Boston Marathon Bombing Defamation Suit Against Hate Mongering Glenn Beck Clears First Hurdle

Glenn Beck could be the next to bear some consequences for the sort of hate mongering propaganda he was known for on Faux and now on his personal lunacy …

For years, we have endured a lopsided version of “free speech” in which repugicans made up horrible stuff to feed their hate mongering base and they did it with impunity.  While rare, there are occasions when the purveyors of racism, homophobia, misogyny, slut shaming, poverty shaming and all those other wonderfully “christian” sentiments get theirs.

Elizabeth Lauten showed her “class” by taking to Facebook to attack Sasha and Malia Obama because they rolled their eyes at a turkey pardon. By Monday, Lauten “resigned” her position as a spokesperson for Congressman Steven Fincher and we had the added bonus of learning just how “classy” Lauten was when she was a teenager.

Glenn Beck could be the next to bear some consequences for the sort of hate mongering propaganda he was known for on Faux and now on his personal online hate machine of The Blaze Inc.

Beck is the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a Saudi Arabian student who Beck repeatedly accused of being the “money man” behind the Boston Marathon bombing of last year. According to Reuters, Alharbi v. Beck et al, passed its first hurdle on Tuesday when a Boston Judge concluded that “Abdulrahman Alharbi’s allegations “easily permit an inference” that Beck, his company The Blaze Inc. and a distributor of his radio show were negligent toward him over Beck’s comments.

Alharbi was a spectator who was standing near the finish line at the Marathon.  News reports did mention him and he was the subject of a brief investigation.  Of course, once authorities found out that he had no role in the bombing, they dropped the investigation.

Eventually, the investigation led police to Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Still, Beck continued to tell his radio audience that Alharbi was involved.

Alharbi’s suit claims that Beck repeatedly made false statements about Alharbi including that he helped fund the bombing and Beck continued to make these false statements after the investigation stopped because investigators found that Alharbi had no involvement in the bombing.

Alharbi suit claims that as a consequence of Beck’s repeatedly false statements Alharbi’s reputation was damaged and he was subjected to messages that called him a murderer, child killer and terrorist.

Judge Saris rejected Beck’s attempt to get the suit dismissed because according to Beck, Alharbi was a “limited purpose” or “involuntary” public figured who failed to show that Beck acted with “actual malice” meaning that he lied or recklessly disregarded the truth.

In essence, Beck tried to claim that Alharbi became an “involuntary” public figure because Beck repeatedly lied about him, therefore stripping Alharbi of his “private figure” status.  That makes a difference because in defamation cases, the bar is set higher for public figures, be they voluntary or involuntary.

Fortunately, the judge didn’t buy it. As the Judge said so well,

 Choosing to attend a sporting event as one of thousands of spectators is not the kind of conduct that a reasonable person would expect to result in publicity,

Alharbi’s lawsuit seeks “unspecified damages.” This is only the first hurdle and ultimately, Beck could get off the hook. Still, the chance that he could be held accountable for his version of “reporting” is worth celebrating.

Let’s face it. Beck built his career on malicious falsehoods directed at anyone who falls in the long list of targets of the wingnut hate machine.  This isn’t the first time that Beck went too far, or repeated horrible lies long after they were debunked. Maybe this time he’ll face the consequences.

However, people like Beck and his fellow shrieking heads, and “reporters” at Faux and similar “news outlets” have made a mockery of journalism and of the true value of a free press.

Bryan Fischer Melts Down as He Confronts Reality That We Are a Nation of Immigrants

According to Fischer, you're a native American if you're born here but if you're a native American you're an immigrant - or something. He's not sure…

It is no secret the religio-wingnuts detest the idea of immigration reform. After all, borders, they say, are set by dog and should not be crossed without permission. Unless, you know, America has to go kick some ass for dog somewhere in the world. Then it’s okay.

In response, we try to remind them that we are a “nation of immigrants.” This is a point we have made here as well in response to Fischer’s frequent ethnic nationalist rants.

Because we are. All of us, or are parents, or our grandparents or their parents etc, all the way back to the first settlers, came here from somewhere else. This is just a simple, indisputable fact. Some came willingly, some because they were brought here, like African Americans, to be slaves to those who came here willingly (and Fischer has already said the whole slavery thing is islam’s fault.)

Fischer didn’t respond well to the idea that we are a nation of immigrants. In fact, he melted down in a big way trying to wrap his mind around it.

Watch courtesy of Right Wing Watch:

That’s another thing that kinda bothers me about that whole ‘Native American’ thing. You know, this ‘nation of immigrants’ business. You know we’re not – we are not – a nation of immigrants. Eighty-five to 87% of the people that live in the United States were born here. You know what that makes us? It makes us native Americans. We are Americans by birth.

Which only goes to show he is missing the point entirely.

