Lurker > antfair

https://twitter.com/charlesmurray/status/965248138046070785

Heckuva job, Timesy
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What is this, a fair for ants?

Probably not, I have to work during most of it
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What is this, a fair for ants?

It even has an official Olympics expansion (you can skip that imo though.) There are snowparks and half pipes, but the real meat of the game for me is just exploring the mountains, finding new places to ride, new challenges to create.
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://kotaku.com/why-ubisoft-is-obsessed-with-games-as-a-service-1822938255

Wondering why big video game publishers are so enamored of games as a service? The answer may not shock you: It makes them way more money. Wayyyyyyyyyy more money.

This morning as part of a quarterly earnings report, Ubisoft put out a slideshow full of interesting nuggets for anyone whos curious about the future of video games. This slide might be the wildestthe right side of it, that is:

What Ubisoft is saying there is that while a standard game might over its second year make 13% of the revenue it generated in its first year, a live game can reach 52%, which is an astounding leap. Games like The Division and Rainbow Six: Siege continue to stay in the public eye long after they launch, which leads to a longer tail and, if all goes well, happier players.

Or, as is far more relevant to Ubisofts shareholders, bigger profits.

Ubisofts strategy for the past two to three years has been simple: Release fewer games, but stick with them longer, hooking players for months if not years after launch. From Ghost Recon Wildlands to Assassins Creed Origins, Ubisofts whole lineup is full of these service games, designed to be supported with a regular stream of updates and downloadable content.

On top of that, Ubisoft really, really hopes youll buy digitally:

This slide is particularly interesting because it shows just how much more money publishers like Ubisoft are bringing in when you buy from the eShop or Xbox Live instead of going to GameStop. With physical games, Ubisoft has to give 25% of your $60 to the store and then 20% of the remainder to the hardware manufacturer. With digital games, Ubisoft just has to give 30% to the distributor.

In other words, Ubisofts ideal customer is the guy or gal who buys service games digitally and then just keeps playing them. In fact, the company says that 56% of its total revenue now comes from digital sales of games and content (as opposed to last years 47%).

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/us/politics/kelly-trump.html

Mr. Kelly at first came to the defense of Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary, who resigned in the face of allegations of spousal abuse. Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor, and I cant say enough good things about him, Mr. Kelly said. He is a friend, a confidant and a trusted professional.

As outrage grew over a photograph showing an ex-wife of Mr. Porter with a black eye, Mr. Kelly issued a new statement. I was shocked by the new allegations released today against Rob Porter, he said. There is no place for domestic violence in our society. But he added: I stand by my previous comments of the Rob Porter that I have come to know since becoming chief of staff and believe every individual deserves the right to defend their reputation.

Mr. Porters case raised questions about what Mr. Kelly knew and when. The White House was informed as far back as August that Mr. Porters security clearance was being held up because of domestic allegations. Mr. Kelly has known about the allegations at least since last fall, according to officials who asked not to be named.

Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, said on Thursday that Mr. Kelly was not fully aware of the details until this week. Mr. Shah also insisted that Mr. Trump remained behind Mr. Kelly. The president has confidence in his chief of staff, he said.

One official insisted that there was minimal knowledge in the White House about Mr. Porters troubles. The official said that Mr. Kelly felt misled by Mr. Porters account of what had happened. A friend of Mr. Kellys said he had learned the details of Mr. Porters situation only an hour before suggesting he resign.

But White House officials said privately that the president was frustrated with both Mr. Kelly and the White House communications director, Hope Hicks, who in recent weeks has been dating Mr. Porter. Ms. Hicks was one of those rallying the White House to Mr. Porters defense when the allegations first surfaced in The Daily Mail.

Two people close to the situation said Mr. Kelly had strongly urged Mr. Porter to remain in his job. But a third person denied that, saying that Mr. Kelly had suggested to Mr. Porter on Tuesday night that he should resign. All three agreed that Mr. Kelly never demanded the resignation.

Mr. Kelly seemed determined to smooth concerns among staff members who were bewildered by the initial reaction to the allegations against Mr. Porter.

In a memo to the staff on Thursday night, Mr. Kelly wrote, While we are all processing the shocking and troubling allegations made against a former White House staffer, I want you to know that we all take matters of domestic violence very seriously. Domestic violence is abhorrent and has no place in our society.

Friends and associates noted that with Mr. Kellys lack of experience in Washington politics, he may not have been attuned at first to how the domestic abuse allegations against Mr. Porter would be perceived.

Mr. Porter was also a favorite of Mr. Kellys and viewed as one of the most competent members of an often dysfunctional White House team. Some friends expressed concern that Mr. Kelly had changed with his association with Mr. Trump and grown too insulated in the White House bubble.

Mr. Kelly has previously played down accusations against someone he believed served a greater goal. He appeared as a character witness in a 2016 court-martial of a Marine colonel accused of sexually harassing two female subordinates. Mr. Kelly praised the colonel as a superb Marine officer.

"He's not one of those fancy Washington insiders, how was he to know that domestic violence would look bad?"
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-marching-orders-to-the-pentagon-plan-a -grand-military-parade/2018/02/06/9e19ca88-0b55-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html

President Trumps vision of soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington is moving closer to reality in the Pentagon and White House, where officials say they have begun to plan a grand military parade later this year showcasing the might of Americas armed forces.

Trump has long mused publicly and privately about wanting such a parade, but a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals in the Pentagons tank a room reserved for top-secret discussions marked a tipping point, according to two officials briefed on the planning.

Surrounded by the militarys highest-ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Trumps seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.

The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France, said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.

American shows of military strength dont come cheap. The cost of shipping Abrams tanks and high-tech hardware to Washington could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it.

A White House official familiar with the planning described the discussions as brainstorming and said nothing is settled. Right now, theres really no meat on the bones, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

Still, the official said Trump is determined to have a parade. The president wants to do something that highlights the service and sacrifice of the military and have a unifying moment for the country, the official said.

The inspiration for Trumps push is last years Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which the president attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was awestruck by the tableau of uniformed French troops marching down Avenue des Champs-Elysees with military tanks, armored vehicles, gun trucks and carriers complete with F-16 fighter jets flying over the Arc de Triomphe and painting the sky with streaks of blue, white and red smoke for the colors of the French flag.

Aboard Air Force One en route home from Paris last July, aides said Trump told them he was dazzled by the French display and said he wanted one at home.

It was still on his mind two months later when he met with Macron on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

It was one of the greatest parades Ive ever seen, Trump told reporters. It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.

Seated next to Macron, Trump added: Were going to have to try to top it.

Several administration officials said the parade planning began in recent weeks and involves White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, but cautioned that it is in the preliminary stages. D.C. officials said they had not been notified of parade plans.

A date has not been selected, although officials said Trump would like to tie the parade to a patriotic holiday. Officials are weighing weather patterns as well as competing events, such as the massive annual Independence Day celebration on the Mall.

Trump officials had discussed Memorial Day on May 28, and July 4, but the Pentagon prefers Veterans Day on Nov. 11 in part because it would coincide with 100th anniversary of the victorious end of World War I and therefore be less associated with the president and politics. Thats what everyone is hoping, said the military official.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42959155

Industrial workers in south-western Germany have won the right to reduced working hours as part of a deal that could benefit millions of employees across the country.

