commenting woes

by liberal japonicus

Two people have written in and said that they are having problems with the captcha system. I'll see what's up and put a ticket in. It would help if folks who could comment could just add one to this post. Pithy one-liners preferred.

 

UPDATE: a number of emails to the kitty looks like it is broken for everyone. Will try and keep you updated

 

UPDATE 2: We have the option of going to Disqus, which I know nothing about.

 

Comments

[liberal japonicus]

test

[joel hanes]

When not logged in,
I usually see a comment box,
but not today.

Logging in through (google, yahoo, typepad, etc.)
gives me a comment box

[liberal japonicus]

testing more

[liberal japonicus]

ok give it a try now folks

[wj]

Earlier today (circa 8 AM Pacific) I was getting the phenomena (happens occasionally) where the comment pages are not formatted correctly -- just the text of the comments, with no format, no images, etc. But it cleared up after an hour or so.

[Tony P.]

testing

[Tony P.]

what goes on here? previous comment posted (after preview) without the captcha challenge

also, when I first click in the comment box, chrome offers to fill in my street address, etc.

--TP

[Countme-In]

Open saysamee

[Countme-In]

That last posted without a Captcha thingy at all.

I feel like a hacker

[Countme-In]

Again.

Hey, this is just like talking.

[liberal japonicus]

Well, I've turned off some things, which may open the gates of hell. Tony, I think that is related to this

Do you want your readers to sign in with Typepad, Twitter, Facebook or other services before they leave a comment?
Yes — require all commenters to sign in
Optional — allow commenters to sign in if they choose
No — commenters cannot sign in

I changed it to the No option, which probably then requires information to be filled out and your Chrome autofill does that. Obviously a problem, especially if you are commenting anonymously, but the Yes option doesn't work and I'm not sure how the Optional option would fare.

I'm also going to have comments on posts auto-close after 1 month. (it was set for 2 months, I was thinking 2 weeks was too short)

[Countme-In]

""Well, I've turned off some things, which may open the gates of Hell."

Dave C will be along shortly. ;) And a good thing too.\

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN5YDtkmxsk

[russell]

hey, is this thing working again....?

[Tony P.]

lj,

I scroll down to the bottom of the page.

I see the "Post a comment" box and the "Your Information" boxes under it.

The first box already contains "Tony P."
The second already contains my email address.
The third contains "Web Site URL" in gray.

I click in the comment box and Chrome thinks I'm trying to fill in a form, so it offers to enter my street address. I ignore the offer and just type my comment.

Now I will preview.

Okay, preview looks fine. Click "Edit" to add this bit. Now I will preview and post. Will let you know whether Captcha came up.

--TP

[Tony P.]

Nope. Didn't.

--TP

[Snarki, child of Loki]

Alas, poor Captcha, I knew him well.

[Ugh]

Pithy one liner.

[Marty]

More pithy comment: Two two times

[dr ngo]

First. Would have been. If my original comment had gone through. Which it didn't.

[bobbyp]

Break segregation barriers, build black wealth.

I pith on you.

[bobbyp]

Sometimes you pith me off.

[dr ngo]

It'th better to be pithed off than pithed on.

[Hartmut]

Looks like functional. I like that in a comment feature.

[Hartmut]

Oh, that got posted captcha-less.

[joel hanes]

meta-meta comment

[Brett Bellmore]

What I've been seeing lately is that I'll correctly fill in the captcha, it will be rejected, and the next offering will be blank. And the next after that. It goes through the motions, but no image.

Usually the audio version works, but since I'm very much the only morning person in my family, I'm usually surfing with the sound turned off.

[sanbikinoraion]

Caesar adsum jam forte
Brutus adorat
Caesar sic in omnibus
Brutus sic inat.

[cleek]

captcha this!

[cleek]

oh... delightful!

[cleek]

still rejects me if i put anything in the URL box.

some things remain awesome.

[hairshirthedonist]

Is this an open thread? Here's one for bobbyp.

