Build Date: Fri May 9 09:50:22 2025 UTC
We’re living in a parallel universe. Unfortunately it’s the one where Spock grows a beard.
-- Baron Earl
Air Marshals Act To Reduce Medicare Costs
2005-12-08 07:57:44
Reducing the Medicare rolls one nut at a time.
On December 7th federal air marshals shot and killed a passenger at Miami International Airport when he claimed to have a bomb in his backpack and then ran away. While I'm sure the officers in question were thinking, "Hell, this is about as clear cut a reason to shoot someone in the back as I'm ever likely to have," there were a few factors that might reasonably have suggested a less lethal course of action.
First among these would probably be the presence of the passenger's wife, screaming that the "bomber" was mentally ill and off his meds. Second, it seems just a tad unlikely that an actual bomber would run from an airplane densely packed with potential victims rather than just exploding his bomb where he stood. While I understand these things can happen quickly, and law enforcement officers are forced to make snap decisions, I must admit that the circumstances were questionably compelling with regard to the use of deadly force -- especially given that the passenger had already passed through security.
But then I realized that it happened in Florida, a state that prides itself on being at the forefront of the battle to reign in Big Government. With this in mind, an possible explanation presents itself. Perhaps in addition to being trained to recognize passengers fitting the profile of a terrorist, marshals based in Florida have been trained to recognize passengers fitting the profile of the chronically ill or disabled. For the cost of a couple of bullets, the marshals could save US taxpayers hundreds of thousands or potentially millions of dollars over the course of time the passenger would otherwise have lived.
In any case, the NYT has an article about it. Check it out and draw your own conclusions.
T O P S T O R I E S
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
Delusional rich man tries to fire town staff
"I'm mayor now" said write-in mayoral candidate and founder of Pirate’s Booty Snacks Robert Ehrlich after losing the election for Mayor of Sea Cliff, NY. Then he tried to take over the Village Hall and fire everyone. (More...)
Musk claims Xitter security is staffed by idiots
Earlier this month Xitter experienced a massive outage. In an interview, Musk told Fox Business that he believes the attack came from "IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area." (More...)
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Ideas have taken horrifying shape and rooted into our modern reality. (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
Ah, it's that special time of year again. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, crowded, dangerous streets filled with maniac shoppers rushing to the mall to buy Pokemon action figures, and getting hammered at the Xmas party and insulting the boss's hair weave. That's right: it's time to drink heavily and wait out life's little nagging miseries, holiday variety. Pigdog is here to help. (More...)
Johnnie Royale's Guide to Wakes
Wakes can present problems for Bad People of the Future. (If you don't know what a BPotF is, you need to read more of the PDJ.) Sure, your friend is gone and you miss him and that really sucks; it does, I know. But all Bad People of the Future are gonna die, and they have all accepted that fact. They do deserve, however, to have one final kickass party to celebrate all the bad things they've done in the past, present and future. And you, as a friend, have to make sure that their desire for a final send off is well executed (sorry for the pun). That's just the way of BPotFdom. (More...)
Experimenter is a film released in 2015 starring Peter Sarsgaard. It tells the story of Dr. Stanley Milgram's life, including the infamous Milgram electric shock experiment, tests on crowds, and his work developing a theory on the mechanics of social networks. It currently streams on Netflix. (More...)
War on Terror produces excess inventory of doomsday ready laptops
The War on Terror has resulted in a rush of new technology useful to the general population. (More...)
Yet another delicious SPOCKTAIL from the SMRL Beverage Science Labs! Check under the cap for your chance to win thousands of fabulous prizes! (More...)
My dear and close friend, Porn Maven Shannon Mariemont, sent me a titillating message the other day about her new project: the PornOrchestra. Her desire, at most, is to reinvent the porn soundtrack and, at least, to receive a cease-and-desist order like all her cool friends did last year. (More...)