Din of iniquity

Ashley Kuhn has an article in the Philadelphia Daily News about noise pollution in Philadelphia:

Joe Moser (photo, top) and Eric Pawlicki have one of the more unusual DJ gigs in the world: they were hired to drown out the preachings of the Black Israelites (photo, bottom) at 16th and Chestnut streets.
For more than twenty years, the Upper Darby-based Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge has been protesting on the streets of Philadelphia.
Loudly. And, to many people's ears, offensively.
Now the First Amendment rights of the group popularly known as the Black Israelites are being challenged in a unique way since the demonstrations have moved from outside the Gallery at Market East to outside the Shops at Liberty Place, at 16th and Chestnut.
Just about every Friday, along with the group's rants, you'll hear the equally loud beats of a disc jockey using the name DJ Liberty Place.
The man behind the turntables, either Moser, 32, or Pawlicki, 23, plays classics, including Black or White by Michael Jackson and Hit the Road, Jack by Ray Charles. According to Moser, those are the two most-requested songs by passers-by wishing to send a message to the Black Israelites. "They say white people are evil, women are evil, Jesus is evil," Moser said of the Black Israelites after the competing noise had died down recently. "Anything that is not their beliefs is evil."
The Moorestown-based entertainment company that employs Moser and Pawlicki, DJ's Available, was hired by the Shops at Liberty Place to muffle the chants. "I just hope that, by playing music that is fun and upbeat, we are uplifting people's spirits even though other more negative things are being shouted at them," Moser said. Moser and Pawlicki said they just want to do the best for customers walking in and out of the shopping mall. "They want their customers to have a pleasant shopping experience without being shouted at as they are walking in and out of the shops," Moser said. "I give them a lot of kudos for taking a stand instead of ignoring it and pretending it's not there." "They wish death on people, they say they hope everyone dies on their way home and gets cancer", Pawlicki said of the Black Israelites. "It is hard to even talk about some of the stuff that they say.
"I am there to drown them out, and turn a negative into a positive."
On Fridays, the nearly fifteen thousand people who pass through the shopping mall's 16th Street entrance are subjected to the rantings of six to ten African-Americans dressed in black robes ridiculing white people, women, homosexuals, and anyone else who does not embrace the Black Israelites' radical black-separatist ideology.
And customers are angry. "My family and I will never be shopping at Liberty Place again due to this outrageous, and frankly quite frightening display of ethnic intimidation and flat-out scary demonstration by a group that was at your mall yesterday around 4 pm," one patron wrote to Liberty Place last May. "When my children feel the need to grip on to me due to sheer terror at people protesting with very graphic signs and photos, that's where I draw the line."
A Black Israelites member who calls himself General Mahayaman said the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the biggest terrorist to black people, because he sold them out.
"We blame the Christian church for the state of the black community", Mahayaman said. "We lay the blame at their door and people get upset."
He said the group selected the location in front of Liberty Place because of a violent fight involving two hundred schoolchildren at 16th and Chestnut streets in April of 2013. Several were injured and fourteen were arrested.
"The incident with the two hundred children is an example of why the things that we preach need to be heard," said Mahayaman, "because of black children, the state that they are in and the horrible future they have."
In May of 2013, the owners of Liberty Place sued the Black Israelites, seeking to ban the group from staging its loud Friday protests on the sidewalk at 16th and Chestnut. In July of 2013, Judge Ellen Ceisler ruled in favor of the group, saying that their speech is protected under the First Amendment.
Liberty Place appealed the order in November of 2013, and the case is pending before Superior Court.
"I believe in freedom of speech, they have the right to say how they feel," Moser said. "I just wish the things that they said were more positive." "If you strongly believe something, go preach it," agreed Pawlicki. "However, I believe the way that they are doing it is completely wrong. Picking people out of the crowd individually and using the profanities that they do is not right."
Each week, representatives of both Liberty Place and the Black Israelites rush to obtain permits from the city Managing Director's Office. The Black Israelites stand equipped with civil-affairs officers and Moser stands equipped with a three-man security team.
"When you're out there, you do your best to ignore it, but it's tough," Moser said. "I don't agree with what they are saying."
The group accuses him of playing the devil's music. Moser's response is to play Why Can't We Be Friends by Smash Mouth. "We should all be one," Moser said. "A person should be judged by their character, not by their appearance, race or religion." Moser, who has been spinning records for audiences since he was sixteen, said his passion for music makes doing it amid the din on a Center City street corner worthwhile.
Pawlicki said the Black Israelites call him DJ White Devil. "I try not to let it get under my skin," Pawlicki said. In response, he plays Runnin' With the Devil by Van Halen.
Moser said he prides himself on playing open formats. "It has always my specialty to mix them together," Moser said. "I play all different music, no matter the genre or era, so everybody has a good time."
Of course, this gig is different from those at nightclubs, corporate parties, and weddings.
One time, Moser recalled, a passerby kicked down the paraphernalia and signage of the group. "It was scary," he said. Citing that and other violent episodes, Liberty Place on 17 January 2014 sought a preliminary injunction to keep the Black Israelites from demonstrating on the sidewalk area maintained by Liberty Place without written permission. Judge Ceisler denied the petition.
James Funt, attorney for the Black Israelites, said the judge denied the injunction because the Israelites have not violated terms and conditions that had been set out before. "We have remained completely legal and lawful," Mahayaman said. "They kicked over our signs, they hit us and they are saying it's our fault." "We did nothing to harm the person that was assaulting us," he added. "This was a heavy-handed attempt by Liberty Place to bully us and take away freedom of speech," Mahayaman said.
If the DJs don't do the trick, Liberty Place has other tactics up its corporate sleeve. The latest was to install a bike rack where the Black Israelites set up their stage.
But the group appears to be undaunted. "We are still going to speak out there," Mahayaman said. "We want to be heard."

Rico says there's gotta be a sound ordinance, or blocking the sidewalk, or wearing ugly and historically-incorrect clothing, or something... (There's always hiring someone to Mace them when the cops aren't looking, but Rico did not actually suggest that...)

Pennsylvania fights Sandusky's pension

The Associated Press has an article about Sandusky:

In an effort to keep from paying a pension to former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, Pennsylvania's retirement system is disputing his employment status at the time he was arrested on child molestation charges and later convicted.
Attorneys for the state's pension plan argued in a filing this week that Sandusky remained a de facto school employee, collecting payments and perks even after he retired from coaching in 1999, meaning he should continue to forfeit his $59,000 annual pension, The Centre Daily Times reported.
State law requires employees convicted of certain crimes to forfeit their pensions. The pension administration agency, the State Employees' Retirement System, revoked payments the day Sandusky was sentenced to thirty to sixty years in prison in 2012, waiting until then because forfeitures can't take effect until after sentencing.
Sandusky's attorneys have argued in court documents and at an appeal hearing in January  of 2014 that their client wasn't subject to the forfeiture rules because he retired long before his 2011 arrest and subsequent conviction.
The dispute centers on whether payments and other perks Sandusky received since his retirement were part of an employment contract, or were simply additional retirement compensation provided by the school. Sandusky signed the agreement, under which he continued to be paid cash and football tickets, and was to promote the university. He also had an office and unfettered access to the university's athletic facilities.
"The letter agreement puts the lie to Sandusky's contention that he 'retired' in 1999", the state attorneys wrote in their argument. "If anything, in June of 1999, Sandusky retired from his position as football coach, but then continued as a PSU employee in a new 'outreach' position."
Sandusky's lawyers also contend that two sex crimes for which he was convicted weren't added to the list of pension-forfeiting offenses until after Sandusky retired, though the pension attorneys said Sandusky's compensation agreement was amended in 2004, after the crimes were added to the list.
Rather, Sandusky's attorneys contend that any money he received after he retired from coaching was not payroll income, but was for speaking fees or meant to cover his travel, meals, lodging, and other expenses.
Sandusky's attorney filed documents in March of 2014 seeking the reinstatement of his pension. An arbiter has thirty days to decide the matter now that the state attorneys have responded.

