Overnight Open Thread (8-27-2014)

Quote of the Day

When one thing goes wrong, it may be an accident, but when five do at once-Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and our border - the man at the helm may have something to do with it, and a foreign policy based largely on John Lennon lyrics may be the proximate cause.

-- Noemie Emery in the Weekly Standard

Why Miley Cyrus' Homeless Date Is Actually Homeless

You'll be shocked to learn that it's mainly due to bad life choices with the key word being choice.

For those of you not up to speed on this, here's the thumbnail: Miley Cyrus brought a "date" to the VMAs on Sunday who was identified as "Jesse," a homeless man in his twenties. When Cyrus won the award for Video of the Year, she sent "Jesse" up in her place to preach to the Hollywood elite assembled at the Nokia Live Theatre, as well as the millions at home watching, about the plight of the homeless.

...Make no mistake, the subtext of the speech was "There but for the grace of God go you." It's the typical progressive claptrap and guilt trip about homelessness. The idea that all Americans are just one paycheck away from living on the streets in a cardboard box has been a propaganda weapon used to diminish the glories of capitalism for decades.

But, like most Marxist ideas, it's a lie.

Well come on - who doesn't have a few outstanding warrants in nearby states?

Looking For Someone to Blame for ISIL/ISIS/IS

Did you know that the current head of the Islamic State caliphate was in US custody in Iraq until 2009?

The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS,) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was formerly held by the U.S. military at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq from 2005 to his release in 2009.

And why was he released? No one seems to know although I suspect it was related to polices inspired by the lyrics of a certain Lennon song as well as a desire to make the whole Iraq/Middle East thing just go away.

Why such a dangerous man was slated for release in 2009, or who made the decision is not known. The Telegraph offers that "one possible explanation is that he was one of thousands of suspected insurgents granted amnesty as the US began its draw down in Iraq."

In 2010, shortly after his release, al-Baghdadi was announced as a new al-Qaeda leader. When bin Laden was killed in 2011, Baghdadi pledged to revenge his death "with 100 terrorist attacks across Iraq" - but with al Qaeda leaders dropping like flies in Pakistan and Afghanistan, no one took him seriously.

Jim Treacher Finally Gets a Settlement From the Feds

After a State Department security agent hit and ran him while he was crossing the street legally back in 2010. Note that it took them 1660 days to settle up which is nearly twice as a long as the siege of Leningrad lasted during WWII.

The Left Has a Freakout Over Burger King Buying Tim Hortons

Otherwise known as We Demand That Those Brazilians Owners Pay Our High American taxes.

With all that said, the Burger King move isn't really about "inversion" anyway. This is a merger. Tim Hortons has a $9.9 billion market cap and generated more revenue than Burger King last year, so it seems implausible that the deal was made for reasons of tax sedition alone. When you merge with a company from another country, one that helps diversify your reach worldwide, it seems like a basic fiduciary responsibility to place your headquarters in the spot that offers you the best business climate. And though Burger King's won't save much in the immediate future, the long-term prospects of choosing Canada will.

Why Full-Auto Uzis and 9 Year Olds Aren't a Good Mix

Even a semi-auto pistol in 9mm is probably too much for a 9 year old without a lot of supervision and training and even then.... But handing them a sub-machine gun is just asking for tragedy.

The shocking recording taken by the girl's parents and released by police shows Vacca standing closely next to the girl when the gun recoiled as she fired on full automatic mode.

As the clip unfolds, Vacca is seen to instruct the girl to hold the weapon with two hands at all times and to take a perpendicular stance to the target.

Then Vacca asks her to fire one shot for him, which she does.

Then, Vacca tells the girl to adjust her stance and squeeze the trigger to let off a volley, but something goes wrong when she fires a second time.

His last words to the girl are: 'Alright, full auto.'

The girl loses her two-handed grip on the weapon and it pulls to her left, striking Vacca in the head.

COPS Cameraman Killed During Police Shootout with Robber

So How Many Unaccompanied Illegal Alien Children Are in Your County?

Harris County, TX has the most and interestingly New Mexico has none.

Also 'Illegals at border have more rights than college students accused of rape.'

Why Does Bad Luck Always Keep Happening to Socialist Countries?

I guess this is what happens when you run out of other people's money: thieves fall out among themselves on how to divide up the dwindling spoils. Should be fun to watch. Almost as much fun as watching Argentina thrash around-once the fourth richest nation in the world a century ago before the country caught the socialist bug. Maybe it was just bad luck, like those decades of Soviet grain harvests.

Not to worry. I'm sure Venezuela or Cuba can send them foreign aid.

The 2014 Obama Was Obvious Long Before 2008

If people had bothered to listen to those who actually knew him.

There was also no evidence whatsoever, pre-election, that Obama would be able to work effectively with people, and certainly none about his warmth or liking of people. The thing was, his supporters either imagined it was there when it was not, or somehow thought its lack wouldn't matter. His brilliance would override everything.

Well, we've seen how that's worked out.

Despising Your Customers: "Yeah I'm With the Media, Screw You"

Russian Paratroopers Strangely Happen to Die At Young Ages in Ukraine

The Pornification Meme

Where people take otherwise innocuous pictures and put a pron company logo on them. And sometimes add a little pixelation.

Whatever Happened to These TV Stars of Your Youth

It's interesting that several of them have had intersecting post-acting careers. And that Gabe Kaplan has been a professional gambler for 30+ years.

The Group knows what you did.

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posted by Maetenloch at 09:12 PM

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