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It's that time again. Time to pay tribute to those willing, nay eager, to say that which a lot of people do not want to hear. Be their motives sincere or simply to wind you up, they are the souls brave enough to be unpopular with the masses. Here are the top ten by sheer number of times modded Troll and (of the top 50 of the previous group) the top ten by percent of their comments that have been modded Troll. These are not an "all time" list, only the ones that haven't fallen off the end of our moderation log table. By count: NickTrolls%Troll Ethanol-fueled50117% Runaway19562617% jmorris18412% The Mighty Buzzard18111% aristarchus1558% Hairyfeet1459% frojack1262% zugedneb8624% khallow706% VLM672%

By percent: NickTrolls%Troll zugedneb8624% Ethanol-fueled50117% Khyber2015% jmorris18412% The Mighty Buzzard18111% jasassin3010% Hairyfeet1459% aristarchus1558% Arik418% TLA148%

Yeah, so someone suggested a pretty good name for the April 1st theme and I utterly lost track of it. Which is a shame because it's currently named "april1". Anyone have a link, remember what it was, or have a suggestion of their own? Best my brain is kicking out is GeoShitties and I don't particularly want to put "shit" in community-facing site stuff (code comments are another matter entirely).

For TrumpetPower!

Bills sponsored:

H.Res. 423 (105th): Expressing the sense of the House with respect to winning the war on drugs to protect our children.

Source.

Votes and speeches:

(Crime category)

• Speech: Hastert Taps NationaExperts to "Keep Kids Safe in Cyberspace"
• Speech: Speaker Hastert Applauds Passage of the Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Conference Report Vote) - S 151 - Enhance AMBER Alert bill - "Vote to adopt the conference report that would combat child crimes, including, but not limited to, enhance the AMBER alert program, provide additional protection for children against sex crimes, and promote stricter sentencing for child pornography and other child sex crime offenders."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage) - HR 503 - Unborn Victims of Violence Act - "Vote to pass a bill that criminalizes harming an unborn child/fetus while committing any of 68 federal offenses."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage) - HR 1501 - Juvenile Justice bill - "Vote to pass a bill to provide state and local governments with federal grants to control juvenile crime, improve the juvenile justice system, and strengthen penalties for specific firearms-related crimes."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage With Amendment) - S 2073 - Juvenile Crime Control and Delinquency Prevention Act - "Vote to pass a bill to amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, amend the Safe Streets Act of 1968 and appropriate funds to create a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage) - HR 3 - Juvenile Crime bill - "Vote to pass a bill that allows juveniles that commit violent crimes or specific drug offenses to be tried as adults more easily."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage) - HR 2137 - Megan's Law - "To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to require the release of relevant information to protect the public from sexually violent offenders."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Nay (Conference Report Vote) - HR 3355 - Omnibus Crime Bill - "Vote to adopt a conference report that amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to provide $30.07 billion in grants from 1995-2000 to reduce violence and crimes, enhance law enforcement, provide education and activity programs for youth, and for other purposes."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage) - HR 4092 - Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 - "Vote to pass a bill that provides $28.69 billion in grants from 1995-2000 to reduce violence and crimes, enhance law enforcement, provide education and activity programs for youth, and for other purposes."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage) - HR 3351 - Youth Offenders Alternative Punishment - "Vote to pass a bill that provides supplemental funding for and evaluations of state programs punishing young, non-violent criminals in ways alternative to incarceration or probation."

(Marriage, Family, and Children category)

• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Amendment Vote) - H Amdt 871 - Adoption Amendment - "An amendment numbered 2 printed in H. Rept. 105-679 to prohibit any funds to be used to carry out any joint adoption of a child between individuals who are not related by blood or marriage."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Passage) - HR 3682 - Child Custody Protection Act - "Vote to pass a bill that prohibits transportation of a minor across state lines to avoid parental notification laws and obtain access to abortion services."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Nay (Amendment Vote) - H Amdt 335 - Family Planning Parental Notification Amendment - "Vote to adopt a substitute amendment that requires federally funded family planning providers to certify that family participation is encouraged when minors seek family planning services, and that counseling is provided on how to resist coercive sexual activities."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Nay (Amendment Vote) - H Amdt 1280 - Family Planning Services Clinics Amendment - "Vote to adopt a substitute amendment that requires family planning clinics to certify that they encourage family participation in the decision of a minor to seek family planning services in order to be eligible for government funds."
• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Nay (Passage) - HR 670 - Abortion Counseling Bill - "Vote to pass a bill that requires family planning projects receiving federal funding provide information concerning prenatal care and delivery, infant care, foster care, adoption and termination of pregnancy to individuals that request the information. Requires family planning projects that object to giving out such information on religious or moral grounds refer individuals to another service that will provide the information."