So we are natives, he says. But according to Fischer, Native Americans are not natives. They’re not natives because they immigrated too. Watch him try to wrap his head around this:

You know, National Geographic had this big story. Now some evidence that the Native American tribes, the Indian nations migrated here from Eurasia as well as from Asia. The thinking all along has been that they migrated here from Asia. They came to American soil from Asia. Now they’re saying, well it was also from Eurasia. Well what does that mean? I mean, they don’t even stop to kind of contemplate the significance of that. It means that Native American tribes are immigrants too!

Sure, they arrived here too, from across the Bering Strait, but it was so many thousands of years ago – about 15,000 to be exact – that they had already been here for thousands of years when the first Europeans arrived to settle.

Which brings up the question: if we’re natives because we were born here, as he just said, then why are Native Americans who were born here going back those 15,000 years, not natives? Didn’t he just contradict his own objection of a moment before?

You wonder at this point if Fischer actually wrote any of this down before speaking, or even thought about it, because it almost seems he argued himself into a place no Right Wing crazy wants to find himself: a world of facts. This is the point at which Fischer seems to lose it, having a fit of cognitive dissonance right there for all to see as “realities” collide.

If we’re a nation of immigrants, to use their expression, that has to apply to the Indian Nations that were here when European settlers arrived. Everybody here is an immigrant. Everybody here is a descendant of those who immigrated to these shores.

Yes!

That’s the point liberals have been repeatedly making as their contribution to the public discourse on the immigration question. Hello? Statue of Liberty? Ellis Island?

Isn’t that game, set match?

Don’t count on it. Fischer and his friends hate Native Americans too. According to repugicans, multiculturalism is “raping” the West, and that’s what this is really about – about protecting right white privilege by rooting out all the “brown people” who make life so difficult for them and cut into their profits. Let’s be clear about that.

After all, isn’t it the Lakota Nation now standing between them and their Keystone XL profits? Money dog want them to have?

As Tom Tancredo has said, “No more of this multiculturalism garbage…the cult of multiculturalism has captured the world [and is] the dagger in the heart [of civilization].”

I guess if civilization is to be defined as white people doing what racist white people already do. If you have any questions about what that is, look to America’s reservation system. Look at Ferguson, Missouri.

But if we are all immigrants, a conclusion Fischer himself just came to, then why are white people the only good immigrants?

And to go back to Fischer’s original argument, if we’re not all immigrants, then how is it that people whose ancestors have been here 15,000 years are NOT natives, and people who are just now arriving are NOT natives, but people whose ancestors have only been here for three or four centuries at most ARE natives?

Fischer has been down this road already, trying to justify his irrational racism:

If…there is a moral and ethical basis for our displacement of native American tribes, and if our westward expansion and settlement are in fact consistent with the laws of nature, nature’s God, and the law of nations, then Americans have much to be proud of.

So we “Anglo-Saxons” have a right to have immigrated here. Native Americans do not have this divine sanction and so apparently should never have been here and therefore have no right to complain that we took all their land, and today’s Latino immigrants have no right to be here either, because they are now crossing borders created by dog.

Thus there was a “Goldilocks” zone that was just right, when the Chosen People were allowed in. Everything before and after represents a violation of “the law of nations” and “nature’s dog.” (And remember, “natural law” has been used against not just Native Americans and Latino immigrants, but against gays and also against non-christians.) Everyone who doesn’t belong here, who can’t be grandfathered in through some sort of “Goldilocks Exemption” must be “vomited forth,” in the old testament sense (Lev 20.22-25; Jer 3.2-3).

Convert or die or face dog’s wrath. This applies not only to muslims but for Fischer, also to those Native Americans he was having such trouble with.

No need to go to Syria or Iraq to fight ISIL. We have our own here. And we thought they were bad as Talibangelicals. We had no idea. And Fischer has already admitted to being in “theological accord” with ISIL.

This is why it is amusing to see someone like Fischer come up against the world of facts, and this is why his response is an epic rant. It’s no easy matter to make a rational-sounding argument in favor of something that is inherently irrational, as Fischer just found out.

But if we’re stuck with them, they are also stuck with us. Take heart from that, my friends.

The republicans shout down Ted Cruz over spending bill

The hyenas are turning on their own (and that is a good thing)

by Robert Schroeder

Ted Cruz is clashing with his fellow repugican senators over plans for a bill that would keep the U.S. government from shutting down next week.
The Texas repugican, and other wingnuts want to derail House repugicans’ plans to keep the government funded past Dec. 11. The Texan said he opposes a plan to pass a bill to keep the government funded through September, revisit Department of Homeland Security funding early next year and pass a proposal disapproving of President Barack Obama’s immigration policy. As Politico reports, some of his Senate colleagues say his plan would result in a government shutdown. “We’re just not going there,” said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas about revisiting anything like 2013’s shutdown fight, in which Cruz played a large role.
House repugican leaders pushed ahead with the plan Cruz despises. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the House voted Thursday on a bill that would express repugicans’ opposition to Obama’s executive orders on immigration. But the vote will be largely symbolic: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said his chamber won’t consider the measure. Meanwhile, as the Journal says, House repugican cabal leaders are banking on the prospect of help from Democrats to pass the government-funding bill, given the wingnuts’ opposition.

