Paging John Kerry, There's A Call On Line One

The 1980s are calling and John Kerry has picked up the phone:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that Russia's plan to buy more intercontinental ballistic missiles was concerning and could herald a return to the international hostility of the "Cold War."

Speaking at a military and arms fair on Tuesday, Russia President Vladimir Putin announced the addition of 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles which, he said, were able to overcome "even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems."

...

Kerry said that, since the 1990s, there had been "enormous cooperation" in the destruction of nuclear weapons that were in the former territories of the Soviet Union.

No one wants to see us step backwards, nobody wants to, I think, go back to a kind of Cold War status," he added.

One might have thought that imagining that it can't happen can lead to a situation where it does happen. But maybe "Peace Through Strength" was just more Cold War nonsense brilliantly rebutted by the "Peace Through Unilateral Disarmament" crowd. Maybe!

 

 

Comments

[rse]

And who precisely owns the lines that federal tax dollars are paying for?

Is this a public/private partnership? Public dollars and private revenue benefitting from the expenditure?

[henry]

rse, a waste of money for sure, but for once I'd like them to waste some of it connecting my farm over something faster than DSL. (my guess is they will spend all that money up in the north woods so tourists can send pictures of autumn leaves faster).

[henry]

Shooter identified. "dYLAN sTORM rOOF" SOUNDS LIKE A mONTY pYTHON TYPE NAME, BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS. (oops)

[Neo]

Charleston shooter identified as:
Dylann Storm Roof
5' 9"
120 pounds
Driving a 2000 Hyundai ELantra GS License plate: LGF330

[Threadkiller]

Is he identifying with Native Americans?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Dylann's prior arrest mug shot

Dylann's myspace page

[Bet he did something crazy last time, and fell through cracks.]

So what was he arrested for on the last day of February?

Paranoid and coerced. Mental.

[NKonChrome]

He was named Storm Roof?... by his parents? I guess he was bound to become a nutter, unfortunately, his madness became mass murder. Is there still a death penalty in SC?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Pic of Dylann (?) on someone else's myspace

[Rocco]

Jones: Is Pablo Sandoval Focused On Baseball Or Instagram?

Goodell blames Brady, Pats lose another draft pick

[hrtshpdbox]

The one song on Dylann's Myspace playlist is some awful death metal grindcore crap, naturally.

[A change in climate.]

Delusions of Mansen, who helped establish in the national consciousness that only crazy people want to start a race war.

So what is it with this Obama?

[Jeff Dobbs]

http://www.wistv.com/story/29351540/charleston-shooting-suspect-from-columbia-area

Public records show Roof was most recently arrested in March in Lexington County on drug charges.

[Miss Marple]

Lachlan Markay reports the patches on shooter's jacket are Rhodesia and Afrikaaner. (Picked up on Twitter.)

[Jeff Dobbs]

Arrest Information
Full Name: Dylann Storm Roof
Date:04/26/2015
Personal Information
Arrest Age:21
Gender: Male
Tag this Mug Shot
Tag Awaiting Moderation
Charges
#1 TRESPASSING / ENTRY ON ANOTHER`S PASTURE OR OTHER LANDS AFTE

[NKonChrome]

sorry can't help it: Here's the link to the NFLPA's 'appeal' to Goodell to vacate the suspension. No affidavit from Brady, no physical evidence, it amounts to "you didn't prove I was a cheat so I walk". What a lying weasel Brady is. I'd love to see Goodell stand by the suspension and dare Brady to bring a grievance. Because I stand by THAT will never happen. Brady will never swear to those events and expose himself to a perjury charge. Why? because he's a lying weasel: https://nflpaweb.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/PDFs/Media%20Resources/Brady_Appeal_Letter.pdf

[Beasts of England]

White Hispanic

[Marlene]

Bishop Deeley of the RC Catholic Diocese of Portland urges members of the flock in Maine to read Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment.
"To truly understand the Holy Father's message,I encourage everyone to read the full encyclical..." Deeley said.
Sounds like the bishops have their marching orders.