[wj]

For me, captcha has worked fine. If I can't figure out the scrambled word and try for another, it goes blank about half the time. But another refresh gets something I can read.

I'd say not worry about the lack until and unless we start seeing spam posts in the comments. If it happens, then we figure out how to deal with it.

[Donald Johnson]

I've had sporadic problems commenting here going back to when hilzoy was still around. I wouldn't be able to post, then I would. Never have known what was going on.

[Slartibartfast]

Sorry I have been out of touch, mostly. Are we still having a problem?

[cleek]

captcha seems to be AW01

[russell]

if we're open threading, i thought this was good for a laugh.

[Countme-In]

Here's another one for bobbyp:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-buybacks-killing-american-economy-170000218.html

This deserves to be front and center in any tax reform.

I invest in the stock market and have benefited from this trend, but it's a con, especially when corporations borrow to buy back stock.

It's just another example of shifting a wallet from one pocket to another to avoid investing in the productive enterprises of the companies, including wages.

[russell]

the drifts are taller than me, even with my big boots on, so i'm looking for a way to lighten up.

if we're open threading, this might be good for laugh.

apologies if this pops up twice (or more)...

[Peggy Hopper]

pithy

[ral]

'tis true 'tis pihty;
And pithy 'tis 'tis true

[bobbyp]

Thanks, hairshirt. I'll look that egghead prof up. I am not familiar with his work, but he speaks truth. (you might enjoy Zombie Economics by John Quiggen of Crooked Timber).

Dear Count. True stuff. True crime. That's one reason why I have refused to "diversify" my meager IRA into bonds as recommended by my idiot life insurance rep (provided by the company I work for). It's aggressive growth mutual funds for me, baby...all. the. way....even at the ripe old age of 66. The rich are robbing this country blind in so many ways, and most just don't seem to notice. You know...if you can't beat 'em... and markets climb a wall of worry, and go up until they come down. When the stock prognosticators stop being nervous, well, that's the time to get nervous.

When the markets crashed in 2008 I was beside myself because I wanted a big pile of cash to buy stocks....and had none. Alas, I am always held back by slow horses and an overwhelming desire to bluff players holding the absolute nuts.

Pithy.

Thanks!

[Countme-In]

That was good, Russell.

However, in fact, Ms Rand, in her declining later years, racked by lung cancer (heavy smoker, promoted by the collectivist tobacco purveyors (as in, "got a light, buddy"; there may be a photo extant of her naked, but for jodhpurs, stiletto heels, and a Camel unfiltered, riding Alan Greenspan around the living room of the ("Collective's) clubhouse living room as she read the galleys of Atlas Shrugged out loud --- must have been a long night for even Nathanial Branden) signed on to Social Security and Medicare on her willingly cuckolded husband's account to pay her bills -- sh*thead conservatives and, forgivingly, horny teenaged boys, not yet buying enough of her juvenalian output to pay the capitalist debt collectors .. Stalinists by any other name.

The scheme for SS and Medicare was suggested to her by a ... wait for it ... SOCIAL WORKER ... she sought counsel from.

Had she been a few years younger, she would have gone without, Obamacare not yet being available, so she could whinge about the high deductibles.

Brian Williams should lie so extravagantly.

She was all for abortion, which disallows her from signing in and posting at RedState, but it is a big murderous tent.

[russell]

Stock Buybacks Are Killing the American Economy

my opinion and my opinion only, what's killing the american economy is pretty freaking simple.

too many people want to be a millionaire if not a billionaire, not enough people want to actually build anything. rentiers, greedheads, and chiselers run the world.

if you don't actually create value, where is the money gonna come from?

we've been resting on our laurels for quite a while now, we're sort of running on vapors at this point.

a marvelous, robust economy, with 47 million people on food stamps. one out of six of us.

another generation like this, and the wheels will come off.

and if and when the shit really and truly does hit the fan, the big money is going to be on the plane with brett, looking for some other place to suck the life out of.

it was a nice ride.

[sapient]

if you don't actually create value, where is the money gonna come from?

What do you want to make? We've got everything we need. And it's cheap.