Rico says it's too bad they'll probably have to end up paying the sumbitch...

History for the day

On 4 May 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on antiwar protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.

Vitamin D

Why are there white people?

Ubiquitous

Rico says that would be Sara Gilbert, formerly the daughter on Roseanne, but now on everything, including The Big Bang Theory, The Talk, The Millers, and Bad Teacher.

Buddies

Rico says the cats are not always like this, but it's nice when they are:

Yet another international scam for the day

Rico says this guy's been around, too:

Investment Fund TransferFrom: Khalid Omar
Sent: Fri, 2 May, 2014 at 06:52
Hello,
How are you today?. I have a very good contact to wire some two hundred million United States Dollars from a Petroleum Industry contract to you without a trace or problems.You would have 30% of the sum for assistance to pull the funds, and the rest you will also help to invest for us in good line of business. Let me know if you are interested asap and I will explain more about the funds to you. BUT PLEASE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO REASSURE ME THAT YOU WILL NOT SIT ON THE MONEY WHEN IT GETS TO YOUR ACCOUNT, BECAUSE THIS IS THE ONLY CHANCE AND OPPORTUNITY WE HAVE TO SETTLE OURSELVES AND RETIRE WELL FROM SERVICE TO THE GOVERNMENT AFTER MANY YEARS OF SERVICE.
Looking forward to your reply with your phone number.
Khalid Omar

Another international scam for the day

Rico says this guy's been around before...

FUND RECOVERY
From: Mr. Daniel Smith
Sent:  Fri, 2 May, 2014 at 16:17
To:  undisclosed-recipients 

From the desk of: Mr. Daniel Smith
The Vice Chairman, International Investigations and Anti Fraud Task Force,
For African Region 2014.  

Dear Beneficiary,
My name is Mr. Daniel Smith. I'm the vice Chairman of the International
Investigations and Anti Fraud Task Force for African Region 2014. Sir, we the
entire delegates of the above office flew into Lagos in Nigeria recently
because of numerous complaints filed against Nigerian government on their
inability to pay foreign beneficiaries Inheritance, Contracts and Compensatory funds into their respective bank accounts even after they must have collected all required transfer fees from these foreign beneficiaries.
This is the reason why we were mandated by the United Nations (UN) and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to fly into West Africa and rectify these
problems by making sure foreign beneficiaries receive their long over due funds
fund without making further upfront payment(s). From the time we came into
Nigeria, we have been able to repatriate some funds that was wrongly diverted
into different bank accounts abroad by the bad eggs in the Nigerian banks and
ministries. Further more, from your file here on my table I\'m so surprised that
you have not received your payment up till this moment as from what I saw in your file, you have complied with all the transfer documents that shows and proved your legitimacy as the beneficiary of this fund. We signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian govt to pay off all certified foreign beneficiaries from our own liquidity (Available Funds) in our UN / EU controlled bank in UK, and we will debit the Nigerian government and recover our money from same through their crude oil.
Finally, are you still alive and healthy? If you are still alive, you are
required to immediately respond to this mail, so that we will send to you our
payment transfer form to fill in correctly in other to receive your fund in
your choice bank account. 

Regards.
Mr. Daniel Smith.
Vice Chairman,
Anti-fraud Intl.,
Presently in Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa.
+2348089837924

International scam for the day

Your ConsentFrom: Prince Fayad Bolkiah
Sent: Sat, 3 May, 2014 at 00:15
To: undisclosed-recipients
Dear Friend,
I am Prince Fayad Bolkiah, the eldest son of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, former Finance Minister of Brunei, the tiny oil-rich sultanate in the Persian Gulf. I will save your time by not amplifying my extended royal family history, as you may know from the international media; the Sultan had accused my father of financial mismanagement and impropriety. This was as a result of the Asian financial crisis that made my father's company Amedeo Development Company and government-owned Brunei Investment Company to be declared bankrupt during his tenure in office.
In addition, before my incarceration, I went ahead to dispatch some cash under special arrangement into the custody of different private security and Trustee Companies for safe keeping abroad. The money was splited and kept in the following countries in different proportions in UK, Canada, and the balance in United States of America .
Hence I seek your good assistance to invest these funds into profitable investment in your country to facilitate future survival for my family abroad. Please I count on your absolute confidentiality, transparency and trust, while looking forward to your prompt reply towards a swift conclusion of this transaction.
Regards,
Prince Fayad Bolkiah

Rico says he's got a bridge to sell you if you believe this guy...

Yet another international scam for the day

Rico says there are so many:

PAYMENT INSTRUCTION AS NEXT OF KIN TO YOUR LATE SISTER
From: MR. MUTIU SUNMONUAdd to Contacts
Sent:  Fri, 2 May, 2014 at 20:46
To: recipient@shell.com
SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT
COMPANY OF NIGERIA HOUSE 13,
SHELL TRUSTEES ESTATE
MADEIRA STREET-OFF SHEHU SHAGARI,
WAY MAITAMA, ABUJA-F.C.T, NIGERIA.

Dear Sir /Madam,

Hello you may not know who i am, because you've never received mail from me before. I am Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria, Meanwhile i am contacting you that the former Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company Mrs Caro Edward died along with her husband and there three children during the BOKO HARAM MILITANT GROUP Bomblast that occurred in Abuja on the 25th of December 2011, Why Praying and Celebrating the Anointing Service of God which every lives was lost in the Church including Four MEN OF GOD and former Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
http://www.gistmania.com/talk/topic,87461.0.html
The Federal Government has, however, warned the beneficiaries that it would not tolerate the transfer of the operatorship of the fields to on own foreigners, and that the firms must justify the confidence reposed in the ability of Nigerians to participate in the upstream oil sector. And i was given the mandate from the Nigerian government and also from the Shell Petroleum company to contact you as the Next of Kin by the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria (DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN)and this notice was accepted and announced when President GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN attended the General Assembly Meeting of the United Nations in New York United States of American, about the corruption in Nigeria and the World in general,Assuredly the delegate from the United Nations and Obama Foundation have concluded your payment through the Citibankgroup of Nigeria, and i want you to contact the personal Secretary of the late deceased.
In fact the Bank where the deceased had an account valued at about (US$20million) she deposited for the Account of HIV/AIDS in African which the Company has issued me a notice after the meeting of Nigeria President GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN and United States President Barrack Obama which was held in Washington DC, to provide the Next of Kin of the late Mrs. Caro Edward a United States of American Citizen, or have the account confiscated within the next ten official working days. Since i have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives.I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to Mrs. Caro Edward, since you are from the same country so that the proceeds of this account valued at (US$20million) can be paid to you as the true Beneficiary of the fund.
Perhaps 60% to you and 35% to the Personal Secretary of the late deceased Rev. Father Goodluck Johnson, while 5% goes to any expenses during the transaction, I want you to contact the Personal Secretary to the late deceased Rev. Father Goodluck Johnson through the below information, to direct you on how the Citibank Group will release the fund to you.
Moreover,i want you to fill the appropriate form immediately. 