The repugicans say they believe in small government - Except when it comes to marijuana

The repugican cabal's opposition to Washington, D.C.'s new marijuana legalization law has exposed the party's rank hypocrisy on federalism

by Ryan Cooper

If there's one principle that animates the bulk of repugican discourse, it's the idea of limits on state power. Government is not the solution, etc. Judges should strictly interpret the laws as written, as well as their original intent. Whenever possible, policy should follow federalist principles, with authority delegated to the states.
It's a nice little principle with deep roots in American history. It's also a crock. The wingnuts don't care about small government. What they care about are certain ideological outcomes, which they set out to achieve by any means necessary, whether it's using the federal government to override state policy or the Supreme Court to strike down legislation passed by Congress.
Look no further than the King vs. Burwell lawsuit, a challenge to ObamaCare that will be up before the Supreme Court this summer. It is perhaps the most blatant case of judicial activism since the shrub vs. Gore. Wingnuts don't like ObamaCare and want it destroyed. How this happens is of little importance. Until they stole a legislative majority, this "Monty Python-esque exercise in extreme tendentiousness," as Jonathan Chait put it, suited just fine.
But perhaps an even better example of this particular repugican hypocrisy can be found in Washington, D.C. In the last election, D.C. voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative legalizing possession of marijuana. Outraged repugicans are trying to use Congress' absolute power over the district to stop the local government from spending any of its own money on legalization, effectively overturning the measure by force.
Now, as German Lopez argues, it's not clear they could actually do this under current rules, since simply legalizing the possession of marijuana wouldn't cost anything (indeed, it would save money, since police would have fewer arrests to make). However, it would prevent the district from implementing any formal legalization regime, as the new mayor Muriel Bowser favors.
Still, just count the howling violations of basic wingnut principles here. First, there's the fact that the law was duly passed at the ballot box. Second, there's the big bad federal government behaving in the most big bad way possible. Finally, there's the larger issue of D.C.'s place in the American political system, a city with more people than Vermont or Wyoming who get no representation in Congress even though they pay federal taxes and obey federal laws. Where are the teabaggers, now?
But never mind. For decades, repugicans have meddled with the local government, screwing up their needle exchange and their handgun ban and their medical marijuana and their abortion policy. Local governance and Saint Reagan-style federalism are supremely important, until they get in the way of lording over a helpless subject population apparently.
To be fair, liberals aren't terribly consistent on principles either. They are somewhat less hypocritical than wingnuts — when they had a huge legislative majority, they sort of re-implemented a bunch of good-government rules, like PAYGO, that repugicans had shredded during the shrub years. But liberals will pick and choose principles, too.
In the end, blatant hypocrisy aside, Democrats could learn a lot from repugicans' dedication to victory by any means necessary. There's no point in only one side playing by the rules.

U.S. judge moves closer to action against Arizona sheriff

A U.S. judge moved a step closer to pursuing possible contempt charges against Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio on Thursday, accusing the Maricopa County sheriff of failing to follow court mandates in a 2007 racial-profiling case.

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow ruled that deputies working for Arpaio, an 82-year-old who bills himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," racially profiled Latino drivers and held them for too long during traffic stops.

Snow ordered that they stop, and he also appointed a court monitor to oversee the operations of the sheriff's office.

On Thursday, the judge ordered that attorneys for Arpaio, Maricopa County, and the plaintiffs file court papers by Jan. 8 on the issue of civil and criminal charges that could be leveled against the sheriff.

"I have some deep concerns," Snow told a hearing in federal court in downtown Phoenix, citing instances where deputies were not told of the court's order, and where material was not turned over to Latino drivers' lawyers.

"I believe there have been some serious violations. ... There are a lot of matters that are of concern," Snow said.

In May 2013 the judge issued his ruling in response to a class-action lawsuit filed by Latino plaintiffs who argued their constitutional rights had been violated because deputies singled them out for traffic stops based on their race.

Arpaio, who attended Thursday's hearing with a criminal defense attorney, has denied any racial profiling and has appealed Snow's ruling from last year.

The sheriff declined to comment following the session.

Justice is dead ...

Woman Arrested for Xanax Is Your New Hottest Mugshot Girl

If you’re going to get arrested and look good while doing it, you will probably become an Internet sensation.

