“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
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.
Fatal Attraction 0
Michael in Norfolk wonders just what keeps Donald Trump’s dupes, symps, and fellow travelers from seeing the reality of Trump and Trumpism.
Originalist Sin 0
It’s encoded in Cannon law.
“Tempered Rhetoric” 0
Seth takes a closer look at the Republican Party’s expressed desire to “tone donw the rhetoric.”
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, David B. Offer hears a rhyme. Here’s the first line of the couplet:
Follow the link for the rhyme.
___________________-
*Mark Twain.
False Equivalence: Comparing Apples to Cow Pats 0
Colby Hall notes that (some) Trump is trying to blame Democrats’ rhetoric for the recent thwarted assassination attempt. They are equating claims that Trump represents a threat to democracy (he does) with Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen (it wasn’t).
Here’s tiny bit from his article:
The problem is that the comparison makes no sense. It is a brazen false equivalency that flat-out ignores the fact that what caused Jan. 6 — Trump’s false election claims and his continued spouting of them — is precisely the threat to democracy that Hume invokes.
Crucially, the difference between Hume’s examples of inciting claims is simple: one is true, and one is false. The claim that fueled Jan. 6, that the 2020 election was stolen, is false. If it were true, few would criticize Trump for complaining about it. It was not true.
QOTD 0
P. D. James:
She had always believed–somewhat to her surprise–that God existed but was unconvinced that he was moved by the worship of man or by the tribulations and extraordinary vagaries and antics of the creation He had set in being.
James, P. D., The Murder Room (New York: Knopf, 2003) p. 49
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
I commend to your attention Harry Shearer’s interview with Gary Marcus on this week’s episode of Le Show about AI and Silicon Valley’s reckless over-hyping of its capabilities.
The interview starts at about the 28 minute mark and lasts a little less than half an hour.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
Thom points out that racial hate seems to be the only strategy that Trump and Vance have left.
He also notes that their racist tactics are–er–not unprecedented in America’s history.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” (Updated) 0
The stupid.
The shot rang out on September 15 inside the Costco location near Kalamazoo on Century Avenue.
The firearm was inside a woman’s purse when it went off.
The gun’s legal owner was shot in her hand, according to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office.
It burns.
Addendum:
The MSP officer, whose name was not released, was off duty Sunday when the gun “accidentally discharged” from inside her purse at the Costco on Century Avenue off Michigan Avenue in Oshtemo Township.
Words fail me.
On second thought, no, they don’t.
Guns do not “accidentally” discharge, but they can, indeed, “negligently” discharge.
“Accidentally” and “negligently” are not synonyms.
Karen Karen-Like 0
Honest to Betsy, you couldn’t make this stuff up.
Real Big Men 0
Michael in Norfolk wonders why so many men seem to be afraid of women.
QOTD 0
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:
Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven’t committed.