Now here’s an idea: Name various TSA facilities after the jerks who inflicted them on us. Post prominent signs so people in those three-hour lines could contemplate whom to thank.
Finally, a political quiz with enough nuance not to leave libertarians banging their heads. (You may have to click “other stances” to get to the nuanced parts; might depend on your computer’s settings.)
Simultaneously published at ClaireWolfe.com/blog. Please bookmark that link, as the blog will soon be relocating there.
Comments are being shut off here, but comment away over there! Everyone’s first-ever comment goes to moderation, but Bear and I are keeping eyes peeled for new comments and approving them as fast as we can. Also, if you’ve ever embarrassed yourself with a comment typo (and haven’t we all), you’ll be glad to know that Bear (login name: He Who Fakes It Well) has figured out a way to let you edit your own comments. There’s only a brief opportunity — five minutes. You can’t go back the next day and change your entire statement or anything. But if you quickly realize you’ve made an oopsie, you can now fix it.
Oh wow. Did you know about this? Anybody seen it? Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk have a new series that plays on their roles in the late, much-lamented, still grand-and-gloriously freedomista Firefly.
Speaking of rip-roaring, libertarianish fiction, Larry Correia’s latest Monster Hunter book is coming out Tuesday. An unusual amount of buzz around this one. Preorders now accepted on Amazon.
Twenty years ago, libertarians were “lunatics” for wanting to end the drug war. Now … mainstream. Twenty years ago, libertarians were “crazy and irresponsible” for wanting to end zoning laws. Now … the idea’s being discussed on Bloomberg.com.
Every four years, the Olympics cost cities, regions, and countries more than they earn. Every four years, a new athletic supercomplex begins to crumble into ruin. Every four years thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of poor people and small businesses are brutally displaced for the sake of an international show. Why do so few commentarors realize and write about the obvious?
Suspicions confirmed: the U.S. has only one native wolf species. The other two “species” are just the result of coyotes and wolves doing some … er, heavy partying.
An excellent off-topic discussion started in this morning’s “Nevermind” post. It deserves more prominence than it’ll get in comments, so I’m moving it forward here.
LBS wrote:
DH is a pacifist and against all violent methods of self-defense – especially guns. He says I can defend myself, as long as the method couldn’t possibly kill the attacker (yeah, I know what you’re thinking). Do any of you have any ideas what a short, sixtyish, fat cancer survivor could have handy to better the odds? (BTW, murder or divorce are not options. I really love the guy. He’s mostly a great guy, just naive.)
The first several comments below appear under my personal login because I have no way of duplicating the logins of the original writers. But please note that these comments are by RustyGunner, LBS, LarryA, and Pat.
But heck, it was all the way across the country from me. And in Massachusetts, where they make outrageous anti-gun diktats six times every day before breakfast. So normally I’d have blogged it only as a linkday blurb.
But happens I know somebody who was there and he took these.
BTW, for those for whom Boston lore is mere history, “Healey 4 Harbor” means dump the dictatorial politician where all that tea went.
P.S. I haven’t verified that George Washington quote & it doesn’t immediately ring true to my ears. But the sign about Patriots players and their kill record certainly makes a fine point.
I’m online more than expected this week — coordinating on the website-to-be, thanking wonderful donors, chasing rainbows, keeping ahead of runaway trucks. You know, the usual. So I figure you guys might as well benefit from some extra posting while I’m at it.
Three years — or more — for possession of an eeeeevil BB gun? Only in New Jersey. I hope this poor schmuck’s fight goes well. (H/T DB)
I’ve always admired Peter Theil. So libertarian. So out-of-the-box. So creatively cheeky. But I didn’t realize he was the founder and chief investor in the ghastly, government-sucking, privacy-raping, Tolkein-savaging Palantir. Ugh. Why would a supposed “libertarian” do such a thing to the rest of us???
So even if you’re a hermit in the woods, you now know that a game called Pokemon Go is The Most Important Thing Ever To Happen In America, Seriously EVAHHHH. What fewer people are talking about is how it makes money off players while savaging their privacy. (Yes, even after its token well-publicized privacy corrections.)
NSFW, but an absolute must for the too-bad-to-be-true category: Has this ever happened to you? (Note: For those who didn’t catch too-bad-to-be-true, this is a parody)
No, darnit. I cannot find the iPhone. Where the heck is it? (H/t Jim B. in comments)
Well, I don’t know which is more depressing: presidential candidates who’ve never succumbed to any vices or those who have but lie about it.