[wj]

russell, so what you are saying that that we have too many bright people building bizarre financial products, rather than anything useful. I could go with that.

But if someone want to be a billionare, rather than just a multi-millionare, they still pretty much have to build a company that actually does something useful.

[bobbyp]

But if someone want to be a billionare, rather than just a multi-millionare, they still pretty much have to build a company that actually does something useful.

Hahaha...4 of the top 10 wealthiest Americans are heirs to the Walton fortune. Two others inherited a large successful oil company (Koch bros.). One guy got rich on the great luck of a well timed patent (Bill Gates) that some say he stole. Buffet bought companies that were already successful, just undervalued.

Expropriate the expropriators.

The rest of you....sell now.

[bobbyp]

a marvelous, robust economy, with 47 million people on food stamps. one out of six of us.

Disagree. We have a robust economy capable of great things. We just give all the rewards to the wrong people.

It is a social decision that can cost us dearly, but like all social decisions, it can be changed.

[bobbyp]

there may be a photo extant of her naked..

ayieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

[Countme-In]

The FBI seems to be running a protection racket for the pig vermin Koch Brothers:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_FBI_And_The_Protesters

If true, this would be an impeachable offense, to my mind, by Barack Obama.

Unfortunately, the corrupt, bought and paid for, subhuman Republican Party hopes to get the FBI under its executive charge in 2016 so it can order the harassment, arrests, and murder of the same activists, so maybe we'd better stick with the lesser of two evils.

What's the FBI going to do with 10 million heavily armed Obamacare enrollees whose lives and the lives of their children are threatened by 50 million vermin, stinking Republicans and their leaders in this country?

The FBI is going to have its hands full.

[Countme-In]

Like the Chinese Corporate/paramilitary system:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alibaba-using-police-as-its-thugs-says-chinese-critic-2015-02-10?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts

[wj]

bobby, if that doesn't violate the posting rules, it ought to! ;-)

[Brett Bellmore]

Actually, I expect that the FBI is going to be very interested in oil sands protesters for a while, given the recent revelation that the organizations protesting Keystone and fracking are financed by the Russian government.

Yeah, as in, "corrupt, bought and paid for". As astroturf as the CPUSA.

[cleek]

so, you're finally admitting the TP is an astroturf organization. progress.

[russell]

What do you want to make? We've got everything we need. And it's cheap.

There are a lot of dimensions to this comment.

To make a simple reply, by "build" I'm not referring to manufacturing per se, but to a broader sense of building enduring enterprises.

For lots of folks, the business model is get it big enough to sell, then cash in and move on. What happens with the actual enterprise after that, along with the people and resources that make it up, is noise.

Who gives a sh*t? I got mine.

It's a quick buck orientation.

There are things to say about what we might want to build, in the manufacturing sense, and whether what we have is what we need, and what overall value is or is not created by it being cheap, but that's maybe a (set of) topic(s) for another day.

But if someone want to be a billionare, rather than just a multi-millionare, they still pretty much have to build a company that actually does something useful.

Hedge funds.

Disagree. We have a robust economy capable of great things. We just give all the rewards to the wrong people.

Oh no, we agree. I might soften it and replace "the wrong people" with "only some of the people", but believe me when I say we are on the same page.

given the recent revelation that the organizations protesting Keystone and fracking are financed by the Russian government.

You need to stop reading paranoid nut job websites and go out and talk to some actual people.

You're losing your edge.

[hairshirthedonist]

There's so much value to be created in rebuilding our roads and bridges, upgrading our electrical grid, expanding access to broadband communications, renewing decaying brownfield sites, improving water-delivery systems, expanding mass transit, removing dilapidated buildings in abandoned city neigborhoods, and providing better educations for a butt-load of people - just off the top of my head - that it's sickening. Our national head is up our national ass. We could reap the rewards for generations, but the financiers have other ideas.

[Marty]

"they still pretty much have to build a company that actually does something useful."

