more than he does - but he's just not very good at both managing the Leviathan and as he's admitted, explaining how it works to the voters. It's enough to make a lazy sort of fella begin to just accept the trappings of the job, and the paycheck that somehow magically appears each week, and Obamaphone in everything else.

Who Supports Israel?

Mostly Republicans - Democrats not so much.

But the best predictor of supporting Israel is actually knowing what the hell is going on.

"Motherfucker, this is not prison food."

Just a sample of Felicia 'Aunty Fee' O'Dell's cooking videos which have gone viral. Here she explains how  to feed 7 people for just $3.35. You may also enjoy 'Sweet Treats for the Kids'. (Thanks to Slu for turning me on to her videos)

Why You'll Never Get Fair and Honest Reporting From Gaza

In which a Finnish reporter (accidently?) told the truth how the Palestinians were firing rockets from Gaza hospital grounds and then gets upset when her report is repeated by supporters of Israel.

This is what we are up against when it comes to media reporting. All we want are the facts to come out about what Hamas has done, how it has used human shields, and how you cannot understand the situation without those facts.

Even the few reporters who report these facts end up deleting tweets, pulling down columns, and now, complaining that facts are used for propaganda.

The Cyber War Against Israel Going on Under Gaza

Thanks to Qatar.

Russians Back to their Cold War Tricks With US Spy Planes

The Wrath of Pelosi

Apparently Nancy does not like being called incompetent on the House floor.

Apparently Sheila Jackson Lee's Staff is Just as Pleasant and Respectful as She is

I was transferred to a gentleman on Lee's staff. When I again asked him about the contradiction and stated that perhaps I was confused, the man said "Oh look it here, we have one of those right wing, tea-bagger nut jobs on the phone taking his cues from FOX News."

He then accused me of being un-American, raising his voice at me while asking me to calm down, and telling me that I am just on some mission to destroy our country. When I calmly asked for his name, he said "I don't have to give it to you because I don't want to show up on some right wing blog and be on your Twitter account." Keep in mind, I never said who I was - he just made assumptions and attacked me. When I reminded him that he gets paid by our tax dollars, he said "I doubt you even pay taxes and the IRS will find you soon enough," and hung up on me.

The Democrats' New Talking Point: Ted Cruz Runs the House and Is Calling For Obama's Impeachment

Note that Ted Cruz is a member of the Senate and has never called for impeaching Obama.

The Patriarchy is Crafty - Oh Yes They Are

And RSM also points out the reasons I hate video blog posts - I read fast and vlogs are slow which ends up wasting a lot of my time. And it's rare that a video of someone speaking is even close to being as good as a decently written blog post.

To explain: I'm a super-fast reader. If you were to provide me with a transcript of your 11-minute video rant, I could skim over it in less than a minute and locate the "money quote," which I could then copy-and-paste into a block-quote on my blog and discuss it. Alternatively, I might decide that your 11-minute video rant is a silly piece of nonsense that should be ignored. Either way, the difference between (a) the 11-minute video rant and (b) a transcript of your rant is that (b) saves me 10 minutes of time over (a), not to mention the time savings between (c) doing a quick copy-and-paste of a quote and (d) having to transcribe your lunatic gibberish.

NFL replaces black-and-white photographs with Surface tablets on the sidelines

Until very recently the NFL has been surprisingly low-tech.

For decades, NFL players and coaches have pored over black-and-white overhead photos of in-game formations from the sidelines. Team photographers take two "Polaroid" photos - one directly before and another right after the snap - and runners throw together paper binders and rush them to the field for analysis. This season, the NFL's finally upgrading to tablets.

At every game (starting with today's Hall of Fame match between the Bills and Giants), each team will be provided with a temperature-controlled locker filled with 13 modified, field-ready Surface Pro 2 tablets. 12 additional tablets are available for coaches watching the game from above. Each is wrapped in a chunky protective rubber case that makes them waterproof.

End of the Road for Radio Shack?

Sure seems like it. They lack the cash to even shut down enough stores to survive. It's sad but not too surprising given that their products have been out of date and over-priced for at least a decade or two. Still when you need a transistor or a special cable, where else are you going to go find one locally?

'Young and Beautiful' Done in Vintage 1920's Style

By Robyn Adele Anderson of Postmodern Jukebox.

Driving in Russia in GIF Form

Top 10 commenters:
1 [391 comments] 'Ricardo Kill' [54.88 posts/day]
2 [377 comments] 'J.J. Sefton'
3 [369 comments] 'logprof'
4 [363 comments] 'Misanthropic Humanitarian  '
5 [352 comments] 'Anna Puma (+SmuD)'
6 [346 comments] 'Costanza Defense'
7 [343 comments] 'Vic'
8 [341 comments] 'ThunderB'
9 [297 comments] 'D-Lamp'
10 [289 comments] 'rickb223, District 13'

Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [118 names] 'The Political Hat' [16.56 unique names/day]
2 [106 names] 'logprof'
3 [95 names] 'GOP monkeys, fucking a football'
4 [76 names] 'logprof'
5 [53 names] 'phreshone'
6 [44 names] 'Costanza Defense'
7 [35 names] 'Joe Valachi knows this is Henry's place'
8 [33 names] 'flounder'
9 [32 names] 'Truck Monkey, as Voiced by Brian Dennehy'
10 [32 names] 'andycanuck'

The group. Never heard of it.

Where it's at - the Twitter

Tonight's post brought to you by Radio Shack, 1991:

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to maetenloch at gmail. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:20 PM

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