Workers will be able to reduce their weekly hours from 35 to 28 for up to two years to look after their families.

The deal covers almost one million workers in Baden-Wrttemberg state and also gives them a pay rise.

It could be extended to the 3.9 million workers in Germany's industrial sector.

A reduced working week to care for children, the elderly or sick relatives was a key demand by IG Metall, the country's biggest trade union representing metal and engineering workers.

But their demand that those workers were still paid the same even if they reduced their hours was rejected in their negotiations with the employers' federation, Sdwestmetall.

In return, the companies will have the possibility to increase to up to 40 hours the week of those willing to work more.

The employees will also be given a 4.3% pay rise from April, against their demand of a 6% increase. The pay deal stretches over 27 months and also sees additional one-off payments.

IG Metall leader Jrg Hofmann said: "The agreement is a milestone on the way to a modern, self-determined world of work."

Meanwhile, Sdwestmetall head Stefan Wolf called the compromise "bearable but painful".

After reunification, while Germany was struggling economically, flexibility was generally demanded of employees rather than companies.

The 2003 labour market reforms, and the 2008 financial crisis, meant years of wage restraint for many workers.

But over the past few years in Germany the power balance has shifted from bosses to employees.

Since the financial crisis wages have been slowly rising in Germany - mainly because record low unemployment means that in many sectors firms are struggling to find workers.

So an agreement that increases wages was not surprising. More unusual is the automatic right to work fewer hours, something which has been discussed in Germany for years, as people try to combine work and family life.

If this goes down well with employees, we could see it spread to other sectors.

As Germany's largest union IG Metall has in the past set standards across the country. The question is: how many workers will actually want to work less when that also means earning less?

Germany's economy grew by 2.2% last year, its fastest rate in six years. And unemployment hit a new low in January - just 5.4% of people are out of work.

After a 10-year period where wages have grown by an average of only 0.81% as the economy has picked up, the unions sensed it was their turn to make demands on employers.

Thousands of IG Metall members staged one-day "warning strikes" last week, the union's first such strikes in 34 years. Among the companies affected were Porsche and Daimler, which produces Mercedes-Benz cars.

Solidarity forever.
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/science/mutant-crayfish-clones-europe.html

Frank Lyko, a biologist at the German Cancer Research Center, studies the six-inch-long marbled crayfish. Finding specimens is easy: Dr. Lyko can buy the crayfish at pet stores in Germany, or he can head with colleagues to a nearby lake.

Wait till dark, switch on head lamps, and wander into the shallows. The marbled crayfish will emerge from hiding and begin swarming around your ankles.

Its extremely impressive, said Dr. Lyko. Three of us once caught 150 animals within one hour, just with our hands.

Over the past five years, Dr. Lyko and his colleagues have sequenced the genomes of marbled crayfish. In a study published on Monday, the researchers demonstrate that the marble crayfish, while common, is one of the most remarkable species known to science.

Before about 25 years ago, the species simply did not exist. A single drastic mutation in a single crayfish produced the marbled crayfish in an instant.

The mutation made it possible for the creature to clone itself, and now it has spread across much of Europe and gained a toehold on other continents. In Madagascar, where it arrived about 2007, it now numbers in the millions and threatens native crayfish.

We may never have caught the genome of a species so soon after it became a species, said Zen Faulkes, a biologist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, who was not involved in the new study.

The marbled crayfish became popular among German aquarium hobbyists in the late 1990s. The earliest report of the creature comes from a hobbyist who told Dr. Lyko he bought what were described to him as Texas crayfish in 1995.

The hobbyist whom Dr. Lyko declined to identify was struck by the large size of the crayfish and its enormous batches of eggs. A single marbled crayfish can produce hundreds of eggs at a time.

Soon the hobbyist was giving away the crayfish to his friends. And not long afterward, so-called marmorkrebs were showing up in pet stores in Germany and beyond.

As marmorkrebs became more popular, owners grew increasingly puzzled. The crayfish seemed to be laying eggs without mating. The progeny were all female, and each one grew up ready to reproduce.

In 2003, scientists confirmed that the marbled crayfish were indeed making clones of themselves. They sequenced small bits of DNA from the animals, which bore a striking similarity to a group of crayfish species called Procambarus, native to North America and Central America.

Ten years later, Dr. Lyko and his colleagues set out to determine the entire genome of the marbled crayfish. By then, it was no longer just an aquarium oddity.

For nearly two decades, marbled crayfish have been multiplying like Tribbles on the legendary Star Trek episode. People would start out with a single animal, and a year later they would have a couple hundred, said Dr. Lyko.

Many owners apparently drove to nearby lakes and dumped their marmorkrebs. And it turned out that the marbled crayfish didnt need to be pampered to thrive. Marmorkrebs established growing populations in the wild, sometimes walking hundreds of yards to reach new lakes and streams. Feral populations started turning up in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine in Europe, and later in Japan and Madagascar.
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The scientists concluded that the new species got its start when two slough crayfish mated. One of them had a mutation in a sex cell whether it was an egg or sperm, the scientists cant tell.

Normal sex cells contain a single copy of each chromosome. But the mutant crayfish sex cell had two.

Somehow the two sex cells fused and produced a female crayfish embryo with three copies of each chromosome instead of the normal two. Somehow, too, the new crayfish didnt suffer any deformities as a result of all that extra DNA.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

NY:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/nyregion/cuomo-ending-cash-bail-state-of-the-state.html

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask the New York State Legislature to eliminate cash bail for many crimes and to speed up the disclosure of evidence in trials as part of a package of proposals intended make the criminal justice system fairer for indigent defendants, his aides said.

In Philly:
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2018/02/02/cash-bail-city-council-resolution/

hiladelphia officials have declared their intention to end cash bail in the city.

In a symbolic but nonetheless historic move, City Council members passed a resolution on Thursday calling on the District Attorneys office, state legislature, and the state Supreme Court to set a cash bail overhaul process in motion. Their hope is that the push will eventually ensure no one is kept in prison solely because they cant afford to pay bail.

The resolution is nonbinding meaning it wont bring about any immediate, direct changes. But its still a significant development, says Paul Heaton, academic director of the University of Pennsylvania Law Schools Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, a research and policy hub created to improve the nations criminal justice system.

To have the voice of City Council saying this is something we want to happen will hopefully spur further action, Heaton said on Thursday.

...

Some background: Judges can assign cash bail (sometimes called monetary bail or a secured bond) to defendants who have been accused but not yet found guilty of both violent and nonviolent crimes. Often people pay these amounts and are released but not always. About a quarter of the people in Philly jails are awaiting trial without detainers, meaning are behind bars solely because they havent paid bail. About 4 percent of inmates are awaiting trial on murder charges, while slightly under 22 percent are facing low-level charges. Pretrial defendants held on low cash bail have an average bail amount of $6,367, according a 2017 city controller report. Defendants must pay 10 percent of bail in order to be released so a person with a $6,367 bail would have to pay about $636.

Officials and advocates who oppose the cash bail system point to research showing that it discriminates against low-wealth communities and people of color who are held on low-level, nonviolent charges for things like prostitution, shoplifting, or drug-related offenses. Even short periods of pretrial detention correlate with a greater likelihood of defendants being sentenced to jail and recidivism, according to the Pretrial Justice Institute.