This is absolutely the farthest thing from the truth. To be a billionaire these days you have to build something people will think marks them as cool. It can't, by definition, be anything useful. All of tech is busily building consumer ad generating crap or, the best case, repurposing old tech to be considered cool. The rise in the power of the CMO over the past fifteen years is directly in correlation with the wasteland of crappy internet companies. Just think, the race for the worlds largest company is now between Google who hang had a useful thing since it claimed coolness for its search, Apple who claimed coolness for its phone and Facebook. None of these create anything "useful" as opposed to what they replaced. There is no functional advantage, and, these are the closest things, well the first two are, to useful in tech in fifteen years.

[Countme-In]

"Yeah, as in, "corrupt, bought and paid for". As astroturf as the CPUSA."

You are over-claiming alleged charges found in the BigGreenRadicals "report" you linked to, Brett. Not even that "document" (who compiled this thing? Brian Williams' crack reporter brother? It's three pages of nothing with a one-sentence conclusion that says the report only "raises serious questions" and then 33 pages of mimeographed publicly available legal boilerplate that proves nothing, not that it was meant to.

I looked in vain in this report for something, anything, that would explain who BigGreenRadicals is. They must be shy.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Big_Green_Radicals

http://ecowatch.com/2014/11/01/richard-berman-big-green-radicals/

You astrosurf the astroturf and then accuse others of astroturfing? Did you take fire on that Williams' helicopter, too?

I'll tell you what. Knock on the front door of any anti-Transcanada-Keystone conservative rancher/farmer in Nebraska or Oklahoma, or Texas who doesn't want to hand over their land, and tell them their efforts to resist are financed by Vlad Putin and you'll get a real world demonstration of armed Americans dispensing buckshot into the ass of a jasper astro-turfer as he hops the fence line.

I am gratified that you agree with the action of the big, bad U.S. Government via its FBI harassing citizens on behalf of corporate interests.

It shows a certain kind of perversely flexible open mindedness.

My views on Keystone, not addressed here, are more nuanced than you might think, but that's irrelevant.

Doesn't mean you aren't a volunteer corporate huckster.

Russell: The sad thing is Brett's website is not just a paranoid website, which at least would provide some cracked entertainment value. It's an astroturfing organization, corporately funded and run a Public Relations firm, Berman and Berman, a fact not disclosed neither by Brian Williams or Brett Bellmore, or Berman and the other Berman.

[Countme-In]

Speaking of Russians, Saudi ARAMCO (possible financier of elements of 9/11) and the world's oil executives, including probably every American fracking oil executive who owns a tux, lifting the champagne glasses under one roof -- all for one and one for all.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/energy-execs-party-like-oils-at-99-2015-02-11?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts

I wonder who finances Greenpeace's and the Sierra Club's and the Environmental Defense Fund's efforts to get a little environmental balance in Putin's kleptomaniac Russia.

The CIA?

[Countme-In]

Marty, in the realm of "useful", here' maybe an example of a hedge fund doing something socially useful. Taking on bogus, copycat patents in the pharmaceutical industry which drive up the cost of medicine.

If Putin is financing this, more power to him.

No doubt Berman and Berman is being hired to go after Bass through their PR subsidiary, Bellmore'sGotNothingButGreatRecipes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/kyle-bass-files-first-ipr-petition-2015-2

I'll be looking for this when I decide about investing in individual pharma companies.

[russell]

Just think, the race for the worlds largest company is now between Google who hang had a useful thing since it claimed coolness for its search, Apple who claimed coolness for its phone and Facebook.

In the case of Google, specifically, I'm not sure I agree.

The approach they take to page ranking arguably improved the quality of internet search results, which is actually valuable.

The technical innovations they've made in dealing with very very large datasets - many of which they have made available, at least in part, for other folks to build on - are central to a lot of current-day internet technology.

I don't dispute that a lot of tech "innovation", especially on the consumer side, is BS, and that a lot of the perceived value is just vibe.

But in the case of Google, specifically, I think there actually is a "there" there.

There are folks here who actually are hands on with the big data stuff, I'd be curious to know their opinions.