Jeremy Meeks’ mugshot started the hot mugshot craze earlier this year when the convicted felon’s mugshot went super viral, ostensibly because the Internet was unable to wrap its collective mind around the fact that beautiful people are just as capable of committing crimes as anyone.
18-year-old Alysa Bathrick is the latest woman to get the digital perp walk treatment. Check her out:
Bathrick was arrested in Raleigh, NC earlier this week after cops found her in possession of Xanax without a prescription and intent to sell it, according to Elite Daily.Shortly after her release from the big house, Bathrick Tweeted that her mugshot was cute, accompanied by the hashtag #ftp (which means Fuck The Police).
If you want to know why in the fuck someone would become a Xanax dealer, you can hit her up on Twitter. Along with the thousands of other guys who have been Tweeting at her since the mugshot went viral.

Amanda Miranda Panda and accomplice charged with shoplifting and burglary

Two Idaho teenagers face burglary charges on suspicion of shoplifting from multiple Boise businesses and stealing from two cars, Boise Police Department officials have said.

Amanda Miranda Panda and Tristen Bubba Parsons, both 18, each face three counts of burglary. Parsons is also charged with resisting and obstructing officers. At about 4pm on Monday officers responded to reports of a shoplifting and stealing from parked cars.
When officers arrived, they spotted Parsons checking parked cars for unlocked doors. When they tried to speak to him, he fled on foot, and was arrested after a foot chase.
Panda was arrested without incident. In the suspects' vehicle, officers found multiple clothing items from four different stores, as well as recently-purchased items that appeared to have been stolen from other vehicles. Both were booked into the Ada County jail.

Man assaulted wife with McChicken sandwich

A man was jailed on Tuesday for reportedly using a McDonald's McChicken sandwich as a weapon against his pregnant wife, according to a police report. Marvin Tramaine Hill II, 21, admitted to police that he threw the sandwich at his wife "because he doesn't like them."

Hill was arrested for simple domestic assault and taken to the Polk County Jail. Police in Des Moines, Iowa, met with Hill at the couple's home. Hill told police it was actually his wife who assaulted him. Hill said his wife woke him up at around 1pm with a McChicken in hand.
He admitted to police that he became upset and threw the sandwich at her,then picked up some of the bun, throwing it at her again. The woman went to the bathroom to clean herself up but Hill followed her and began recording her using his cellphone, which he later shared with police. In the video, police saw the woman knock the phone out of his hands.
Hill's wife had mayonnaise on her shirt and face when officers located her. According to the woman, Hill had forcefully smashed the bun into her face. Police noted that the woman's nose was swollen and believed Hill was trying to entice the woman into knocking the phone out of his hands to make her appear aggressive, the report stated. Hill was arrested and his weapons permit was confiscated. He remains in custody at the Polk County Jail.

Car thief tried to flee on skateboard after police chase

It started out like an average police chase in California, but ended with a skateboard, and a TV reality star. A stolen BMW was driving in the wrong lane against traffic in Van Nuys, doing 90 miles an hour at one point. And then, “He just crashed”

The alleged car thief then ran across three lanes of traffic clutching the longboard. For five seconds the suspect tried to skateboard away from officers in hot pursuit on foot. Back on foot, he ran into trouble when a red pick-up tried to block his path.
He went around it. And then as police were closing in, the same red pick-up cut him off and practically pinned him. The driver of the pick-up turned out to be the former star of a now-cancelled reality show.

YouTube link.

Luis “Lou” Pizarro used to run around dramatizing car repossessions, so it seemed natural to help real police officers get their man. Pizarro said, “It’s just instinct, just to block the guy off.” 33-year-old Jesus Zamora was charged with auto theft. Police recovered the skateboard, presumably for evidence.

Missing Brains

100 Brains Go Missing, But Why Were They Even Collected?

Thieves target a vast collection of human brains stored in jars at the University of Texas at Austin.

Royalty, Espionage, and Erotica: Secrets of the World's Tiniest Photographs

Almost as soon as photography was invented, the first microphotographs followed -to demonstrate the power of a microscope. These tiny pictures became popular among the general public when the Stanhope lens, a tiny magnifying glass, was developed. Beginning in the mid-19th century, the photographs and lenses were embedded into everyday objects that people could peek at privately anytime they wanted. Family portraits were a popular subject, but landmark images made into souvenirs sold like crazy, since the postcard had yet to be invented. Then there were the nude microphotographs, which were easily hidden.  

Dubious press coverage at the time claimed that the English preferred Stanhopes with photos of calendars or banknotes, the Italians wanted religious imagery, and the Germans wanted more risqué fare. In fact, erotic Stanhopes were popular everywhere, typically built into objects expected to remain within a circle of male viewers. “Usually the most erotic ones are in smokers’ equipment because that wouldn’t have been used by women,” says Scott. “Since they were so tiny, nobody else would have noticed them.” Melnick points out that a nude photo in a sewing tool or scent bottle is often a sign that the Stanhope isn’t authentic.

