The unimportant news thread

[Todd]

There really is no point to satire anymore.

[Todd]

I'll take 'Brazen Religious Discrimination' for $800, Alex.

[knight66]

I don't mean to be picky, but os that unimportant?

Mike

[Todd]

I don't mean to be picky, but os that unimportant?

Pfft, they're Burmese.  Who thinks what happens to them is important?

[Todd]

Hooray!!!

[Karl Henning]

Of course, a runaway llama would be named "Scooter."

[Karl Henning]

Okay, so I never knew until today that the boysenberry is a cross of European raspberry, Common blackberry, and loganberry.

[Todd]

This is why I use T-Mobile.

[Octave]

Actually, probably important to Turks, but still...Twitter haters have an ally in Turkey.

"There is now a menace which is called Twitter," Erdogan said. "The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/02/turkish-protesters-control-istanbul-square

Big ups to Turkish protesters!  Especially those out the elements in Istanbul and elsewhere, today/tonight.

[Karl Henning]

Although, on the face of it, he's right in a sense: honkin' great examples of lies can be found on social media.

And on fora; I mean, look at Sean squawking about 9/11 . . . .

[Todd]

honkin' great examples of lies can be found on social media.

Nuh-uh.

[Karl Henning]

Shuckins.

[Geo Dude]

This is why I use T-Mobile.

[Todd]

At last, container ships won't have to go around Cape Horn any more.

[Parsifal]

House approves measure to have military branches share one camouflage pattern

Do they really have this much time on their hands in the House.  They're legislating camouflage patterns?  Is it really that expensive to have more than one pattern?  When you go to H&M they have hundreds of patterns to pick from.  Maybe they should contract the uniforms to H&M.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-approves-measure-to-have-military-branches-share-one-camouflage-pattern/2013/06/14/017700f6-d4ff-11e2-bc43-c404c3269c73_story.html

[Parsifal]

James Gandalfini dies of an apparent heart attack at 51.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/arts/television/james-gandolfini-sopranos-star-dies-at-51.html?hp&_r=0

He was great on the Sopranos, and in True Romance.

[Todd]

No more bunga bunga?   

[Parsifal]

It appears Snowden has been hiding in the transit area of Moscow Sheremetyevo airport for several days.  Since he has not attempted to leave the terminal he has not presented himself to Russian passport control and Russia can say with some justification that they have had nothing to do with him.  (He passed through Hong Kong passport control, so they can make no such denial.)

In principal Snowden can get on any plane that departs that terminal and fly anywhere without dealing with passport control of any country until he arrives and tries to leave the airport.  However, an airline will never let you on the plane until you satisfy them that you will be admitted to the country you are flying to (they don't want to be stuck with you).  Why did Aeroflot let him on board the plane, even if Hong Kong let him leave?  I don't suppose any airline that operates in the US would touch him with a 10 foot pole. 

What is his plan, I wonder?  What airline would take him as a passenger?  The US would probably seek to block any airline that transported him from every flying to a US airport, which can't be good for business.  Havana and North Korea seem like his only options.  (Is Snowden really that stupid?)  Fascinating. 

It seems like that Tom Hands movie, "The Terminal" come true.

[Todd]

One can only hope that Snowden provided copies of everything he obtained to someone with the express instruction of releasing all of it at once in the event he dies in a fiery plane crash, or fiery car crash, à la Michael Hastings.  Accidents happen, you know.

[Karl Henning]

Ed Markey won the US Senate race here in the Commonwealth. (If Scott Brown accomplished nothing else — not to say he didn't accomplish anything else, though I do not happen to know of anything — he taught the Massachusetts Dems not to be compacent about any race.)  As Kerry's term is up shortly, anyway, Markey will resume campaigning before long to earn a proper six-year term.