Rigidly straightlaced people rarely make empathetic “leaders.”
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It’s definitely depressing that America’s blood-dancing hoplophobes will still fail to notice a) that it does happen in other countries and b) that an evil guy with an agenda can kill more people with a truck than with a firearm.
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And why do so many people consider it somehow “better” if the Nazgul preserve an appearance of impartiality, even when they clearly have agendas?
This is like the dysfunctional family that thinks as long as nobody talks about the problem, there is no problem.
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While clearly there’s a lot in the world to be pissed off about (and there always has been, right from the time the first finny thing ate the first one-celled squiggly thing), I had no idea until Joel mentioned it that today is supposed to be a national day of rage.
Which is good. Because so far, as of early afternoon Pacific time, I haven’t yet managed to get beyond a good ennui.
Still, there’s time. Even if one can’t manage more than a state of mild vexation today, perhaps a touch of contumely toward one’s presumptive rulers, The Brunett warned recently of a dangerously mad summer to come.
Could be. I don’t share either the fear or the rage, but then I live in a peaceful, pleasant backwater, where the people around me are actually, you know, nice. And many of them reasonably self-sufficient and busy enough with their lives not to set aside public time for rage and riot.
(ETA) Thus it was almost a relief to learn from wise commentors that no one’s seriously demanding that we get all enraged after all. At least not today. Whew.
Still, does anybody doubt that we’re only seeing the beginning of dangerous times?
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As for me, since Robbie died, I’ve been taking extra walks with Ava. Sometimes our walks are just the usual thing, a mile or two in the morning or afternoon. But we’ve done more than our share of hilly trecks that (speaking only for me; I don’t know about Ava) get the heart rate going and produce a happy soreness in thighs and calves. I think both Ava and I have lost a little weight this last week on this routine.
But to heck with getting overly healthy. We’ve also earned our indulgences. Yesterday after one such hike, we stopped at the little tienda in town and bought a fat slice of tres leches cake (swimming in thick cream!) and a Jarritos tamarind soda. Took them both over to the waterfront and enjoyed them there. Ava got to lick the cake carton.
I don’t like carbonated beverages and rarely ever have soft drinks of any sort. But I love how these fruity Mexican sodas boast of their gloriously high, and pure, sugar content. In this age of low-cal/no-cal everything, when even the worst sort of junk food masquerades as healthy (often because it’s filled with distinctly unhealthy manmade ingredients), it’s refreshing to see sugar proclaiming itself so cheekily from the side of a bottle. A bottle that, BTW, still requires a churchkey opener that’s hung from the side of an old-fashioned refrigerator case.
The tienda also has incredible tacos — handmade soft corn tortillas, folded over seasoned meat, avocado slices, crema, and fresh cilantro, among other goodies. But I’ll go back for those another day.
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In the meantime, don’t feel you absolutely have to go out tonight and, on command, work yourself into such a righteous rage that you forget to enjoy your Friday and your weekend. :-)
Okay, I know we have enough to laugh about with our own politicians. We don’t need to mock furriners, even if they are socialists. But OTOH, the French currently have the biggest elected laugh-riot. Love the Star Wars photo.
So last year, scientists figured out that cinnamon might help prevent colo-rectal cancer (if you happen to be mouse). Now they’re saying it improves mousy learning, too. No word yet on how much us humans would have to ingest to get the benefits. (H/T VS)
If old people should be banned from v*ting, what about the young-but-terminally-ill? The left. It really is out of good ideas. (But then, is that worse than the political right, which has a few good ideas but not the courage to stand up for them?)
And I’m with Glenn Reynolds: There a lot of stuff that should be banned for all those political types who want to go around banning things and otherwise making other people’s lives miserable.
Eejits. Ignorant eejits, too. Ignorant, blood-dancing eejits, need I add?
I’m working on something I hoped to have ready this morning, but given the last few days, I expect you won’t be surprised I’m behind on it. Meantime, here are some links.
And thank you for the warm, wise, empathetic comments about Robbie. So many of you have hit the mark so perfectly — and so many of you have been here yourselves. I don’t yet have the heart to respond in comments, but I’ve read the last couple of comment sections over and over. I can’t tell you how much it helps.
That this is outrageous, racist, murderous, and wrong in every way does not make this any less racist, less murderous, less wrong, or less outrageous.