In Pittsburgh:
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/02/02/mik-pappas-no-cash-bail-policy-criticism/

Usually when someone is charged with a serious crime, they have to put up cash or something else valuable to make sure they will stay out of trouble and show up for court, but one local judge has a different idea.

Endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Mik Pappas ran for District Justice as a progressive peacemaker, aiming to make the court system fairer for minorities and the poor.
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Refusing to grant evictions, balking at signing arrest and search warrants, and steadfastly refusing to set cash bail for crime suspects he doesnt believe in it.

He even tweeted, In the past two weeks, Ive set bail in over a dozen cases. Not once have I imposed cash bail. Not once has this resulted in chaos, collision or calamity #endcashbail

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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-hud-ben-carson-son-ethics-rules-20180131-story.html

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson allowed his son to help organize an agency "listening tour" in Baltimore last summer despite warnings from department lawyers that doing so risked violating federal ethics rules, according to internal documents and people familiar with the matter.

Career officials and political appointees raised concerns days before the visit that Carson's son, local businessman Ben Carson Jr., and daughter-in-law were inviting people with whom they potentially had business dealings, the documents show.

Carson Jr. put people he'd invited in touch with his father's deputies, joined agency staff on official conference calls about the listening tour and copied his wife on related email exchanges, according to emails.

"I expressed my concern that this gave the appearance that the Secretary may be using his position for his son's private gain," Linda Cruciani, HUD's deputy general counsel for operations, wrote in a July 6 memo, describing her reaction upon learning of Carson Jr.'s involvement from other staff members.

The two-page memo, obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), details conference calls and meetings that Cruciani and her colleagues had with Carson, his son and other senior HUD officials to urge that Carson Jr. not be involved in the listening tour, an event intended to give the secretary a chance to see federally supported housing projects firsthand and to convey his policy vision to the public.

The warnings highlight the extent to which Carson has relied on close family members since joining the Cabinet. His wife, Candy Carson, son Carson Jr. and daughter-in-law Merlynn Carson have attended official meetings, according to current and former HUD officials. Early last year, Candy Carson accompanied her husband around the building and to official meetings both inside and outside HUD, officials said.

Carson Jr. has continued to attend official HUD events with his father and other elected officials, including during the secretary's October trip to Baltimore's Helping Up Mission, a faith-based group that helps men facing addiction and homelessness.

Cruciani wrote that, in a meeting on June 26, two days before the listening tour was to begin, Carson initially said "it would be difficult" to have the tour in Baltimore without his son's involvement because Carson Jr. is a large employer in the region. Carson Jr. is chairman of Interprise Partners, a private equity firm that invests in and manages companies in the Mid-Atlantic.

Even so, Cruciani wrote, she and her colleagues were left believing that Carson Jr. would not be involved in the two-day tour, with the possible exception of a community event about lead exposure.

Yet all three of Carson's family members attended multiple events during the Baltimore tour, including a closed-door session on housing policy, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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The officials also told Cruciani that Carson Jr. and his wife asked that Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, be invited.

A little less than three months later, according to federal records, CMS awarded a $485,000 contract to the consulting company Myriddian, whose chief executive is Merlynn Carson. Carson Jr. identifies himself online as one of Myriddian's board members. The contract was awarded without a competitive bidding process, federal records show, although a CMS spokesman said multiple minority-owned firms were considered.

Kleptocracy baby
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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article197932309.html

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Floridas lifetime ban on restoring voting rights for felons violates the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said Floridas vote restoration process unfairly relies on the personal support of Gov. Rick Scott for citizens to regain this fundamental right.

Walker ruled in a case brought by the Fair Elections Legal Network, a Washington, D.C., group that challenged the constitutionality of the Florida system.

Walkers decision came nine days after the state approved a ballot measure that, if passed in November, would restore the voting rights of about 1.2 million felons.

The ruling was a rejection of a 2011 vote by Scott and the Florida Cabinet, then composed of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater. They agreed to impose a waiting period of five to seven years to begin a process that would allow felons to apply for restoration of rights.

The vote overturned a measure by former Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007 that revised the states rules on clemency. It created automatic rights restoration for people completing sentences for certain felony convictions.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/01/politics/missouri-attorney-general-human-trafficking-crisis/index.html
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What is this, a fair for ants?

What are your thoughts on Star Fox Adventures?
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What is this, a fair for ants?

"You never told me you have a brother!"

The worst
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What is this, a fair for ants?

Wtf is that jump at 0:34
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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/cfpb-drops-investigation-payday-lender-contributed-mick-mulvaneys-campaigns

Mick Mulvaneys Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) quietly closed an investigation into a payday lender headquartered in Mulvaneys home state Monday. The company previously donated to the former congressmans political campaigns.

Payday lender World Acceptance Corporation announced in a press release Monday that it received a letter from the CFPB stating that the financial watchdog had closed its nearly four-year investigation into the companys marketing and lending practices. The company, which is headquartered in South Carolina, has given at least $4,500 in campaign donations to Mulvaney, who represented South Carolina in the House for six years before becoming President Donald Trumps budget director last year.

The CFPB declined comment on World Acceptance Corporation's press release. The investigation followed a 2013 report by ProPublica and Marketplace that found World Acceptance Corporation issued loans that were deceptively expensive and packaged with nearly useless insurance products while trapping borrowers in a debt cycle.

Mulvaney has received $57,100 in campaign contributions from the payday lending industry over the course of his political career, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. As head of the CFPB, Mulvaney is now in position to regulate the payday lending industry, but the former member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus told USA Today in December those campaign contributions did not create any conflicts of interest.

Regardless of potential conflicts, the CFPB has moved to undo several actions it has taken against payday lenders since Mulvaney replaced previous CFPB Director Richard Cordray, who left the agency in November to mount a gubernatorial bid in Ohio as a Democrat.

Last week, the CFPB announced it would reconsider rules governing payday lending it finalized in October under Cordray. The rules required payday lenders to verify borrowers could pay back the loans before lending. Then on Thursday, the CFPB dropped a lawsuit it filed last year against four payday lenders located on Indian reservations for allegedly charging interest rates between 440 and 950 percent.

While payday lenders say that their products short-term loans of a few hundred dollars lent at high interest rates allows low-income Americans to access credit, critics say the industry captures poor people in a cycle of high-interest loans they cant pay back. A 2014 CFPB study found that four out of five payday loans are given to borrowers who already have an outstanding payday loan. The study also reported that half of all payday loans are part of a series of loans that are at least 10 loans long.

The payday lending industry has aligned itself with Trump since the president's 2016 electoral victory. Advance America, the nation's largest payday lender, donated $250,000 to Trump's inauguration. Rod Aycox, a title loan executive, contributed $500,000; his wife kicked in another $500,000. The payday lending industry's trade group, the Community Financial Services Association of America, will hold its 2018 annual conference and expo at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUPaYgMVoAADDCS.jpg
(He's the one who's not Larry the Cable Guy)
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.app.com/story/news/investigations/watchdog/shield/2018/01/22/protecting-shield-what-you-need-know/1044451001/

New Jersey governments across the state, from the smallest towns to some of the largest cities, have spent at least $42.7 million this decade to cover-up deaths, physical abuses and sexual misconduct at the hands of bad cops.

