The Daily Drift

Hey wingnuts - What he said ...!

 

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Today in History

1515		King Francis of France defeats the Swiss army under Cardinal Matthias Schiner at Marignano, northern Italy.
1549		Pope Paul III closes the first session of the Council of Bologna.
1564		On the verge of attacking Pedro Menendez's Spanish settlement at San Agostin, Florida, Jean Ribault's French fleet is scattered by a devastating storm.
1759		British troops defeat the French on the plains of Abraham, in Quebec.
1774		Tugot, the new controller of finances, urges the king of France to restore the free circulation of grain in the kingdom.
1782		The British fortress at Gibraltar comes under attack by French and Spanish forces.
1788		The Constitutional Convention authorizes the first federal election resolving that electors in all the states will be appointed on January 7, 1789.
1789		Guardsmen in Orleans, France, open fire on rioters trying to loot bakeries, killing 90.
1846		General Winfield Scott takes Chapultepec, removing the last obstacle to U.S. troops moving on Mexico City.
1862		Union troops in Frederick, Maryland, discover General Robert E. Lee's attack plans for the invasion of Maryland wrapped around a pack of cigars. They give the plans to General George B. McClellan who sends the Army of the Potomac to confront Lee but only after a delay of more than half a day.
1863		The Loudoun County Rangers route a company of Confederate cavalry at Catoctin Mountain in Virginia.
1905		U.S. warships head to Nicaragua on behalf of American William Albers, who was accused of evading tobacco taxes.
1918		U.S. and French forces take St. Mihiel, France in America's first action as a standing army.
1945		Iran demands the withdrawal of Allied forces.
1951		In Korea, U.S. Army troops begin their assault in Heartbreak Ridge. The month-long struggle will cost 3,700 casualties.
1961		An unmanned Mercury capsule is orbited and recovered by NASA in a test.
1976		The United States announces it will veto Vietnam's UN bid.
1988		Hurricane Gilbert becomes the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, based on barometric pressure. Hurricane Wilma will break that record in 2005.
1993		The Oslo Accords, granting limited Palestinian autonomy, are signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House.
2007		UN adopts non-binding Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
2008		Five synchronized bomb blasts occur in crowded locations of Delhi, India, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 100; four other bombs are defused.
2008		Hurricane Ike makes landfall in Texas; it had already been the most costly storm in Cuba's history and becomes the third costliest in the US.

Non Sequitur

Summer snow blankets Rockies from Canada to Colorado

That's what people from Canada to Colorado are saying after a late-summer snowstorm blanketed parts of the Rocky Mountains on Wednesday.

A cold front pouring down from Canada sent low temperatures dipping into the 30s from Alberta to the northern Rockies. As much as 14 inches of snow has fallen in Calgary since Monday, weather officials say, knocking down trees and power lines, snarling traffic and delaying flights at the city's airport.

In Colorado, snow fell in the upper elevations, covering mountain passes and ski areas not scheduled to open for weeks.

Meanwhile in repugican-teabagger fantasyland ...

Palin Family Involved In A Brawl

The Wasilla hillbilly hicks were involved in a brawl (and lost)

A majority of the Palin family — Sarah, Todd, Bristol, and Track — was involved in a booze-filled brawl over the weekend in which the former vice presidential candidate reportedly screamed, “Don’t you know who I am?”

According to reports from local bloggers, the Palin crew showed up at a party in Wasilla following a day at the Iron Dog snowmobile race.

Witnesses at the scene said Palin’s eldest son, Track, showed up to the party in a stretch Hummer. He then confronted a man who had previously dated one of his sisters.

“That led to some pushing and shoving, which escalated somehow to the family being told to leave the premises,” .

“This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” a party-goer allegedly yelled, making a possible reference to “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” a failed reality series that ran for nine episodes between Nov. 2010 and Jan. 2011.

“As people were leaving in a cab, Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose.”

A State of ISIS

What If ISIS Manages to Get Its Own State?

An ISIS nation could be worse than Taliban rule in Afghanistan. 

Switzerland reportedly offers Snowden safe passage, immunity from extradition

A report in the Swiss weekend paper Sonntagszeitung states that Snowden would not be extradited to the USA for "politically motivated" reasons if he were to attend hearings on illegal NSA spying.

Snowden currently has permanent residence in Russia.
In the document entitled "What are the rules would apply to consider when Edward Snowden would brought to Switzerland and then the United States would make a request for extradition" is the Attorney General concluded Snowden could be guaranteed under the safe conduct criminal investigations. The only obstacle would be "upper-level government commitments". Whether such were available, would have to be examined in more detail, writes the Attorney General.
Even at a hearing Snowden by Parliament U.S. whistleblower protection could be granted. Namely, when his offense, for which the United States wants him hold accountable, according to Swiss opinion "has predominantly political character".

