Wednesday Overnight Open Thread (9/4/19)

Quote I

“There’s even an argument that the election itself falls within the Fed’s purview, “After all, Trump’s reelection arguably presents a threat to the U.S. and global economy, to the Fed’s independence and its ability to achieve its employment and inflation objectives. If the goal of monetary policy is to achieve the best long-term economic outcome, then Fed officials should consider how their decisions will affect the political outcome in 2020.” former Fed monetary Vice Chair William Dudley

Quote II

Indebted students, many with largely worthless degrees, and few employment opportunities sufficient to repay their loans, have become a loyal progressive constituency. How odd that an entire generation, in psychologically and financially suspended animation, is seen as useful by the very politicos who created this labyrinth of exploitation in the first place. Victor Davis Hanson

Quote III

As for America, have we ceded to Netanyahu something no nation should ever cede to another, even an ally: the right to take our country into a war of their choosing but not of ours? Patrick J. Buchanan

Quote IV

“Facebook sent notifications to thousands of users alleging that our two videos were ‘false.’ Our two videos explain a position shared by thousands of medical professional but Facebook’s notification was based on the opinion of two activist abortionists that targeted Live Action and me. Lila Rose

Quote V

“We were desperate to get a solar panel specially made for the demonstrations but it would have cost us £8,000.

“That’s money we simply don’t have.Graham Buss

Mark Zuckerberg of Face Book is starting to piss off the left.

Mark Zuckerberg has "repeatedly lied to the American people about privacy," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said in a recent interview with the Willamette Week, a Portland alternative weekly newspaper. "I think he ought to be held personally accountable, which is everything from financial fines to—and let me underline this—the possibility of a prison term."

Zuckerberg, Wyden said, has "hurt a lot of people."

Wyden was talking to the Willamette Week about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that gives online platforms like Facebook broad immunity for content posted by their users. Wyden was the co-author of the law and has been one of its most ardent defenders ever since.

The law of unintended consequences, eh Senator?

The gay gene has been debunked. Does it really matter?

This is a breakthrough, but it won’t surprise anyone who’s been paying attention to developments in genetics. The one-third estimate is consistent with earlier, simpler studies on twins. And while making some sense out of humanity’s zillions of DNA bits is an impressive feat, countless previous studies have used these same methods to analyze other traits from schizophrenia to educational attainment — always with the upshot that lots of genes, each with a small effect, were at work. If you’re still captivated by the idea of a single, all-powerful “gay gene,” or for that matter an all-powerful gene for any behavioral trait, please drop it.

Injured attempting to locate Bowe Bergdahl. Former U.S. Navy SEAL James hosta is one hell of a man. H/T CBD

Former Navy SEAL James hosta says heading to class as a freshman at Yale University is just about as nerve-wracking as preparing for the uncertainty of combat.

At 52 years old, hosta does not fit the profile of the traditional Yale freshman.

“My experience in academia is somewhat limited, at best,” he said. “But I want to learn, and I feel this can make me a better person. I also feel my life experience, maybe with my maturity — which my wife would say is laughable — I think I can help some of the young people out.”

Ace's banner has a quote from H.L. Mencken. The man was one hell of a writer. Mecken's rewrite of the Declaration of Independence.

WHEN THINGS get so balled up that the people of a country got to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are not trying to put nothing over on nobody.

All we got to say on this proposition is this: first, me and you is as good as anybody else, and maybe a damn sight better; second, nobody ain’t got no right to take away none of our rights; third, every man has got a right to live, to come and go as he pleases, and to have a good time whichever way he likes, so long as he don’t interfere with nobody else. That any government that don’t give a man them rights ain’t worth a damn; also, people ought to choose the kind of government they want themselves, and nobody else ought to have no say in the matter. That whenever any government don’t do this, then the people have got a right to give it the bum’s rush and put in one that will take care of their interests. Of course, that don’t mean having a revolution every day like them South American yellow-bellies, or every time some jobholder goes to work and does something he ain’t got no business to do. It is better to stand a little graft, etc., than to have revolutions all the time, and any man that wasn’t a anarchist or one of them I.W.W.’s would say the same. But when things get so bad that a man ain’t hardly got no rights at all no more, but you might almost call him a slave, then everybody ought to get together and throw the grafters out, and put in new ones who won’t carry on so high and steal so much, and then watch them. This is the proposition the people of these Colonies is up against, and they have got tired of it, and won’t stand it no more. The administration of the present King, George III, has been rotten from the start, and when anybody kicked about it he always tried to get away with it by strong-arm work. Here is some of the rough stuff he has pulled:

I wonder what the hell he would have to say today.

Don't you love free speech? YouTube doesn't. They are out to remove "Hate Speech" channels.

