March, 2015 archive
Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach Tomorrow 0
Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.
When: Thursday, March 12th, 6 p.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
More here.
Plus Ca Change 0
Herblock in 1965 about Selman, but it could be 2015 about Feguson or Cleveland or Seattle or just about anywhere else in these United States . . . .
Via Job’s Anger.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Play with politeness:
Police found the boy with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, lying on the ground amid a cluster of trees in an area between the apartment complex and nearby Northwest Passage Alternative High School. A handgun was nearby.
None Dare Call It Treason . . . 0
. . . but it’s hardly unprecedented. Thom reviews the history of Repubican politicization of foreign polity, then invites a Republican to try defend it.
Watch the Republican spin it like a top.
Senatorial Rudeness 0
Who better to comment on the rude and, quite frankly, seditious actions of Republican Senators than the Rude One?
Walkering Back on the Issues 1
In the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Christian Schneider marvels at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s refusal to take stands.
First off, asking Walker one of the most publicly known things about the president isn’t a “gotcha” question. But by not answering it, Walker offered a “gotcha” answer. And while Walker thinks he’s shooting down these types of “statement of fact” questions, he’s merely encouraging more of them.
(snip)
And of course, Clinton is once again reminding us of the etymology of the adjective “Clintonian,” as she fights off what could be a legitimate scandal. If l’affaire home email leaves Clinton a weakened candidate, Walker could have a puncher’s chance in 2016. Let’s just hope no reporter asks him a “gotcha” question like whether Clinton is a woman.
My guess is that, without his script from the Kochs, Walker has no answers.
Droning On 0
Listen to persons who have lived with it describe the reign of remote-controlled robotic death raining from the skies.
“If You Don’t Say It, It Ain’t So” 0
From the Republican Department of If-You-Don’t-Talk-about-It-It-Will-Go-Away:
“We were told not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability,’ ” said Christopher Byrd, an attorney with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of General Counsel in Tallahassee from 2008 to 2013. “That message was communicated to me and my colleagues by our superiors.”
Management denies that there was a “policy,” which is I suspect is bureaucratese for “no one was stupid enough to put this in writing.”
Much Ado about Not Much of Anything 0
Were it not for the sinister tones of the news coverage, including a shockingly ignorant editorial in my own local rag, I would find the kerfuffle over the rumored (remember, there is at yet no proof other than a grossly misinterpreted whois output) Clinton home server amusing in a “how can the press be so stupidly ignorant” sort of way.
(As an aside, the law she was alleged to have violated came into effect well after she left the State Department, so there was ipso facto no violation of the law. I don’t expect reporters to necessarily understand computers, but I do expect them to understand much older technologies, such as, say, for example, calendars. Given this, it is difficult not to see this story as a simple smear job.)
In my Linux world, it is not unusual for persons to run their own home email servers. I don’t, because my ISP forbids public-facing servers, but, ISP TOS aside, it’s hardly an indication of anything improper. All an email server does is send and receive email; there’s no man behind the curtain to pay no attention to.
This fuss is classic witch hunt, an angry mob of stupid and ignorant persons carrying torches and pitchforks railing against something that they do not understand and which may or may not have happened, but, by heavens, she’s a witch drown her then burn her at the stake!
As my two or three long time readers know, I am not a Clinton fan. But, really, honest to Pete . . . .
Domino Theory 0
Paul Krugman follows the money:
Follow the link for the lessons he draws.
Frankly, I think he omitted a part of the story. Fast food joints are deathly afraid that they might have to pay employees enough money to live on. Pizza delivery drivers are among the worst-compensated of all; tips are the great majority of their income.
Punishing Regimen 0
What’s the point of having enforcers if you can’t criminalize everyone?
Test Flailure, Reprise 0
Daniel Ruth points out that Florida’s public school testing program does not compute.
If states put the same effort into teaching that they are putting into testi–oh, never mind.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is a family affair.
The accident happened shortly after 3:30 p.m. Sunday on Partridge Drive, police said. The projectile went through a wall and struck the boy in the cheek, they said.
“Secure his gun.”
Yeah.
“Suburban Begging” 0
Recently, I read a column that asserted that GoFundMe and similar online fundraising sites have fostered a phenomena which the columnist referred to as “suburban begging”: persons’ asking for money just because they can. The author’s primary evidence was the potato salad caper, which is sooooo last year.
I can’t find the original (if I do, I shall link it up), but the second letter in today’s agony column suggests that the columnist was onto something.