Well color me unsurprised. Nothing this criminal government does surprises me any more, except the depths to which they seem willing to descend. There's no "lowest level" to any of this. 

Quote:No Wonder the IRS Is ‘Losing’ E-mails: It Was Trying to Throw Innocent Conservatives in JailBy David FrenchEven a small child can connect these dots.
The IRS is announcing the “loss” of mass numbers of e-mails (do they have any computers that don’t crash?) even as the e-mails that do exist are beginning to show the extent of IRS corruption. Let’s take this exchange (previously uncovered byJudicial Watch) between Lois Lerner, the director of exempt organizations at the IRS, and Nikole Flax, then the IRS commissioner’s chief of staff. (To be clear, these are not “low level” employees.)
First, here’s Lerner on May 8, 2013, literally two days before last year’s fake apology for IRS tea-party targeting:

Quote:I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ. I know him from contacts from my days there. He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folk s could talk to about [Rhode Island Democrat] Sen. Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who “lied” on their 1024s –saying they weren’t planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large vis iblepolitical expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs.
I told him that sounded like we might need several folks from IRS. I am out of town all next week, so wanted to reach out and see who you think would be right for such a meeting and also hand this off to Nan as contact person if things need to happen while I am gone –

Translation: The Obama Justice Department was reaching out to the Obama IRS to see if it could “piece together” prosecutions of nonprofits even before any evidence of wrongdoing emerged.
And how did Nikole Flax respond? By suggesting that even more federal agencies get involved:

Quote:I think we should do it – also need to include CI, which we can help coordinate. Also, we need to reach out to FEC. Does it make sense to consider including them in this or keep it separate?

In other words, rather than asking the DOJ whether it possessed any evidence of wrongdoing by American citizens engaged in constitutionally protected activities, two senior officials in the Obama IRS (including one, Lois Lerner, who “joked” about wanting to work for Organizing For Action, also known as BarackObama.com) pushed forward the effort to launch a multi-agency criminal probe, involving even the FEC. Oh, and keep in mind that this e-mail exchange occurred literally years after the IRS claimed it had ended all tea-party targeting.
And in the last few days we learn the IRS has “lost” e-mails from — among others — Lois Lerner and Nikole Flax. What a remarkable coincidence.
The scale of the wrongdoing is staggering.

Yeah - I know this could've gone in the Video Thread, but darn it, this needs a special post. 
I thought since they (FINALLY) released "Meet The Pyro" and "Mann Versus Machine" that we were pretty much done with these for the most part. 
Oh no. Not even close. The boys at Valve have been BUSY...

"Engineer and Medic make an unsettling new discovery while experimenting with the teleporter. Meanwhile, Scout stops insulting Spy long enough to ask him an embarrassing favor; the Administrator's clerical assistant/cleaner/murder expert Miss Pauling races to bury some incriminating bodies; and Soldier makes a new metal friend."

I as reading a Dresden fic just now, and as part of Harry's internal monologue mentions having won a Pyrrhic victory, then on the next line tries to focus on the good it brought even if it tastes of ashes in his mouth.

And then I realized that the two phrases are probably connected and I should have noticed the "pyr" root and associated flame with ashes, both in the context of victories that feel like defeat, decades ago.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

...it's too cool not to share with the board as a whole:  Four-year timelapse video of an exploding star, courtesy of the Hubble.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Casey Kasem is  deadhttp://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/cas ... d=24016102
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

Power: Lets Doug 'store' one song that he'll be able to use without needing his helmet or other external player.
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Sooooo, I've been living in my long-estranged (twenty-four years!!!) home town for the last few years... And the city I was born in has been  growing on me like a fungus.  (Doesn't help that this is a quintessential Blue City stuck in a Red State.)
Now, San Antonio has one landmark in particular that stands out immediately.  One that upon arrival in our city people will have to be blind not to notice it: The Tower of Americas.  And it is, with no doubt, the tallest structure in our city.  None of the hotels or office buildings come close, though some do try (like the Grand Hyatt and the Marriott Rivercenter).  And of course, it features the usual acoutrements of such a tower built for the Worlds Fair back in the day, such as a rotating restaurant and a f-ing huge observation deck.
But lately, for some ineffable reason, I keep looking at it and two words keep popping into my head: Command Post.
Really, it's utterly brilliant.  It has a spectacular view of the entire city, the base is made of solid concrete and highly defensible, and I bet if you juice up the drive motors then you can even make clever tactical use of the turntable restaurant.
And now, I hear you guys wondering, "What does that have to do with Fenspace?"
Well, naturally if a mundane such as myself had these thoughts, then what if an irrationally batshit insane Mad had the same thought?  Someone that felt that the Fen could use a nice piece of highly defensible unreal estate?
How would he do it without being noticed until it was all too late?  I think he would plant a seed.  Literally.  A seed.  Only it doesn't sprout into a plant.  Instead it burrow deep underground and utilize the abundant silicates of San Antonio's soil to create a bubble that is one mile in diameter.
Now for the really interesting part: what all would he score with that, using the Tower as the epicenter?
Quite a lot, actually.
First of all, the entirety of Hemisfair Park along with the Grand Hyatt and the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center is a given.He'd also bag the Rivercenter Mall, the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel, and a nice chunk of suburbs.  He'd also snag the historic La Villita Arts Village.  More pressing, however, would be the added bonus of the Alamodome, Amtrak's Sunset Station, about a mile of superhighway (IH-37/US-281) and about 3/4 of a mile of main-line railroad track.
Fortunately, he would just barely miss the Alamo.
Unfortunately, he'd probably destroy the Menger Hotel.  That'll piss off quite a few people on general principal alone.
Of course, the Fen in general would be outraged.  Stupid mad scientists giving the rest of the Fen a bad rep, you know.  And of course, the locals are gonna be about as pleased as a beehive when a bear comes nosing around.  Which is to say, just short of rioting in the streets.
So, the trouble is that once damage on this scale is done, it's pretty damn hard to undo it, even with Handwavium (some would say especially so).  For one thing there's gonna be the political backlash - even if the Fen were to do the political equivalent of delivering this guy's head on a platter it's not gonna make the uneasiness or the damage go away.  There will, of course, be a demand for monetary reparations.  There may also be some that demand that the Fen themselves do what they can to help with the repairs.  And with any luck, everything will be better than it was before.
(The upshot of all this is that if the Fen do agree to do all that, then the City of San Antonio no longer has to worry about the budget shortfalls caused by the Alamodome - all budgetary evils being traced back to that has been a political running gag around here ever since they broke ground on it.  San Antonio may yet get the street car system it so craves.)
As for the unreal estate itself, well... Whatcha gonna do?  For certain, La Villita is gonna have to be carefully and painstakingly returned and restored (probably with one or two rather comical mistakes along the way).  Otherwise, everything else... well... let's just face it, it's a nice chunk of real estate.  You have three very large hotels, a spacious and scenic shopping mall, a stage theater, a convention center, a sports arena, and some nice suburban homes and apartments that can house all the staffers.  Not to mention that the stretch of Highway can be converted into an easy-in-easy-out landing bay for automotive-type space craft.  And Sunset Station can be reconfigured as a Galaxy Railways Station, with the parking lot at the Alamodome working double-duty as a rail-freight yard (the mainline runs right alongside it).
So, thoughts?  Bear in mind, I fully expect this to not be full of rainbows and butterflies.  But then again, Fenspace isn't a dystopia, either.

- for pelican live whale goose connive.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/09/showbiz/obit-rik-mayall/Drop Dead Fred has dropped dead...[link]
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.