[Thomas Collins]

Rocco, no pressure on you now, but I am beginning to look forward to your "Goodell blames Brady, Pats lose another draft pick" feature post on JOM! What a great way to satirize the undue attention paid to Brady's balls! :-))

[Dave (in MA)]

Brady won't do anything other than appeal to the league, because a protracted fight moves the potential upholding of the 4 game suspension (or even a reduced number of games) to the middle or end of the season, and that's not going to happen.

[Thomas Collins]

Dave (in MA), on talk radio on Tuesday, I heard Sal Pal say that Goodell would expedite his decision, and the federal courts would expedite hearing a lawsuit if Brady sued after Goodell's decision. I think Sal Pal is high on something. It's more likely that Goodell will take at least a couple of weeks after the hearing to render his decision. And a federal judge is not going to change his or her schedule to accommodate Brady. I agree that no matter what type of huffing and puffing Team Brady is engaged in now, Brady will not proceed further (I happen to think the suspension will be reduced to two games by Goodell).

[Cecil Turner]

Too early to be sure, but I strongly suspect Dr K has the right approach (after Sandy Hook):

Random mass killings were three times more common in the 2000s than in the 1980s, when gun laws were actually weaker. Yet a 2011 University of California at Berkeley study found that states with strong civil commitment laws have about a one-third lower homicide rate.

[Jeff Dobbs]

You're late, Dave.....

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Sooo we've made it through the Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, a third of the way through MLB and the start of the US Open and the Goodell Football League is still stuck on Deflategate. What a laughingstock King Roger has turned the league into.

[NKonChrome]

Goodell caught a break with FIFA. At least there is a more mockable organization than his right now.

[Dave (in MA)]

Sorry, Jeff. I'm obviously slacking off.

[hrtshpdbox]

The US Open!? The US Open doesn't start until the end of August...oh, I see, you mean golf (ewww).

[Dave (in MA)]

I just hope we don't have Garoppolo simply handing off the ball for a (however many games) stretch in Brady's absence. I'd like to see what he can do.

[rse]

I have been writing recently about sector strategies and how it promotes an incestuous public-private marriage that WIOA puts on steroids. This 2013 paper http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/2013/1301NGASSSReport.pdf discloses that many of the ACCA grants had language in them pushing states to promote sector strategies.

As henry has noted, there doesn't seem to be a desire to learn what employers actually need.

[DebinNC]

Roof's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009674437955&sk=about

[Dave (in MA)]

Maybe MSNBC can have a show with Williams, Barnicle and Kearns-Goodwin as panelists.

[Dave (in MA)]

^Seeing "Sal Pal" made me wonder what ever happened to Sara (Pal2Pal)...

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Bubba Watson makes a double bogey on the first hole. The USGA has to be ecstatic.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

Sara left after Romney's defeat, hopefully in remorse after defending and advocating for him for 6 months, while most of us were a bit more skeptical.

[Thomas Collins]

CH, I'm still amazed at the Cavs' performance. Imagine Celtics/Lakers with the Celtics playing without DJ and Parish. Or the Lakers playing without Cooper and Worthy. Imagine the recent Big Three Celtics playing the Lakers without Pierce and Allen. The Lakers, in the '89 championship finals, without Byron Scott and Magic, couldn't win a game against the Pistons. And unless I have missed something, the Cavs are not making excuses.

[glasater]

Sara (Pal2Pal) is on FB. I'll leave it to Steph to invite her to JOM ;-)

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

TC, it was a very gutty performance which unfortunately gets sidetracked by the 51 year championship drought. The future is very bright though.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Deb:
Roof's Facebook:

A good half his friends on FB are black, whatever that means, if anything.

[DebinNC]

If it's true that his father gave Roof a 45 for his 21st birthday, there's no public censure strong enough for Roof Sr imo.

[MarkO]

"No affidavit from Brady, no physical evidence, it amounts to "you didn't prove I was a cheat so I walk". What a lying weasel Brady is."

Amazing! This is wrong in every way. The League has to show Brady was in violation and it has no evidence. Brady has no obligation to present any evidence at this appeal. The question is whether the League had any evidence sufficient to find that Brady's "general awareness" somehow caused "deflated" footballs, How can he be a lying weasel if he offered no affidavit?

This is not a Title IX, due process lite, matter.