[russell]

Doesn't mean you aren't a volunteer corporate huckster.

And he's not even getting paid.

Who's the chump here?

[Countme-In]

Looks like someone decided to do something about the Muslims on U.S. soil:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/3-muslims-killed-north-carolina

A Crusade, perhaps, of the cracker, Confederate, conservative Republican kind by the looks of the gun.

Meanwhile, ISIL's domestic subsidiary, the rank end of the pig vermin Republican Party, Secretary of State Bibi), cheers the murder of an American hostage:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/conservatives-kayla-mueller-israel

Time for a domestic war.

[Countme-In]

President Jeb Bush's first executive decision goes down in flames:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ethan-czahor-resigns-jeb-bush-pac

The guy will be nominated by Bush in 2016 and confirmed by The Republican House and Senate to head up the Office of Equal Opportunity, with Clarence Thomas raising a hirsute can of Coke to his appointment.

Filth.

[Marty]

count,

I would be more impressed if he wasn't planning to short every stock before he files anything. Its the Bill Ackman method of shorting. I think it should be illegal to short and then bring legal action, or threaten it. On the other hand, it should be illegal to overcharge in the US and undercharge in other countries for widely used drugs.

I have a different opinion on drugs for orphan diseases. There is an ongoing general discussion here about the impact of taxes and regulation on the flow of capital. Some good points on either side are raised, and the impact of any given individual tax or regulation is pretty undefinable in general. In the case of orphan disease it is not. Any strong move to limit the price of these drugs will stop research almost immediately. The potential secondary benefits of this research do not make it worth losing a few billion, or even just making very little money. The use of capital for tis endeavor is already high risk, but its high reward. Without the reward the risk will not be taken.

[Brett Bellmore]

"A Crusade, perhaps, of the cracker, Confederate, conservative Republican kind by the looks of the gun."

A review of the Facebook page of the man charged in these murders, Craig Hicks, shows a consistent theme of anti-religion and progressive causes. Included in his many Facebook “likes” are the Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Freedom from Religion Foundation, Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” Neil deGrasse Tyson, gay marriage groups, and a host of anti-conservative/Tea Party pages.

[cleek]

Any strong move to limit the price of these drugs will stop research almost immediately. The potential secondary benefits of this research do not make it worth losing a few billion, or even just making very little money. The use of capital for tis endeavor is already high risk, but its high reward. Without the reward the risk will not be taken.

well, i'm no socialist. but it would be hard to make a better case for privatization of an industry. or, if not that, at least getting the govt in the business of making medicines.

[Marty]

"well, i'm no socialist"

UhHuh

[Donald Johnson]

Brett, if that link about the killer is correct, I can't say I'm that surprised. Bill Maher is an Islamophobe, so was Hitchens and Dawkins and one does encounter them on leftwing websites--they are almost the norm on the right and you're not exactly free of the ailment, but yes, there are fanatics on the anti-religion side. I make a distinction between the folks who say they think religion in general is bad and don't single out one in particular, and those who say they think religion in general is bad, and then pick in particular on the Muslims. Sort of a dead giveaway, since it's not hard to find violent Christians, Jews, Hindus and even Buddhists and for Christians you don't have to go back to the Crusades or even Jim Crow to find them. The Christian Right was in bed with Rios Montt and Jonas Savimbi, who could have given pointers on atrocity-committing to ISIS.

[russell]

apparently, the NC shooting was over parking.

[russell]

a link about the NC shooting.

very very sad, the folks who killed sound like lovely young people.

[Donald Johnson]

It was over parking, but there are claims that it might also have been a hate crime. But it's too early to tell, of course--the media has been known to get things wrong from time to time.

[Brett Bellmore]

"Sort of a dead giveaway, since it's not hard to find violent Christians, Jews, Hindus and even Buddhists and for Christians you don't have to go back to the Crusades or even Jim Crow to find them."

It isn't all that hard, it's just much easier to find violent Muslims.

Oh, and the Crusades were beating back Islamic aggression, if you know anything about the history.

