April, 2021 archive
Driving While Black, Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud Dept. 0
In a related vein, Tony Norman reflects on the teacher and the lesson.
Cyber-Bigots Cultivate Virtual Bigotry 0
The Seattle Times takes a deep dive into the proliferation racist zoombombings and finds that they are increasingly coordinated efforts:
Follow the link for their evidence.
Driving While Black 0
Many years ago, in my incarnation as a technical trainer (training is training; the skills are the same, only the subject matter varies, though, natch, you do have to master the subject matter), I was teaching a class about how to implement a piece of security software manufactured by my employer of the time. During casual chit-chat on a break, one of the students, the owner of security business who happened to be a black man, told me a story.
He was visiting his mother, a financially well-situated woman who lived in a gated community outside a major city a little bit north of Toledo, Ohio, in the upper Midwest. He was running an errand at her request and happened to be driving her Mercedes.
The police stopped him because, for some reason, they thought he needed to prove that he belonged.
What, one wonders, might that reason might have been?
Image via Job’s Anger.
Vaccine Nation 0
Davod talks sense about “vaccine passports,” aka “immunization records.” (Warning: Short ad at end.)
Geeking Out 0
Listening to the BBC adaption of John Dickson Carr’s The Mad Hatter Mystery from The Old Time Radio Theater with the VLC media player on Ubuntu MATE under the Fluxbox window manager. The wallpaper is from my collection.
Packs of Lies 0
The Arizona Republic’s Elvia Diaz points out that Republicans are against court packing except when they do it.
Follow the link for the evidence.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Saying the quiet stuff out loud.
The racism is appalling (but not surprising). The stupid, though, is astounding.
And, in more news of the Secesh . . . .
Sacrifices on the Altar of the Fool’s Errand 0
I get that there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth about President Biden’s committing to withdraw from Afghanistan. And I share Bob Cesca’s fear that the Taliban will rise again and his concern that the Taliban’s holding power next door to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons, is disquieting.
Mongers of war, believers that the sword is the ultimate solution to every problem, fans of false macho, and manufacturers of weaponry will wail and gnash their teeth. But, frankly, after twenty years, what have we accomplished? An endless running-in-place.
Zilch, nada, nothing.
We should sacrifice no more lives on the altar of pretending that it was not a fool’s errand from the git-go, and two decades has shown us that we cannot fix Afghanistan’s internal problems from afar, however in need of fixing some of them might be.
This may be President Biden’s bravest act to date–to stand up to the mongers of endless war.
Image via Job’s Anger.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Concealed politeness.
During the investigation, officers later determined one of those three people and the victim were together at the time of the incident. One person in the group had a gun and accidentally shot the victim in the stomach. Police say the group then made up a story about the unknown shooter.
Vaccine Nation 0
Thom receives a call from an anti-vaxxer.
Maskless Marauders 0
Massachusetts tax preparer assessed with OSHA penalty for banning masks and social distancing in the office.
Aside:
I wouldn’t want anyone this stupid anywhere near my tax returns.