Are mass shootings due to “entitlement culture”? Don’t say it; we all know they’re due to the individual murderers. And yes, the article is anti-gun in a so-soish sort of way. Nevertheless, interesting article that makes good points.
Twenty photos that put the Holocaust in a different light. (H/T Y.B.b.A.)
That DEA surveillance program I linked in the last post? It is/was aimed in part at gun buyers. Even the usually anti-gun ACLU is alarmed.
The anti-Second AmendmentFirst Amendment crowd wants Emily Miller to be fired. Sign the petition to say no to this crass attempt to silence a journalist. (H/T 12)
Surprise, surprise. Yet another fedgov agency is operating a vast, covert, random surveillance program. Hm. Do they still sell those anti-cam sprays and films for our license plates?
Gottlieb’s CCRKBA endorses Matt Shea’s bill to repeal I-594. And note the ringing anti-background check language! (She says, rolling her eyes.)
I’m not linking to this CNN op-ed because it’s brilliant. On the contrary, it’s an astonishingly logic-free defense of Obamacare. I’m linking to it because it may contain one of the single most bizarre justifications of tyranny oxymorons ever to occupy the mind of a human being. To wit: “The ACA does not allow government to interfere in our lives; it compels government to keep us as safe and healthy as possible.” Admit it, the ability to hold both those thoughts in the same brain is an admirable feat.
Speaking of admirable, scientists say they’ve figured out how to uncook an egg.
Sweet firearms training story: “Save a life or sneer at an idiot — your choice.” (Actually, though, I don’t know of too many people who would sneer at the woman in this tale. Lots would probably sneer at her firearm, though.)
“Dear random, shirtless partygoer.” You know those things you always think of saying only after the fact? The ‘Net lets you say them so well.
Deadlining the next couple of days. Entertain each other; you’re very good at that. :-)
My apologies, all you people there on the upper east coast. I hear that the ghastly weather you’re having is our fault. Something to do with this monstrous ridge of high pressure plunging down on us; creates a monster low for you.
Believe me, I was thinking of you this afternoon while I contemplated whether or not I should wear the tee-shirt with a turtleneck or skip the turtleneck for a dog walk. I felt soooooo guilty.
I agree with Brian Keith’s fine analysis of the “carrots” and the “sticks” in the gun-rights movement. Except, of course, when one of the “carrots” actually goes over to the other side, pretends he can prevent what the enemy really wants, and collaborates by helping write tyrannical legislation.
From Ellendra in comments: have a “go to zero” month. (Kinda what I’ve been doing this month, except this family went much farther than I would. Maybe another month this summer …)
“My Old Dead Drunk Self.” Breaking dependency not only on substances but on the conventions of “recovery.”
The emergency room: a microcosm for misplaced priorities. We see this in animal rescue/welfare work, too, in the form people who can afford pricey tattoos, cigarettes, and weekly lotto tickets and scratch cards — but “can’t” come up with $25 to keep their pets from producing endless, unhealthy litters year after year.
In legalizing recreational cannabis, Alaska faces some unique hurdles. Well, one unique hurdle, mainly: that hurdle we all know and love so well, the fedgov.
I’ve been watching the Elio with lots of anticipation though I still can’t decide whether it’s all hype or something gonna-be cool. Might be time to start watching the Local Motors Strati, too. 3D printed car.
*The article gets JPFO’s name slightly wrong and says I was an employee when I was always an independent contractor. Minor details, but I couldn’t find a way to contact the author to give him a non-public heads-up. Very good article nevertheless.
Seems that Joel and the rest of the gunblogosphere aren’t the only ones who think Liam Neeson is even worse than the usual Hollywood anti-gun hypocrite. A company that supplied weapons for his films has a thing or three to say about it.
A simple explanation of what Swiss bankers just did. And a slightly more complicated one. I’m sure some of our resident money gurus will have views of their own. If you haven’t been watching, Switzerland threw the entire world into a financial tizzy yesterday. (Though IMHO, their real screwup was when they pegged their franc to the euro, not when they suddenly pulled the peg.)