YouTube says it has removed more than 17,000 channels for hate speech, representing a spike in takedowns since its new hate speech policy went into effect in June.

The Google-owned company calls the June update — in which YouTube said it would specifically prohibit videos that glorify Nazi ideology or deny documented violent events like the Holocaust — a "fundamental shift in our policies" that resulted in the takedown of more than 100,000 individual videos during the second quarter of the year. The number of comments removed during the same period doubled to over 500 million, in part due to the new hate speech policy.

In an attempt to prevent all automobile fatalities, Walmart closes their auto service centers.

BENTONVILLE, AR—In a bold move intended to curb the thousands of deaths from vehicles each and every day, Walmart has decided to stop selling auto parts, sources confirmed Tuesday.

According to shocking reports, people have purchased car parts at Walmart and then those cars have been involved in accidents, proving a direct correlation between selling auto parts and causing deaths.

"We can no longer be complicit in an industry that kills over 3,000 people a day," said a spokesperson for Walmart. "Every time we sell a muffler, steering wheel cover, or flame decal, we are potentially causing the death of a person, and we cannot support that any longer."

"It's clear that bad drivers and poor road conditions don't cause vehicular deaths---cars do.

After being out of the spot light for awhile low energy Jeb is back in it.

Failed GOP presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has managed again to anger both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. How? By mocking President Donald Trump with a Hurricane Dorian-related retweet.

The retweet from documentary filmmaker Billy Corben consisted of a viral video of a Palm Beach man suggesting that the military just drop some ice in the water to stop the devastating storm.

“All this warm weather and warm water … we have a Navy,” the man says. “Why don’t the Navy come and drop ice in the warm water so it don’t, so it can’t get going as fast as it’s going?”

Wisconsin is in the news, but it could be any state. 50,000 unvaccinated head to school. I'm so glad that my children are no longer in school.

When Wisconsin children return to school this week, close to 50,000 of them will have waivers that exempt them from vaccines, leaving them vulnerable to measles at a time when the nation has experienced its largest outbreak in 27 years.

Health officials across the U.S. have reported 1,215 cases of measles this year as of Aug. 22, the highest number since 1992, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Measles had been declared eliminated in 2000.

“I really do think it’s purely just dumb luck that this hasn’t spread to Wisconsin,” said James Conway, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Ahh, the good old internet and apps. When they are working it's a great thing. When they aren't working it really sucks.

Connected things are wonderful until they fail on you. Numerous Tesla owners allegedly experienced this today as they got locked out of the car because the app was apparently down for maintenance.

Several users took Twitter to pour out their agony. Some of them were logged out of the app and weren’t able to use it to unlock their cars.

On this day: 4 Sep 2015
Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards told The New York Daily News that Rap music was for "tone deaf people." He went on to say "All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they're happy. There's an enormous market for people who can't tell one note from another." via thisdayinmusic.com

On this day: 4 Sep 1971
Taken from the album 'Ram', Paul and Linda McCartney went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the US only released 'Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey'. McCartney's first US solo No.1. Paul would later explain that "Uncle Albert" was based on his real-life uncle. "He's someone I recall fondly and when the song was coming, it was like a nostalgia thing... As for Admiral Halsey, he's one of yours, an American admiral", referring to Admiral William "Bull" Halsey. via thisdayinmusic.com

Don't complain. This song brings back some fond memories.

A wonderful dose of Karma.

Facing a felony and about to receive the Genius Award.

Police today will be reviewing security camera footage in an attempt to identify the man who yesterday pulled a gun on the manager of a Popeyes in Texas after being told that the restaurant had run out of its new chicken sandwich.

The suspect, cops say, was among a group of two men and three women who arrived at the Houston eatery’s drive-thru window shortly before 9 PM Monday. The prospective diners sought to order the Popeyes chicken sandwich that debuted recently and touched off a sandwich war with Chick-fil-A.

Upon learning that the restaurant was out of the sandwiches, the group exited their vehicle and tried to storm the Popeyes. When stymied by a manager who locked the front door, one man became upset and pulled out a pistol in an attempt to secure a sandwich.

Chick-Fil-A once again comes through. Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

After a shooting Saturday that left seven people dead and convulsed the West Texas communities of Odessa and Midland, first responders coping with the tragedy had some help from Chick-fil-A workers who made sure they had something to eat.

On Saturday, a man identified as Seth Ator, 36, who had been fired from his job that day, opened fire on police in Midland after a traffic stop, then drove through Midland and Odessa on a killing spree until police eventually confronted him and killed him in a shootout, CNN reported.

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Images.

Notice: Posted with permission by the Ace Media Empire and AceCorp, LLC. The ONT often imitated but never replicated.

posted by Misanthropic Humanitarian at 10:00 PM

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