No, now its an animated gif of that bloated prick Kim Jong-un, face contorted as always with rage, wanking.

Absolutely correct. Blacks are statistically several times more likely to be shot by police than are whites. Concerning ages 15-19, the ratio is about 20 times more likely. But what you conveniently overlook is that blacks are FAR more likely to be murdered by other blacks than by police (many of which are themselves black). We are talking many scores of times more likely.

Could it just POSSIBLY be that blacks are far more likely than whites to be engaged in street activities that are begging to attract police attention? And that, once confronted, just maybe they might be far more threatening - as in, likely to whip out a handgun or rush the officer?

Hey, it's just a question, though I strongly suspect what the answer is. And yes, it leads directly to other questions about disadvantaged groups and vicious circles of crime and despair.

One of the most impressive dramas I ever saw dealing with blacks, antagonism between blacks and cops, and disillusionment of black cops was an episode of Dragnet from 1968 or 1969 showing the situation after the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. It showed the raw hurt and grievances, but also it ended on a positive and uplifting note that mirrors my own hopes. On the other hand, every single one of the issues presented remains absolutely topical to this day. You take the afros and 60s cars out of that episode and it could have been made yesterday.

How about just a touch of reality? Sony PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT, which was the entity attacked - NOT SONY CORPORATION - had a 2014 revenue of $8 billion and an operating revenue of $1/2 billion.

It kind of begs the question about what the US is still doing in South Korea anyhow. South Korea is a rich country. They can afford their own defense

So is Germany, and the US has 39,000 troops there. So is Japan, and the US has 50,000 troops there. Hell, there are 11,000 US troops in Italy.

So there are 29,000 US troops in South Korea, which unlike those countries named above has a border with a fully militarized raving psychotic insane evil totalitarian state who viciously threatens South Korea constantly. The capital of South Korea, with a population of 10 million, lies only 50 km from the border and could be overrun and decimated within hours, regardless of whether or not the psychotics ultimately win the conflict.

Is any of this difficult to understand?

U.S. investigators have determined hackers working for North Korea were behind the Sony attack

No shit, Sherlocks.

To me the point is that Microsoft's support for linux is laughably bad. You don't design a linux app so it won't compile/run on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS until at least 2017. Ubuntu is one of the, if not THE, most widespread desktop linux distros. Amd you don't design a linux app so it won't compile/run on RHEL 6 until at least 2021 (RHEL 6 is one of the, if not THE, most widespread enterprise workstation linux distros).

You don't jump on the latest APIs because they are new and shiny. Not if you know what you are doing, and you care about supporting the operating systems people USE.

Linux distros don't "support" apps. Apps support linux distros.

Any reason why he SHOULD have to upgrade? 12.04 was LTS too, and is allegedly supported until 2017.

For idioms, you just use a lookup table...

Right. Because an ever-expanding table, constantly needing to be maintained and updated, which will always be somewhat behind, is such an ideal solution.

Well, that's exactly how humans do it.

So you say "Your mother's red dress looks very nice today"
And it says (in Spanish) "Your mother's red underwear looks very stained today"

Hey, 75% of the words are right.

Really, you don't think that is reaching pretty far? I hardly think an Alzheimer patient can be trusted to properly medicate himself, whether it is once a day or 2-3 times a day. Big deal. Either way, he needs a care giver, the absence of which is simple neglect. The difference in resources between taking 10 seconds once a day, or 2-3 times a day to medicate the patient is very slight.

I freely admit to being absolutely mystified how the social compact of a supposedly enlightened civilization does not include basic nutrition, shelter, schooling and health care for all without direct charge. I am serious. I don't get it. With regard to the topic, this should include medical research including development of drugs, absent repulsive features such as some getting rich off the misfortunes of others.

If you don't think society, with today's robotics, can afford to provide basic nutrition, shelter, schooling and health care for all without crass commercialism and people falling through the cracks, IMO you are an idiot; an ass. I say this as a believer in TRUE free enterprise (not necessarily corporatism with all the sickening corruption that goes with it). I just think these three necessities trump everything else, and a society is not worth having if it spurns providing them.

