The "most hated man in America" says Hillary has parkinsons

See what I did there?

Who was, a very short time ago, "the most hated man in America"?... From Wikipedia...

Martin Shkreli is an American entrepreneur and pharmaceutical executive. He is co-founder of the hedge fund MSMB Capital Management, co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of the biotechnology firm Retrophin, and founder and former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. In September 2015, Shkreli received widespread criticism when Turing obtained the manufacturing license for the antiparasitic drug Daraprim and raised its price by 5,556 percent (from US$13.5 to US$750 per tablet) leading him to be referred to by media as the "most hated man in America".

A look back...

Plane Breakup*

This guy on the plane just broke up w his girlfriend and she's SOBBING pic.twitter.com/IW9QVYxXdB

— Kelly Keegs (@keegs141) August 23, 2015

*UPDATE - #PlaneBreakup was Not real.

@JonFrat @TheNJMick HAHAH this is not real

— Kelly Keegs (@keegs141) August 24, 2015

Cut and Paste: Cobalt Lemons and Released Illegals

"Long before the Chevrolet Cobalt became known for having a deadly ignition defect, it was already seen as a lemon. Owners complained about power steering failures, locks inexplicably opening and closing, doors jamming shut in the rain — even windows falling out."

 



The report, provided to Breitbart News ahead of its late Sunday evening release, reviews internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) metrics to conclude that the Obama administration released 35 percent—or 68,000—convicted criminal aliens back into the U.S. general population when they could have been deported. “The criminal alien releases typically occur without formal notice to local law enforcement agencies and victims,” CIS’s Jessica Vaughan, the report’s author, added.

“There were transmission issues, issues with the clutch, engine issues, air-conditioning issues,” James Gonzales of Riverview, Fla., said of his 2006 Cobalt, which G.M. repurchased under Florida’s lemon law. “Everything went wrong with that car, and everything that went wrong needed a big fix. Mechanically, it was a huge nuisance.”

By “criminal,” ICE means people who have been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony that is not a traffic violation. For instance, traffic violations like Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol or even vehicular manslaughter do not count toward this description of “criminal alien.” As for the definition of “alien,” ICE mostly means illegal aliens, though some are legal aliens when they are considered deportable legal aliens—which is possible for legal immigrants who have committed a serious crime, like a felony.

"If We Can Pick Our Gender, Can We Pick Our Age? Our Race?

"The new news is that Maryland is next on the hit parade of states (it will be the 18th) to pass legislation claiming to protect transgendered individuals from discrimination. It’s due to happen today in fact (if it hasn’t already). If you haven’t yet heard about the Maryland law, that’s because there appears to have been a pretty strict media blackout on it."

Your gender identity – in case you didn’t know – is your perception of yourself as either “male, female, or something else.” And that’s official, according to the American Psychological Association. Many LGBT activists will say that gender identity means your perception of yourself as “male, female, both, or neither.” In any event, most such legislation, including the Maryland bill, define gender identity as: “the gender related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior of a person, regardless of the person’s assigned sex at birth.”

But a big part of the audacity of the legislation is that it goes by the devious name “Fairness for All Marylanders Act.” What it really means is “Fairness for Some Marylanders,” only those who perceive themselves to be a different gender from the sex “assigned” to them on their birth certificate. (read more)

The Federalist

Probability Pundit: Processing the 2016 GOP Primaries

What is Quantum Mechanical Superposition?

"Spears is on the front lines of fighting piracy"

"That's right. According to U.K. Merchant Naval Officer Rachel Owens, British ships patrolling the coast of Africa have taken to blaring Spears's tunes to ward off pirates. "Her songs were chosen by the security team because they thought the pirates would hate them most," Metro (a free UK tabloid) reported on Sunday. "These guys can’t stand Western culture or music, making Britney’s hits perfect," said Owens."

