Random Politics & Religion #00

Some of them are fairly sneaky, disguised as emails from legitimate companies that a lot of businesses deal with.

I think the most common one I've seen "appears" to be from ADP.

My office has already been hit once by that crap. Someone in another department received a legitimate-looking email containing a hyperlink (we get bombarded with these things every so often), and he made the mistake of clicking the link.

Of course, the ransom wasn't paid. The IT department simply replaced the computer with another machine and restored a previous backup.

The point being to get people to just stop mindless clicking stuff.

Here we go again...

White South Carolina policeman charged with murdering black man

Can't wait to see nausi's defense on this one.

I keep clicking your post, but nothing's happening.

See! He never lets us down.

When in doubt it's faked, like the moon landing.

Your self portrait popped up!

That one?

The watchdog group has recommended that DirecTV discontinue its popular Rob Lowe ads, which feature the handsome actor taking on what the commercial group called “one of several odd or awkward alter-ego characters.” The ads that always end with Lowe’s spoken tagline, “Don’t be like this me — Get rid of cable and upgrade to DirecTV,” may not be long for your small screen, thanks to a complaint filed by cable provider Comcast Corporation.

The NAD found that several of the ad campaign’s claims could not be substantiated, or were even flat-out unfair.

“While humor can be an effective and creative way for advertisers to highlight the differences between their products and their competitor’s, humor and hyperbole do not relieve an advertiser of the obligation to support messages that their advertisements might reasonably convey — especially if the advertising disparages a competitor’s product,” the NAD said on Tuesday.

The NAD didn’t like the signal reliability claims versus cable that are made in the “Creepy Rob Lowe” commercial, the shorter comparative customer service wait time suggested in the “Painfully Awkward Rob Lowe” spot, and the better picture and sound quality implications drawn in the “Far Less Attractive Rob Lowe” ad.

The group concluded: “Given the absence in the record of supporting evidence, NAD recommended the advertiser discontinue the claims.”

However, “the Rob Lowe campaign was always scheduled to end at the end of Q1,” Jon Gieselman, SVP, Marketing at DirecTV said in a statement to TheWrap. “We wanted to launch our new campaign with Hannah Davis in the Final Four [NCAA basketball championship]. We always reserve the right to bring back the Rob Lowe campaign, either in its current form or with new spots, it has been extremely successful for the brand.”

In its complaint, NAD also felt that the “Scrawny Arms Rob Lowe” commercial conveyed an unsupported message that DirecTV’s sports programming was better than cable’s. Other issues included the “superiority message” of Lowe’s aforementioned closing phrase, as well as DirecTV’s “rated No. 1 claim” and another that states it has been “ranked higher than cable for over 10 years.”

Finally, the NAD recommended that the satellite provider “either discontinue the price claim featured in the ‘Scrawny Arms Rob Lowe‘ commercial or modify it to reflect the price of a package that included the sports programming featured in the commercial.”

In its prior response, DirecTV stated that it “continues to believe that the various Rob Lowe advertisements are so outlandish and exaggerated that no reasonable consumer would believe that the statements being made by the alter-ego characters are comparative or need to be substantiated.”

Further, the company said, DirecTV disagrees with NAD’s findings with respect to its ranking claims, picture quality claims and sports programming claims.

DirecTV plans to appeal, the satellite provider promised.

Barack Obama more popular than the Castro brothers in Cuba

In a Univision Noticias/Fusion poll released Wednesday, a majority of Cubans — 80 percent — said they have a positive opinion of the American president.

Their own leaders? Not so much: Only 47 percent have a positive opinion of Cuban President Raul Castro, and 44 percent have a positive opinion of his brother Fidel. Thirty-nine percent said they are satisfied with the current political system, while 53 percent expressed dissatisfaction.

In December, Obama announced a policy shift toward Cuba that would reestablish diplomatic ties between the countries after half a century of mutual hostility. He also said he would push to lift the decades-long embargo on Cuba, though it would take an act of Congress to do so.