The abuses have left a staggering toll: at least 19 dead; 131 injured; 7 sexual transgressions, plus dozens of other offenses ranging from false arrest to harassment, the two-year investigation by the Asbury Park Press found. In many cases, local police departments knew about, even tolerated, violent behavior before the cops killed or maimed innocent people, the Press found.

The damage is concealed by government officials who use a veil of secret settlements and nondisclosure agreements to silence victims. Investigations of rogue cops are routinely hidden from the public by police, elected officials and even the courts, the Press found.

https://www.app.com/story/news/investigations/watchdog/shield/2018/01/22/nj-police-brutality-cases-secret-settlements/109479668/

The team found holes, conflicts and inconsistencies in police oversight that empowered problem cops in some departments to escalate their behavior until it became criminal, even deadly.

Consider:

A cop with domestic dispute history kills his ex-wife Neptune Police Sgt. Philip Seidle has an internal affairs record that tops 600 pages and spans two decades, with several complaints known to involve domestic disputes between him and his wife. He was considered enough of a risk to the public that his service weapon was taken from him, but he was later rearmed. He used that gun to fatally shoot his ex-wife in 2015 in the middle of an Asbury Park street, in front of their 7-year-old daughter. He's serving a 30-year prison sentence.

A well-known violent cop beats a suspect on camera Bloomfield police officer Orlando Trinidad was known in the department for using force to subdue suspects, accounting for nearly a third of the so-called use-of-force police reports in the 120-member department. After nearly ripping the ear off a handcuffed suspect inside the police station in 2013, a lawsuit claims, Trinidad then looked directly into the surveillance camera to seemingly mock the ensuing internal affairs review by saying, IA. The suit settled for $364,000 without any admission of fault. He was sentenced to five years in prison for lying on a police report in a separate incident.

A lack of oversight Now-retired Bordentown Township Police Chief Frank Nucera Jr. was charged by federal agents in November 2017 with assaulting a black man and repeatedly making violent and racist remarks. The need for outside intervention by the FBI underscores the limited oversight of New Jersey's hundreds of police chiefs. His lawyer didn't return a message seeking comment. Nucera retired in January 2017, after the alleged assault but before the indictment. He is awaiting trial. Upon leaving, Nucera was paid $54,002, including compensation for unused sick and vacation days.

Repeated beatings claims, department inaction Alleged beatings by Atlantic City police officer Andrew Jaques prompted at least two lawsuits. The city refused to provide the Press with the settlement amounts. But the case raised the ire of a federal judge in one decision who called Jaques "short-fused" and "volatile." He retired on disability in August, at an annual salary of $101,620, the Press found. Another city officer, Sterling Wheaten, has been the subject of at least 15 internal affairs complaints and the city paying $4.5 million to settle five lawsuits, according to media reports. No admission of wrongdoing was made in the settlements and Wheaten remains on the force at a salary of $108,548.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/01/23/xbox-game-pass-expands/

Moving forward, we plan to release all new Xbox One exclusive games from Microsoft Studios into Xbox Game Pass on the same date as their global release. This means that when Sea of Thieves launches on March 20, it will be included in Xbox Game Pass to all members.

This plan to bring new games timed with their global release into Xbox Game Pass not only includes announced titles like Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3 but future unannounced games from Microsoft Studios including new iterations of our biggest Xbox One exclusive franchises such as Halo, Forza and Gears of War, on the same day they launch.

The full list of games currently included: https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-game-pass-complete-game-list

I don't subscribe yet, but this makes it tempting.
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What is this, a fair for ants?

$130k being the same amount that was paid to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence
https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/955827857221193728
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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/22/politics/george-w-bush-favorable-poll/index.html?sr=twCNN012218george-w-bush-favorable-poll0526PMVODtop

George W. Bush has turned his unpopularity upside down.

Six in 10 Americans, 61%, say they now have a favorable view of the 43rd President of the United States in the latest CNN poll conducted by SSRS, nearly double the 33% who gave him a favorable mark when he left the White House in January 2009.

His mark is lower than Barack Obama's 66% favorable rating in the same poll, but significantly higher than the 40% favorable rating for President Donald Trump.
Most of Bush's climb back to popularity came from Democrats and independents. His favorability mark among Democrats has soared from only 11% in February 2009 to a majority 54% now.

In fact, Bush holds a majority favorable rating among every demographic group but liberals -- including strong Democratic groups like nonwhites and people under 35 years old.

When it comes to Republicans, his marks are virtually the same as they were immediately after he left office. His favorability climbed from 76% among Republicans a month after he left office to 88% in a 2015 poll from CNN/ORC -- but it's fallen back down to 76% in the Trump era.

Despite the climb overall, Republican disapproval of the former president has tripled from 7% to 21% since 2015.

It's not uncommon for a president's favorability numbers to improve after leaving office. Bill Clinton's favorability climbed from 51% when he left office to 64% in a 2015 poll, though his favorable sank lower -- to 47% -- in October 2016 when his wife, Hillary Clinton, was pursuing her own White House bid. Obama's favorability has climbed from 59% shortly after Election Day to 66% now.

Bush has spoken out against the sitting GOP President a few times over the course of Trump's presidency so far.

"Our identity as a nation, unlike other nations, is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood. ... This means that people from every race, religion, ethnicity can be full and equally American," Bush said at an October event. "It means that bigotry and white supremacy, in any form, is blasphemy against the American creed," he continued, adding that "bigotry seems emboldened."

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/negotiating-with-jell-o-how-trumps-shifting-
positions-fueled-the-rush-to-a-shutdown/2018/01/20/81215b90-fd71-11e7-a46b-a3614530bd87_story.html

In a remarkable, televised 55-minute meeting with about two dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers earlier this month, President Trump twice proclaimed that any immigration deal would need to be a bill of love setting an optimistic tone for averting a government shutdown with a bipartisan solution.

After the president ordered cameras out of the Cabinet Room that day, the group delved into the details. Kirstjen Nielsen, Trumps homeland security secretary, and her staff passed out a four-page document on the administrations must haves for any immigration bill a hard-line list that included $18 billion for Trumps promised border wall, eliminating the diversity visa lottery program and ending extended family chain migration, according to the document, which was obtained by The Washington Post.

But one person seemed surprised and alarmed by the memo: the president.

With Democrats and Republicans still in the room, Trump said that the document didnt represent all of his positions, that he wasnt familiar with its contents and that he didnt appreciate being caught off-guard. He instructed the group to disregard the summary and move on, according to one of the lawmakers in the room, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Its like the wedding where someone actually stands up and objects to the wedding, the lawmaker said. It was that moment.

That meeting nearly two weeks ago, and the presidents ambivalence, marked the beginning of yet another period of Trump-fueled tumult that helped push the federal government into a shutdown at midnight Friday. Pinging from one upheaval to the next while clearly not understanding the policy nuances of the negotiation Trump clashed at different times with Democrats and members of his own party, who grew increasingly exasperated with the president even as they sought to cast blame upon the other side.

