In The News Today...

Quote: Face

I rather like them. Smart as the devil, they are.

Yeah, I have a grudging respect for skunks. It's perfectly rational for an advanced species (like us humans) to be afraid of them; they pack a serious weapon.

I'll bet we could start up a thread on raccoons. Everyone's got a raccoon story. Those guys are a pain in the ass. Raccoons are smart, fearless, stubborn. The forest, the city, the suburbs-- apparently they're in every part of every U.S. state except the extreme hot Southwest desert areas (NV, UT, AZ). My wife's coworker got in a war with a city raccoon-- from an upstairs window he poured scalding hot water on it as it rummaged through the trash can. Raccoon didn't care, he was stubborn. Once the steam disappeared, the coon went right back to the trash can. Finally the guy sprayed wasp/hornet killer on it. Ouch, that seemed like a low blow to stoop to chemical warfare. But all's fair in love & war: the insecticide worked, the coon waived the white flag, surrendered, and never returned to that trash can again.

The coon was smart enough to know that there's always another trash can next door just as delicious.

Quote: reno

And if he cynically determined that it was in his brand's best intere$t to suddenly adopt liberal rhetoric to the left of Dennis Kucinich, he'd switch sides in the blink of an eye.

Exhibit A: in 1989, Trump co-sponsored a dinner honoring a leader of the National Abortion Rights Action League in New York, (though he did not attend the event.)

Exhibit B: appearing on NBC's Meet the Press in 1999, Trump said: "I hate the concept of abortion, but I am strongly pro-choice." He added that he would not favor a ban on so-called partial-birth abortion.

Exhibit C: "I want to see the abortion issue removed from politics," Trump told reporters in December 1999. "I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors."


All of this is the set-up to the punchline of the joke, which is what happened when CNN's Jake Tapper interviewed him last week...

Quote: CNN

Tapper: I know you’re opposed to abortion.

Trump: Right. I’m pro choice.

Tapper: You’re pro choice or pro life?

Trump: I’m pro life. I’m sorry.

To be fair, Trump isn't the first politician to flip-flop on abortion (see: Reagan, Ronald). But Trump can't even keep it straight which side he's on (at the moment). He could care less.

Quote: reno

Raccoons are smart, fearless, stubborn.

All of the above below. You don't see a better performance at the circus.

I bought a child's spring gun... some toy "lifting body" that you fire by releasing a wound up spring. The lifting body it fires is yellow and has a light on it.
You don't have hit a raccoon, you only have to surprise it with your skill full marksmanship of getting it somewhere nearby. Since its yellow and has a light its easy to find the next morning. $1.35 total.

they are selling now trash bags with a strong mint odor, claiming raccoons and other pests can't stand that smell that humans are OK with.

haven't tried them, my trash is locked up in a garage under refrig, 'cuz of bears

At a US Intelligence Committee hearing today, Sen. Barbara Mikulski asked FBI Director James Comey if it was a coincidence that 3 large organizations experienced computer problems simultaneously: The New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines, and the Wall Street Journal all went down, citing technical difficulties.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Mikulski said. “Is the FBI investigating these as breaches?”

“We’re not big believers in coincidence either,” Comey said... before insisting that this was, in fact, a coincidence. “We don’t see a connection to a cyber breach or cyberattack.”

Apparently the Wall St Journal's website went down because too many people sought info on the NYSE meltdown.

Pretty sure when a top drug lord escapes TWICE that's some shitty maximum security.

Quote:

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's top drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has escaped from a maximum security prison for the second time, security officials announced late Saturday.

Guzman, who headed the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, was last seen in the area of the showers in the Altiplano prison outside of Mexico City.

The National Security Commission said in a statement that Guzman went to the showers shortly before 9 p.m. and wasn't seen for a while. Upon checking his cell, authorities found that it was empty.

A search operation began immediately in the surrounding area and highways. Flights have also been suspended at Toluca airport near the penitentiary.

Guzman has been in prison since February 2014.

Quote: rxwine

Pretty sure when a top drug lord escapes TWICE that's some shitty maximum security.

When you own the prison you can come and leave easily.

This was not worth another airline thread in and of itself, but has anyone seen the latest crazy seating concept?



I'd rather they just give me a knockout shot and let me ride in baggage.

is this an application/variation of the 'hexagon makes for closest packed structure" ? I think so.