July, 2015 archive
Pistol Protocol 0
jason330 explains how the media will cover the next mass shooting.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 2
Greet prospective home buyers politely.
The investigation revealed that while the family was viewing a home for sale, the two children followed a cat into a bedroom. One child followed the cat under the bed, where the handgun was stored,” investigators said. “The victim was shot in the leg and had non-life threatening injuries.”
No charges will be filed because what the hey! stuff happens.
Aside:
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, how is it not criminal negligence to leave a loaded gun under the damned bed in a house open for real estate showings?
Wrong on Cue 0
Shorter Bill Cosby (and many many others): “But she really wanted it.”
Yeah, Bill (and many many others). Keep telling yourself that.
The Snaring Economy 1
In The Guardian, Frank Pasquale and Siva Vaidhyanathan see a precedent for Uber etc.
It’s not the precedent you would expect. Here’s a snippet (emphasis added):
The analogy is most obvious in the case of an American civil rights law itself. Uber has ignored advocates for the blind, and other disabled persons, when they claim Uber’s drivers discriminate against them. In response to a lawsuit by the National Federation of the Blind, Uber bluntly asserts that it’s merely a communication platform, not the type of employer meant to be covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Some judges and regulators accept that reasoning; others reject it. But the larger lesson is clear: Uber’s aggressive efforts to avoid or evade disability laws are nothing less than a form of corporate nullification, as menacing to the rule of law as defiance of civil rights laws in the days after courts ruled against racial segregation in the US.
Follow the link for the rest of the article.
Fox News: Weaponizing Hate 0
Excerpt:
Conservatism and racism in the post-Civil Rights era are one and the same.
Via We Are Responsible Negroes.
Rand Gestures 0
I’m not big fan of Amanda Marcotte. I think that she often sacrifices truth to polemic. My scrupulous efforts to remain neutral in these electrons should indicate the degree to which she tickles my skeptic bone.
Nevertheless, I think she is on to something in her attempt to make sense of the embrace by Rand Paul, self-styled sort of glibertarian, of the right-wing religious politics of pervy preoccupation with the sex lives of others. Here’s a bit from her piece at TPM:
This problem is made all the more difficult by the fact that Paul is still running a campaign trying to convince younger voters that he’s out to protect their civil liberties, a message that’s hard to convey when you’re simultaneously pandering to religious right voters who want said liberties stripped from gays and women. Paul’s attempts to thread that needle have been largely incoherent, telling religious-right audiences that he’s totally on their side and then turning around and telling others that he doesn’t see attacking abortion or gay rights as a priority.
Then there’s the other, simpler explanation, the one I favor:
A “Libertarian” is a Republican who’s ashamed to admit it.
The View from the Balcony 0
Via Job’s Anger.
Intolerance: Yet Another Republican Family Value 0
The Bangor Daily News spotlights the hypocrisy of those who would unleash the hate-full in the name of tolerance. A snippet:
“Our country,” he told NPR in a recent interview, “was founded on a proud tradition of religious freedom and tolerance.”
That freedom, however, meant that Americans were free from a state-established religion. As a result, no one religious view is favored over another, nor should one be forced upon citizens with different beliefs.
Worse, tolerance, in Lee’s view, only goes in one direction. Religious institutions, including colleges and universities that receive federal funding, should be allowed to refuse to hire those who don’t follow their beliefs. Those institutions, however, don’t have to tolerate those whose beliefs and lifestyles don’t conform to their world view.
Read the rest.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The polite inspect the merchandise.
She had traveled to a home at 2818 Rocky Ford Road near Newton on Sunday with two 21-year-olds, one of them a friend. Lewis had recently met the driver, Clayton Webb Jr. He was interested in buying the rifle and was looking it over when it fired. Lewis was taking a picture of it.
The device appears to be capable of performing its primary function, as the young lady is now deceased.
Still Traitors after All These Years 2
From Facing South (full article at the link):
(snip)
But in fact, the law does not do what Confederate apologists say it does. It certainly does not “pardon” Confederate veterans, nor does not generally give them status “equal to” U.S. veterans.
It’s ironic that the same folks who decry the evul fedrul guvmint would claim its sanction.
Garden Notes 0
If you look back at the photographs I’ve posted, you will see a number of pictures of bumbledy bees.
I haven’t posted any this summer because we have seen hardly any bumbledy bees.
Coming Soon: Career Choices 0
A new Dickensian tale, in which Artful Dodger gives up the streets and the gangs, gets a three-piece suit, and becomes a banker.