Im looking for something that President Trump supports, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in public frustration at one point late in the negotiations. And hes not yet indicated what measure hes willing to sign.

Trump is a self-proclaimed dealmaker who has struggled to close critical deals as president an unreliable negotiator who seems to promise one thing only to renege days, or even hours, later. He boasts of being flexible and has few core ideological convictions, yet often seems torn between his desire for a bipartisan win and the pull of the nationalist populism he ran on. In politics, he resembles at times an amateur jazz musician moody and improvisational, but without the technical chops to hold a piece together.

The early weeks of 2018 have felt eerily similar to those of 2017, as upheaval has consumed the presidents agenda and message including the shutdown battle, a tell-all book chronicling a president at sea and news of a payout before the 2016 election to a porn star alleging an affair with Trump.

Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O, Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained on the Senate floor Saturday, some 12 hours into the shutdown. Its next to impossible.

This account of Trumps divisive role in shutdown negotiations is based on interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, White House advisers, government aides and Trump confidants, most of whom requested anonymity to discuss private negotiations.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

And yet.

This is quite a user profile:
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-medicaid-work-requirements-could-make-it-impossible-to-qualify-for-medicaid-in-most-states/

Under the planned new Health and Human Services regulations announced last week, waivers will be granted to states willing to restructure their programs to force individuals who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid to workgenerally for about 20 hours a weekto qualify for coverage. So far 10 states have applied for the planned waivers: Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Maine, Utah, and Wisconsin. Most of the states recently expanded Medicaid eligibility standards under the Affordable Care Act, so those who newly gained coverage will be especially hard-hit. The plan purports to help the poor economically and health-wise, but its almost certain to make people poorer and sicker instead. Nationwide, the changes are expected to drastically reduce enrollment, arbitrarily denying millions of impoverished people access to life-saving medical services.

Anti-poverty and health-care advocates say the waivers, which enable state Medicaid programs to mandate employment for all so-called able-bodied adults, are not only cruel but irrational: The vast majority of working-age Medicaid recipients (excluding the elderly and people with disabilities) currently are already employed anyway. Those who arent are often facing severe employment barriers precisely because of poor health. According to the think tank CLASP, over one-third of working-age Medicaid recipients not working are unemployed because of illness or disability.

Making the poor work for health care may seem absurd, but it actually reflects a core idea of the conservative agenda to shrink the welfare state. Although historically, Medicaid was designed as a social protection for the most vulnerable, the new rules undermine the moral premise of the system by imposing a price on the right to health. Echoing the work mandates imposed under Clinton-era welfare reform, linking employment to means-tested federal benefits is a proven way to both reduce enrollment and further entrench poverty. Since those reforms of the late 1990s, hundreds of thousands of working families have been shoved off the welfare rolls, yet remain trapped in dire poverty.

While the job requirements for welfare arguably had the aim of encouraging productive workforce participation, disciplining the poor by tying jobs to health care is even more punitive, since it probably will improve neither their health-care access nor their economic conditionsbut instead just make them both poorer and sicker.

Those who would be forced to find work as part of the administrations work requirements will likely be tracked into low-wage jobs that simultaneously lack employer-sponsored benefits and leave them ineligible for Medicaid, according to a Community Catalyst analysis: Essentially, they would make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but still not get any benefits from their boss. These workers would also fall into an ever-widening coverage gap: too rich for Medicaid, too poor for subsidized insurance the federal health-care exchanges. In the case of an able-bodied worker with a minimum-wage job, supporting a two-person household (for example, a single mom with a child), they would be excluded from Medicaid in all but five states. Even a two-income household with two kids, with both parents earning their states minimum wage, would only qualify for benefits in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. So in nearly every community nationwide, the poor would be triply punished by a combination of harsh Medicaid restrictions, exorbitant insurance costs, lack of decent job opportunities, and regressive minimum-wage policies.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

__Y2JosHBK___ posted...

antfair posted...

__Y2JosHBK___ posted...

I'd prefer every state get a fair voice

The way to do that is by not devaluing the voice of Texans and Arizonans for the sake of Wyoming residents.

Because fuck Wyoming people? They need a bigger voice to get recognition.

They already have one in the Senate. Why are we doubly screwing the residents of large states? To say nothing of the disenfranchising effects of winner take all at the state level. What does a Texan's vote matter? Or a California Republican's?
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What is this, a fair for ants?

__Y2JosHBK___ posted...

I'd prefer every state get a fair voice

The way to do that is by not devaluing the voice of Texans and Arizonans for the sake of Wyoming residents.
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What is this, a fair for ants?

__Y2JosHBK___ posted...

We literally have the electoral vote so states like California can't institute tyranny of the majority

Do you prefer tyranny of the minority?
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What is this, a fair for ants?

__Y2JosHBK___ posted...

They also predicted Trump would win and he did in a landslide

They did not. They did not make a prediction as to the electoral college; their final polling before the election had Trump losing the popular vote by about 2%, which is, to their credit, close to the final result.
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What is this, a fair for ants?

So what you're saying is, all those accomplishments and he's still only matching Obama in popularity?
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What is this, a fair for ants?

Blue_Inigo posted...

That pedo is putting a hit out on people. What a Christianly thing to do.

I think it's a bit much to suggest Moore is in anyway responsible here. That said, he has always managed to exceed expectations for shittiness.
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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/roy_moore_accusers_home_burns.html
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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.newsweek.com/white-supremacist-accused-amtrak-terror-attack-also-attended-alt-right-event-771495

A 26-year-old white man who attempted to commit a terror attack on an Amtrak train in rural Nebraska also attended the doomed Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last August on the white supremacist side, according to a court document.

St. Charles, Missouri, resident Taylor Michael Wilson has been charged with an attempt to commit terror by targeting an Amtrak train in southwest Nebraska in October 2017. FBI Special Agent Monte Czaplewski, writing in an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, suggested that Wilson wanted to murder black people. The document suggests that he had weapons, as well as a National Socialist Movement (NSM) business card with him at the time he was arrested.

Wilson entered an engineer's seat of an Amtrak train after midnight on October 22 and started "playing with the controls" of the train, according to Czaplewskis account. No one was injured or killed in the attempted attack.

Newsweek reached out to the NSM for a comment about the revelations but did not immediately receive a response. The group is neo-Nazi in nature, has ties to the more traditional American Nazi Party and has been connected to other elements of the modern, so-called alt-right movement at rallies and events.

Wilson traveled with that group to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August of last year, according to court documents. There, men chanted Jews will not replace us in the college city while marching with tiki torches on August 11, 2017. The following morning, fights broke out between white supremacist and antiracist counterprotesters. Later that day, a white man drove his car into a crowd of people, allegedly murdering Heather Heyer, an anti-racist activist.

The alt-right, a deeply anti-Semitic movement that calls for limited immigration, mass deportations and a new state for white, non-Jews only, has been attached to many violent incidents since the Unite the Right event collapsed into chaos. William Edward Atchison, who killed two students at his high school last year, was a regular commenter on the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, according to The Daily Beast. Nicholas Giampa, a 17-year-old Virginia boy, allegedly murdered his girlfriends parents, Scott Fricker and Buckley Kuhn Fricker, in a shooting incident that took place last month. He had a neo-Nazi social media presence, according to a report by The Huffington Post. The shooter who killed a Douglas County deputy and wounded other law enforcement figures on Sunday was attracted to an alt-right ideology, according to a local news reporter.