One of the largest collections of erotic Stanhope lenses is housed at the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Indiana. Melnick has worked closely with the Kinsey collection—donating Stanhope objects, repairing lenses, and preparing items for display. Most of their Stanhope archive was made up of loose lenses never inserted into objects. These Stanhopes arrived as a single donation in the 1920s, when they were confiscated in the mail as pornography presumably on their way from a lens manufacturer to a client making novelty items. “There were thousands, with 30-some different images,” Melnick says. “Some are actresses with clothes on, but mostly they’re stylized nudes doing poses amid weird props or things like that.” Combining their small size and secretive placement, Stanhopes were perfect for hiding erotic imagery in plain sight.

Jean Scott, author of the book Stanhopes: A Closer View, tells us the history of these early microphotographs, which are highly collectible now, at Collectors Weekly.

DNA Questions

Richard III's DNA Raises Questions Over Queen's Ancestry

Genetic analysis of the remains of Richard III reveals a break in the male line that could question the royal lineage of the Tudors, including England's current queen.

For Sale on Craigslist: Cursed Sword

Would you like to own a sword? Of course you do! Everyone wants—shoot, everyone needs—at least one sword. This lady in the Austin, Texas area owns over 100 of them. She wants to part with this beauty because it’s haunted:

This sword is from the 1700s. I got it at an antique store in my memaw's home town back in 1984. The person who sold it to me told me to be careful because there is a 90+% chance that it is cursed. Since it's been in my house my life has descended into pure chaos. My knitting group came over and they all said they could feel a strange energy in my sword room (I have a collection of over 100 swords. This is my only haunted sword). Since i got this sword, about 3 times a week a crucifix will fall off of my wall for no reason. I am 76 years old. I cannot have this cursed item in my house anymore. Please take it off my hands!!

It’s not that bad, but she’s tired of having to perform Constitution saving rolls every 10 rounds.

Roman and Pictish Silver Hoard Discovered in Scotland

More than 100 pieces of silver, including coins and jewelry, have been unearthed in northeastern Scotland. “It is a hugely important discovery being Europe’s most northerly Late Roman hacksilver hoard, and also containing otherwise unique Pictish silver,” Martin Goldberg of the National Museums Scotland told The Herald Scotland. Silver objects that had been chopped up into bullion, called hacksilver, were used as payment, bribes, tribute, and rewards, according to Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen. “The new finds include late Roman coins, pieces of late Roman silver vessels, bracelet and brooch fragments, and other objects that would have been highly prized objects in their day,” he explained. The research team is investigating the interaction between the Picts and the Late Roman world. To read about a similar recent discovery, see "The Dovedale Hoard."

Cancer Identified in 4,500-Year-Old Skeleton

Holes in the well-preserved bones of a man who died in Siberia 4,500 years ago show that he suffered from lung or prostate cancer that had spread throughout his body from his hip to his head. “This is one of [the oldest]—if not the oldest—absolute cases of cancer that we can be really, really confident saying that it’s cancer,” bioarchaeologist Angela Lieverse of the University of Sasketchewan told CBC News. She speculates that the hunter-gatherer may have developed lung cancer from inhaling smoke from wood fires, and other non-environmental factors. Unlike other men in his community, this man had been buried in the fetal position in a circular pit with an intricately carved bone spoon. “It’s a tragic story. It breaks your heart to think of what he went through,” she said. To read about another ancient cancer case in Siberia, see "MRI Shows 'Princess Ukok' Suffered From Cancer."

Climate Change in the Ancient Southwest

Archaeologist Tim Kohler and researcher Kyle Bocinsky of Washington State University have used tree-ring data, the temperature and water requirements of growing maize, and computer programs to produce a map of the ideal growing regions of the American Southwest for the past 2,000 years. How did the ancestral Pueblo people of southwest Colorado react to climate change in the late 1200s? The data suggest that some 40,000 people left Mesa Verde when drought made it difficult to grow the staple crop, at the same time that there was a population spike at the Pajarito Plateau of the northern Rio Grande, where conditions had become ideal. “People are generally going to try and find ways to keep on keeping on, to do what they’ve been doing before changing their technological strategy,” Bocinsky explained to Science Daily. To read about investigations into another ancient Southwestern culture, see "On the Trail of the Mimbres."

Another Mars mystery: What's that circular 'island' in its lava flows?

Scientists are studying a fascinating image of an unusual circular formation on Mars and trying to work out how it got there.

by Amanda Kooser

At least we know it's not Gilligan's Island.

