April, 2023 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
He just had to show his politeness.
Yet more evidence that “responsible gun owner” is an oxymoron, as if we needed it.
QOTD 0
Howard Duff as Sam Spake and Lorene Tuttle as Effie:
Effie: Sam, why is the world so cruel?
Sam: Because people live in it.
Masked Marauders 0
A caller tells Thom a tale of the Trumpling.
The Rule of Lawless 0
The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini looks at how right-wing evangelical they-call-themselves Christians are reacting to the indictment of Donald Trump and concludes
Follow that link for context.
Hoist on His Own Petard 0
Honest to Betsy (Pete’s on break), you can’t make this stuff up.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Thus passeth another day in NRA Paradise.
A Taxing Issue 0
Oliver Wendel Holmes, Jr., once said, “I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” Methinks his point is well taken: roads don’t build themselves, teachers need to eat, fires don’t put themselves out, and tornadoes don’t warn you when conditions are just right for them tear down your house, just to pick a few examples out of the air.
At the Portland Press Herald, Victoria Hugo-Vidal offers some concrete examples, some from her personal experience, illustrating the validity of Holmes’s sentiment and suggests that
Too Close for Comfort 0
I have been watching the Netflix “docuseries” Dirty Money. I recommended it once and I would recommend it again.
But I couldn’t bring myself to watch this episode.
Facebook Frolics, Misty Water-Colored Memories Dept. 0
A frolicker describes what it was like to grow up side by side with other frolickers, but in a whole nother world.
Responsible Fiscals 0
A quote from Sam:
Stupid or evil? I’m not convinced it’s mutually exclusive.
The Rule of Lawless 0
Susan Young, opinion editor of the Bangor Daily News, calls out the vacuous–nay, hypocritical and logic-free–rationale* of those Republicans who refuse to take action against the wave of gun violence. A snippet:
“We’re not going to fix it,” Tennessee Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, said when asked about the shooting on Monday. “Criminals are going to be criminals.”
By that rationale, we shouldn’t have any laws at all.
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*To refer to it with a common slang term of a scatological nature would be to insult bovines.
I grew up on a farm.
Bulls are smarter than this.
Decoding de Code 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Veronika Tait argues that “endorsing the ‘poor but happy’ trope excuses inequality.” A nugget (emphasis added):
Yet research shows that those from low-income households are less happy on average than those from higher-income households.
Establishmentarianism 0
Michael in Norfolk argues that the Republican Party is in the grip of the Establishmentarians.
Follow the link for his reasons.
Afterthought:
I think he has a point. It would help to explain in part the devolution of a political party into a personality cult.