But, yeah, the guy was not a "cracker, Confederate, conservative Republican", and there was never any reason to think he was. The Count's predjudices are showing.

[Donald Johnson]

"It isn't all that hard, it's just much easier to find violent Muslims. "

That's called confirmation bias, Brett. The Christian Right and the non-Christian Right supported people like Montt and Savimbi and D'Aubisson who between them killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in brutal, awful, grotesque ways and it's rich to hear some of the same folks a few decades later claiming that Islam is uniquely evil.

And I suppose the First Crusade's sack of Jerusalem with the slaughter of Jews and Muslims was all part of beating back Muslim aggression, along with the Fourth Crusade's sacking of Constantinople. I don't really give a damn about the Crusades--nobody in that era had a modern sensibility regarding human rights. I actually wish Obama had stuck to purely modern examples of Christian wrongdoing if he were going to bring that up and he gave one--Jim Crow. But there would be a huge firestorm if he really got serious discussing how Christianity is implicated in some of the worst examples of 20th Century violence. The Holocaust couldn't have occurred without centuries of Christian anti-semitism. Not really something I'd expect a President to say, but true. And churchgoers in America are more likely than secular types to support torture.

I'm Christian, btw.

[russell]

Oh, and the Crusades were beating back Islamic aggression, if you know anything about the history.

The number and range of things on which you are expert is, truly, mind-boggling.

[wj]

The count's prejudcies seem rather to be primarily in the direction of hyperbole, rather than attacking any particular set of positions. ;-)

[Donald Johnson]

In fact, much of the history of Latin American violence in the late 20th century was in part an inter-Christian war between the liberation theology types and the rightwing Christians. I remember reading how the Argentinian regime (which killed between 10 and 30 thousand and was also viciously anti-semitic) claimed it was defending Christian civilization. It's been both amazing and depressing to me to see how little people seem to remember of this. Instead all the usual nitwits focus on the Crusades and think they are scoring points by saying that the Muslims started it. (As if the Middle East were some peaceful utopia before Mohammad. Try reading a history of the Byzantine Empire before Muhammad--the Emperor Heraclius wanted to slaughter all Jews because they had sided with Persians and had slaughtered Christians,who in turn had been persecuting Jews. Darn those Muslims for making the Middle East violent.)

[Marty]

The count's prejudcies seem rather to be primarily in the direction of hyperbole, rather than attacking any particular set of positions. ;-)

Well, my great affection for Maynard notwithstanding, this is bs. He is not averse to attacking any particular set of positions. Hyperbole yes. But he is pretty focused on the set of positions he attacks, and sometimes those are not warranted.

[Countme-In]

"I would be more impressed if he wasn't planning to short every stock before he files anything."

Oh, me too. And the practice should be illegal.

But why isn't the principle of incentivizing socially beneficial activism via the big payoff, short or otherwise, O.K., like your example of limiting price competition for orphan drugs to incentivize the research, development, and marketing of drugs for rare diseases, which I favor, as long as Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance subsidize the costs to the limited number of patients.

This last being the key to the drug companies ever bothering to address drugs for small markets.

Socialism works.

Maybe Bass (maybe? for sure he wouldn't) wouldn't trouble himself over this issue without the big payoff, though I'd prefer he volunteer his services gratis.

[russell]

what is an orphan drug?

just curious...

[Brett Bellmore]

"The number and range of things on which you are expert is, truly, mind-boggling."

It's scarcely my fault if you slept through history class. Or perhaps never covered the Crusades, I understand history classes have gotten kind of weak since I was in school. (Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth...)

The Crusades begain in the 11th century, as an effort to recapture territory conquered by Muslims, after the slaughter of 3000 Christian pilgrams in Jeruselem, and the destruction of many Christian and Jewish holy sites.

I realize it has become popular with some people, including our current President, to pretend the Crusades were a war of agression against peaceful Muslims, but the truth is nothing of the sort.

[Brett Bellmore]

"UPDATE 2: We have the option of going to Disqus, which I know nothing about."