“That Tree.” To help himself recover after an injury and to meet a friend’s challenge, professional photographer Mark Hirsh found 365 different ways to shoot photos of a single tree — with an iPhone — over the course of a year.
Maybe it’s just that we began the year with the hot-button subjects of religion and terrorism. But it seems as if people are more-than-usually ready to take offense, air grievances, pick at details, and generally carp about things.
Oh, it’s all civilized and a lot of interesting information has emerged, so I’m not complaining. Just … noticing. And asking.
I’ve been sitting on one more controversial topic (a book that’s likely to offend the other side of the room than the side that took umbrage over Vin’s new novel). I’d planned to review it a week ago, but given the current mood, I’m not ready to stir things up again. OTOH, I guess you could say at least it hasn’t been boring.
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And speaking of non-boring, you may (or decidedly may not) be gratified to know that your friendly corporate marketer, and no doubt a world full of governments wants to know how you feel about things.
Santa has been extremely, extremely good to me. Yeah, I know it seems sorta late to mention that, but not really. Apparently Santa hasn’t even finished with me yet.
In the rage over Islamist attacks on the west and western values, let us not forget that the worst and most helpless victims are Muslims and those who live in Muslim countries.
Lovely, starkly designed cabins from around the world But who lives in these things and how do they get by without bathrooms?
Three more hopeful looks at Western-Islamic relations: An imam says Muslims must reject violence and governments must change course; Glenn Harlan Reynolds points out that Muslim leaders are finally realizing that their “brand” is tarnished by the acceptance of intolerance; author Irshad Manji is optimistic about the future between Islam and the West.
All the years since 9-11, I’ve scrupulously avoided and condemned the jingoistic notion that all Muslims are fanatics and terrorists. There’s a billion of them and most are pretty much like you and me. But. The strain of barbarism poisoning the Arab/Muslim world is growing more putrid by the moment.
Since the slaughter at the World Trade Center, I’ve been waiting and wondering when the peaceable moderates of Islam would rise up, condemn, shun, defund, and de-legitimize the monsters among them. Well, those moderate voices have been way, way too moderate — when they’ve spoken at all. And they’ve been 100% ineffective. The savages are triumphant.
Now we have these obviously well-planned, expertly (and ruthlessly) executed murders at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Over cartoons. Over satire. Over free speech.
And every sign says that the murders were perpetrated by Islamic terrorists.
Governments have proven utterly incapable of protecting people against these murderous loons. Our own government repeatedly categorizes slaughters by Islamist nutjobs as mere “workplace violence.” Now, believe me, I don’t want governments to go looking for terrorists under every rock — partially because we’re already seeing how ugly that kind of society looks and partly because … well, in the U.S. “the authorities” find it more politically correct to go after militia members and guys in NRA hats than after people who post “Allahu Akbar!” on their Facebook pages before going off to kill their neighbors and co-workers. I assume other countries would also choose convenient non-Islamic targets. And it would be as wrong as ever to consider all Muslims to be potential terrorists.
But these barbarians must be stomped into the mud and muck of history, and I think the primary people responsible for doing it are … other Muslims. Yes, yes, I’m aware that Islam is a distributed religion. It has no pope. It’s as fragmented as U.S. Protestantism. It has no mechanism for acting from one central source, or even to act reliably in concert. Nevertheless, we’ve got a world full of well-trained Islamist thugs who increasingly believe they can simply cut down (sometimes literally) anybody who disagrees with them. And IF most of those tens of millions of other, innocent Muslims — and their imams and their ayatollahs and their cultural, intellectual, and military leaders — really, truly are against this savagery, if they really, truly believe in the rights of their fellow human beings, then it’s time for the whole Muslim world to bring all its philosophical, economic, social, and moral might down — hard! — upon the putrid savages within their midst.
Individual Muslims aren’t to blame. But their religion is. It fosters savagery. They need to address that.
Meantime, a world of innocent people — not to mention those who were already as much at risk as the Charlie Hebdo editors, cartoonists, and writers — ought to be getting better armed — even if nobody gives them permission.
