Comparing LADEE to a washing machine? Typical male chauvinist pigs!

Where in the world is the Carmen Sandiego kickstarter?

Border Patrol is just a small part of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. CBP mainly inspects people and goods that come into the U.S. through any port, whether it's by land, sea or air. So they have officers all over, and intercepting counterfeit imports is part of their mission. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the other agency within DHS that has boots on the ground to find violators after they get past customs. They should be part of a task force to find illegal imports as well.

Border Patrol is probably what you're thinking of, they are the ones actually patrolling the border. Or are you thinking of the TSA, which is yet another part of DHS?

Where's Chris Hansen (or John Beard for the AD fans) when you need him?

And each edition will arrive 10 days later than he would have liked.

Plants and animals? That's me!

By common I just meant it's on the books using this definition in many states. I have seen it applied to situations where the perp waves a gun at people on the street (even when the intent was not to actually shoot anyone, even if it's not a real, loaded gun if the intent to cause fear is there) or makes threats to use deadly weapons (but mostly threats more specific than the one in the article).

I never said I agreed with the way it's used in this case. It's a little scary that art (if that's what rap lyrics fall under) can so easily be construed as a real threat, if that's all this kid did. I just see the title of this article as flaimbait because of the words "terrorist" and "lyrics." The lyrics just mention the Boston bombing and that he will top it, so it does seem like usual rap bragging than anything. Apparently authorities think "too soon"" on that topic.

Come on now, no need to go into armchair revolutionary panic mode. Terroristic threatening is a common statutory criminal offense. It doesn't imply that the perpetrator is a member of a terrorist cell or that our liberties are being attacked. It's sort of like an assault, just a little more specific and serious.

Generalized definition of a terrorist threat:
1. Willfully threaten to commit a crime that will result in death or great bodily harm.
2. Make threat with the specific intent that it be taken as a threat.
3. The threat is so unequivocal, unconditional, and specific as to convey a gravity of purpose and immediate prospect of execution.
4. The threat actually caused fear in the victim.
5. The fear was reasonable.

Generalized definition of an assault:
1. Intent to create the state of fear or danger in the victim.
2. The victim had a reasonable apprehension (belief) that they would be harmed.
3. The victim must experience fear in response to a threat that is imminent, or immediately about to occur.
4. The conduct must present either a threat of physical harm or offensive behavior.

Warning: don't google Log Cabin Republican unless you want Google to know what you are.

I thought the robots were the enemy in that reference?!? The last thing I want to hear about are turtlebots with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.

Hell, the Big Dog is scary enough for me.

And lo, Nostradamus predicted this:

"In the twelfth year of the second thousand,
The race of the small thinking machines shall disappear,
Ignored by their creators, their essences recharged by their masters no longer,
Cursed to exist only in the great waste heaps and in the hands of the computer illiterate."

Hadn't seen that spoof. That was the funniest thing I've seen in quite a while, thanks for that. The real Big Dog always creeps me the fuck out.