May, 2017 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Well, this takes the wedding cake.
“Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, David Ropeik explores the politics of fear.
Or is there something else we need to worry about, something far deeper, something far more potentially dangerous? Shouldn’t we also be afraid of the subjective way we figure out what to be afraid of in the first place, the cognitive system that leads to these disparate views on what we need to fear based on precisely the same evidence?
Follow the link for his answers to those questions.
The Wreck of Old No. 45 0
Alfred P. Doblin has never seen anything like it:
Follow the link to learn why he said that.
Trumpling Freedom of the Press 0
Reporter Dan Heyman describes Tom Price’s having him arrested for daring to ask a question of said august personage. Here’s a bit:
(snip)
The day after my arrest, Price commended the police and pointed out that I wasn’t asking my question as part of a news conference. I would have preferred to go to a news conference — ask my one question, sit down and shut up. But Price, like many of the other public officials supporting the American Health Care Act, has been tightly restricting press and public access when he might be asked about health care.
Do read the rest for a victim’s view of the nascent culture of Republican despotism.
From Russia, with Love 0
Solomon Jones tries to figure out the Alt-Right’s Neo-Nazis’ White Nationalists’ KKK’s Secesh’s sudden love for Russia.* A snippet:
Given that white nationalists in America claim to be focused on saving America for white people, I don’t get their sudden Russia fixation. But I guess that’s the effect of having a president who benefited from Russian hacking, fired the man who was investigating possible Russian collusion with his campaign, and topped it all off by allegedly revealing classified information to Russian diplomats.
________________
*Changing the label doesn’t change the contents.
Fallout 0
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it–oh, wait. The question is moot.
Everyone heard it.
Well, That Didn’t Take Long 0
The justice, it is obstructed.
The primary question is quite clear. Is the Republican Party as craven as we already know it to be?
We’re Nowhere Near
to the Nadir
0
to the Nadir
Eli Lake opines,
(snip)
In addition to being incompetent in a national security sense, the flub is also politically embarrassing for the president. Remember that Trump campaigned on the idea that Hillary Clinton was unfit to be president because her use of a private email server was evidence of mishandling classified information. Clinton must find in this story a delicious Schadenfreude.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
You do know, it’s just going to get worse.
Public Engagement 0
Continuing on the theme of “We are doomed,” not only are we doomed, we are doomed through our own inaction.
The Jan Brady Defense 0
We are doomed.
Caffeination Nation 0
Oh, my.
The official cause of death for Davis Allen Cripe was a “caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia,” said Richland County Coroner Gary Watts. It was the result of the teen ingesting the caffeine from a large Diet Mountain Dew, a cafe latte from McDonald’s and an energy drink over the course of about two hours, Watts said.
The story goes on to say that the autopsy found no undiagnosed or untreated condition. The caffeine did it all on its ownsome.