Please note, when I say basic, I mean basic. The nutrition would be in the form of cost free provision of healthy but plain foods PICKED FOR the user and SERVED TO him. Shelter would be in the form of shared communal or semi-communal barracks. The health care would be limited to necessities for health. There would be no limit for what is truly needed, including dental and vision, but no pampering. If you want contact lenses instead of glasses, cosmetic surgery, sex change BULLSHIT, go ahead and pay for that shit yourself, but fuck you if you expect the pampering. If you want TV, cell phone, car and other pure luxuries, you pay. For free you would get lending libraries and communal computers.

If you raise specific objections, for example the living spaces would not be respected because they are free, and people would let them become decrepit, there are ways to deal with this. I won't belabor the details here; I think it is fairly obvious given any serious thought given to the matter.

You can be goddam sure there would still be a sizable worth ethic for those who desire more than the basics. Probably as much as, or more than, there is in the USA today. As it is, with provision of raw money to the "needy", some get to enjoy luxuries without working for them, while others fall through the cracks completely.

I don't really think this makes me a "communist". "From each according to his ability" is pretty obsolete given the state of robotics today. And if you want o cede "to each according to his needs" to the communists, tell me why. I certainly don't see why the rest of us should cede the high moral ground.

Language and clear thought matter. If you don't think clearly, you end up with tripe like "oh, well they MADE me betray my ethics and principles, I didn't WANT to".

Neither the Attorney General nor anyone else, nor any agency, can "force" anyone to reveal anything. All they can do is coerce and demand in an ATTEMPT to get him to reveal something, and failing that, punish him for not revealing it. Yes, the coercion can be very powerful, but no one can train a magic ray on you and make your lips and larynx form words you don't want to form.

First, we're talking about the Senate, not the House. Second, after a voice vote, one member can "request" what is called a "division of the assembly", in which members rise in turn by aye or nay to be counted - but NOT named. It takes 20% of the members to demand a true recorded vote. Good luck with the first, and particularly the last, before the consideration is gaveled closed.

And you didn't pay very close attention to what I said. The Constitution does not specify what the procedural rules are. It doesn't talk about a voice vote. At most it spells out that rules can be made by the houses of Congress to govern themselves, without any specificity or bounds. The President of the Senate is not normally such a fine figure as Harry Carey was in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. What if these boobs get together and change the rules in such a way that nobody can challenge a voice vote? What recourse is there then? What if Rule 22 (Cloture) is changed to require 80 votes (or 51 votes) instead of 60? What if the rule permitting the interruption of the floor to call for a cloture vote were removed? Keep in mind that the Constitution set up the Senators to be elected by their respective state legislatures, not by popular vote. The House of Representatives was already the body which represented the people directly. Why have two such bodies? Morons made the change via the 17th Amendment. That opened the door to making the Senate a body of lowly politically-motivated self-serving assholes.

My current vehicle is now 15 years old and I have never been happier. Not just for being loan free for 10 years, but because not long after 1999 all cars became shittier in various ways, notably mechanically. Engine design is now so compromised by the ridiculously stringent emissions fetish that all other attributes are down the toilet: notably cost, longevity, and maintenance.

Parent's is a very thoughtful post. I'll just add some figures. The following represents regulations for NOX emissions by new cars in grams per mile.
1975: 3.1
1977: 2.0
1981: 1.0
1994: 0.6
1999: 0.3
2004-2009: 0.07

What I can't find is, what were typical emissions prior to the EPA - i.e., prior to 1970. Clearly the 1975 figure of 3.1 already represents a reduction; likely a significant one.

Essentially all of the pickup was in place by 1999. Everything since then has been an exhibition of EPA masturbation. It's become nothing but a fetish. This is nationally; the extra stringent California regulations are just ludicrous. It's beyond masturbation.