(Minors and Children category)

• Vote: J. Dennis Hastert voted Yea (Amendment Vote) - H Amdt 923 - Contraceptive Amendment - "Vote to pass a substitute amendment requiring counselors to notify parents when a minor attempts to obtain contraceptives."

Florida Prosecutors Drop Charges Against PINAC Reporter Jeff Gray – Again

For the fifth time since 2010, Florida prosecutors were forced to dismiss criminal charges against PINAC reporter Jeff Gray before even going to trial, proving once again what we have known all along.

That his arrests are always unlawful and unconstitutional; nothing but an attempt to keep him from doing his job.

The latest case was dismissed Monday; the trespassing charge from last month where he was standing on the sidewalk in front of St. Augustine High School holding up a sign that read “The First Amendment is Not a Crime” on one side and “Public Records Access is Not a Crime” on the other side.

St. Johns County Schools Superintendent Joseph Joyner had barred Gray from stepping within 500 feet of any school to keep him from investigating safety oversights regarding school buses.

The trespass order stated he was only allowed to drop off or pick up his children, attend public meetings or submit public records requests to the district’s main office. Other than that, he needed to stay outside the “School Safety Zones,” which is defined as 500 feet within any school. Even if his three children attend the school as they do.

However, Joyner and his lawyers failed to do their research because Florida law does not bar citizens from peacefully assembling and protesting within these so-called school safety zones, which is exactly what he had been doing on March 14 when he was arrested.

[...] But Joyner has been desperate to jail Gray, even trying to convince a local state attorney to file felony wiretapping charges against him last year as we discovered by making a public records request for his emails. Joyner has also filed a lawsuit against Gray, which is still pending.

Previous entry: Florida Deputy Illegally Arrests Protesting PINAC Reporter.

Chinese Cartoon Warns Against 'Dangerous Love' With Foreigners Who May Be Spies

In a colorful, 16-panel cartoon called "Dangerous Love," China is warning female government workers that romancing handsome foreigner strangers can lead to heartbreak — and espionage.

Posters seen around Beijing show a cartoon government worker named Xiao Li striking up a relationship with a bespectacled, red-haired "visiting scholar." They share a romantic dinner and stroll through a leafy park. "Having a handsome, romantic, talented foreign boyfriend is pretty nice!" Li says to herself, according to The New York Times' translation.

But "pretty nice" turns to nightmarish after Li's new paramour persuades her to lend him internal government documents. Suddenly, the foreign boyfriend is nowhere to be found. Li weeps in front of two gruff police officers, who tell her she has a "shallow understanding of secrecy for a state employee," according to The Guardian.

"Dangerous Love" was posted in Beijing's subway and streets to mark National Security Education Day, which was "established after China passed a National Security Law in July outlining greater security efforts in 11 areas, including political, territorial, military, cultural and technological," the Times reports.

Image.

The BBC has an update on France's new bootlicking trend.

The Associated Press has recently put out a short article on President Andrew Jackson after it was announced his portrait would be replaced on the 20USD bill with one of Harriet Tubman, an iconic abolitionist and humanitarian. The article doesn't necessarily portray a positive image of Jackson.

Travis Loller, the writer of the piece describes Jackson's populist position in the political circles of the day, his status a military hero, providing the "infamous Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forced tribes from their land in the Southeast and pushed them into an uncertain future" as some context. The article continues noting his unprecedented use of veto power while in office, and his opposition to states seceding from the union.

The last section in my opinion, is included as a bit of trivia at best, quoting historian Daniel Feller, director of the Papers of Andrew Jackson at the University of Tennessee.

Paper money was printed by individual banks, and their value could fluctuate greatly. Some of it was worthless, and Jackson felt bankers were abusing the citizenry.

"Jackson thought that paper money wasn't real money," Feller said. "Real money was gold and silver."

The reality is, Jackson had quite a lot to say on this topic of money and banks. His image on a Federal Reserve Note could be seen as counter-intuitive at best, given his public position on the subject of central banking as we still know it today.

But if they have other power to regulate the currency, it was conferred to be exercised by themselves, and not to be transferred to a corporation.

If the bank be established for that purpose, with a charter unalterable without its consent, Congress have parted with their power for a term of years, during which the Constitution is a dead letter. It is neither necessary nor proper to transfer its legislative power to such a bank, and therefore unconstitutional.

I wonder what he would think of current monetary policy and 'tools' that the Federal Reserve and other privately owned/operated, completely unaccountable central banks are using today.

