2020 archive
A Notion of Immigrants, Catch-22 Dept. 0
It’s the best catch there is:
And in a neat little catch-22 worthy of The Bad Place itself, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s rewrote its rules for implementation to say that applying for a green card makes immigrants more likely to depend on public benefits and should officially count against them. Thus, applying for a green card now makes you less eligible for a green card.
Catch up with the rest of the story at the link.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Selfie politeness is the politest kind.
The report goes on to say that she thought the gun was unloaded. It leaves out the part about her being too stupid to make sure.
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.
Diet of Worms 0
Crazy worms, that is.
“Open the Hangar, Here Comes the Airplane” 0
Honest to Betsy, you can’t make this stuff up.
What Puts the “Anti-” in “Social” Media? 0
Gene Geher, an admitted Facebook Frolicker, suggest that “social” media presents us with an “evolutionary mismatch.”
He identifies ten specific problems; follow the link for a brief discussion of each one.
- People can be nasty behind screens.
- Social media creates unhealthy social echo chambers.
- Social media is not for the impulsive at heart.
- Infidelity rates have increased due to social media.
- Social media makes bullying easier.
- Social media creates permanent records—of just about everything.
- Cell phones are truly addicting.
- The natural world is suddenly less interesting than the virtual world is.
- Social estrangements are made too easy on social media.
- People can deceive in the domain of mating* like never before.
_____________________
*Not just in mating, folks.
A Note to Purity Testers 0
Shorter PoliticalProf: Vote in the real world.
A Distinction with a Difference 0
The writer of a letter to the editor of my local rag makes a fine point:
Accusations of socialism toward the Democratic Party confuse social programs with socialism.
Follow the link for the rest of the letter; it’s the fourth one down on the page.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
As all “responsible gun owners” (sic) know, politeness takes practice.
“A young man who was changing targets ran out to the target area and was shot,” Lewis said. “The victim was shot in the left arm, left chest area. He took the full blast.”
Lewis said the victim suffered serious injuries from the shotgun blast . . . .
“But It’s S-S-So Obvious!” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Don A. Moore makes a strong case that common sense isn’t.
Originalist Sin 0
Joe Patrice explores the con that is “Constitutional Originalism.” A snippet (emphasis added):
It (originalism–ed.) has always been a lie of course, but it’s a pretty successful one.
The conservatives on the Court have all but given up the facade of Originalism, granting cert in a gay rights case signaling an intent to protect Catholic Social Services who got cut off by the Philadelphia adoption program for refusing to place children with same-sex couples. The basis for the looming decision, previewed over the last several years by Supreme Court Oracle Justice Alito, is that religious freedom requires government respect the religious freedom to violate discrimination laws. The only problem with this plan is that the conservatives have already ruled that the “Originalist” read of religious freedom is the exact opposite. Apparently there are more different “Originals” in the First Amendment than there are in Ray’s Pizza establishments.
Just the Vaxx, Ma’am, There’s No Vaccination for Stupid Dept. 0
NJ.com attempted to talk with two New Jersey State Senators their anti-vaccine stance. Here’s how it went (emphasis added):
He said he read articles on the Internet: “Social media is full of them.”
We wondered, if he doesn’t trust the overwhelming scientific consensus that vaccines are safe, does he believe the 97 percent of scientists who say human activity contributes to global warming?
“Am I Encyclopedia Britannica?” he countered.
The stupid. It burns.
(More stupid at the link.)