[1] Full Names:_____________
[2] Contact address_________
[3] Direct Telephone No: ____
|4| Occupation : _______
Therefore, you are here by advised to call Rev. Father Goodluck Johnson on his private phone number +2348166397955, to enable him forward your contact information to the Bank for the release of your funds as Next of Kin to the late deceased.
PLEASE REPLY TO HIS PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS:rev.fathergoodluck2014@gmail.com, or rev.fathergoodluck2014@yahoo.co.uk,to enable him discuss further.
Best regards,
MR. MUTIU SUNMONU.
MANAGING DIRECTOR.

SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY.

The song in Rico's head

While searching for a character in Roseanne, this clicked on:

Oops is, yet again, a military term

Aram Roston has a BuzzFeed article about a guy who should've known better:

A Navy SEAL who served in the military for fourteen years and worked on covert anti-drug operations has admitted to smuggling ten kilos of cocaine into the United States, according to records from the Federal district court in Miami, Florida and a source familiar with his service.
The SEAL, Angel Martinez-Ramos, left active duty in 2010, but continued to deploy on missions as a reservist, court papers say. He had drug paraphernalia, including a money-counting machine and drug-testing equipment, at his home, the documents say. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine and is currently in custody in Miami awaiting sentencing.
His case comes in the wake of another embarrassment for the elite SEALs, the commandos famous for killing Osama bin Laden. Earlier this year, two former members of the group died after consuming heroin and alcohol on a commercial ship they had been hired to protect from pirates.
Martinez-Ramos, 36, was arrested in December of 2013 as he returned to the US from a short trip to Aruba. Before his arrest, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had received a tip that a US service member would be arriving with a load of narcotics, documents show. Ironically, Martinez-Ramos had occasionally worked closely with the DEA on sensitive counter-narcotics missions in Latin America, a source familiar with his service record told BuzzFeed.
Though authorities frequently announce high-profile arrests, this case has received no attention until now. The DEA would not comment on it, and the US attorney’s office also declined to comment because the case is ongoing.
Court records say that, shortly before his arrest, the SEAL stayed with his wife, Bibiana Marcela Lopez-Correa, at the Tropicana Resort in Aruba. On the morning of Christmas Eve 2013, in the Aruba airport bathroom, a co-conspirator allegedly gave Martinez-Ramos what he planned to bring back: ten bricks of tightly wrapped cocaine. He packed the drugs, which weighed a little more than twenty pounds and have a wholesale street value of as much as $350,000, into a black Totto-brand suitcase.
He and his wife were both arrested at Miami International Airport after they arrived. He had left the plane first, leaving his wife to carry the suitcase off the plane, court records say. But she was spooked, and left it behind in the overhead carry-on bin.
In March of 2014, Martinez-Ramos pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiring to import cocaine into the country. He admitted his role in the smuggling in a court document called a “factual proffer”. Martinez-Ramos is scheduled to be sentenced later this month, and he faces a minimum sentence of ten years and a maximum of life.
His wife pleaded guilty and has already been sentenced to seventy months in prison.
Martinez-Ramos, according to court records, had a special type of US passport for government officials and SEAL credentials, and “he frequently travels on orders and on official business to Central and South America,” the judge wrote in one order.
The judge’s order said that at Martinez-Ramos’ home, there was “paraphernalia of the drug trade, including drug testing kits, a money counter, a scale, a vacuum sealer, vacuum sealing bags, and other packaging material.” (A former SEAL told BuzzFeed that vacuum sealers are common gear for a SEAL, used for packing gear watertight for missions, but money counters and drug testing kits are not.)
And there is an allusion to another drug deal. According to one court filing by his wife’s lawyer, citing a confidential government pre-sentencing report, Martinez-Ramos “packaged cocaine at Turbo, Colombia”. Turbo is a small city not far from the Colombian-Panamanian border. The court filing also refers to a “failed cocaine shipment”.
Martinez-Ramos’ lawyer didn’t return phone calls, and the attorney for his wife declined to comment.
Two days ago, authorities in the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, released the details of toxicology tests on the two ex-SEALS who were working as private guards on the cargo ship Maersk Alabama, which suffered an earlier pirate attack made famous by the movie Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks. The former SEALs, Jeffrey Reynolds and Mark Kennedy, died in February of 2014 aboard the ship after consuming heroin and alcohol, the toxicology report found.

Rico says not exactly 'the best of the best of the best' (video, above), it seems. (But anyone stupid enough to take two central-nervous-system depressants, heroin and alcohol, at the same time deserves, in Rico's opinion, to die...)

International scam for the day

Dear Friend,
I am Prince Fayad Bolkiah, the eldest son of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, former Finance Minister of Brunei, the tiny oil-rich sultanate on the Gulf Island. I will save your time by not amplifying my extended royal family history, as you may know from the international media, the Sultan had accused my father of financial mismanagement and impropriety. This was as a result of the Asian financial crisis that made my father's company Amedeo Development Company and government-owned Brunei Investment Company to be declared bankrupt during his tenure in office.
In addition, before my incarceration, I went ahead to dispatch some cash under special arrangement into the custody of different private security and Trustee Companies for safe keeping abroad. The money was split and kept in the following countries in different proportions in UK, Canada, and the balance in United States of America .
Hence I seek your good assistance to invest these funds into profitable investment in your country to facilitate future survival for my family abroad. Please, I count on your absolute confidentiality, transparency and trust, while looking forward to your prompt reply towards a swift conclusion of this transaction.
Regards,
Prince Fayad Bolkiah

Rico says sure; like a guy with that much money wants you to help him...

Belt and suspenders

Rico says you'd think the heavy plastic and cardboard holder of this blood meter battery would've been sufficient, but nooo, they had to put a protective sticker on the underside of the battery (and thus invisible to anyone, like Rico, quickly installing it in the otherwise-dead meter), thus fooling the owner into thinking the damn thing was broken...

Memorial Day

Fold3 has an article about 30 May 1868, the first official observance of Memorial Day:

In the years immediately following the Civil War, one way Americans sought to remember the multitudes of war dead was by holding decoration days, on which they would gather to decorate the graves of those who died in the conflict. Although many local groups and communities had their own decoration days, including well-known ones in Waterloo, New York) and Charleston, South Carolina), the first official observance of what would eventually become Memorial Day took place on 30 May 1868.
Decoration Day (it wouldn't officially be called Memorial Day until 1967) was coordinated by John A. Logan, a former Union general and, at the time, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a Union veterans' association. In his General Order Number 11, dated 5 May 1868, he designated 30 May for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion. In addition to the decoration of graves, Decoration Day was also to be observed with 'fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit', according to Logan.
Veterans and their loved ones, as well as widows, orphans, and other bereaved, responded to Logan's call with alacrity. That year, 183 cemeteries in 27 states celebrated Decoration Day, and observance grew in the years that followed. By 1890, all the northern states had made it an official state holiday.
The South didn't celebrate Logan's Decoration Day until after World War One, when the holiday shifted from honoring Civil War dead to honoring the American dead of all wars. Instead, Southerners memorialized the Confederate dead locally on days throughout the spring and early summer, often on important dates such as Joseph Johnston's surrender, Stonewall Jackson's death, or Jefferson Davis' birthday.
Memorial Day, in the form we know it today, came about in 1967, when Decoration Day was renamed Memorial Day, to better reflect contemporary usage. The following year it was permanently moved from 30 May to the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend.