More

If the Kents had been 'patriots' ...

Washington state megacult closes branches after founder is caught calling women 'penis homes'

Washington megacult Mars Hill announced that it is closing several branches, and has dismissed a leader after he recently called for the resignation of founder Mark Driscoll, who had created controversy with his anti-LGBT and anti-woman views.

In a letter posted to his Dropbox account, Mark Dunford said that he had been dismissed from the cult's Portland branch after calling for Driscoll's resignation, saying that the founder created a "culture of fear" inside the cult.
An August profile of Driscoll published by The New York Times explained that he had been accused "of plagiarizing, of inappropriately using church funds and of consolidating power to such a degree that it has become difficult for anyone to challenge or even question him."
A month earlier, it was revealed that Driscoll had posted hundreds of inflammatory Internet comments almost 15 years ago.
Although the media focused on his comments about the U.S. being a "pussified nation," bloggers who followed Driscoll closely argued that his views on women and sex were the larger problem.
On Monday, "Love, Joe, Feminism" blogger Libby Anne pointed out one of the more disturbing notions from Driscoll's Internet trolling days.
"Ultimately, god created you and it is his penis. You are simply borrowing it for a while," Driscoll wrote under the name William Wallace II in 2001. "Knowing that his penis would need a home, god created a woman to be your wife and when you marry her and look down you will notice that your wife is shaped differently than you and makes a very nice home."
"Therefore, if you are single you must remember that your penis is homeless and needs a home," he continued. "But, though you may believe your hand is shaped like a home, it is not… And, if you look at a man it is quite obvious that what a homeless man does not need is another man without a home."
Anne observed that she had "rarely seen an evangelical man assert male superiority and prominence this directly."

More

Family's Home Seized by Police After Son's $40 Drug Bust

Earlier this year, Yianni Sourovelis, 22, was arrested for possessing $40 worth of heroin, his first criminal offense. Several weeks later, police and representatives of the district attorney's office showed up at Sourovelis' parents' house in the Philadelphia suburbs and told them they were being evicted.

According to Markella Sourovelis, Yianni's mother, the officers who arrived began screwing doors shut, shutting off electricity, and telling the family their home would be gutted after it was seized by the state. The elder Sourovelises had committed no crimes, but were victims of Pennsylvania's civil forfeiture law, which allowed the city district attorney to take custody of the home just because it believed it was being used to sell drugs, without a trial or other proof of wrongdoing. It is worth repeating, perhaps, that this was Yianni's first offense.
CNN has the full story, which-surprise!-involves Philly law enforcement making a ton of money:
Philadelphia officials seized more than 1,000 houses, about 3,300 vehicles and $44 million in cash, totaling $64 million in civil forfeitures over a 10-year period, according to the lawsuit.

More

Police take hundreds of millions of dollars from motorists not charged with crimes

Encouraged by departments of Homeland Security and Justice police around the country make use of a private intelligence network to determine which motorists to rob, a Washington Post investigation found.

Black Asphalt Electronic Networking & Notification System [has] enabled police nationwide to share detailed reports about American motorists - criminals and the innocent alike - including their Social Security numbers, addresses and identifying tattoos, as well as hunches about which drivers to stop.
The article includes a few examples of motorists who have had their money seized as part of the war on terror:
A 55-year-old Chinese American restaurateur from Georgia was pulled over for minor speeding on Interstate 10 in Alabama and detained for nearly two hours. He was carrying $75,000 raised from relatives to buy a Chinese restaurant in Lake Charles, La. He got back his money 10 months later but only after spending thousands of dollars on a lawyer and losing out on the restaurant deal.
A 40-year-old Hispanic carpenter from New Jersey was stopped on Interstate 95 in Virginia for having tinted windows. Police said he appeared nervous and consented to a search. They took $18,000 that he said was meant to buy a used car. He had to hire a lawyer to get back his money.
Mandrel Stuart, a 35-year-old African American owner of a small barbecue restaurant in Staunton, Va., was stunned when police took $17,550 from him during a stop in 2012 for a minor traffic infraction on Interstate 66 in Fairfax. He rejected a settlement with the government for half of his money and demanded a jury trial. He eventually got his money back but lost his business because he didn't have the cash to pay his overhead.

