2018 archive
Football Frolics 2
Susan Estrich comments on the Washington Redskin’s decision to pick Reuben Foster, who has a history of domestic violence. A snippet:
I remarked to someone the other day that there is only one hope for the Washington Redskins, who have fallen far since their glory days under Coach Joe Gibbs and owner Jack Kemp Cooke.
They need to trade for a new owner.
Afterthought:
Jack Kent Cooke was a class act. When he wanted a new arena for the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards), he didn’t come begging to local governments for taxpayer money.
No, he just built it.
Addendum, the Next Day:
H/T to Walden for correcting my hazy recollection. See the comments.
Facebook Frolics 0
Vindictive frolics.
Aside:
I’m not sure I agree wholly with Farron’s comments about how telling lies on “social” media does not constituted “election interference.” Certainly, it’s not the same as interfering with the casting or counting of ballots, but I submit that the line between “election interference” and “electorate interference” is a fuzzy one.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Once again, politeness is child’s play.
Thus passeth another day in the NRA’s Garden of Eden.
Gradations 0
In a larger discussion about the “warrior gene”* (follow the link–it’s worth your while), Elie Mystal explains the hierarchy of charges involving causing the death of another person.
- First Degree Murder = You killed people.
- Second Degree Murder = You killed people, opportunistically.
- Voluntary Manslaughter = You killed people, but I understand.
- Involuntary Manslaughter = You’re such a dumbass that you actually killed people.
- Self-Defense = You killed black people.
_______________
*The short version is that a certain gene, if present, alters body chemistry so as to make a person less able to resist impulses. The occasion of Mystal’s post is that the theory is being floated as a mitigating circumstance in a particularly horrific killing. Mystal is arguing that the law already recognises mitigating circumstances.
QOTD 0
Edmund Crispin, in the voice of Sergeant Beeton:
But in spite of that, you couldn’t help liking him–same way you would like a cat, provided you keep your pet goldfish out of his reach.
Crispin, Edmund (pen name for Bruce Montgomery), “Black for a Funeral”
in Beware of the Trains (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), p. 98.
But the Emails! 0
David marvels at the hypocrisy.
Afterthought:
David needs to grow up.
Republicanism is all about hypocrisy.
License To Kill 0
Field explains how to distinguish a “good guy with a gun” from a bad guy with a gun.
QOTD 0
Rex Stout, in the voice of Archie Goodwin:
You can’t look down your nose at someone when he is standing and you are sitting.
Stout, Rex, Champagne for One (in a double volume with Too Many Cooks
which if you haven’t read it you should) (New York: Bantam, 2009), p. 147.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
David interviews Professor Pete Simi about Simi’s research into white supremacists.
Rules of Derangement, Reprise 0
Dan Simpson, writing at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also takes a shot at understanding Donald Trump. A snippet:
Rules of Derangement 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Stanton Peele offers three rules for predicting Donald Trump’s behavior, arguing that they are next to infallible. Here they are; follow the link for an explanation of each one:
- Everything is a victory.
- Any apparent shortfall is due to others.
- Silence anyone who disagrees, or who violates rules 1 and 2.