[DebinNC]

Roof has been captured.

[Miss Marple]

Obama to speak at 11:45.

Thought I would warn you guys so you could keep the TV off.

[Threadkiller]

Is this an in-house arbitration or a courtroom appeal?

[Thomas Collins]

In house grievance procedure under the collective bargaining agreement, TK. No outhouse proceeding yet.

[MarkO]

Neither.

It is a proceeding permitted under the labor agreement with the players.

Not that it matters. The legal standard remains the same, there must be sufficient evidence to support the conclusions drawn. Here, there is not.

New trouble for the League. Apparently, the League falsified data to reach a conclusion. Read the whole thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/as-brady-appeal-nears-roger-goodell-is-stuck-in-a-corner-of-his-own-creation/2015/06/17/a5fcbaa6-1456-11e5-89f3-61410da94eb1_story.html

[Captain Hate]

When do the owners fire Goodell? I don't believe that "but he made the owners so much money" crock at all; the whole league is an ATM of platinum bars that a monkey with a smart phone could produce a significant profit.

[Threadkiller]

From the NFL's press release from way back when:

Quarterback Tom Brady will be suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2015 regular season for conduct detrimental to the integrity of the NFL.

All the reports that help Brady bunchers go berserk over whether he was involved with the Weight Watchers, McNally and Jastremski, are until it is known what "conduct" is in question.

Science doesn't help him if his lack of cooperation with his employer is the actual charge.

[Threadkiller]

...are useless until...

[Dave (in MA)]

Obama to speak at 11:45.

Oh, an 11:30 press conference?

[Threadkiller]

MarkO, do me a favor.

Please quote the "falsified data" as it appears in the article you linked.

[Captain Hate]

Hmmm, Sally Jenkins is against Goodell? That changes everything!

[MarkO]

Always happy to be your law clerk.

“The Wells report’s statistical analysis cannot be replicated by performing the analysis as described in the report,” the AEI concludes.
Basically, the math didn’t add up. It’s a standard principle in science: If you can’t replicate a set of results, then there is a problem with it. A flaw or a fraud is at work. Either you made a mistake, or you made it up.
When the AEI analysts looked more closely at how such a mistake could have been made, what they found “astonished” them, says the report’s co-author Stan Veuger. The Wells report “relies on an unorthodox statistical procedure at odds with the methodology the report describes.” Translation: The Wells report said it would use one equation but then used a different (and weird) equation to arrive at its numbers.
“It was really clumsy,” Veuger says. “It’s the kind of mistake you’d see in freshman statistics class.”

Does Goodell stand by the conclusions of the Wells report, dig in and refuse to budge — thus establishing that he’s incapable of fairly considering evidence and is a serial abuser of his powers? Does he try to parse and sidestep the AEI analysis by claiming the scientific evidence is just a small part of the case against Brady? Trouble with that is, more than half of the Wells report’s 243 pages is taken up by pressure gauges and pounds-per-square-inch analysis — all of which must be thrown out according to AEI. If the balls weren’t deflated, then what’s left? One e-mail exchange, in which Brady complained that some game balls against the New York Jets were ludicrously overinflated. Is this evidence of ill intent? Hardly. Brady’s solution to the over-inflation was to suggest the refs check the rulebook. Not the act of a cheater.

[MarkO]

By the way, all of this means Goodell loses in Federal Court, likely with a rebuke.

[Threadkiller]

That is not a quote that backs up your conclusion that "apparently the league falsified..."

That quote presents alternatives.

[MarkO]

Yes it does. The alternative of incompetence. Is that your last remaining excuse for this mess?

If the science cannot be replicated, the overwhelming inference to be drawn from relying on it (particularly where one method was stated and another followed) is that the investigation was intended to reach only one conclusion, irrespective of the evidence.

That is corruption and falsification.

[NKonChrome]

Brady has an absolute right to file an unpersuasive appeal that merely states in a conclusory way "you wuz wrongz". Personally, I like my appeal chances much better when I can explain why the trier of fact was wrong.

[Threadkiller]

I don't need an excuse for the mess. Kraft pinned McNally and Jastremski for the mess.

Easy.