Just stay as far away from "SolidOpinion" as possible.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

"A review of the Facebook page of the man charged in these murders, Craig Hicks, shows a consistent theme of anti-religion and progressive causes. Included in his many Facebook “likes” are the Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Freedom from Religion Foundation, Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” Neil deGrasse Tyson, gay marriage groups, and a host of anti-conservative/Tea Party pages."

By the strict standards espoused by Sandy Hook Troofers, this is obvious a False Flag operation.

[novakant]

Stop lying Brett:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/148763/muslim-americans-no-justification-violence.aspx

[Donald Johnson]

The Catholic hierarchy's role in the Argentinian dictatorship in the late 70's-early 80's.

Link

Down the old memory hole. In this case with good reason, since Reagan and Jean Kirkpatrick and other heroes of the American right supported the fascists who were torturing people to death. Until they invaded the Falklands.

Yeah, support for terror and violence against civilians is a uniquely Muslim problem. Only folks given to stupid belief in moral equivalence would compare support for torture and death squads in Latin America and Africa with support for torture and death squads in Syria and Iraq.

[wj]

An "orphan drug" is one being developed to treat a rare disease -- one which is so uncommon that the market for a drug to treat it is tiny. Hence the risk of not making back the development costs. (Not sure where the "orphan" part of the name came from.)

[Countme-In]

"The Count's prejudices are showing."

No kidding? Like my underpants, I wear them on the outside of my clothes, so it's not a big discovery.

We'll be confiscating guns owned and provided by the NRA to liberals too, with the exception of the ones they use for hunting and they store at the armory.

I'd like to know to know if the guy had a concealed carry permit, provided by the North Carolina Republican Party. I'll give the latter kudos for not discriminating against liberals in the application of stupid laws.

I am disappointed that this reported Leftist didn't use the alternative weaponry suggested by the NRA for use in the event of a gun shortage ... scissors, his SUV, a baseball bat, razor-edged derbies, etc.

Maybe one or more of the three dead ones might have pulled through.

Parking, hunh? If we're to permit the carrying of weaponry, why not kill over parking?

What is more maddening then someone scooting into a parking place you've been waiting for with your blinker on?

Certainly a bigger and more common threat to citizen well-being than your average mugging, home invasion, black kid marauding while armed with Skittles, or the domestic Muslim terrorist attack.

Such rudeness.

An armed society makes for a more polite society.

As Tench Coxe, the visionary who foresaw the development of the SUV with automatic transmission and gun turrets driven by armed American a^sholes, will tell you.

[Countme-In]

Marty, are you issuing a warrant for my hyperbole?

[thompson]

what is an orphan drug?

Orphan drugs are drugs targeting 'orphan diseases', which are typically very rare disorders that would lack the large patient base typically used to amortize the initial R&D cost.

In the US, and other countries as well, drugs developed for orphan diseases typically have a protected status. In the US, companies can charge more (sometimes *a lot* more) for orphan drugs within a 7 year period, for example.

For more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_drug

[thompson]

...and spamtrapped.

[Countme-In]

As a hater of the bow tie, unless it squirts water, I can see why Science Guy Bill Nye should be held responsible for murderous rampages by his acolytes.

The bow tie is a prompt, a signal, a trigger warning, if you will, like the Queen of Diamonds in "The Manchurian Candidate".

You wouldn't believe the number of shooting sprees I've been on after listening to Tucker Carlson bragging on TV about kicking faggot butt at the urinals.

[cleek]

nope, no Christian never hurt nobody for no religious reason.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/god-hates-fags-man-stabs-strips-writes-dyke-on-lesbian-then-chokes-her-with-dog-leash/

[cleek]

and nobody ever used no Bible passage to justify horrors.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/12/how-the-bible-was-used-to-justify-slavery-abolitionism/

[cleek]

and no group of Christians never tried to kill no entire fucking population of non-Christians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_Genocide

[russell]

The Crusades begain in the 11th century, as an effort to recapture territory conquered by Muslims, after the slaughter of 3000 Christian pilgrams in Jeruselem, and the destruction of many Christian and Jewish holy sites.