Sterling has cancer

Ben Mathis-Lilley has a Slate article about an asshole with cancer:

The New York Post reports, and ESPN says it has confirmed, that Donald Sterling has prostate cancer. From the Post:

The source said some of the medication Sterling has been taking is responsible for the puffy appearance of his face.

The Post notes that the Clippers organization notoriously refused to pay for assistant coach Kim Hughes' seventy-thousand-dollar prostate cancer surgery several years ago, a cost that was subsequently covered by players.
There's also this:
We've all been there. Everyone has the one needy friend who is always skipping out on the restaurant bill and asking to crash at your place and secretly recording your conversations for use in a potential legal dispute with the thirty multimillionaires who are trying to take his basketball franchise because his nineteenth-century attitudes towards race have made him a national embarrassment.

“People have been predicting his imminent demise. I’m sure he has the best drugs money can buy,” said the source, who works closely with pro sports teams. “He can do anything to keep himself alive.”

“He’s calling everyone, saying: ‘Tell me I’m not a racist’,” a source said, noting that the friends are refusing, for fear that Sterling was recording them.

Rico says it couldn't happen to a nicer guy...

Michelangelo’s David has cracks

Elliot Hannon has a Slate article about a looming disaster for Italy and the art world:

Your body would probably show some signs of wear and tear if you stood still for five hundred years. The same goes for Michelangelo’s statue (photo) of David in Florence, Italy. Researchers warned recently that the wear-and-tear of being a statue in the modern world may have caught up with the Renaissance masterpiece. How bad is it? The statue is at risk of toppling under its own weight. The biggest threat to David’s current posture, the Italian wire service ANSA reports, is a “series of micro-fractures on the legs, whose ankles are allegedly too thin to support its twelve thousand pounds safely.”
"Micro-fractures are visible in the left ankle and the carved tree stump (that bears part of the statue's weight), threatening the stability of the sculpture," said the National Research Council in a statement. “Researchers suspect these developed while David was on display for more than three centuries in the city's main square, leaning forward at a dangerous angle,” the BBC reports.
The seventeen-foot statue was already fragile because of the poor-quality marble Michelangelo chose for his masterpiece, as well as its great weight and off-centre pose, La Gazetta del Sud reports. It's been suggested an earthquake, or even road construction, could cause it to topple, and that David should be moved either to a quake-proof room, or to a new site outside the city.
If a trip to Florence is on your bucket list, now is the time.

Rico says there's an easy joke about David's crack and us all having one, but he'll not go there...

A new spacesuit for a Mars mission

Elliot Hannon has a Slate article about NASA's latest:

If space is the 'final frontier', Mars is the first stop. And since you can’t get there in jeans and a t-shirt, NASA, which describes itself as being “laser-focused on a path to Mars”, has been working on the apparel one might need to live and work on the red planet. Fashion Week began at the space agency, as it unveiled its latest Mars Z-2 spacesuit prototype.
NASA even went a little American Idol and let all you space fans at home weigh in and vote on the final design. Of three finalists, the Technology suit won the most hearts and minds, tallying 63 percent of the vote. The design will be incorporated into the final suit design and put through tests this fall. “This suit will be the first suit tested in full vacuum conditions at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where it will also be tested in a pool and on a false Mars surface. NASA will build the suit using 3D human laser scans and 3D printing hardware,” according to the Guardian.
If you want to check out the new space duds from every angle, NASA has a pretty cool slideshow of the winner, and also-rans, here.

Rico says it's not getting to Mars that's an issue, it's getting back...

Shooting down the Armatix iP1

Ben Mathis-Lilley has a Slate article about gubs:

The Armatix iP1 handgun is a "smart gun", a term that's used to describe a weapon that only works in the hands of a single designated individual; in the iP1's case, that person has to enter a PIN code into a special watch (photo) before firing. The pistol is ready for sale, but no one is selling it: in the past month and a half, two stores have decided to offer it, before changing their mind due to backlash from gun-rights activists (including the anonymous death threats that no American political discussion can apparently do without). What's motivating Armatix opponents is a law passed in 2002 in New Jersey. The Washington Post's Michael S. Rosenwald, who's been all over the story, explains:

Besides reliability in the face of danger, the opponents’ most pressing fear is that sales of the iP1 will trigger a New Jersey law mandating that all handguns in the state be personalized within three years of a smart gun’s going on sale anywhere in the United States. Similar proposals have been introduced in California and Congress.
An entire state banning the sale of guns that don't have "smart" technology would presumably be a big blow to what gun enthusiasts see as their Constitutional right to fire whatever kind of gun they want to fire in whatever fashion they see fit.

The Maryland store that said it would offer the iP1 just changed its mind; the Oak Tree Gun Club in California actively promoted sales of the iP1 in February of 2014, but stopped soon after receiving press attention. And there's apparently been no movement in New Jersey toward enacting the provisions of the 2002 law, even though the conditions it describes seem to have been fulfilled by the iP1's brief availability in California.

Rico says the downside of 'smart' technologies are so plentiful and obvious...

Black Sox

Ben Mathis-Lilley has a Slate article about the infamous 1919 World Series:

Via Deadspin comes news of what seems to be the best footage in existence of the 1919 "Black Sox" World Series, the thrown contest between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox that led to the lifetime ban of Shoeless Joe Jackson, the institution of anti-gambling rules in Major League Baseball, and Field of Dreams.
The way the footage was discovered is truly amazing:

It was part of a cache of newsreels from the Canadian Yukon that were, at one point, used to fill in a swimming pool that was being converted into a hockey rink. The newsreels were discovered in 1978 and sat in an archive, and it was only this year that a White Sox fan working on a documentary about the lost films stumbled onto this one.

Baseball historians' fascination with the fixed Series has never really abated; for an overview, check out a 2005 piece that Stefan Fatsis of Slate's Hang Up and Listen wrote about the state of Black Sox-ology in the Wall Street Journal.

Rico says it's great history...