"Wondering if this story is true, or merely a publicity ploy for Spears' upcoming album release (the single, "Work Bitch" is already out there. You're welcome.) I called the London-based Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI). The Metro story quotes SAMI Maritime Director Steven Jones: "Pirates will go to any lengths to avoid or try to overcome the music." He adds, "I’d imagine using Justin Bieber would be against the Geneva Convention."

"SAMI is embracing this titillating story rather than wishing it would go away - if only for the chance to raise awareness about the problems of piracy."

In an email, Molica-Franco later followed up with some fascinating background on the use of music to deter pirates:

We were approached after it emerged that some private maritime security guards on merchant vessels were using music tracks to 'blast' at pirate skiffs which were approaching their ship. This was a trend, which began a few years ago, in which Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) were used to try and supposedly 'deafen' pirates. The equipment was first used by US police/military to quell rioters ashore, but it has been adapted for maritime use. However just as protesters ashore often use gas masks to counter tear gas, the wily pirates can also use ear defenders to counter noise.

The LRAD is not solely about causing discomfort or injury; it is an excellent device for hailing or communicating across a distance – so ideal for telling suspected pirates to "back off." There is a suggestion, therefore, that the LRAD sound does not actually overpower the pirates, as claimed in the rash of news stories over past days."

Instead, more likely the music shows the pirates that the vessel has security guards onboard. It then loudly demonstrates that the pirates have been spotted and the security team are ready to act against them if they proceed closer.

She added:

So rather than Britney actually making them break off their attack, it could be they are instead going to seek a softer unprotected target – one which may not be so vigilant or protected. While the artist choice does not appear to overly important, if the music is distasteful to the pirates, then it perhaps gets the message over a little quicker that their presence is not welcome – hence the Britney back-catalogue being a popular choice.

portions of an article by Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP as it appeared in The Star dot Com

Bigger Is Not Necessarily Better, Unless You Are The Government

This past Tuesday Althouse asked a very good question in relation to the ObamaCare "glitches".

What else have they [the Obama administration] plowed ahead even though they knew it wouldn't work?

Let's remember this particular delusion: that a machine already in motion is either [easier] to fix than one that you keep on the grounded until you know it works (or at least until you don't know that it doesn't work!).

Using that context as a premise, watch this short video of Marc Faber, publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, telling CNBC on Monday, that investors are asking the wrong question about when the Federal Reserve will taper its massive bond-buying program. They should be asking when the central bank will be increasing it. The program is also known by the less onerous name "the Fed Pump".

Every government program that is introduced under urgency and as a temporary measure is always permanent.

The question is not tapering, the question is at what point will they increase the assets purchase to say 150, 200 billion... a trillion dollars a month.

The ObamaCare "glitches" aren't glitches at all. ObamaCare was conceived, designed and executed to fail, so as to make it as big as it would not otherwise have been.

Everything is proceeding according to plan.

Althouse , CNBC , Pollo Post

Voor Pampus Liggen

There's an old Dutch expression, voor Pampus liggen, which literally translates as "to lie before Pampus." Today the phrase means passed out drunk or in a food coma as after Thanksgiving. But there's more to the story than that; I first heard it from a Dutchman on a sailboat in sight of the island of Pampus in the Zuiderzee -- that big brackish interior of the Netherlands.

In the olden days -- before the dikes were built and Amsterdam was still a major seaport -- heavily laden ships returning from the Far East used to lie anchored a few scant miles from Amsterdam waiting -- sometimes for days --for favorable tide conditions to allow them to pass over an enormous submerged sandbar (actually a submerged silt channel) which blocked easy access to the port. There was no proper island then (that came later) and Pampus referred to the murky submerged shoal.

Someone devised a plan to ease the boredom and impatience of the randy sailors. Smaller craft, bearing vices: food, liquor, and women, plied the waiting ships like a captive audience. The sailors were easy marks. There must have been some commercial collusion going on for who would pay a seamen his wages before disembarking the ship?  Anyway, the phrase came from the condition many a sailor found himself in after coming so close to and yet so far way from home.