Okay, the writer has an agenda. And there’s more than a whiff of pop psychology about this. But given that we might soon have an elitist boarding-school boy as president, it’s worth a read. How boarding schools create heartless, insecure, defensive, overly reactive leaders.
Judge Napolitano on the Clintons beating the rap once again. Complete with examples of individuals who were prosecuted for similar, but lesser, actions.
And finally, dog stuff. From Shel in comments: Louis Awerbuck eloquently memorialized his warrior cocker spaniel. From Pat in comments: a little deaf girl teaches sign language to her little deaf puppy. (I’ve fostered three, maybe four, deaf herd-breed dogs and without exception they’ve been devoted, attentive, and alert learners.)
Okay, this is verrrrrry politically incorrect. And maybe not so funny. But I laughed anyhow: Nutz-R-Us. Guess what they own and operate?
I hate to say anything good about Google. But when it comes to self-driving vehicles they’ve taken a more sensible path than Tesla. (But then, people aren’t drawn to Teslas because they’re “sensible.”)
Gosh. What a pity that gun ownership is falling off. Yes, despite record numbers of background checks. Despite millions of new shooters (young, minority, female). Despite all that actual, you know, evidence.
The Zelman Partisans has a spiffy new home page, courtesy of volunteer Carl-Bear Bussjaeger. No longer are we “just a blog.”
And as our first “beyond the blog” effort, on Independence Day we kicked off a contest to win a rare, historic Israeli Mauser. Put your thinking caps on, and you might eventually display this piece of history your wall. Or for that matter, take it to the range.
I also want to call your attention to the handy binoculars TZP got in recently. Their description says “compact.” Little did I know. Since then, I’ve received my own pair and shazam. These guys come with a belt loop and are so small and light you could carry them anywhere without noticing extra weight or bulk. I’ll probably have a review with pix soon.
Again, NFI on my part for any of this. Just want to see TZP grow and want to see us offer useful, attractive items that will eventually help fund special projects.
How J.R.R. Tolkein found Mordor on the Western Front. Simplistic. But with the 100th anniversary of the unthinkable Battle of the Somme, apropos.
Bill and Loretta. Yeah, I suppose it’s possible that they really did talk about their families, as Lynch insists with a wink-wink, nod-nod. If so, the conversation probably went like this.
What a cesspit and an illegal tavern tell us about American revolutionary history.
Anybody here still living in California? Plan to continue there after this? And how on earth is that background-check-and-registration-for-ammo going to work? Well, of course ultimately it’s not going to work (except in the sense of keeping people from buying cartridges, which is surely the real point). But I’m trying to think of the costs, the backlogs, the bureaucratic screwups, the unwillingness of FFLs to want to bother, the entirely new bunch of tax-suckers this will require. (It’s not clear from what I’ve read whether the b-c-a-r-f ammo provision will ultimately go into effect.)
And after that load of disgustingness, we close — and cleanse our spirits — with some beautiful courage and inspiration from Mike Vanderboegh.
“Why Linkedin will make you hate Microsoft.” Wait. What? You don’t already hate Microsoft? But seriously, if they really do what this NYT article says they’re planning, we’re talking whole new levels.
Wow. Beer can, mama bear, and don’t-forget-the-dog save a woman during a long ordeal. But note what she really wishes she hadn’t left at home.
Have you ever sensed that Snopes.com, the great All-Powerful Fact-Checker of the Intertubz, sometimes needs fact-checking itself — particularly on political issues? Turns our you’re quite right. Look who’s providing those political “facts”. Makes me sad. Snopes has been a valuable resource and this is slowly destroying their credibility. (H/T OdS)
Oh, the poo, poo widdle antigun politician. And of course he merely joins the ranks of fellow hypocrites. (That second article is actually about the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Clintons turning the White House into “a brothel.” Quite gross, really. It mentions Hillary’s fondness for firearms only in passing.)
Registering women for the draft? Sigh. I suppose it was only a matter of time. But if we must have the sort of bogus “equality” that puts women into combat, could we at least do away with the kind of bogus inequality that makes any young people, let alone all of them, slaves eligible for government disposal?
I know these rainbow #shootback posters (Gadsden style!) are old news now in Internet time since Shel put them into comments last week. But they are sooooo beautiful. And so much wiser and more honest than the O-admin’s craven claim that censoring 911 transcripts from the latest murder-for-Mohammed was done “for the victims”.
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