History for the day

On 2 May 1945, the then-Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

Ferry sank because it was overloaded

Charlie Campbell has a Time article about the South Korean disaster:

South Korean media reports say the Sewol ferry that capsized on 16 April 2014 was carrying three times more cargo than normal: some thirty-six hundred tons, despite a thousand-ton limit.
The Sewol ferry was dangerously overweight when it sank, according to reports appearing in South Korean media, as the official death toll from the disaster rose to 226 with 76 still missing.
Investigators looking into what caused the vessel to capsize have revealed that operators reduced its ballast water— vital to maintain stability— to make room for three times more cargo as usual, citing testimony from a first mate on the ship.
The Korea JoongAng Daily quoted a prosecutor on the investigation team as saying: “The crewman said that he asked the division head to stop loading cargo because the ship might sink because of its weight. It appears that such a practice was not uncommon.”
Despite a maximum cargo limit of a thousand tons, the ship was allegedly hauling nearly four thousand tons when it capsized off the country’s southwestern coast. Prosecutors have detained the captain and fourteen other crew members who deserted the sinking ship, and also raided the offices of owners Chonghaejin Marine and the homes of key executives.
The investigation is also looking into modifications that increased the number of cabins on the third, fourth, and fifth decks between October of 2012 and February of 2013. There are also unconfirmed reports that extra heavy machinery was added to the ship, but not included on its manifest.
The ferry had 476 passengers and crew on board, including 325 high school students, when it began to list heavily and eventually turned over on a journey from Incheon to the holiday resort of Jeju Island.

Rico says there's definitely got to be a hanging over this...

Finding Flight MH370 could take a year

The BBC has an article about the status of the search:

Angus Houston, fhe official leading the hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner, says a full search of the suspected crash area could take up to a year.
Houston said he was confident an "effective search" would find the plane.
Officials from Australia, China, and Malaysia will meet in Canberra, Australia next week to discuss the ongoing search.
A report has revealed a four-hour gap between Flight 370's disappearance and the start of a search operation. The preliminary report, from Malaysia's transport ministry, also revealed that air traffic controllers did not realise the plane was missing until seventeen minutes after it disappeared off radar.
The plane, carrying 239 people, disappeared over the South China Sea as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Rico says someone should hang for this...

Foreign felons, welcome!

http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news&id=257600061


Sent from my iPhone

Mark Seymour
215.866.6184
mseymour@proofmark.com

Japan and Confucianism

Delancey Place.com has a selection from Japan: A Short History by Mikiso Hane:

When Confucianism made its way to Japan from China in the fifth and sixth centuries, it helped the Japanese aristocracy maintain a strictly hierarchical society and keep "inferior" people in their place:

The economy of Japan until the nineteenth century remained essentially agrarian. Rice culture was introduced to the islands in the first century, and the peasants struggled to eke out a living, tilling the sparse land areas, growing rice in tiny paddies in the flat land, and carving out terraces on the hillsides to grow other cereals and vegetables. Tea and silkworm cultivation also became an important source of income for the villagers. Eventually arts and crafts came to flourish with the introduction of the crafts from Korea and China from the fifth century on. The land worked by the peasants provided the ruling class with its material necessities. Thus the power struggle by the clan and tribal chieftains was a struggle to control the farm land and keep the peasants working it.
There was, from the outset, a hierarchy of the wielders of power and those subjected to serve them in various capacities. With the introduction of Confucian concepts in the fifth to sixth centuries, the case for maintaining a hierarchical social order was strengthened. Hence the Confucian emphasis on preserving the hierarchical order between 'superior' and 'inferior' persons, and the maintenance of proper relationships to ensure social harmony (which meant compelling 'inferior' persons to behave in accordance with his or her station in the family and society) came to be staunchly embedded in Japanese mores. This social imperative was reinforced by the emergence of the samurai as the dominant force in the late twelfth century. They reinforced the sense of hierarchy by the edge of the sword. The Tokugawa shogunate instituted a legal class-order of samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants (based on the Confucian hierarchy of scholars, peasants, artisans, and merchants). Outside this classification were the so-called 'unclean' class, the outcastes. What this meant was the samurai caste at the top and the others below. Even after the end of Tokugawa hegemony and the advent of the modern Meiji era, class distinctions were retained with people in registries identified as shizoku (former samurai class), and commoners. The special status of the old aristocracy was preserved with their classification as kazoku (nobility). The discrimination of the outcaste group was also sustained with the classification of new commoners. After the end of the Second World War, legal class distinctions were eliminated, though social discrimination persisted.
This evolving sense of status distinctions came to influence the place of women in Japanese society also. There is evidence that early Japan was a matriarchal society, or at least a matrilineal society. The acceptance of the Confucian social philosophy, and the ascendancy of the samurai class, resulted in a steady decline in the social standing of women. In the Tokugawa era gender discrimination came to be enforced most stringently among the samurai class, but relationships between men and women among the townspeople remained less rigid.

Yet another Nigerian scam

Rico says you can always count on the Nigerians...

Fund beneficiary,
Central Bank eLectronic Notification Service (CBeNS)
We wish to inform you that a credit transaction of $1,850,000.00 occurred on to your account from us through our CBN electronic treasury account. This concludes the first batch of e-payment to you as approved by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Please find attached your payment slip for the payment as sent to you. Take payment slip to your bank to confirm payment alert.
For security reasons, this payment slip will be deleted from our CBN electronic access panel payment database after fourteen days if you have not logged in.
If you are viewing this email on a mobile phone or iPad, please save the document first and then open it and log into our CBN electronic access panel on your computer device to view your payment slip. For further enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us on CBNConnect on +2348133916032

Regards,
Dr. Bolaji J. Woodman,
Audit & Treasury,
CBN Treasury Department,
Central Bank
www.cenbank.org

Domestic scam for the day

Rico says he doubts he'll get the car or the check...

This is to inform you that you have been selected for a prize of a brand new 2014 Model BMW 7 Series Car and a Check of $500,000.00 USD from the international balloting programs held in the UNITED STATE OF AMERICA.
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection system (ESS) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world which you were selected.
The BMW Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact our fiduciary claims department for more information as regards procedures to the claim of your prize. 

Name: Barry Ubani.
Email: 1112bmw1112@gmail.com 

Contact him by providing him with your secret pin code Number BMW:75561216003/23. You are also advised to provide him with YOUR NAME, DELIVERY ADDRESS and your DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBER for easy communication. 

Mrs. Cheryl McKenzie Reynolds.
THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS
BMW LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Another international scam for the day

Rico says they look so legitimate, too...

Edward King Keown,
Marklo Park,Langhurstwood Road,
Horsham RH12 4QP West Sussex
Phone+ 44 745 2240235.
London,UK 

Good day:
I am Edward King Keown , a financial consultant attached to Fidelity Investments International, a fund management company with over US$2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion United States Dollars) capital investment fund. I handle all our investor's direct capital funds and extracts 1.2% Excess Maximum Return Capital Profit (EMRCP) per annum on each of the Investor's Marginal Capital Fund.
As an expert in this profession, I have funds amounting to US$25,000,000.00 (Twenty-Five Million United States Dollars) from the Investor's EMRCP and hereby looking for someone to trust who will stand as an Investor to receive the fund as Annual Investment Proceeds from  Fidelity Marginal Capital Fund for our own partnership business investment in in your country.
All confirmable documents to support this Investment Fund will be made available to you. Meanwhile, I have worked out the modalities and technicalities so that the funds can be claimed in any of our six clearing houses without any hitches. All I require is your honest co-operation. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement and no government involvement at all.
It is very important you include your contact address, telephone, and fax number for easy communication.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Email your response to edwardsking02@gmail.com

Yours faithfuly.
Edward King

Marines freaking out

Bill Nuche has a BuzzFeed article about some wacky jarheads:

Okay, this is what happens when you let a bunch of Marines watch Frozen:

They are all waiting for a specific part at about two minutes in, when the character says 'Murrica':

Rico says you can always tell a Marine, but you can't tell 'em much...

