Free Ben Dover!

Uncategorized 18 Comments

Katie Hopkins, a pro-Israel weekly opinion columnist for British newspaper The Sun, tweeted some anti-Palestinian comments last week. Yesterday, a dedicated website appeared online inviting people to sign a petition to shut her up:

Katie Hopkins, You are hereby formally notified in writing that I have placed you under arrest under the powers contained within section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1974.

The petitioning didn’t go quite according to plan:

Notice from the Admin: It seems that the followers of Katie Hopkins have been signing the arrest notification below using profane names.

Ruh-oh. In response to this unacceptable tomfoolery, the brain trust behind Arrest Her Now decided to put the ‘Mrs Edith Noseyc**ts’ of the world on all-caps notice (I won’t soil Kate’s page with all-caps here):

This particular page automatically sends the arrest notice to Katie Hopkins but also the police and the Home Secretary. We must advise that when the police receive it – it has the fake name on it. Now considering the names themselves are profane and you have just sent them to the police, should they feel that it is offensive and wish to pursue the individual in question then we will of course turn over our data to them.

Well, of course. L’état, c’est gauche.

The Sound Of Settled Science

Unsettled Science 15 Comments

A changing view on SFAs and dairy:

Almost all national dietary guidelines recommend a reduction in [saturated fats] as a key intervention to reduce incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This has been translated into advice to reduce the intake of the major sources of SFAs, that is, dairy produce, meat products, and eggs. However, recent meta-analyses of both observational studies and randomized controlled trials not only have raised doubts about the scientific substantiation for this advice but have actually undermined it. It has become clear that there is a need for a completely different approach, with advice that is based on foods rather than on nutrients.

Via

Bill’s Wife

2016 Political Animal 18 Comments

The coattail candidate is past her best-by date;

The carnage this year should demoralize Democrats, particularly Hillary Clinton, who has the misfortune of being the Democratic front runner for 2016. George McGovern and Fritz Mondale feel her pain.
Hillary Clinton was about as effective as Pat Nixon on the campaign trail. Her candidates lost 12 of the 13 tight Senate races she campaigned in. Even the Jacksonville Jaguars have a better winning record this year. She’s old and it shows. Her ideas have atrophied. She has been a fixture in Washington for 22 years, always caught in some controversy, always blaming others, always cackling. One reason Democratic Party bosses backed her opponent in the 2008 nomination process was that he was No Drama Obama.
She’s 67 and has had only one executive position in her life. And she blew that gig in Benghazi.

Showing Up To Riot

nannystate 21 Comments

A nanny-state tobacco ban goes horribly wrong;

Twenty-five minutes into the meeting, the hearing was closed by Board of Health chairwoman Andrea Crete, “amid shouts of ‘America!’ and ‘Freedom Now.’ ”
WBZ’s Julie Loncich captured video of the crowd protesting at the meeting.
“The crowd’s getting out of control and the room’s filled to capacity,” Crete said. “We don’t want any riots.” Crete and two other board members were escorted out by the police. The crowd sang “God Bless America” as it was cleared out of the room.

It’s not enough to be angry. You’ve got to show them you’re angry. (Via)

Toronto the Good

Uncategorized 91 Comments

You just can’t make this stuff up, folks:

A man who walked into a bank, gave a teller a note saying “This is a robbery” and then demanded money, took $600 cash from the teller, and left the bank with it, has been cleared of a robbery charge by a judge who ruled what he did is not, in fact, a robbery.

The judge found a bank robbery is only a bank robbery if the teller is scared..

What do you call it when people are scared by a ruling?

(Justice Gary Trotter) pointed out the word “robbery” and its past tense “robbed” have many meanings in common parlance, from break and enter to financial fraud. “More colloquially, and beyond the realm of the criminal law, the term ‘robbed’ is sometimes used to describe great misfortune in other circumstances, including sporting events,” the judge wrote.

The Sound Of Settled Screening

Genetics Science Unsettled Science 3 Comments

Genetic Literacy Project;

But screening for cancers themselves don’t seem to be helping patients make smart decisions, according to Melissa Beck at the Wall Street Journal. Expanding screenings seems to be picking up on more and more tiny, slow growing cancers rather than aggressive ones. As in the colon cancer screenings studies, the most virulent cancers still escape the expanded screening profiles. “We’re not finding enough of the really lethal cancers, and we’re finding too many of the slow-moving ones that probably don’t need to be found,” says Laura Esserman, a breast-cancer surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco.

Blog Notes

Blogging 20 Comments

Too much time at the computer doing digital design has brought on some rather painful back spasms (day three and counting…). So, until those resolve, things may slow down here a little… Guest bloggers are welcome to drop by if you’re so inclined, otherwise – check out the blogroll.

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