Wilson, the accused terrorist, was not likely just a casual supporter of alt-right politics. Czaplewski noted in his affidavit that the man also had a photo of a banner broadcasting white supremacist propaganda on his phone.

Within the context of street-level politics, there is some bizarre irony to Wilsons arrest for attempting to commit terror on an Amtrak train. Figures loosely associated with the alt-right movement attempted to blame Antifa, or anti-fascist demonstrators, for a fatal Amtrak train derailment that took place in Washington state in December. The story, however, was quickly discovered to be fake news.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://splinternews.com/georgia-police-arrest-70-people-over-one-ounce-of-weed-1821720749

On Sunday night, police in Cartersville, GAa suburb northwest of Atlantaresponded to a report of gunshots at a house party.

When they got there, they found less than an ounce of marijuana at the party. For some reason, they decided to arrest 70 party attendees and charge them with possession. Some are still being held in jail.

From WFAA:

When officers arrived to the site of the party, just blocks from the apartment complex, they found several people both inside and outside the party. Thats when they found evidence leading to the drug investigation and arrests.

Police havent specified exactly what drugs they did or did not find at the party. The investigation is currently ongoing and information will be released when available, Mike Bettikofer, the police departments spokesperson, told reporters.

Some attendees reported being treated roughly by police and in jail. From WSB:

During a sit-down interview...the attendees described being mistreated by officers. They claimed they were tied up with zip ties, threatened with tasers and hauled off to jail. Some of the men said they were locked up in cages.

Another attendee, a pregnant woman said she was verbally abused and mistreated in jail.

I was throwing up water, she said. The whole saying innocent until proven guilty went out the window. They told me I was an unfit person to have a baby.

The house in question was hosting a Christmas lingerie party, and partygoers say the gunshots reported were actually fireworks. Readers were quick to point out that there were undeniable racial overtones in this case; most of the people arrested were black. Within Atlanta city limits, the partygoers would have likely gotten off with a $75 fine.

End the war on drugs
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.ioi.dk/happy-hitman-holiday/

On December 15th, we will release the Hitman Holiday Pack that will allow anyone on PC, PS4 or Xbox One full access to our Paris destination. This FREE download will include the first major story mission from the game, Showstopper, plus all of the Escalation Contracts weve released for Paris, our Holiday Hoarders mission plus the Paris Challenge Packs and achievements/trophies too! It will also allow you to play the future re-activated Elusive Targets in Paris.

Sound like a good deal? It is. Thats why the Hitman Holiday Pack is only available for a limited time, from December 15th to January 5th. Once youve downloaded it, Paris is yours to keep permanently. All of your progress and mission mastery will carry through to the full game when you choose to upgrade to the Game of the Year Edition we released last month.

Youll find the Hitman Holiday Pack either through the new in-game store or by searching on Xbox Live, PSN or Steam for Hitman Holiday Pack, starting on December 15th.

I'm pretty sure the prologue is already free? But this is a really great deal and if you don't already have Hitman you should hop on this.
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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/13/uber-reduces-ambulance-useage-in-major-u-s-cities-study-says/

In what is believed to be the first study to measure the impact of Uber and other ride-booking services on the U.S. ambulance business, two researchers have concluded that ambulance usage is dropping across the country.

A research paper released Wednesday examined ambulance usage rates in 766 U.S. cities in 43 states as Uber entered their markets from 2013 to 2015.

Co-authors David Slusky, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Kansas, and Dr. Leon Moskatel, an internist at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, said they believe their study is the first to explain a trend that until now has only been discussed anecdotally.

Comparing ambulance volumes before and after Uber became available in each city, the two men found that the ambulance usage rate dipped significantly.

Slusky said after using different methodologies to obtain the most conservative decline in ambulance usage, the researchers calculated the drop to be at least 7 percent.

My guess is it will go up a little bit and stabilize at 10 to 15 percent as Uber continues to expand as an alternative for people, Moskatel said.

Slusky said he and Moskatel are submitting the paper to journals for peer review.

San Francisco-based Uber quickly distanced itself from the notion that hailing an Uber driver is an acceptable substitute for calling an ambulance.

Were grateful our service has helped people get to where theyre going when they need it the most, said company spokesman Andrew Hasbun. However, its important to note that Uber is not a substitute for law enforcement or medical professionals. In the event of any medical emergency, we always encourage people to call 911.

Moskatel, however, said many patients tend to be pretty good at assessing their state and how quickly they need to come in and how sick they are.

But at least one prominent Bay Area emergency room physician disagreed.

Paul Kivela, president of the 37,000-member American College of Emergency Physicians, said he believes that for those low-risk patients who cant drive themselves to the emergency room, Uber is a good service.

But many people, he said, may not be able to differentiate between a life-threatening emergency and an innocuous medical issue. So, he said, calling 911 is always the safest bet.

A paramedic has the training and the ability to deliver life-saving care en route, Kivela said. Where I really have a hard time is believing an Uber driver is going to attend to you.

Kivela noted that in addition to his work as an ER doctor at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, he is also the medical director of an ambulance company in Solano County.

The researchers, however, insisted that ride-booking services such as Uber and San Francisco-based Lyft can sometimes be the best way to get to the hospital in a hurry.

Previous research, Moskatel said, suggests that a fair number of people are using ambulances to get to the hospital because they simply dont have another way to get there particularly those who live in areas with limited taxi service.

And, Slusky added, with health care taking a big chunk out of most peoples budgets, many consumers these days have to weigh a few factors before calling an ambulance.

They have to think about their health and what its going to cost me, he said. And for many of us with high-deductible plans, an ambulance ride would cost thousands of dollars.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

Ask me anything
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2504

The Republican tax plan pending in the U.S. Congress benefits the wealthy the most, 64 percent of American voters say, while 24 percent say the tax plan benefits the middle class and 5 percent say it benefits low-income people, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.

American voters disapprove of the tax plan 53 - 29 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll finds. Republicans approve of the plan 67 - 10 percent, the only party, gender, education, age or racial group listed to approve. White men are divided as 40 percent approve and 42 percent disapprove.

In a separate question, voters say 61 - 34 percent that the tax plan favors the rich at the expense of the middle class.

The plan will increase their taxes, 41 percent of voters say, while 20 percent say the plan will reduce their taxes and 32 percent say the plan will not have much impact on their taxes.

In the wake of the Republican tax plan, American voters say 47 - 39 percent that the Democratic Party can do a better job handling taxes. Voters have been divided on this question in the past.

American voters give President Donald Trump a negative 35 - 58 percent job approval rating, compared to 38 - 55 percent in a November 21 Quinnipiac University poll.

Voters say 56 - 40 percent that Trump is not fit to be president, tying his all-time low score.

"Deeply unpopular and manifestly unfit for the job. That's the harsh assessment of President Donald Trump, whose tax plan is considered built for the rich at the expense of the rest," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Health care is the most important problem facing the country today, 18 percent of voters say, as 17 percent list the economy. Another 13 percent of voters list foreign policy, while 11 percent cite terrorism and 10 percent list race relations.