Canadian quiz

Rico's arch-perv friend Dave sends 'a Canadian manly quiz':

Can you guess what this is?

Give up? It's a beaver dam...

Whale explosion?

Kelly Tunney has a Slate article about an impending disaster in Newfoundland:

 

The sixty-ton carcass of a blue whale is rotting on the shore of a town named Trout River in Newfoundland, Canada, and its residents are worried it is going to explode.
The chance of the whale exploding is low, according to Jack Lawson, a research scientist in Canada's fisheries department, though his explanation of what will probably happen instead isn’t comforting either: “At some point, the skin of the animal will lose some of its integrity as all of the connective tissue starts to break down,” said Lawson. “Eventually, that gas will seep out and it will just deflate like an old balloon.”
Emily Butler, the town clerk in Trout River, is concerned about the stench from the carcass and of viruses that could be emitted while it’s rotting, and advises residents to stay away from it.
Poor whale.

Rico says he doesn't think viruses are gonna be the problem; bacteria, on the other hand, are pretty much guaranteed...

History for the day

On 1 May 1960, the then-Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

A million needed for church repairs

Ashley Hahn has an article at PlanPhilly.com about the 'poor' Catholic Church:

Manayunk’s major Catholic Church, St. John the Baptist, is a landmark in every sense of the word. But, at 120 years old St. John’s is need of significant repair.
The church lords over the neighborhood from the corner of Cresson and Rector Streets, towering over the elevated rail tracks and Pretzel Park, and it is an iconic part of the neighborhood’s craggy skyline as seen from the Schuylkill Expressway. It is a community anchor where generations of Manayunk residents have gone to school, been baptized, mourned family, and come together in community. The church, designed by renowned nineteenth century ecclesiastical architect Patrick Charles Keeley, also boasts a fine architectural pedigree. (It is not listed in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places or the National Register of Historic Places, as too few Catholic churches are, though it is surely eligible.)
Like too many aging churches, deferred maintenance has left St. John's in distress. “I spent my entire life here and I thought I’d be carried out,” said Deacon Casper Baratta, standing in the back of St. John’s on Good Friday. He went to school at St. Johns, spent his working life stewarding the parish buildings, and continues his service as part of the ministry. Now Baratta is not so sure he’ll outlive the church, and the very thought of that weighs on him.
Scaffolding went up around St. John the Baptist’s corner tower last fall, prompted by a façade inspection by O’Donnell & Nacaretto last year. Vitetta Architects and Engineers and MacIntosh Engineering performed a more comprehensive conditions assessment of the building over the winter.
Recently, Architect Nan Gutterman and Engineer Bob MacIntosh presented their findings to a crowd of about two hundred people who packed the church’s social hall. That meeting came after parishioners, past and present, have spent a few months worrying about the fate of St. John’s– fears that were compounded by a lack of information from the church about the studies.
On the upside, the Vitetta study found the church sanctuary to be in sound condition. But the church’s imposing bell tower and some of its masonry– both decorative and structural– are areas of serious concern. To fix these urgent repairs, it will cost just over a million dollars, and the work needs to be done before winter.
The masonry buttresses supporting the church are splitting and rotating, which weakens their structural integrity. The buttresses and the decorative spires that top them are “twisting, turning… and we don’t know why,” Gutterman said. “The fact that every finial and spire is no longer really centered leads me to believe that there’s an issue with, to some degree, how the buttresses were constructed. Obviously they’re well-constructed, because they’re still intact, but something out of the ordinary, something that was not intended, is going on."
Engineer Bob MacIntosh explained that vertical cracking suggests a problem related to water making its way into smaller cracks in the masonry, freezing, and thus forcing the masonry units apart. When that water thaws, a bigger crack appears and mortar is lost. Then the cycle repeats and worsens. This years' was an exceptionally hard winter.
Work to fix the displaced buttresses and spires is estimated to cost just under half a million dollars, a figure that includes the cost of construction as well as soft costs like developing construction documents. Work to the tower, which involves repairing masonry and repointing mortar to fix the damage wrought by age and freeze-thaw cycles, will cost about eight hundred thousand dollars.
The Vitetta study also identified just over two million dollars in additional recommended repairs that must be done to on the church within the next five years.
Beyond that, the rectory has serious masonry issues also. The urgent repairs there– which include removing multi-level porches– will cost somewhere between four hundred and seven hundred thousand dollars.
There are no open cases or complaints filed with the Department of Licenses and Inspections about the church itself.
“O’Donnell and Naccarato submitted a report to the city regarding the study but we have not heard back with a deadline to complete these repairs.  We are aware that the church will be expected to do initial repairs within a specified timeframe,” Stephanie Brophy, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said via email.
That may buy this process a bit of time, but the recent meeting makes it clear that the clock is ticking when it comes to this year’s construction season and the need to fundraise.
“I was encouraged. Finally we have some real figures,” said Rich Van Fossen after the meeting. Van Fossen grew up going to school and church at St. John’s, and now he is helping spearhead efforts to ensure that St. John’s is given a fighting chance in this age of parish consolidations and closures.
“They were dragging their feet” said parish council member Raymond Stackhouse of the church leadership’s apparent reluctance to openly approach the church’s structural problems with parishioners until this week. That lack of transparency is a different sort of structural concern, but the tide could be turning. Stackhouse, like others I spoke with, said he felt somewhat satisfied that the meeting Tuesday opened the door for more productive conversations about next steps to save the church.
Judging by the crowd present on a rainy night on a hill with poor parking, St. John’s parishioners and alumni are interested. They asked great questions about the conditions assessment and floated ideas about fundraising. The parish has funds held in trust and some cash on hand, as its business manager Rosemary Swider explained. But it also has some significant debt. One possibility that may be explored is the sale of properties from parishes that were closed and consolidated into the New St. John the Bapist parish. Those properties, like closed convents or schools, could conceivably be sold to raise money for fixing St. John. It’s too soon to know if the Archdiocese would consider that approach.
A special committee that includes members of the parish pastoral and financial councils, representatives from the Archdiocese, and members of the newly-formed Save St. John the Baptist group will sit down soon to begin charting a course forward.
“I think there could be a combination of a herculean effort to raise money from all interested parties and match that with some reserve monies to get the immediate problems fixed,” Van Fossen said. “The key is a collaborative effort.”
After the meeting, parish priest Father Kletzel said he felt the studies performed gave them enough information to start moving forward to develop a plan, and that he would head into the upcoming meeting with an open mind and “no preconceptions.”
It helps that Van Fossen works in major gifts for Temple University’s Fox School of Business and has already started to identify possible donors. He also met with Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Thomas late last year, and Van Fossen said he has the bishop’s word that concerned individuals could establish a 501(c)3 to start raising money to repair the church.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Stephanie Brophy yesterday confirmed that Bishop Thomas and Van Fossen did discuss fundraising alternatives, but said the bishop "did not give him his word that individuals could establish a 501(c)3. Working together with the parish is the most important thing right now."
“We welcome anyone, Catholics, non-Catholics, atheists, people interested in historic preservation or the history of Philadelphia… who would like to join us by offering their expertise or financially supporting us,” Van Fossen said. And he’s optimistic that they can move fast to save this building before its too late.

