February, 2016 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
More guns no doubt would have prevented this.
One of the cousins was holding the gun and riding a hoverboard when he slipped, causing the gun to accidentally fire, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office report.
Stray Thought, Igloo Dept. 0
At the grocery store yesterday, I overheard the person ahead of me telling the clerk that she had heard several forecasts of snow. She seemed quite concerned.
None of what she said is supported by the weather link, over there, on the sidebar.———->
I have become convinced that telly vision weather forecasters are not happy until they induce panic.
Panic is their friend. Panic is click bait.
Reality is their enemy.
Facebook Frolics 0
I fear this horse is already out the barn door and into the next county.
The French order is the first significant action to be taken against a company transferring Europeans’ data to the US following an EU court ruling last year that struck down an agreement that had been relied on by thousands of companies, including Facebook, to avoid cumbersome EU data transfer rules.
Details at the link.
Chris-Crossed, I Know You Are but What Am I Dept. 0
Alfred P. Doblin marvels as Chris Christie unleashes his inner bully. A snippet:
Of course, Christie knows that, and that is why he is resorting to schoolyard antics. “And so are you” is not exactly Madison or Jefferson, but when you are 10 or 12, it can pretty much end the conversation. The governor is appealing to the lowest common denominator. The problem with this strategy is that 12-year-old boys cannot vote in a Republican primary.
There was a time when Chris Christie was a rising star, the tell-it-like-it-is public official. I bought that line. If that was ever authentic, I can’t say now, but the governor has chosen to abandon the people of New Jersey and chosen to abandon any pretext of being “the adult in the room.”
Cowboy Cosplay 0
The costume party continues. From TPM:
The remaining diehards at the Malheur National Wildlife Center have re-dubbed it “Camp Finicum.”
National attention on the standoff has waned since Finicum’s death, but things have continued to get weirder. Franklin Graham, the minister, has gotten involved at some level to try to bring an end to the standoff. Ammon Bundy, the main leader who is now jailed in Portland, reportedly in solitary confinement, has been making regular statements to the public via recorded messages released by his lawyers, and police have tightened the cordon around the refuge even as the handful of militants holed up inside ?have sounded the call for their supporters on the outside to “stand up” in their defense.
More secessionist cosplay at the link.
Gut Out the Vote 0
I’m so old that I can remember when North Carolina was considered the beacon of progress for the “New South.” We have latterly seen since that since 1865 there is not and has never been a “New South,” and there has been damned little progress.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 2
Once again, a polite society is a clean society.
How stupid do you have to be to clean a gun without checking that it’s loaded?
Pretty damn stupid, and there’s a lot of that going around.
Forget the Race; Look at the Racers 0
Chauncey Devega argues that far too much attention is paid to the differences amongst the Republican candidates for the presidential nomination. He find their similarities to be much more important–and troubling. Here’s a bit from his typically long and tightly-reasoned post:
1. That the United States should bomb and kill many thousands of innocent people in the Middle East and elsewhere in order to supposedly stop the spread of ISIS and other terrorist organizations.
2. Torturing suspected terrorists—even though such acts are both immoral and ineffective in retrieving actionable intelligence information—is acceptable.
3. “God’s law” should supersede the United States Constitution.
4. They are anti-science and do not believe that global warming is a real, scientifically proven, empirical fact.
(Follow the link for the rest of the list)
The contemporary Republican Party is a radical political organization that has betrayed the core tenet of “conservatism,” what is a belief in stability in the face of radical change. To that end, movement conservatism seeks to undo the consensus politics of the World War II and post-World War II era because it views the great successes of the New Deal, the Great Society and the civil rights movement(s) as a threat to the excesses of unrestrained capitalism and white male power.
Facebook Frolics 0
India refuses to be assimilated by the Zuckerborg (emphasis added–follow the link for the full article):
TRAI today ruled (PDF) that: “No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content.”
(snip)
Facebook’s Free Basics project was ostensibly intended to extend some of the internet to those in the developing world – for free. It was billed as a charitable exercise by the Zuckerborg, but was met with considerably more hostility than charity usually is.
Critics have noted that the Zuckerborg’s curated collection of sites which were available distorted the view of the web for new netizens.
Afterthought:
My attorney will not be contacting El Reg over use of the term, “Zuckerborg,” because the comparison is so damned obvious that it’s public domain.
The Privatization Scam 0
The con rises to new heights.
A Toast to “The Smart One” Is Toast
0
Aside:
The surest way to skewer one’s campaign is to make oneself look silly. Enough voters will abide–nay, relish–bigotry, venality, brutality, and hypocrisy to keep a campaign alive; silliness sounds the death knell.
Via Job’s Anger.
If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0
Without taking a stand on Hillary v. Bernie thing, I can nevertheless commend Jane Martin’s musing on double standards in political news coverage to your attention.
But Soft! What Light on Yon Diamond Breaks? 0
I understand that there was a sporting contest yesterday. I had no interest in it.
Nevertheless, there is hope.
Pitchers and catchers report next week.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is the glue that cements familial relationships.
A 9-year-old child has died after an accidental shooting Saturday in Irondale.
The shooting happened about 2:00 p.m. on Monroe Drive. Irondale Police Chief Ken Atkinson tells CBS 42 News the 3-year-old brother of the girl discovered a gun on a nightstand in the room the two were playing in. He accidently pulled the trigger, shooting his sister in the head. The two were at the home of their great-grandparents.