McCain is no hero but this is cracking my shit up.

http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/bah-gawd-its-the-rattlesnake-1797324485#_ga=2.38547555.1151382455.1501258453-1471465591.1419302672

https://twitter.com/RiegerReport/status/889925468585160704

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-body-camera-footage-20170719-story.html

Baltimore police and prosecutors have launched investigations after being alerted to body camera footage that the public defender's office says shows an officer planting drugs.

The footage is from a January drug arrest. It shows an officer placing a soup can, which holds a plastic bag, into a trash strewn lot. The officer can then be seen walking to the street, where he flips on his body camera.

"I'm gonna go check here," the officer says. He returns to the lot and picks up the soup can, removing a plastic bag filled with white capsules.

Police cameras have a feature that saves the 30 seconds of video prior to activation, but without audio. When the officer is first in the alley, there is no audio until 30 seconds later.

https://twitter.com/justin_fenton/status/887504546074939393

WASHINGTON—Citing a series of fatal malfunctions dating back to 1777, flag manufacturer Annin & Company announced Monday that it would be recalling all makes and models of its popular American flag from both foreign and domestic markets.

Representatives from the nation's leading flag producer claimed that as many as 143 million deaths in the past two centuries can be attributed directly to the faulty U.S. models, which have been utilized extensively since the 18th century in sectors as diverse as government, the military, and public education.

"It has come to our attention that, due to the inherent risks and hazards it poses, the American flag is simply unfit for general use," said Annin & Company president Ronald Burman, who confirmed that the number of flag-related deaths had noticeably spiked since 2003. "I would like to strongly urge all U.S. citizens: If you have an American flag hanging in your home or place of business, please discontinue using it immediately."

Added Burman, "The last thing we would want is for more innocent men and women around the world to die because of our product."

http://www.theonion.com/article/us-flag-recalled-after-causing-143-million-deaths-17248

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/04/world/asia/north-korea-missile-test-icbm.html

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said on Tuesday that it had successfully conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, claiming a milestone in its efforts to build nuclear weapons capable of hitting the mainland United States.

The announcement came hours after a launch that the United States military said had sent the missile aloft for 37 minutes. That duration, analysts said, suggested a significant improvement in the range of the North’s missiles, and it might allow one to travel as far as 4,000 miles and hit Alaska.

In an initial statement, the United States Pacific Command described the weapon as an intermediate-range missile rather than an intercontinental ballistic missile. But South Korean and Japanese officials said they were studying the data to determine if it was an ICBM.

The missile departed the Banghyon airfield in the northwestern town of Kusong and flew 578 miles before landing in the sea between North Korea and Japan, the South Korean military said in a statement.

* * * * *

They probably don't know how to make a nuclear device small enough to be carried on an ICBM. But you can be sure they're working on it!

According to the Intellectualist, it was a racist Reddit poster.

https://theintellectualist.co/trump-sourced-video-of-him-beating-cnn-from-a-white-supremacist-reddit-user/

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts fired the director of the NE state patrol the other day, and turns out this case -- not publicly disclosed before now -- is one of the reasons why.

http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/video-shows-use-of-force-after-sioux-county-chase-raises/article_50d3bc92-e2de-5fd8-a4ab-a9a6966a1d63.html

After leading Nebraska state troopers on an hourlong chase that reached speeds of nearly 100 mph, the Colorado man was so intoxicated or impaired he could barely stand when ordered out of his van, falling back against it.

Following the troopers’ orders, he put his hands up, and he kept them away from his body the whole time he stood before the troopers. He did not, however, comply with more than a dozen other commands to “Get down on the ground!”

That’s when Trooper Lindsey Bixby took Brian Davis down himself — with the butt end of his rifle. A sharp crack rang out as Bixby leveled Davis with a strike to the side of the head, Davis crumpling to the ground.

The March 4, 2016, arrest in Nebraska’s far-west Sioux County was captured in a dashboard camera video that was recently obtained by The World-Herald — stark images that raise more questions about the Nebraska State Patrol and how former Patrol Superintendent Brad Rice policed conduct within the ranks.

http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/video-shows-use-of-force-after-sioux-county-chase-raises/article_50d3bc92-e2de-5fd8-a4ab-a9a6966a1d63.html

After leading Nebraska state troopers on an hourlong chase that reached speeds of nearly 100 mph, the Colorado man was so intoxicated or impaired he could barely stand when ordered out of his van, falling back against it.

Following the troopers’ orders, he put his hands up, and he kept them away from his body the whole time he stood before the troopers. He did not, however, comply with more than a dozen other commands to “Get down on the ground!”

That’s when Trooper Lindsey Bixby took Brian Davis down himself — with the butt end of his rifle. A sharp crack rang out as Bixby leveled Davis with a strike to the side of the head, Davis crumpling to the ground.

The March 4, 2016, arrest in Nebraska’s far-west Sioux County was captured in a dashboard camera video that was recently obtained by The World-Herald — stark images that raise more questions about the Nebraska State Patrol and how former Patrol Superintendent Brad Rice policed conduct within the ranks.

Long read, and worth it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-a-midwestern-town-that-went-for-trump-a-muslim-doctor-tries-to-understand-his-neighbors/2017/07/01/0ada50c4-5c48-11e7-9fc6-c7ef4bc58d13_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_minnesotamuslim-640pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.3ba9512115e8

DAWSON, MINN. — The doctor was getting ready. Must look respectable, he told himself. Must be calm. He changed into a dark suit, blue shirt and tie and came down the wooden staircase of the stately Victorian house at Seventh and Pine that had always been occupied by the town’s most prominent citizens.

That was him: prominent citizen, town doctor, 42-year-old father of three, and as far as anyone knew, the first Muslim to ever live in Dawson, a farming town of 1,400 people in the rural western part of the state.

“Does this look okay?” Ayaz Virji asked his wife, Musarrat, 36.

In two hours, he was supposed to give his third lecture on Islam, and he was sure it would be his last. A local Lutheran pastor had talked him into giving the first one in Dawson three months before, when people had asked questions such as whether Muslims who kill in the name of the prophet Muhammad are rewarded in death with virgins, which had bothered him a bit. Two months later, he gave a second talk in a neighboring town, which had ended with several men calling him the antichrist.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-a-midwestern-town-that-went-for-trump-a-muslim-doctor-tries-to-understand-his-neighbors/2017/07/01/0ada50c4-5c48-11e7-9fc6-c7ef4bc58d13_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_minnesotamuslim-640pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.3ba9512115e8

DAWSON, MINN. — The doctor was getting ready. Must look respectable, he told himself. Must be calm. He changed into a dark suit, blue shirt and tie and came down the wooden staircase of the stately Victorian house at Seventh and Pine that had always been occupied by the town’s most prominent citizens.

That was him: prominent citizen, town doctor, 42-year-old father of three, and as far as anyone knew, the first Muslim to ever live in Dawson, a farming town of 1,400 people in the rural western part of the state.

“Does this look okay?” Ayaz Virji asked his wife, Musarrat, 36.

In two hours, he was supposed to give his third lecture on Islam, and he was sure it would be his last. A local Lutheran pastor had talked him into giving the first one in Dawson three months before, when people had asked questions such as whether Muslims who kill in the name of the prophet Muhammad are rewarded in death with virgins, which had bothered him a bit. Two months later, he gave a second talk in a neighboring town, which had ended with several men calling him the antichrist.