Rico says he'd advocate demolition rather than spend over a million bucks to fix it. (And whatever happened to feeding the poor, as John the Baptist explicitly teaches charity?) And, as an atheist, Rico is not likely to give money to such a stupid project. (Worse yet, Rico is really an anti-theist...)

The curious survival of the US Communist Party

The BBC has an article by Aidan Lewis about an unlikely survivor:

Like fellow movements around the world, the American Communist Party suffered a crippling blow with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But a small group of die-hard members persevered.
Not far from Wall Street, on the seventh floor of an elegant eight-story building on West 23rd Street, is the headquarters of an improbable political survivor: the Communist Party USA.
The office is bright and modern. On one wall are black-and-white photo portraits of major figures in the party's history. The works of Marx, Engels and Lenin are stacked in bookshelves.
The building was bought to house the party in the 1970s before the surrounding neighbourhood of Chelsea became fashionable. "We got a great bargain on it," says secretary-treasurer Roberta Wood.
In a concession to capitalist reality, all but two floors are now rented out. The revenue supports People's World, an online publication that is the direct descendent of the party's long defunct newspaper, the Daily Worker.
The party claims 2,000-3,000 members nationally. It has just two salaried staff: Chairman Sam Webb and his deputy Jarvis Tyner, who was a vice-presidential candidate in the 1970s.
Its ultimate aim, however, is still sweeping in its ambition. "Socialism will usher in a new era in this country," the party program states. "The great wealth of the United States will for the first time be for the benefit of all the people."
"The longer-term goal", says Webb, is "the communist society, the ending of all class divisions, a society of equality, the withering away of the state".
The Communist Party was once a forceful presence in American politics. In its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s it had a strong network across the country, scoring several local election successes. Three Democratic congressmen were secretly Communist Party members.
The onset of the Cold War brought persecution for US Communists and their allies, most famously at the hands of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and later, from Senator Joe McCarthy. That period was "devastating" for the party, even though "the repression against them was so strong and over the top, it gave them a really strong sense of esprit de corps", says Vernon Pederson, professor of history at the University of Great Falls in Montana. "It also seemed to mean to them that all the things we said were going to happen are happening: the revolution is coming, and this is the first wave of repression, just like we predicted all along."
During the Cold War, the CPUSA had a parallel underground structure, and a small number of people spied for Moscow. Until the 1980s, the party was receiving substantial amounts of Soviet funding, says Klehr, money that the FBI knew about and tracked.
Many members left over Soviet repression in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968, as the party maintained an orthodox, pro-Moscow line. The final split came when Gus Hall, leader from 1959-2000, supported the coup by Soviet hardliners against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991.
Pederson says he is "mildly amazed" the party managed to survive the fall of the Soviet Union, but credits a core of members "who simply refused to give up regardless of how bleak things looked".
The House Un-American Activities Committee was formed in 1938 to protect the US against Nazi infiltration, but soon became a vehicle for targeting suspected Communists in the trade unions, Hollywood, and the government. It gained a reputation for publicity seeking, playing on anti-Communist hysteria, and hectoring people with unconventional opinions. But it did score a notable success when persistent questioning by future president Richard Nixon resulted in the exposure as a spy of former high-ranking state department official Alger Hiss. After revelations that espionage had allowed the Soviet Union to obtain an atomic bomb more quickly, Congress passed the 1950 Internal Security Bill, which placed various restrictions on Communists and communist organizations. The same year, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin launched a crusade against communism, claiming that scores or even hundreds of Communists were working in the State Department. Four years of witch-hunting resulted in thousands of people losing their jobs and hundreds being imprisoned. "They have extremely strong beliefs and have invested an incredible amount of their own personal identities into the Communist Party," he said.
Webb, the current leader, is a slightly stooped 68-year-old with a gruff but gentle voice. He seems more comfortable talking about the current political climate than about ideology. The immediate task, he says, is to defeat America's "extreme right" by contributing to a broader coalition of left-wing groups that campaign against economic inequality and minority rights.
The party faces a demographic challenge; a former head of the New York chapter recalls attending more than a hundred funerals in the early 2000s. But it claims a small uptick in membership and payment of dues of late, attributing a surge in interest to the financial crisis of 2008 and, paradoxically, to right-wing attacks against "socialist" Democrats for piquing the interest of some on the left.
Webb points to other recent events, including the Occupy movement, the election of Socialist Kshama Sawant to Seattle, Washington's city council and Bill de Blasio winning the mayoral race in New York City. He also notes that even Republicans are talking about poverty. "The climate in the country is changing, people are thinking about economic inequality." A socialist society is the goal in the "foreseeable future", Webb says, with communism "probably much more distant. If we enter coalitions on the basis of people agreeing with our vision of socialism, we could probably fit into a small but growing phone booth," he quipped.
Critics who've followed the party's course, however, are dismissive. "The positions they take are really indistinguishable from the left-wing social democratic groups," says Ron Radosh, a historian and writer who left the party after the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956. "I don't even know why anyone belongs to it." Klehr calls the party "a sect, a cult almost", and says he stopped paying attention to it nearly ten years ago because it had become "essentially irrelevant".
Tony Pecinovsky, a 36-year-old district organizer for the party in Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee, says fading memories of the Cold War and the CPUSA's pragmatic, grass-roots activism have lessened the stigma around communism - but prejudice endures on the ground. "I've been called a home-grown terrorist, I've gotten threatening phone calls, I've gotten people showing up at my house who aren't welcome," he says. "Anti-Communism and all that is still very real in terms of the far right wing in our nation and the tea party elements. We try to let our work speak for us, and not make it so much about the 'C' word."
Webb says he doesn't get harsh reactions when he tells people he's a Communist. Some younger people, perhaps with only a vague understanding of what the world means, even think it's "cool". But he hints that the party may finally, quietly shed some historical baggage as it builds alliances with other groups on the American left.
Looking ahead to the party's convention in June of 2014, he says he wants to create an atmosphere in which "comrades" feel free to raise their concerns, including over the party's name. "Some feel we ought to consider changing it. Others strongly feel we shouldn't. So we've agreed that we'll allow space for that conversation to take place."

Rico says talk about your international scams... Given that only China (though in name only), Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam are still officially Communist, who do these guys hang out with?