Mars has a history of offering up unusual formations for humans to marvel at, speculate about and scratch their heads over. We've famously had the face on Mars (Elvis, is that you?) and more recently a jelly doughnut-shaped rock and an object vaguely shaped like a human femur bone. The latest find is a formation that looks a bit like a deformed waffle.An image captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter looked down onto what NASA describes as an "enigmatic landform." The 1.2-mile wide feature is circular and sits in the Athabasca region of Mars, home to some of the planet's youngest lava flows. The smooth areas around it are those lava flows.
Overzealous alien theorists might see the photo as evidence of intelligent breakfast on Mars, but NASA scientists are offering up a more probable explanation: "Perhaps lava has intruded underneath this mound and pushed it up from beneath. It looks as if material is missing from the mound, so it is also possible that there was a significant amount of ice in the mound that was driven out by the heat of the lava."
NASA goes on to note that there are many features like this one in the region that are still puzzling to scientists. The search for a complete explanation is still ongoing.
As we wait for the scientists to study this image and others of the surrounding area, I would like to offer up my own whacked-out, completely fictional theory: If the "Face on Mars" really is Elvis, then this circular formation could be proof that Elvis is hungry. After all, a Google search for "Elvis waffles" returns 407,000 results, so there must be some sort of correlation there, right?

Poison Frogs and Fire Ants

Using Poison-Frog Compounds to Control Fire Ants

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their collaborators have found that naturally occurring compounds—alkaloids—that are found on the skin of certain poison frogs can incapacitate and kill fire ants. […]

Delivered from death ...

Baby Sharks Delivered from Dead Mother by Beachgoers

The good Samaritans noticed movement in the shark's belly and bravely cut her open to rescue the pups.

This Giant Stick Insect Is over a Foot Long

This is Phryganistria heusii yentuensis, a newly-documented stick insect native to Vietnam. It's 32 centimeters long or 54 centimeters when stretched out. These dimensions make it the second largest insect in the world.
The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences found it in Vietnam. The researchers found the insect by placing a sheet around a bush, then hitting the bush with a stick until the insect fell out. They observed a pair for a few days, including their mating habits, and cataloged their findings. The researchers plan to continue searching Vietnam for other stick insects that have not yet been documented.

In Japan, Capybaras Get Treated to Yearly Hot Tubs

In Japan, an "onsen" is a hot spring; the term is also used to describe the resorts that are built around hot springs. Who would have thought that onsens and capybaras would collide? According to one source, the two ideas were linked when over thirty years ago, a Japanese zookeeper noticed that the rodents were gathered around a puddle of hot water in an effort to warm themselves during the cold winter. The scene evolved and became an attraction.
Izu Shaboten Park has been indulging their capybaras in hot baths for thirty-two years. The bath is complete with citrus to make it a more pleasant sensory experience. At least twenty other Japanese zoos have capybara onsens as well. These events are always held in the winter to keep the animals warm. There's even a Japanese hashtag #カピバラ露天風呂 that, translated, means “capybara outdoor bath.” (If you like capybaras, check out the hashtag link. It's full of wonderful photos!)
They have hot tubs, they have hashtags, Twitter users are creating likenesses of them in bowls of soup — these Japanese capybaras are riding high!

Overly-curious polar bear tranquilized before being airlifted far away by helicopter

A two-year-old female polar bear paid for her curiosity when she was shot with a tranquillizer dart after constantly showing up at an oil depot facility looking for food.

The 200-kilogram (440-pound) animal was transported away via helicopter on Monday from the Toboyskoye oil field in the Nenets Autonomous Region of the Russian Arctic. The polar bear had been carried away three times previously but kept returning in the hope she would be given further milk and canned meat.
She is now likely to end up in a zoo or on another island away from the oil field. “The bear was shooed away towards the coastline. Regrettably, four hours later she was back at the same production facility,” said oil worker Vadim Svishchev.

YouTube link.

About 2,500 polar bears are believed to inhabit the Nenets Autonomous Region, and their population has continued to grow since Russia banned polar bear hunting in 1957.