Almost all Cubans — 97 percent — think that this shift is good for Cuba, but 58 percent think the policy favors Cuba over the United States. Only 3 percent of Cubans think the U.S. embargo should continue.

On Tuesday, the White House said Obama is scheduled to meet with Raul Castro this week on the margins of the Summit of the Americas in Panama. It will be the first time the two men have met since the president unveiled his plan to normalize relations between the two countries.

In the poll, 89 percent of Cubans said they think Obama should visit Cuba, and 83 percent think that Castro should visit the United States.

The poll, done in collaboration with The Washington Post, was conducted March 17-27 among 1,200 Cubans and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percent.

Only 3 percent of Cubans think the U.S. embargo should continue.

I wonder why these 36 Cubans love the embargo so much?

Obama's popularity in America is still lower than that of either Castros in Cuba though.

Really, its to laugh to not to cry.

Russia is considering soon giving Greece funds based on future profits Athens could earn from shipping Russian gas to Europe as part of an extension of the Turkish Stream pipeline, a Greek government official said on Wednesday.

The extension to Turkish Stream, which has yet to be finalised and would take Russian gas from Turkey to Europe via Greece, might also mean Athens would pay less for Russian gas, the official said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras voiced interest in the project in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.

Tsipras' government, at loggerheads with its euro zone and International Monetary Fund creditors, risks running out of money within weeks unless it can reach a new cash-for-reform deal.

The Greek government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Greece would pay back the Russian prepayment after the pipeline started operating, without specifying a sum.

The official said the project would involve private financing and would comply with European Union rules.

Putin told a news conference with Tsipras that the two leaders had reached no concrete agreements on Greece's participation in the Turkish Stream project and that its involvement depended on the Greek government.

He said, however, that Greece stood to gain hundreds of millions of euros each year in transit fees if an extension to Turkish Stream was built.

Tsipras' visit to Moscow caused unease among some EU partners that Greece could break ranks over economic sanctions on Russia to secure aid or use the trip to pressure its EU allies to release financing.

WASHINGTON—Describing the murder charges brought against a white South Carolina police officer who was filmed shooting an unarmed black man as an encouraging step in the right direction, the American populace reported Wednesday they were hopeful that future victims of police abuse would have an equally random chance of receiving justice. “The number of law enforcement officers who have shot unarmed civilians and gone free over the past year has been extremely discouraging, but the fact that this policeman was arrested so swiftly shows that there can be justice for victims so long as a bystander is nearby, has a camera phone on them, captures the whole interaction, and several dozen other circumstances play out in the precise sequence,” said North Charleston, SC resident Jenine Williams, echoing the sentiments of millions of Americans who told reporters they have faith that, as long as a fair-minded eyewitness happens to be passing by at the exact right time; has the inclination to stop and film; an unobstructed view; enough battery life and memory on their phone; a steady hand; the forethought to start filming an interaction with the police before it escalates into violence; is close enough to get detailed footage, but far enough away to avoid being shot themselves or seen by the officer and potentially having their phone confiscated; and it is daytime, then justice would certainly be served. “I have a 17-year-old son who I worry about every day when he heads out into our neighborhood. But now I can take heart knowing that if, God forbid, he were ever in a situation like this, there would be a tiny fraction of a chance that every single element would fall into place and my family would receive the fair and just legal outcome we deserve.” The nation added that they were also hopeful the situation would change the behavior of police officers by making them look around to see if anyone was filming them before they moved from excessive to lethal force.

Carry on with that narrative of "all cops are white male and racist"!

Dems solution to Rand Paul? He's got a problem with women you know...

Get ready for a return to the "War on Women".

Ugh.

There's plenty of inequality out there to *** about without manufacturing it.

Those statements do not endear Paul to me, but they also say nothing about his attitude toward...anything, really. He dodged the question equally as well.

I will say that it seems to me that a true Libertarian should be 100% pro-choice, as long as the government isn't paying for the abortion...