Another international scam for the day

Rico says they're trying again:

From: "MR TONY ADAMS" <tonyadams100@rocketmail.com>

Sent: Wednesday, 30 April, 2014 12:32
To:
Subject: YOUR COMPENSATION 30/04/14
Dear Friend,
How are you today? I hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition. I
want to thank you for the assistance you rendered to me some years ago.
And Due to your assistance, and trustworthiness showed, I want to
compensate you with the sum of $1,500,000 ( One Million Five Hundred
Thousand United State Of America Dollars). I have authorized Mr. Raymond
Jones deliver to you an international certified bank draft.
My dear friend, please contact Mr. Raymond Jones for the collection of
this certified bank draft. His name and contact email address is as
follows: 

Name: Raymond Jones
E-mail: jonesraymond111@yahoo.co.jp
Tel: +234-812-294-3494 

At the moment, I am very busy in the United Kingdom because of the
investment projects i am having with a partner In London.
Finally, remember that I have forwarded instructions to Mr. Raymond Jones
on your behalf to send the bank draft cheque of $1,500,000 (One Million
Five Hundred Thousand United States of America Dollars) to you, so try to
contact him without delay.
Thanks and God bless you.
Best Regards.
MR TONY ADAMS

Airport cargo scam

Rico says, okay, for once, not a Nigerian (that we know of, anyway):

From: "AIRPORT CARGO AND STORAGE UNIT" <panelesms.com@panelesms.com>

Sent: Wednesday, 30 April, 2014 01:09
To:
Subject: ******Airport Cargo and Storage Unit*******
Airport Storage and Cargo Unit
Charlotte Douglas International Airport
5501 R C Josh Birmingham Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28208, United States.
ATTENTION:Notice On Your Package reg #: JG1N8875BS 

In view of your inability to receive your package reg #: JG1N8875BS
originally scheduled to be delivered to you by the agency foreign payment
service New York. This package in a metal box valued 2,316,000USD (Two
Million, Three Hundred and Sixteen thousand United States dollars) arrived
at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. via American Airlines flight no.3075.
The agency Foreign payment service New York staff came and applied for the
release of this package for delivery to your address but has since not shown
up.
I am writing to inform you that we have intercepted and investigated the said
package and investigations proved the legitimacy and that the package was
initially scheduled for delivery to you, you are therefore advised to make
contact with Mr. David Beardsley, All American Courier, llc Director of Delivery
to recover your package and deliver it to you. email is:
(davidbeardsley30@yahoo.com.ph)
Note that this notice serves as our last recovery notice to you as the grace day given
to you has expired and we shall begin to charge $20.00 for each day the package stays
in our custody, you are therefore advised make move to recover your or we will be compelled to list your package as an unclaimed and maybe forfeited and moved to the United States Treasury Department for holding. 

Best regards,
Brian R. Adams, Director,
Airport Storage and Cargo Unit
Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

International scam for the day

Rico wonders, why is it always Nigerians?

From: "MR. MUTIU SUNMONU" <maclynn@sbcglobal.net>

Sent: Thursday, 1 May, 2014 03:15
To: recipient@shell.com 

Subject: PAYMENT INSTRUCTION AS NEXT OF KIN TO YOUR LATE SISTER
SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT
COMPANY OF NIGERIA HOUSE 13,
SHELL TRUSTEES ESTATE, MADEIRA STREET-OFF SHEHU SHAGARI, WAY MAITAMA, ABUJA-F.C.T, NIGERIA 

Dear Sir /Madam,
Hello you may not know who i am, because you've never received mail from me before. I am Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria, Meanwhile i am contacting you that the former Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company Mrs Caro Edward died along with her husband and there three children during the BOKO HARAM MILITANT GROUP Bomblast that occurred in Abuja on the 25th of December 2011, Why Praying and Celebrating the Anointing Service of God which every lives was lost in the Church including Four MEN OF GOD and former Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
The Federal Government has, however, warned the beneficiaries that it would not tolerate the transfer of the operatorship of the fields to on own foreigners, and that the firms must justify the confidence reposed in the ability of Nigerians to participate in the upstream oil sector. And i was given the mandate from the Nigerian government and also from the Shell Petroleum company to contact you as the Next of Kin by the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria (DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN) and this notice was accepted and announced when President GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN attended the General Assembly Meeting of the United Nations in New York United States of American, about the corruption in Nigeria and the World in general,Assuredly the delegate from the United Nations and Obama Foundation have concluded your payment through the Citibankgroup of Nigeria, and i want you to contact the personal Secretary of the late deceased.
In fact the Bank where the deceased had an account valued at about (US$20million) she deposited for the Account of HIV/AIDS in African which the Company has issued me a notice after the meeting of Nigeria President GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN and United States President Barrack Obama which was held in Washington DC, to provide the Next of Kin of the late Mrs. Caro Edward a United States of American Citizen, or have the account confiscated within the next ten official working days. Since i have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives.I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to Mrs. Caro Edward, since you are from the same country so that the proceeds of this account valued at (US$20million) can be paid to you as the true Beneficiary of the fund.
Perhaps 60% to you and 35% to the Personal Secretary of the late deceased Rev. Father Goodluck Johnson, while 5% goes to any expenses during the transaction, I want you to contact the Personal Secretary to the late deceased Rev. Father Goodluck Johnson through the below information, to direct you on how the Citibank Group will release the fund to you. Moreover, I want you to fill the appropriate form immediately.
[1] Full Names:_____________
[2] Contact address_________
[3] Direct Telephone No: ____
|4| Occupation : _______
Therefore, you are here by advised to call Rev. Father Goodluck Johnson on his private phone number +2348166397955, to enable him forward your contact information to the Bank for the release of your funds as Next of Kin to the late deceased.
PLEASE REPLY TO HIS PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS:rev.fathergoodluck2014@gmail.com, or rev.fathergoodluck2014@yahoo.co.uk,to enable him discuss further.
Best regards,
MR. MUTIU SUNMONU.
MANAGING DIRECTOR.
SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY.

The pain of comedy

DelanceyPlace.com has a selection from Comedy at the Edge by Richard Zoglin:

The lives of superstar comedians George Carlin and Richard Pryor bear witness to the pain beneath so much of our humor:

 

George CarlinGeorge Carlin's father, an ad salesman, was a drinker prone to violent outbursts and, when George was only two, his mother grabbed him and his older brother, fled down the fire escape, and left for good. Mary Carlin and her boys spent two years shuttling among friends and relatives, before finally getting an apartment of their own, with George's father stalking them all the way. 'He hounded her,' says Carlin. 'And he frightened her. When we lived on One Hundred Fortieth Street, we would come back from downtown, get off the subway, and the procedure was, my mother would go to the call box, get the local precinct, and say, 'Hi, it's Mary and the kids. I'm at One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street. Come and get us.' And they would drive us home and see us into the house. Sometimes, he'd be across the street, just looking.' Even when they finally moved into an apartment that his father didn't know the whereabouts of, his mother was still on edge. If they got an unexpected knock, she'd tell George to peek under the door. If he saw a lady's shoes, he could open it. If he saw a man's shoes, and they would stay quiet until the visitor went away. This family drama ended only when his father died, when George was eight.

Richard Pryor
He was born Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor, on 1 December 1940, in Peoria, Illinois. His mother, who appears to have been a prostitute, and his father married when Richard was three, and split up when he was ten. He then went to live with his grandmother, who ran a chain of whorehouses in town. In his autobiography, Pryor Convictions, Pryor describes learning about sex by peeking through keyholes to watch the prostitutes at work, and soaking up neighborhood lore at a bar called the Famous Door, where 'people came in to exchange news, blow steam, or have their say'. He was kicked out of Catholic school when they found out about the family business, and he moved into an integrated elementary school. There he got an early taste of racism, when he gave a scratch pad as a gift to a little white girl he had a crush on. The next day, as Pryor tells it, the girl's angry father came to school and berated him in front of the class: 'Nigger, don't you ever give my daughter anything.'"