- Chris Christie isn't the only governor who's dipped in shit these days. But at least the feds were nice enough to let Bob McDonnell quietly leave office before popping him and his wife for 14 felony charges involving his failure to completely account for over $135,000 in gifts:
The gifts included a silver Rolex watch, golf clubs, Louis Vitton shoes, and $15,000 to help pay for the McDonnells’ daughter’s wedding. According to the indictment, the former governor and his wife conspired to commit wire fraud to accept bribes, knowingly made false statements on loan applications to avoid reporting the Williams loans, and obstructed justice.
In July, then-Gov. McDonnell apologized for the “embarrassment” he and his family caused to Virginia and announced that he had repaid the roughly $120,000 in loans from Williams — loans he had previously insisted were not improper. He later promised to return all the gifts the family had received.
Unlike a certain former Alabama city mayor and county commissioner who got a solid 15 years for a bunch of suits and a nice lunch, you can rest assured Bob and the missus won't be burdened by anything that arduous.
- Speaking of Chris Christie, he's a goddamned bully. Whodathunkit?
- Add this to the "Things Black America Already Knew" pile:
Nearly 50 percent of black men and 40 percent of white men are arrested at least once on non-traffic-related crimes by the time they turn 23, according to a new study.
One of the authors of the study published this month in the journal "Crime & Delinquency" said the statistics could be useful in shaping policy so that people aren't haunted by arrests when they apply for jobs, schools or public housing.
"Many, many people are involved with the criminal justice system at this level," said Shawn Bushway, a University at Albany criminologist. "And treating them all as if they're hardened criminals is a serious mistake."
The authors found that by age 18, 30 percent of black men, 26 percent of Hispanic men and 22 percent of white men have been arrested. By 23, those numbers climb to 49 percent for black men, 44 percent for Hispanic men and 38 percent for white men.
What'll be interesting to learn is how many of those 40 percent of white men were left with felonies on their criminal record, as opposed to the 50 percent of black men.
- Yes, I know Kanye punched out some smug little shit who called Kim a "nigger lover" or something to that effect. I don't blame him, but I would have sent some goons to deal with the little shit instead of getting myself personally involved.
- The future of war fighting lies with robots. Lots and lots of robots:
In the future, an Army brigade might have 3,000 human troops instead of 4,000, but a lot more robots, according to recent remarks by General Robert Cone, the Army's head of Training and Doctrine Command.
Robots could reduce the force protection burden, giving the Army more killing power per brigade.
Those robots could be a pack bot like the Legged Squad Support System perhaps, or a conventional-looking semi or fully autonomous vehicle like Lockheed Martin's Squad Mission Support System.
- So Richard Sherman got a little hype after the Seahawks whipped the 49ers 23-17. Big deal.
Wait...I was supposed to feel sorry for Erin Andrews?
Erin Andrews during that Richard Sherman interview pic.twitter.com/noXrI00wWo
— Evil Mike Tomlin (@EvilMikeTomlin) January 20, 2014
Last but not least, climate change deniers will have to explain how a millenias-old ice shelf suddenly crumbled apart like O.J.'s latest hopes for a release. Denying climate change is happening is like denying the earth is round and that it revolves around the sun.
