13 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

1. And in today's Innovation News – Colorado State University took home the top trophy from the 2013 Windward International Collegiate Programming Championships.

    

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2. Sen Menendez (NJ-D) settles up with donor for offshore underage prostitution trips.

   IRS, airport and state revenue authority managers apparently are looking forward to Menendez direct payment of various taxes for services billed as they don't appear to have been charged by the donor. 

   WASHINGTON—Sen. Robert Menendez's office says he reimbursed a prominent Florida political donor $58,500 on Jan. 4 of this year for the full cost of two of three trips Menendez took on the donor's plane to the Dominican Republic in 2010.

   Details of Menendez's trips emerged as his office said unsubstantiated allegations that the senator engaged in sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic are false.

   There has been no public disclosure of the two trips until now.

   "The senator paid for the two trips out of his personal account and no reporting requirements apply," Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright said Wednesday night.

   The FBI searched the West Palm Beach, Fla., office of the donor—eye doctor Salomon Melgen—on Tuesday night and early Wednesday, but it was unclear if the raid was related to Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.

   Read more:Menendez says he reimbursed donor for 2 jaunts – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22487816/menendez-says-he-reimbursed-donor-2-jaunts#ixzz2JZ0mpf6Z
   Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

    

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   1. Spoiler alert: The "gumshoe" on this one is Mathew Boyle of "breitbart".

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      1. What the little tadpole posted something of dubious quality? 

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         1. Shocking, isn't it? Another bullshit manufactured "scandal" because 'tad lacks any righteous integrity, and believes in nothing but the re-enslavement of everyone to the wealthy.

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            1. Spoiler alert: the backdated payoff of @$60,000 leads to the cover-up which is alwayswhere you find the goodies …in this case the international procurement consipacy for arrange,ent and use of off shore underage prostitutes by the Senator.

                

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3. New "Strona" diary – huh?

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4. Another international incident committed by our military–never apologize for 'Murika!

   http://thepoc.net/breaking-news/local/17749-us-ship-stuck-at-tubbataha-to-be-dismantled.html

   The US Navy has announced that it will dismantle the USS Guardian ship that got stuck in Tubbataha Reef in Sulu Sea. In an article Capt. Darryn James, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said, “Our only supportable option is to dismantle the damaged ship and remove it in sections.” The salvage plan is now being reviewed by the Philippine Coast Guard.

   The minesweeping vessel has been stranded on Tubbataha Reef since January 17. The Tubbataha reef is a protected UNESCO world heritage site where routine ship traffic is prohibited. Reports said that the vessel ignored local authority’s warnings that the vessel is headed for a reef. Environmental groups fear that the damage to the reef will get more severe should the vessel will be not removed as soon as possible.

   News reports say when Philippine authorities radioed the ship tell them they were entering a restricted area, the ship radioed back to "take it up with the US Embassy." And then they ran aground in a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

   The bad parts are underreported in American media, of course.

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   1. right.  Sorry, that doesn't sound too much like standard military protocol for radio transmissions so I'm wondering who's providing the facts for the "news reports."  Love ya Blue and I'm not gonna doubt that arrogance is rampant in US military but I'm thinking that "report" has got a fish head smell to it. 

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5. Last week someone posted about this guy (specifically looking at the house in the Google Maps streetview image and wondering if the flag on display, which was bunched up, was for the USMC). Guy turns out to be a right wing extremist, and whose views aren't far off from those of the more typical "law abiding" gun nut.

   http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22490576/morrison-man-who-said-lots-atf-agents-would?source=rss

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   1. It is definitely a USMC flag.   http://goo.gl/maps/9Pv7E  But I still contend that the garden gnome is a better indicator of his mental instability.

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6. How's that Senate Gun Violence hearing going?  Meanwhile …

    

   A 14-year-old male student was shot in the head, near the back of the neck, in a violent outbreak at an Atlanta public school on Thursday around 1:50pm. The shooting occurred at the Price Middle School, in southwest Atlanta. A teacher also suffered minor injuries in the violence but was not shot. Atlanta Police have taken one suspect, another student, into custody.

    

   and this …

    

   A Texas prosecutor who was heavily involved in the investigation of members of the Aryan Brotherhood has been shot dead today as he walked from his car to his county courtroom office. Kaufman County, Texas, assistant district attorney Mark Hasse was ambushed by at least one gunman as he walked from his car to the county courtroom at 8:50 a.m. today Hasse was assaulted and shot multiple times before dying of his injuries in hospital. Hasse was heavily involved in the investigation of members of the Aryan Brotherhood and investigators are working to determine if the two cases are linked.

   I'm sure we can lay blame on an old VHS of Natural Born Killers and a bunch of Aryans hunched over a Mortal Kombat console at some Pizza Hut.

   the NRA — baseless deluded F*CKIN' gun-hugging nuts.  Fer all the NRA members in the house — you gotta be really, really proud of how your dues are getting spent.

    

    

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7.  “There’s a lot of hysteria that takes place now with respect to hydraulic fracking,”Salazar told Congress last year. “My point of view, based on my own study of hydraulic fracking, is that it can be done safely and has been done safely hundreds of thousands of times.”

    http://coloradoenergynews.com/2013/01/the-promised-land-problem-activists/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ColoradoEnergyNews+%28Colorado+Energy+News%29

    

   I am incredibly busy just now, but this room full of hound dogs is a good place to bring the scent…anybody interested in checking out this guy gets my undying appreciation. 

    

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