AEI's broad at the Washington Times needs excuses, just like Brady.

At this point she has two. Not one.

[maryrose]

Marko
There will still be a two game suspension and some draft pick losses
Brady was asked to cooperate
He did not

[Threadkiller]

Speaking of excuses, I gotta get some shit done around here.

I'll be back.

[henry]

Yup. Punish the NFL. Cancel the season.

[NKonChrome]

apologies, the link led only to the NFLPA "Notice of Appeal" not the appeal that NFLPA delivered to Goodell last week, that text is not yet available. I wonder why NFLPA didn't publish its own appeal?

[glasater]

The most divisive prez in US history is speaking now and is claiming to use restraint in his language describing the heinous crime in SC.

[MarkO]

Brady's side will introduce the AEI report.
He did cooperate and gave evidence for about a day.

Wells has the thinnest of cases. Now he can say Brady was generally aware that the footballs (per AEI) were not deflated.

Do you really want that case? With no infraction, why should there be punishment? If anyone should be punished, it should be the referee and the stat crew.

Kraft's firing of those two is evidence of nothing.

[maryrose]

Marko he did not turn over his phone when it was requested
He told two flunkies he wanted a lighter football

[NKonChrome]

a case where the issue is impugning 'integrity' and the standard is 'preponderance' of credible evidence, and the respondent was given an opportunity to submit all evidence in his possession to rebut the circumstantial and witness evidence of tampering and lying about it at nationally televised press conferences. No I don't fancy my chances in that case. 'Due process' is the last haven for my scoundrel clients, and it was provided here.

[Threadkiller]

Kraft actions against McNally and Jastremski and accepting the punishment "for violations of the NFL Policy on Integrity of the Game and Enforcement of Competitive Rules relating to the use of under-inflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game" is evidence of nothing.

[MarkO]

TK, it's not evidence of anything in this appeal.

"'Due process' is the last haven for my scoundrel clients, and it was provided here."

Due process, as you well know, requires that there be sufficient credible evidence adduced to support a conclusion.

Sorry to see you think "due process" is just a cheap trick. I couldn't disagree more.

We can take this up again after Goodell issues the opinion Wells wrote for him and then again after the Federal case.

[Beasts of England]

I went to the golf thread and Inflategate appeared in my browser. Odd.

Knock it off, hrtshpdbox!! :)

[Jeff Dobbs]

I dub this the Brady thread. You guys (trigger alert!) are free to discuss the issue here on this.....wait a second, you people already started without my blessing?

Son of a....

[Threadkiller]

If Brady is appealing that he fully cooperated with the NFL, AEI's hard work isn't evidence of anything in this appeal either.

[Dave (in MA)]

Brady was asked to cooperate He did not

He spent a full day answering questions. He simply declined to hand over his personal phone or its text transcripts.

[Threadkiller]

Except from Troy Vincent's letter to the Pats:

"Another important consideration identified in the Policy is 'the extent to which the club and relevant individuals cooperated with the investigation.' The Wells report identifies two significant failures in this respect. The first involves the refusal by the club's attorneys to make Mr. McNally available for an additional interview, despite numerous requests by Mr. Wells and a cautionary note in writing of the club's obligation to cooperate in the investigation. The second was the failure of Tom Brady to produce any electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.), despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information. Although we do not hold the club directly responsible for Mr. Brady's refusal to cooperate, it remains significant that the quarterback of the team failed to cooperate fully with the investigation.

"Finally, it is significant that key witnesses -- Mr. Brady, Mr. Jastremski, and Mr. McNally -- were not fully candid during the investigation.

Science doesn't help or hurt. It is irrelevant unless the psi of Brady's head can be blamed for his stonewalling and obfuscation.

[NKonChrome]

who's on the St Andrew's -- I mean-- the US Open leader board?

[NKonChrome]

TK-- "stonewalling and obfuscation" Is that you Ted? because those exact words will appear in the Goodell appeal decision.

[BB Key]

Phil -3

[NKonChrome]

really? I could see Phil thriving on that burnt out moonscape. This Open has a definite chance to go down as the'what were they thinking' open.

[maryrose]

Dave in Mass
He did not fully cooperate