More

Random Pictures

The True Story Of How One Man Shut Down American Commerce To Avoid Paying His Workers A Fair Wage

Note: The following is adapted from the author's forthcoming book, Injustices: The Supreme Court's Nearly Unbroken History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.
In 1894, Chicago was the Midwest's gateway to the rest of the United States. Twenty-four different railroad lines centered or terminated in Chicago, covering the nation in over forty thousand miles of rail. Farmers, merchants, craftsmen and factories hoping to bring their goods to the rest of the nation - and potentially, to the rest of the world - had to first bring those goods to Chicago to begin their journey down one of the city's many rail lines. Without Chicago's railroads, much of the country lost its access to the nation's commerce and was essentially plunged back into a pre-industrial economy.
On May 11, 1894, a strike began just outside of Chicago in a company town run by one of the wealthiest Americans who has ever lived. By the strike's bloody end, up to a quarter of a million workers joined together in solidarity with the strikers. Two federal judges, working in close collusion with federal officials who were themselves very much in league with Chicago's railroad executives, would place the full power of the federal judiciary on the side of union-busters. President Grover Cleveland, acting on the advice of the railroad attorney he placed at the head of the Justice Department, would eventually send federal troops to Chicago. At the height of the conflict, Harper's Magazine claimed that the nation was "fighting for its own existence just as truly as in suppressing the great rebellion" of the Confederacy.
And all of this happened because of two decisions made by just one man, George Mortimer Pullman, founder of the Pullman Palace Car Company. The first was the decision of Pullman and his company to cut its payrolls by nearly 40 percent, even as he increased the stock dividends his company paid to himself and its other shareholders. The second was Pullman's utter refusal to deal with the union that represented his workers. In an America with no modern labor laws requiring management to come to the bargaining table with their workers, Pullman's workers had no option other than a strike. And that strike would eventually escalate into a conflict that brought Chicago - and the nation's entire economy - to its knees.

More

Unemployment

Will the real unemployment rate please stand up?

America’s unemployment rate — most recently reported as 6.1 percent […]

Stress and Health

Even small stressors may be harmful to men’s health

Older men who lead high-stress lives, either from chronic everyday […]

Ethical Mornings

Are You More Ethical in the Morning?

New research shows you're more likely to make better ethical decisions when you're most alert. 

Ziggy

In Your Mind's Eye

Don’t Underestimate Your Mind’s Eye

Take a look around, and what do you see? Much […]

Ebola News

Ebola Can Attack from Hazmat Suit Surfaces

Health care workers can be at risk of contracting the Ebola virus during removal of their protective suits, doctors warn.

Schizophrenia News

Scientists discover neurochemical imbalance in schizophrenia

Using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), researchers at Skaggs […]

Is The Pattern Of Brain Folding A ‘Fingerprint’ For Schizophrenia?

Anyone who has seen pictures or models of the human […]

How to delay aging ...

Activating Gene Could Delay Aging Through Body

A gene studied in fruit flies, and shared by humans, is activated leading to an increased lifespan. 

Bras and Cancer

Can Bras Cause Cancer?

Thanks to assertions made in a popular book nine years ago, many people wonder to this day if there are any links between bras and cancer. Tara busts this myth with science. 

Marijuana Addiction

Is Marijuana Addictive?

Laci Green reports on a new addiction study of more than 100 adolescents, with results that might surprise the "weed isn't addictive" crowd. 

Daily Comic Relief

Archaeology News

Stonehenge 'Smiley Face,' Other Features Detected Underground

The unusual feature emerged as archaeologists scanned a 7.4-square-mile area around Stonehenge.

Earth News

Ozone Problem on Course for Fix By Mid-Century

Earth's damaged ozone should recover by 2050, although the hole over Antarctica may take longer.

Greenhouse Gases in Atmosphere Are the Highest Ever

Greenhouse emissions are being pumped into the atmosphere at a drastically higher rate than in the past.

NASA Creating 3-D Map of Earth's Forests

NASA is creating a 3-D image of Earth's forests, in order to measure how trees scrub carbon from the atmosphere.

Paleotology News

Huge Dino With Flashy Sail Attacked on Land and Water

T. rex may still be the king of dinosaurs, but new fossils suggest Spinosaurus had star power of its own and sported a dramatic sail.

New Pterosaur Looked Like Flying 'Avatar' Animal

The newly discovered dino-era pterosaur looks to have been built for scooping up fish -- a lot of them. 

New Answer for Why Hadrosaurs Showed So Much Skin

Prevalence of the dinosaur's skin in fossil record may have more to do with texture, toughness than population density or habitat.

See What Our Earliest Mammal Ancestors Looked Like

Discovery of three new Jurassic Era animals suggests that early mammals, which resembled squirrels, first emerged 208 million years ago.

Animal News

Dead Giant Squid Found by Fisherman Off Texas Coast

The rare deep-sea dweller was found 100 miles offshore and weighed 200 pounds.

Endangered Pupfish Could Vanish in 30 Years

An inch-long fish that sparked a Supreme Court battle could go extinct in just a few decades, a new modeling study concludes.

Animal Pictures