A bunch of links that will not make the cut in today's article. I will tidy up and add some more later. While Vice certainly covers drugs more than other news outlets, most of these just didn't fit with the hard facts focus of this year's article, and I didn't want to overuse any particular news source. There will be plenty more to find on aggregators like Google News today.

http://www.vice.com/read/how-decriminalizing-drugs-could-reduce-islamic-terrorism-in-france-and-belgium
http://www.vice.com/read/war-on-drugs-tool-of-minority-oppression
http://www.vice.com/read/luxury-weed-uk
http://www.vice.com/read/veterans-affairs-hospitals-still-wont-give-veterans-weed-medical-marijuana
http://www.vice.com/read/a-prosecutors-regret-how-i-got-someone-life-in-prison-for-drugs
http://www.vice.com/read/why-do-the-irish-take-more-drugs-than-any-other-country-in-eu
http://www.vice.com/read/how-parents-talk-to-their-kids-about-drugs-in-2016
http://www.vice.com/read/this-drug-smuggler-and-hippie-mafia-leader-was-an-og-in-the-weed-legalization-movement
http://www.vice.com/read/the-worst-time-i-ever-did-drugs
http://www.vice.com/read/a-professional-stoner-explains-how-to-smoke-pot-properly-in-2016
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36055297
http://www.vice.com/read/what-the-un-still-gets-wrong-about-drugs
http://www.vice.com/read/yes-you-can-be-allergic-to-pot
http://www.vice.com/read/drugs-have-been-used-in-pretty-much-every-war-ever-shooting-up
http://www.vice.com/read/the-war-on-drugs-isnt-even-working-in-prison
http://www.vice.com/read/a-cannabis-cook-explains-how-youre-making-edibles-wrong

Reuters reports:

Top gold consumer China launched a yuan-denominated gold benchmark on Tuesday, in an ambitious move to exert more control over pricing of the metal and influence in the global bullion market.

The benchmark is a culmination of efforts by China over the last few years to reform its domestic gold market, attempting to gain a bigger say in the bullion industry, long dominated by London where the global spot benchmark price is set.

As the world's top producer, importer and consumer of gold, China has baulked at depending on a dollar price in international transactions, and believes its market weight should entitle it to set the price of gold.

ZeroHedge continues:

The mechanics of the Shanghai fix are comparable to those of London: the benchmark price will be set twice a day based on a few minutes of trading in each session. The London benchmark, quoted in dollars per ounce, is set via a twice-daily auction on an electronic platform with 12 participants.

The 18 trading members in the yuan price-setting process includes China's big four state-owned banks, foreign banks Standard Chartered and ANZ, the world's top jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook and two of China's top gold miners.

So I just wrote a super-long comment and tricked myself into wanting to share this tidbit as well (but it had no business being over there).

Monospaced because you'll know. Meant to be less than 80 characters wide so if it breaks oddly on your screen you might want to try scaling down the page (whatever browser you use probably does its own thing but [Ctrl]+[-] usually does the trick for me, [Ctrl]+[+] to go back up and [Ctrl]+[0] to get back to default size).

It's already dark.
You're eaten by a Grue.
But this is not the end.

You wake up in darkness.
You are a Grue.
You have always been.

To your left you see the path to the hole.
In front of you is a smoothened black wall with darker flecks of beautiful
  chondrite.
To your right is the path towards the Greylands and further beyond the cursed
  Hurt.
Behind you is your den.

Health: 15(15) Agility: 13(15) drowsy Hunger: 8(15) Lethality: 46(55)
/* hunger 15 gives slavering status */
(L)eft (F)ront (R)ight (B)ack (G)urgle (I)nventory | command:i

Inventory:
a: Extremely sharp fangs, +15 consume, Cursed (in mouth)
/* cursed can not be removed unless blessed... good luck with that :) */
b: Razor claws, +10 slice, Cursed (on hands)
c: A thick blindfold, +11 darkness, Unknown

(U)se (R)emove (D)rop (P)ut (M)ore (S)top looking at inventory | command:_

Maybe it's a bit misleading to call it fiction, or what I'm actually trying to say: feel free to turn it into what it portrays itself to be (and that isn't fiction, or not fiction in the usual sense of prose).

As reported by CBS Local:

“What I also know, because I handle a lot of classified information, is that there are — there’s classified, and then there’s classified,” Obama told Fox News. “There’s stuff that is really top-secret, top-secret, and there’s stuff that is being presented to the president or the secretary of state, that you might not want on the transom, or going out over the wire, but is basically stuff that you could get in open-source.”

As written on a Reuters blog by Peter Van Buren last year:

Employees at the highest levels of access are expected to apply the highest levels of judgment, based on the standards in Executive Order 13526. The government’s basic nondisclosure agreement makes clear the rule is “marked or unmarked classified information.”

In addition, the use of retroactive classification has been tested and approved by the courts, and employees are regularly held accountable for releasing information that was unclassified when they released it, but classified retroactively.

Back on the Fox via CBS story:

“There isn’t a president who’s taken more terrorists off the field than me, over the last seven-and-a-half years,” Obama explained to Fox News. “I’m the guy who calls the families, or meets with them, or hugs them, or tries to comfort a mom, or a dad, or a husband, or a kid, after a terrorist attack. So let’s be very clear about how much I prioritize this: this is my number one job.”