Recapture implies it was previously held and ruled by Christian Europeans.

Which is sort of true, but if you're talking about the quote-unquote holy land, for "previously held" you have to go back to 638.

The more proximate cause of the initial Crusade was the loss of territory in Asia Minor to the Seljuks by the Byzantine Empire. Alexios asked Urban II for help, Urban responded by declaring a Crusade, for a mixed bag of motives.

Interestingly, Constantinople ended up being one of the places "recaptured" during the Crusades. Kind of an own-goal, that.

"The Crusades" encompasses a generous number of military efforts, taken over 200 years, against a variety of opponents (many of them some variety of Christian), in a variety of places (including the Baltic Sea).

Characterizing them as a "defensive war" against an "insurgent Islam threatening western Europe" is simplistic to the point of ignorance.

If you're talking, specifically, about Crusades in Palestine, Syria, and thereabouts, you're talking about people from western Europe "recapturing" territory, on another continent, that had been under the political control of one Muslim group or another for over 450 years at the time of the first Crusade.

And when it had last been held by a Christian entity, that had been the Byzantines, who were a distinct entity, politically socially and religiously, from Latin Europe.

[russell]

As a point of reference, 450 years ago the first European battle fought on American soil occurred, when Spanish forces wiped out a French Huguenot settlement in Florida.

Perhaps the French Huguenot community (do they still exist?) could declare a Crusade to recapture their lost territory in Jacksonville.

[Countme-In]

Remarkably, under Sharia law, the Prophet prohibits shooting someone over a parking spot.

Yet another visionary.

I'm reading Henry IV, Part I and II, and then on to Henry V, and both Bolingbroke and the future King, Prince Harry, use the sending of troops into the Crusades as a foreign policy outlet to get people's minds off the dreadful state of shopping in their domestic economies.

Who does that sound like?

All religions, even the Stalinist one, justify murder of one kind or another.

If you could place all of the bodies of the individuals murdered by religious interests in the history of Man end to end, and then light it up, you'd have one hell of a large billboard advertising religion.

Christianity being no exception, though claiming exceptionalism in all things but murder.

Geez, without at least one murder on the Cross, where would Christianity be today? That God volunteered the victim is no excuse.

Religion has its good points too, lest my prejudices, sewn into my underwear for all to see, get the best of me.

I can see this discussion evolving into the Hitler versus Stalin body count argument, with Mohammad followers edging out the followers of Christ and Yahveh to take the lead, but with the latter feeling a little let down at the defeat, demanding a recount, and then redoubling their efforts.

Followers being thick and ordinary as usual.

I think both conservative Muslims and conservative white DJs and their teenaged followers in the American South burned their copies of Rubber Soul at one time, their sensibilities aligning once again.

To which Ringo said, "Good, that just means they'll have to go out and buy the records again, which means more money for the Beatles."

Then he spent it on orphan drugs.

[Marty]

"Marty, are you issuing a warrant for my hyperbole?"

Nope, just keeping us between the navigational beacons.

[thompson]

To try again, and follow up on wj:

Not sure where the "orphan" part of the name came from.

The 'orphan' drugs target 'orphan' diseases, which have been 'orphaned' by pharmaceutical development because there is no practical way to recover R&D costs. Typically because the disease is so rare, each individual patient would have to pay an exorbitant share of the R&D costs. As opposed to a prevalent disease, where the cost can be amortized over millions of patients.

[wj]

russell, maybe he was thinking about the retaking of Spain...?

[russell]

Thanks to one and all for the clarification regarding orphan drugs.

I am, unsurprisingly, basically on the same page with cleek.

If market forces are an insufficient impetus to develop medications needed to address "orphan" diseases, then public intervention is appropriate. Of whatever form. And, it looks like we already do that, through tax policy and exclusive rights to manufacture for a limited time.

Apparently an "orphan" disease in the US is one that affects 200K or fewer people.

That's still a lot of people.