Animal Pictures

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Astana, Kazakhstan

Seoul, Korea

Kuala Lumpur and Bayan Lepas, Malaysia

Islamabad, Pakistan

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Bangkok, Thailand

Africa

Rabat, Morocco

Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Johannesburg, South Africa

Lusaka, Zambia

The Pacific

Homebush, Sydney and Brisbane, Australia

Today in History

1492		Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Santo Domingo in search of gold.
1776		Phi Beta Kappa, the first scholastic fraternity, is founded at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.
1812		The majority of Napoleon Bonaparte's Grand Armeé staggers into Vilna, Lithuania, ending the failed Russian campaign.
1861		Union General George G. Meade leads a foraging expedition to Gunnell's farm near Dranesville, Virginia.
1862		President Abraham Lincoln orders the hanging of 39 of the 303 convicted Indians who participated in the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota. They are to be hanged on December 26.
1863		The monitor Weehawken sinks in Charleston Harbor.
1876		Jack McCall is convicted for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok and sentenced to hang.
1877		Thomas A. Edison makes the first sound recording when he recites "Mary had a Little Lamb" into his phonograph machine.
1906		Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge flies a powered, man-carrying kite that carries him 168 feet in the air for seven minutes at Baddeck, Nova Scotia.
1917		The Bolsheviks imprison Czar Nicholas II and his family in Tobolsk.
1921		Ireland's 26 southern counties become independent from Britain forming the Irish Free State.
1922		Benito Mussolini threatens Italian newspapers with censorship if they keep reporting "false" information.
1934		American Ambassador Davis says Japan is a grave security threat in the Pacific.
1938		France and Germany sign a treaty of friendship.
1939		Britain agrees to send arms to Finland, which is fighting off a Soviet invasion.
1941		President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues a personal appeal to Emperor Hirohito to use his influence to avoid war.
1945		The United States extends a $3 billion loan to Great Britain to help compensate for the termination of the Lend-Lease agreement.
1947		Florida's Everglades National Park is established.
1948		The "Pumpkin Spy Papers" are found on the Maryland farm of Whittaker Chambers. They become evidence that State Department employee Alger Hiss is spying for the Soviet Union.
1957		Vanguard TV3 explodes on the launchpad, thwarting the first US attempt to launch a satellite into Earth's orbit.
1967		Adrian Kantrowitz performs first human heart transplant in the US.
1969		Hells Angels, hired to provide security at a Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway in California, beat to death concert-goer Meredith Hunter.
1971		Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India after New Delhi recognizes the state of Bangladesh.
1973		US House of Representatives confirms Gerald Ford as Vice-President of the United States, 387–35.
1975		A Provisional IRA unit takes a couple hostage in Balcombe Street, London, and a 6-day siege begins.
1976		Democrat Tip O'Neill is elected speaker of the House of Representatives. He will serve the longest consecutive term as speaker.
1992		The Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, is destroyed during a riot that started as a political protest.
2006		NASA reveals photographs from Mars Global Surveyor that suggest the presence of water on the red planet.

Culinary Delites

Xmas Stollen Sweet Bread

Stollen is a deliciously stuffed German sweet bread that’s filled to bursting with raisins, ginger and nuts that pair perfectly with the sweet and dense, buttery dough. Making any leavened bread at home isn’t necessarily a walk in the park, as it’s time consuming and requires stopping and starting while the dough does its thing, but this stollen is so yummy you won’t mind making the effort!
The trick, since it’s so packed with goodies, is to make sure you take the time to let the dough rise once without any raisins or nuts in it, then let it rise again once everything’s neatly folded in. These steps will ensure a risen bread that’s perfectly moist. Stollen is an ideal choice for that big holiday dinner or party since it's both beautiful and delicious! This is one of those treats that's just right for any special occasion, a unique blend of textures and flavors wrapped up into a moist loaf of sweet bread!

Stollen Loaf

Yields 2-4 loaves
Ingredients

• 3-4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, divided
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, for dusting
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup almonds, sliced
• 1/2 cup crystallized ginger
• 1/2 cup orange liqueur or warm water
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoon orange zest, grated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• vegetable oil, for greasing the bowl

Directions

1. Soak raisins, ginger and almonds in orange liqueur in a medium bowl for at least 30 minutes (up to 8 hours) and set aside.
2. Warm milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until just about to boil. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup butter and salt.
3. Remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm, then transfer to a large bowl or mixer.
4. In a small bowl, mix together yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar until liquid and add to the warm milk mixture. Stir well.
5. Add eggs one at a time to mixture, then vanilla extract, and beat well.
6. Mix in orange zest, cardamom and nutmeg, then add 2 cups flour and mix until dough begins to come together.
7. Continue adding flour until dough ball forms. Knead dough until smooth and elastic. 
8. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean towel and place in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2-2 hours, or until doubled in size.
9. Punch down dough and add raisin nut mixture. Knead until completely incorporated and smooth.
10. Lightly grease a baking tray and shape dough into desired amount of loaves. Cover again with a clean towel, transfer to a warm, draft-free place and let rise for 1 hour.
11. Press loaves down in center and fold over lengthwise.
12. Place in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes (for smaller loaves) to 50-55 minutes (large loaves).
13. Remove from oven, melt remaining 3/4 cup butter and brush it onto loaves, and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar.
    Optional: wrap loaves tightly in plastic wrap and let sit for 1 day before serving to maximize flavor.

That would be nice ...

Obama Wins As Boehner Announces His Plan To Cave To The President’s Executive Orders

John Boehner announced his plan to both respond to the president’s immigration executive orders and keep the government open. The idiot’s scheme is a thinly veiled cave to Obama that equals another presidential victory.

Politico reported,

John Boehner announced Tuesday in a closed repugican meeting that the House would vote to disapprove of President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration this week and will vote to fund the government next week.