Voters say 55 - 32 percent that the Democratic Party can do a better job on health care. Voters are closely divided on who does a better job on the economy, as 45 percent say the Democratic Party and 43 percent say the Republican Party. Democrats are ahead on other issues:

*56 - 34 percent that Democrats can do a better job "fighting for the working class;"

*51 - 37 percent that Democrats can do a better job "representing your values."

American voters say 50 - 36 percent, including 44 - 36 percent among independent voters that they would like the Democrats to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. Voters also say 51 - 37 percent, including 45 - 38 percent among independent voters, that they would like Democrats to win control of the U.S. Senate in 2018.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-04/trump-disbands-group-meant-to-prepare-cities-for-climate-shocks

The Trump administration has terminated a cross-agency group created to help local officials protect their residents against extreme weather and natural disasters.

The Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems was created by the Obama administration in 2015 within the Department of Commerces National Institute of Standards and Technology. Its chairman, Jesse Keenan, told members at a meeting Monday that its charter was being dissolved that the meeting would be its last.

It was one of the last federal bodies that openly talked about climate change in public," Keenan said in an email to Bloomberg News. I can say that we tried our best and we never self-censored!

The group is the latest in a series of federal climate-related bodies to be altered or terminated since Trump took office. In June, the administration told scientists who sat on the EPAs Board of Scientific Counselors that their terms werent being renewed. In August, Trump ended the advisory committee attached to the National Climate Assessment, the quadrennial review of climate science. Trump has called climate change a "hoax" designed to make the U.S. less competitive with China.

The Department of Commerce didnt immediately respond to request for comment.

"This was the federal governments primary external engagement for resilience in the built environment," Keenan, a researcher at Harvard Universitys Graduate School of Design who focuses on climate adaptation whose role on the panel was unpaid. The panel included representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other departments, as well as city planners and outside experts.

The group advised local officials on making buildings, communications, energy systems, transportation and water more able to withstand severe weather and climate change. That mission made the group especially vulnerable, Keenan said.

Since its creation in 2015, the group has identified potential improvements to building codes, worked on guides for reestablishing cell phone service, and advised municipal utilities on resuming operations after a disaster, among other things.

Brendan Doyle, who was the EPAs representative to the panel until he retired in August, said the idea for the panel came from Superstorm Sandy in 2012. "It was a way of helping communities not only through the recovery process, but to help them adjust to a new normal, in ways that would make them more resilient to the next disaster," he said.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

Basically no one plays Steep. I'm the only person on this website I've ever seen acknowledge the game, and I know the "concurrent players" on Steam has been laughably low at times. It went on sale early and often; they even had a free play weekend.

And yet since launch they have constantly added to the game with new content: a new mountain range for free, various DLC stuff, new challenges. And now they've added a new expansion while making some of the old DLC available with in-game credits. There's so much more in the game now than at launch (also the physics have changed, but that's...another matter), and for a game that I didn't expect to get much developer support.

Thanks, Ubisoft!
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What is this, a fair for ants?

I've been getting my ass kicked by their Playground bucket list the last couple days. The Jaguar to the airstrip, and that Nissan thing in Nice
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What is this, a fair for ants?

FH2 Porsche Expansion 85% off.

Also the car pass, but my main thing is getting those bucket list challenges. FH2's were actually challenging and great
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What is this, a fair for ants?

It's a sign
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/04/blake-farenthold-sexual-harass-greene-278869

North Carolina native Lauren Greene aspired to a career in politics when she arrived on Capitol Hill as an intern in 2009. She spent the next five years climbing the Capitol Hill ladder, ultimately becoming a communications director for a congressman in 2014.

But Greenes budding career imploded, she said, the minute she accused Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) of sexually harassing her.

Since the summer of 2014, when she says Farenthold fired her for raising concerns about a hostile work environment, Greene has been unable to land a full-time job. Shes making $15 an hour working temporary gigs for a homebuilder. She babysits on the side to earn extra cash.

Her family has had to support her financially. And Greene, now 30, has left D.C., with no illusions that she will ever work in politics again.

Its definitely turned my life upside down, Greene said in her first interview since she made the accusations against Farenthold. Its been a tough road. Emotionally, it was tough. Professionally, its been hard to figure out next steps. And its definitely had an impact on my career.

She later added: I was told right away that I would be, quote-unquote, blackballed if I came forward. Thats exactly what happened.

Greene, in a December 2014 lawsuit, accused Farenthold of gender discrimination, sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. She said he told another aide in the office that he had sexual fantasies and wet dreams about her and that she could wear shirts that showed her nipples anytime she wanted.

Farenthold, a 55-year-old married lawmaker, denied the accusations. The two settled the case, with Greene receiving $84,000 from a congressional fund dedicated to resolving workplace disputes though Greene and her lawyer, Les Alderman of Alderman Devorsetz & Hora PLLC, never confirmed those details.

While the settlement included a confidentiality agreement barring Greene from talking about her accusations, she spoke with Politico for 35 minutes on Monday about how coming forward has affected her life and career.

Longtime Hill friends of Greenes told her even before she accused Farenthold that if she came forward, she would never work in Washington again. While Greene was optimistic at first about finding a new job in D.C., she said she noticed a shift in how people treated her. She decided to move south to Charleston, South Carolina, after a few months.

But putting 500 miles between her and the Beltway didnt erase the stigma. Over the past three years, Greene said shes applied to dozens, if not more than a hundred, jobs in communications to no avail. One person told her that she didnt get one job because of her harassment claims against a congressman.

Greene used to keep an Excel spreadsheet of all the places where she applied but she said, after a while, I stopped updating it because it was so depressing.

While the nation has overwhelmingly embraced and supported victims of sexual harassment whove spoken out since Hollywood executive Harvey Weinsteins downfall, many victims in congressional offices are loath to come forward, figuring doing so will dash their hopes of careers in politics.

Greene did, and she says shes paid a heavy price. Her one comfort, however, is her firm belief that she did the right thing.

She moved recently to Charlotte, North Carolina, from Charleston to pursue what she described as a new beginning and promising job opportunities. Shes adamant that her future is looking up the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment campaign has triggered what she called a reckoning in society with the problem she tried to bring to light, Greene said.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/woman-shares-new-evidence-of-relationship-with-
roy-moore-when-she-was-17/2017/12/04/0c3d1cde-d903-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html

Debbie Wesson Gibson was in her attic hauling out boxes of Christmas decorations last week when she noticed a storage bin she said she had forgotten about. Inside was a scrapbook from her senior year of high school, and taped to a page titled Those Who Inspire was a graduation card.

Happy graduation Debbie, it read in slanted cursive handwriting. I wanted to give you this card myself. I know that youll be a success in anything you do. Roy.

The inscription, Gibson said, was written by Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican nominee for U.S. Senate who in recent days has repeatedly denied the accounts of five women who told The Washington Post that he pursued them when they were teenagers and he was an assistant district attorney in his 30s. Since those allegations were published last month, four more women have come forward to allege that Moore made unwanted sexual advances. The accounts in The Post included those of Leigh Corfman, who said she was 14 when Moore touched her sexually, and Gibson, who said that she publicly dated Moore when she was 17 and he was 34, a relationship she said she wore like a badge of honor until she began reevaluating it in light of the accounts of other women, and now, Moores own denials.

