SAR #14247

What if we come to the end of the bridge before we get to the other side?

Neither Quality Nor Quantity: In August 142,000 new jobs were created – 40% below the expected number. Worse, the unemployment rate fell to 6.1% because even more people quit looking for work, lowering the labor participation rate to levels last seen in 1978. Top that with the fact that half the new jobs were in the lowest-paid service professions and none, exactly zero, were in highly paid manufacturing positions. Party on, the markets rose on the news.

Exit, Stage Left: Virginia's Bob McDonnell has withdrawn from contention for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. He's going to be otherwise occupied.

Yawn: AS two more states' anti-gay marriage laws are overturned, 32 states (some that have laws that allow gay marriage and some that prohibit it) have asked the Supreme Court to rule on the matter and put one side or the other out of its misery.

Yay, Team! The Cincinnati Bengals cut Devon Still from the team, but placed him on the team's practice squad so he could continue to get medical coverage from the organization to pay for the needs of his 4-year old daughter, who has stage four pediatric cancer.

Possession: The man who was discovered living in an apartment full of art stolen by the Nazis had smuggled a Monet into his hospital room before he died. After all, it was his. His father stole the paintings, fair and square.

Freedom To Believe: The US Air Force doesn't want you to re-enlist if you don't believe in god. They don't say 'Christianity' but that's what they mean.

Vanishing Act: An analysis of hundreds of climate studies has concluded that there is a 99.99% certainty that global warming is real and is caused by human activity. Last December was the 346th consecutive month with global land and ocean temperatures in excess of the 20^th century's monthly average. It gets harder and harder to pretend it is not happening.

The Envelope, Please: The Fed has finally noticed that since 2010 incomes have fallen for all except the very richest Americans. 
 
Opportunity: A US Circuit Court has ruled that US manufacturers can be sued in US courts under a 1789 law allowing lawsuits in U.S. courts for violations of international human rights by using child slave labor in the overseas production of their goods. The particular case was about Nestlé and other counties that sell chocolate from Africa, but it should be easily generalized to other products. 
 
Appearance & Reality: As much as many Americans are convinced we need another holy war against Islam and Obama believes the West can defeat IS just like it did (sic) al-Qaeda, evidence suggests that more than 95% of terrorist attacks are motivated by the politics of poverty and the drive for revenge against the oppressors. That would be The West and killing more of the jihadists is not a solution. 
 
Grownups: Iran and Saudi Arabia have grown tired of waiting for Iraqis to democratically arrive at a new government, so they have agreed between themselves what is best for Iraq. Wonder where they ever got such an idea?

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty: BP, Transocean and Halliburton have been found “grossly negligent” in the 2010 Gulf rig blowout. The “extreme deviation from the standard of care and a conscious disregard of known risks" will add as much as $18 billion to BPs tab and make their ads about caring for the Gulf and the people seem even more mendacious than they already did. 
 
This Just In: Much of US consumer spending is fueled by subprime lending! Imagine.

Porn O'Graph: Onward and upward!