January, 2023 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner”–oh, well, you know the rest.
Rubbing away at Freedom 0
AL.com’s Francis Coleman suggests that some persons have a–er–misguided notion of the meaning of “freedom.” Here’s a bit from his article:
If you want to be free to do practically anything you want to, you have to extend the same to everyone else.
And there’s the rub.
Follow the link, where he expands on said rub.
Incongruously Assembled 0
In response to a letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Sun, I regret to have to say that I think that we do have a truly representative House of Representatives.
The Republican majority truly represents the worst in us.
I’m going to blame some of this on the the Chicago School and their economics of me! Me! ME! (which, natch, they dressed up in multi-syllabic words), which portrays rank selfishness as a positive value, for helping mainstream this malignancy.
But that’s just me.
Vaccine Nation 0
Sam and his crew dissect another lie from James O’Keefe’s inaptly named Project Veritas.
Conning with Gas 0
Clarence Page looks at the GOP’s ginned up gasp-fest about gas stoves. A snippet:
Rest easy, the Biden administration says. No such raids are planned to snatch your stove or any other home appliances. But to some influencers, particularly of the right-wing persuasion, the rumor itself was too tantalizing to be encumbered by anything so quaint and tiresome as facts.
Follow the link for the facts.
Plus ca Change 0
Boston University professor Joshua Pederson suggests the concern that students will use ChatGPT, the “artificial intelligence chat bot,” to cheat on assignments is somewhat overblown. A snippet (emphasis added):
Limitations of Statues 0
It’s been a long time since I visited Richmond, Va.
When I was a young ‘un, back in the olden days, though, the whole family would sometimes accompany my father when he had to go there on business, where we would stay at a hotel that is no longer a hotel. I have fond memories of agonizing over which two 35-cent Pocketbooks to buy with the dollar my mother had given me at a department stores which no longer exists and of lunching at a Hot Shoppes cafeteria, along with recollections of the imposing statues of Confederate leaders along Monument Avenue.
Those statues were part and promotion of the myth of the “Lost Cause,” that attempt to paint those persons and the movement they led as something other than what it was, that is, a treasonous rebellion to preserve chattel slavery. (As I have mentioned before, it may have been one of the most effective propaganda campaigns in history.)
Those statues are now gone, all removed within the past two years.
At SLANTblog, F. T. Rea, a native Richmonder, reflects on their removal and the suddenness thereof.
His article is worth the few minutes it will take to read.
When “Smart” Is Stupid 0
There’s a reason why, when we needed a couple of new appliances to replace ones who had given up the ghost after many years of long and faithful service, I said to the sales rep, “I don’t want anything ‘smart.'”
Insanity . . . 0
. . . is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results.