Shortly after the allegations first surfaced, Moore said in a radio interview with Sean Hannity that he did not know Corfman, but that he remembered Gibson as well as Gloria Thacker Deason, who had told The Post that she dated Moore when she was 18. He called each one a good girl, and said that he did not remember dating them.

But at two campaign events in recent days, Moore has backtracked.

At a Nov. 27 campaign event in the north Alabama town of Henagar, Moore said, The allegations are completely false. They are malicious. Specifically, I do not know any of these women.

At a Nov. 29 rally at a church in the south Alabama town of Theodore, Moore said, Let me state once again: I do not know any of these women, did not date any of these women and have not engaged in any sexual misconduct with anyone.

Gibson said that after finding the scrapbook, she was not sure whether to make it public given the threats she received after publication of the original story. Then she heard what Moore said last week, she said, and contacted The Post.

He called me a liar, said Gibson, who says she not only openly dated Moore when she was 17 but later joined him in passing out fliers during his campaign for circuit court judge in 1982 and exchanged Christmas cards with him over the years. Roy Moore made an egregious mistake to attack that one thing my integrity.

The Moore campaign did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this story.
...
Gibson, 54, now lives in Delray Beach, Fla., is a registered Republican, and is the founder of a company that provides sign language interpretation. She said that despite requests from dozens of media outlets, she had very carefully said absolutely nothing after her account was first published in The Post due to a barrage of threatening hate mail she received, prompting her to notify her local police department. She and the other women have been accused by Moores surrogates of lying, or being paid to spread false stories, or being part of a larger political conspiracy to defeat Moore.

Then she found the scrapbook and the graduation card with the slanted, cursive handwriting, which she said immediately reminded her of another woman, Beverly Young Nelson, who had come forward after the Post story was published.

I just couldnt imagine him doing something like that, Gibson said. And then when I saw the interview from Beverly, and I saw his handwriting in her yearbook, my heart just sank."

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What is this, a fair for ants?

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle, the 20 greatest hits
Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-78
Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-75
Van Halen II

For $30
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What is this, a fair for ants?

Like, FH3 is a better game in a lot of ways if I'm being honest, but there's a vibe FH2 has that just gives the whole thing a sense of grandeur. I don't know if that's the scenery, the music (Ride of the Valkyries ftw) or what.

@chill02
@Error1355
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://twitter.com/sanfranmag/status/936392431624273920

This is the San Francisco woman whose murder was latched onto by many right-wingers, including Donald Trump, as the poster-case for their arguments about border security and sanctuary cities.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/08/the-death-of-kate-steinle-and-the-rise-of-donald-trump.html

On July 1, 2015, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate shot 32-year-old Kathryn Michelle Steinle in the back as she walked with her father on San Franciscos Pier 14. Her dying words were Help me, dad.

Garcia Zarate, a Mexican national whod been deported from the U.S. five times and had seven felony convictions, including for heroin possession and manufacturing narcotics, quickly admitted to firing the gun. Within days, it also came out that the San Francisco Sheriffs Department had refused to tell federal immigration officials when Garcia Zaratewho would have been deported upon his return to federal custodywas scheduled to be released from jail, instead allowing him to go free a few months prior to Steinles killing.

For Trump, Steinles deathcoming as it did two weeks after his notorious Mexican rapists speechwas the most convenient of tragedies. On July 10, 2015, Trump was seventh in the Republican field, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. Ten days later hed overtaken Jeb Bush for the No. 1 spot among GOP contenders. While Trumps rise to the top of the Republican primaries was probably inevitable, the timing of that rise was not. Something happened in July to send Trumps numbers soaring, noted David Frum in the Atlantic that month. That something may have been the murder of Kathryn Steinle.

Two days after Steinles killing, then-candidate Trump came out with a statement describing the young womans death as yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately. He added, This is an absolutely disgraceful situation and I am the only one that can fix it. Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it. That wont happen if I become president.

Whereas Trump had previously been buffeted with criticism for describing undocumented immigrants as violent criminals, Steinles death shifted the narrative of the primary in his favor. Within a week, he was telling an uncorroborated version of the story, one that vindicated his entire platform. This man, or this animal, that shot that wonderful, that beautiful woman in San Francisco, this guy was pushed back by Mexico, Trump told CNN on July 8. Mexico pushes back people across the border that are criminals, that are drug dealers.

Less than two weeks later, at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Trump again told this distorted tale, this time bragging about the good it had done for his campaign:

I am so proud of the fact that I got dialogue started on illegal immigration. And people in the mediain all fairness, they were very rough on me that first week and then many of them have now apologized to me, and almost everybodys apologized, because it turned out I was right. Beautiful Kate in San Francisco was shot by an illegal, who was here five times and they couldnt do anything about it. And believe me, Mexico kept pushing him back because they didnt want him.

Garcia Zarate did not know Kate Steinle. He had no known motive to murder her on the pier that day. Most significantly, the shot that struck Steinle in the back hadnt been aimed at her or anyone else.

Both the prosecution and the defense acknowledge that the bullet that killed Steinle had first ricocheted off the pier. According to testimony from a preliminary hearing, that bullet appears to have hit the ground 12 to 15 feet in front of where Garcia Zarate was sitting, then bounced off the pavement and traveled an estimated 90 feet farther before killing Steinle.

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What is this, a fair for ants?

Note: more than 100 people, including a couple journalists are facing decades in prison just for being near the inauguration protests

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/nearly-200-trump-inauguration-protesters-each-face- 60-years-in-prison-their-trials-started-wednesday/vi-BBFPUMO
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What is this, a fair for ants?

http://www.startribune.com/walmart-pulls-rope-tree-journalist-t-shirt/461080223/
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What is this, a fair for ants?

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/roy-moore-accuses-lgbt-people-socialists-spreading-sexual-131306051--abc-news-topstories.html

Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore made fiery claims on Wednesday night about who is to blame for the sexual misconduct allegations bogging down his campaign.

Moore, the Republican nominee, spoke at the Magnolia Springs Baptist Church in Theodore, in southwestern Alabama near Mobile, and delivered more of a sermon than a campaign speech.

He has been plagued by sexual misconduct allegations since The Washington Post reported that he allegedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl while he was 32 in the 1970s.

On Wednesday he echoed a familiar refrain of blaming "liberals" for the allegations. But he also blamed gay people and socialists in an aggressive address.

"They're liberals. They don't want conservative values," Moore said of the people he says are trying to ruin his campaign. "They are the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender who want to change our culture. They are socialists who want to change our way of life and put man above God and the government as our God."

The comments garnered applause from the church's congregation.

At one point in his speech, Moore was interrupted by a male protester, who was quickly removed.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" regular Tony Barbieri, aka Jake Byrd, a comedian who often disrupts newsworthy moments, was also escorted out of the church after asking the candidate about the allegations of misconduct.

As has become rote on the trail, Moore again denied knowing any of the women accusing him of sexual misconduct and, as at a rally earlier this week, called the allegations "dirty politics."

It's hard to imagine a campaign (or a candidate) taken more directly from 1953.
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What is this, a fair for ants?