March, 2016 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another good guy with a gun . . .
(snip)
According to police, the girl suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder while handling an unsecured firearm that accidentally discharged.
. . . and another gun that fires itself.
The owner of the gun has been arrested for “unsafe storage.” Follow the link and the reason that this was not just “another tragic accident” will be obvious.
“The Taj” 0
At the Inky, Peter Binzen and Peter Lindsay look at the history of the Trump Taj Mahal and suggest that anyone who thinks that Donald Trump has business skills should do so too.
Trump has shills, not skills.
Aside:
I once spent a night at the Taj (long story don’t ask). Goddamned ugliest hotel room I ever saw in my thirty years on the road.
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
Welcome to the “health care marketplace”:
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday it was all part of an illegal effort by Olympus Corp. of the Americas, based in Center Valley, Pa., near Allentown, to induce doctors and hospitals to buy its products: the pricey medical devices called endoscopes.
My ex is a nurse (and a damned good one, at that).
When I first met her, she was an OR nurse. The OR staff, including the doctors, at the little hospital where she worked at the time always looked forward to visits from pharma reps, because those visits meant free hoagies courtesy of Big Pharma.
This is called “unbiased evaluation of medical technology in the marketplace.”
Follow the link for the gruesome details.
Digital Piracy 0
No, no, no, not Napster-style piracy.
The traditional kind:
When one unnamed shipping company hired Verizon’s VZ, +1.14% security team to investigate, they learned the pirates had begun practicing another trade: Hacking.
The pirates are stealing computerized bills of lading so they can make sure they are hijacking the good stuff. More at the link.
Stray Thought, the Devil Made Me Do It Dept. 0
How about we all mail Donald Trump’s campaign headquarters a nice crisp white sheet to wear at his next campaign appearance?
“Heeee’s Baaaaack” 0
Bill Blum argues that, as a politician, Donald Trump is more like a remake of Arnold Schwarzenegger than he is heir to any professional politician, foreign or domestic. He points to similarities in upbringing, showmanship, ego, and tactics. A snippet:
It’s worth a read. Whether or not you find it persuasive (and I think he has accurately described at least part of the elephant), it provides a novel prism for interpreting a chilling phenomenon.
Mirror Imaging 0
Thom Fain looks at how the GOP shot itself in the foot and created Trump. A snippet:
In related news, Shaun Mullen explains that the New York Times doesn’t get it because it’s trapped in the villagers’ narrative, while E. J. Dionne points out that the secesh are still rising again after all these years.
