Particle beam deflector cannons mounted behind the grill.

Which is why the previous UK government was looking at road pricing, even going so far as a pilot study with four companies (I worked directly on this for one of them). And as cars move to alternative fuels/power many places that use tax revenue generated gasoline and diesel will be looking very seriously at doing this for real.

Europeans, when push comes to shove, are generally useless when it comes to standing up for what is right. So even though these are foreign, presumably European emails, residing on European servers, once the appeal process finishes Microsoft will start downloading the data to US servers. And then the EU nations will promptly call a summit, bicker amongst themselves till the download is complete, whine a lot, but ultimately do nothing. Just like they are doing with Ukraine. Given a choice of doing something meaningful that needs doing but might cause some discomfort and conflict, they would rather rationalize why they don't do anything. Kind of like Obama too (and I am not a Republican/conservative or libertarian... I'm independent).

I'm not saying panic either. But I wouldn't blow them off. I would think that the biggest barrier they have is access to the equipment and materials to build what they want. They number in the tens of thousands at least, and we keep hearing how many were engineering grads or university students. They can't all be stupid. But sure another roadblock they will have are the throngs of stupid people they have lumped themselves in with. The thing is for biological warfare they don't even need weapons systems. They'll just infect a few hundred 'martyrs' and put them on a plane somewhere. Pneumonic plague (black death) doesn't need physical contact.

These aren't security experts FFS. Personally I wouldn't stop my life over this, but it is good to understand what some of them have in mind, and keep an eye on it.

Remember these guys are predisposed to killing themselves for the cause. We have to watch for things like getting themselves infected and travelling somewhere before symptoms show. They could weaponize themselves. As an example, look at how Ebola went to Nigeria and now some student sneaking into Senegal. Imagine if it was a whole bunch of nuts doing it on purpose. It's not something to just dismiss. Even if it didn't kill thousands, the panic caused in the general population who thanks to modern news organizations have no ability to filter or prioritize what they need to panic over. And western nations are too politically correct or have too much economic interest to test people at the borders or airports.

I'm not going to get bent about the whole thing, we should have already guessed guys like this have been trying to dream up ideas for years. But it shouldn't be discounted out of hand.

Yes, it's always better to be prepared after something very bad happens. Let's just ignore it for now.

3. We have antibiotics.

FTFY: We have antibiotics that we have rendered useless because we have fed them to cows to make them bigger which we then eat and so any germ we might encounter may already have evolved defences from said antibiotic.

FWIW, there are a lot of animals that can carry plague, not just rabbits (I know you implied that). But people don't know that most rodents in North America can carry it including squirrels, prairie dogs, rats, etc etc etc. And people still die from it occasionally.

What about living under high tension transmission lines? :)

Howard Stern told women to sit on subwoofers.

Unsure about the concept of monopolies and the pressures they can bring to bear suppressing competition are we?

I agree the European Union needs to step up to the plate. I have pretty much lost respect for Europeans over this and other things they infight about. A bunch of greedy grubbing children. I think it must be no different than 100 years ago.

The health care system in Canada needs fixing. Many can't get a family physician because there aren't enough and have to go to clinics. Having no doctor because you can't afford one is no worse than not having one because they aren't there. Having primary care physician is the best way to stay healthy. Specialist wait times are crazy and you must have a referral.

The system is going downhill, but because it was the best 50 years ago, people here think it still is. If you talk change the radical parrots all squawk 'no American style health care!' as if that is the only other system out there. And then they are so satisfied with themselves thinking they have preserved a great system. Meanwhile they are mostly the ones who do have family physicians and are afraid of change, even for the better because they don't want to lose their doctor (which they wouldn't). Canada's health care system ranked 30th in 2000 according to the WHO. America 36th.But most Americans at least know it could be better, while too many Canadians don't think the same way about our system. Attitude is slowly changing, but too slowly.

He is not. He's a douchebag.

That's the party in power BTW.

France had more tanks, including heavy tanks than Germany at the start of the war. A couple of countries could have tag teamed Germany before they attacked. But the head in the sand attitude stopped them. I will grant that that same attitude kept their tactical thinking behind the times too. But an early concerted effort would likely have ended der fuhrer's plans.