The two-part plan, which repugican cabal leadership laid out Monday evening to some lawmakers, is designed to give repugicans an opportunity to express displeasure with the White House’s move on immigration while avoiding a shutdown.

Boehner’s allies are claiming that the Speaker’s plan isn’t a cave, which is a big sign that the Speaker has caved. Rob Pittinger (r-NC) said, “I don’t think you’re caving when you’re trying to restrict the president who has been unconstitutional. I think you’re taking every initiative that is possible at this point so he’s not a position to enact the provisions he chooses to do.”

The fallback position of the Speaker’s allies appears to involve throwing their arms up in the air while screaming at the top of their lungs that President Obama is a dictator/emperor. What this means in practical terms is that House repugicans are going throw a tantrum and stomp their feet, but at the end of the day, they don’t have the guts to shut down the government right before Xmas.

To put it another way, President Obama won.

The passage of Boehner’s plan depends on his ability to sell it to his fellow repugicans. Since John Boehner is the worst salesperson in American politics, it is very possible that his plan crashes and burns as his own repugicans refuse to support it.

If the repugicans support Speaker Boehner’s scheme, their vote will be a tacit admission that the president has outmaneuvered and defeated his repugican opponents again. The plan that Boehner is floating is a cave to reality.

The repugicans don’t have a leg to stand on as it relates to opposing the president’s executive orders. There is nothing that they can do. Boehner has already lost. The Ohio repugican’s plan is a smokescreen that is intended to hide another crushing defeat.

Mitch McConnell Admits That He Is Perplexed That Obama Is Beating Him By Moving Left

Mitch McConnell (r-KY) admitted that he was perplexed by the fact that President Obama outsmarted him by moving to the left.

McConnell told the Wall Street Journal CEO Council annual meeting, “By any objective standard the president got crushed in this election. So I’ve been perplexed by the reaction since the election, the sort of in your face dramatic move to the left. I don’t know what we can expect in terms of reaching bipartisan agreement.”

This is the same Mitch McConnell who promised before the election that he would break Obama and force him to do the repugican cabal’s bidding. McConnell intended to accomplish this goal by using government shutdowns to force the president’s hand.

McConnell’s comments are another indication that repugicans have no idea who this president is. McConnell and Boehner thought that they were getting the imaginary Obama that Faux News is always talking about, but they are both realizing that the man they are going to be dealing with for the next two years is nothing like what repugicans imagined him to be.

President Obama isn’t indecisive. The president is not weak. Obama has shown in numerous standoffs with House repugicans that he doesn’t respond well to bullying and hostage politics. The president’s offers of bipartisanship are real, but he expects repugicans to meet him in the middle. Obama has spent years refusing to bend to repugican created crisis, so it is unfathomable that McConnell could be perplexed by anything that the president is doing.

With his immigration executive action, the president outflanked repugicans while reuniting his party. Obama has six years of evidence that repugicans had no intention of working with him on anything. The White House had a strategy in place, and they were prepared for a Democratic defeat.

McConnell and Boehner have already backed down on the threat to shutdown the government in December. McConnell doesn’t have the stomach for government shutdowns, which means that he has very few weapons to use against the president.

President Obama responded to the midterm election results ready to fight. Instead of a victory lap, McConnell has gotten himself a political street fight where President Obama has already won the first round.

One gets the sense that feeling perplexed is just the beginning of Mitch McConnell’s problems.

Economist: I've crunched the numbers, and the American Dream is dead

by Travis Gettys

A California economics professor says he's crunched the numbers, and he has concluded that the American Dream is dead..
Gregory Clark, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, found that social mobility had diminished significantly in the past 100 years, reported KOVR-TV.
"America has no higher rate of social mobility than medieval England or pre-industrial Sweden," Clark said. "That's the most difficult part of talking about social mobility, is because it is shattering people's dreams."
He said social mobility is little different in the United States than in other countries, where ancestry strongly predicts adult social status.
"The status of your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, (and) your great-great grandchildren will be quite closely related to your average status now," Clark said.
That's upsetting to many of his students, Clark said.
"My students always argue with me, but I think the thing they find very hard to accept is the idea that much of their lives can be predicted from their lineage and their ancestry," he said.
Clark's findings, which were published by the Council on Foreign Relations, showed that Americans with French ancestry, for example, became doctors at a much lower rate than other immigrant groups.
"The French who arrived in the United States were overwhelmingly drawn from the lower classes of Acadia and Quebec, as a result of demographic patterns and selective migration," Clark argued. "The effects of this lower social status have persisted across generations, even amid extensive intermarriage."
Some immigrant groups - such as Africans, Chinese, Christian Arabs, and Indians - enjoy higher social status because visa restrictions limited entry to mostly skilled workers from higher social classes, he found.

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