April, 2017 archive
“But the Emails . . . “ 0
Will Bunch, who is a fairly reasonable sort, has had enough. Here’s a bit of today’s column:
This is what’s so alarming — that Trump might blow Kim Jung-un and a few million North Koreans to smithereens just to boost his hotel occupancy rates in Vegas. Apparently, the push to save the Trump Organization for democracy is behind the recent changes at the White House; Steve Bannon and his comic-book white supremacists and pretend Nazis are on the outs, and the retired generals and the boys (and girls) from Goldman Sachs are taking charge. In other words, the “serious people” who gave us the Iraq War and the 2008 fiscal collapse. That’s the upgrade. Heaven help us.
Image via Juanita Jean.
Afterthought:
I can’t shake the thought that Donald Trump reminds of nothing so much as a five-year old boy playing “Bang! Bang! You’re Dead!”
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Share the aisle.
The complainant, cops noted, reported that he was “arguing over neighborhood issues” with Mario Williams, 58, when “Williams pulled a firearm and pointed it at him during the dispute.”
Per the mugshot at the link, the mope was proudly wearing his NRA tee shirt as he sought a second amendment solution.
Trumpled Plates 0
The San Francisco Chronical takes a look at what vanity plates are being denied in California and spots a trend.
(snip)
Keegan and others who study extremism say President Trump’s rise made many people with racist views more comfortable expressing themselves.
“They feel a little more emboldened now,” he said. “They start feeling like they’re not as fringe as they actually are.”
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
The Unstated Clause 0
Jorge Reina Schement, a vice chancellor at Rutgers University, recalls his summer job working on a loading dock when he was a student. Here’s a snippet; follow the link for the rest:
I ran to the front office, where I was told that immigration – La Migra – had swept all the loading docks. When I asked about my fellow workers, I received a shrug. Later, I asked the boss why they didn’t take me. He laughed and replied, “You don’t look like a Mexican.” I was a light skinned Mexican-Italian born in Texas. My first lesson about deportations: Skin color matters.
One could argue that “skin color matters” is an unstated founding principle of the United States, just as the 3/5ths rule was a stated one. The 3/5ths rule is gone (at least formally), but skin color still matters.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
. . . and a polite society is a clean society.
If you are too stupid to make sure your gun is empty before cleaning it, you are too stupid to have gun.
Southern Heritage 0
(Post fixed.)
From the land of gracious living: Deneen Brown writes of two historians who are trying to compile a complete listing of ads still extant for runaway slaves in the ante bellum South.
Click to see the article with more examples of gracious living.
A web search for “runaway slaves ads” will turn up a number of sites with actual historical facts that the New Secesh want to pretend don’t exist.
Aside:
I must have broken this post when I was troubleshooting the sidebar issue.
Alt-Universe 0
Dick Polman points out that “alternative facts” are not uniquely American.
He travels to France to find them also roaming in the wild there.
Benighted Airlines 0
Thom points out that the “rule” United Airlines cited to justify beating the bejesus out of one of their customers does not exist. “Deny boarding” is not the same thing as “removal from the plane.”
Fly the Fiendly Skies, Reprise 0
Meanwhile, Michael Hiltzik dissects United’s excuses. Here’s a bit from his piece:
(snip)
But Munoz, whose version of the episode appears to come from the playbook of how to dig oneself into an ever deeper hole, also undermined the argument that the flight was overbooked. He related that “after the flight was fully boarded,” gate agents “were approached by crewmembers that were told they needed to board the flight.” The implication is that the crew members heading to Louisville were late in arriving, that every passenger held a paid ticket and had been properly boarded, and that only belatedly did United decide to pull passengers off the plane to make room for the crew.
Video via SeattlePI.
Deprogrammed 0
In related news, Florida sticks with the programming. An excerpt from Daniel Ruth’s column:
When you had the opportunity to revise Florida’s ditsy “stand your ground” law to make it even easier for the citizenry to shoot one another with less legal risk than a Kremlin assassin, how did you vote?
And if the vote was yes, you can conclude that your elected poltroon is a prevaricating, hypocritical, weasly National Rifle Association lackey. Too harsh?
This is a neat trick. The Florida Legislature is poised to take one of the nation’s most stupid — and needless — laws and make it even more inane. We’re number dumb!
