Category Archives: Business

Business, Economics, Education, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, War Commentary

The Democrats

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…lose their minds:

Let’s see … what else happened in the busy world of crazy … excuse me while I flip through my files … Ah yes, there was congresswoman Ilhan Omar, parroting the Kremlin-Havana-Tehran line on the democratic uprising in Venezuela, calling it “a U.S. backed coup.” A few days later, Omar, a supporter of the anti-Semitic Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement whom the Democrats have awarded with a place on the House Foreign Relations Committee, said she “almost chuckles” because “we still uphold” the Jewish State of Israel “as a democracy in the Middle East.” I chuckle—and begin seriously to worry—that someone who cannot distinguish between tyranny in Latin America and democracy in the Middle East commands such acclaim and receives such attention. Omar has former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett in her corner. When Omar dismissed Congressman Lee Zeldin’s criticism of her views by Tweeting, “Don’t mind him, he is just waking up to the reality of having Muslim women as colleagues who know how to stand up to bullies!”, Jarrett replied, “Shake him up!” Zeldin is a Jewish Republican.

Finally, as the week came to a close, the Democrats went beyond their support for partial-birth abortion to defend—the very fact that I have to write the following words saddens me to no end—post-birth abortion. This practice has been known throughout history as infanticide, and it flourished widely in the ancient world before being condemned in the Judeo-Christian tradition. As we “progress” from that tradition—a progression that is in fact a reversion—the morals and values that bind us to a culture of life slowly fade away. They are still there, of course, gossamer-like and tenuous, which is why Kathy Tran, the Fairfax County delegate to the Virginia Assembly who sponsored a bill lifting all state restrictions on abortion, hesitated before admitting that her legislation authorized the termination of a pregnancy up to the moment of delivery.

I’m not sure that this is anything new as much as Trump has simply made it much more obvious.

Business, History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Popular Culture, Social Commentary, Space, Space History, Technology and Society

Sixteen Years Ago

Columbia was lost on this date in 2003, putting a final stake through the heart of the Space Shuttle program. We were staying at a Residence Inn in San Bruno (Patricia was working in Millbrae), when I was awoken by someone on the east coast with the news. Here were my immediate thoughts, which held up pretty well, I think. And if you go to this page, you’ll find that post at the bottom, but can scroll up to see my further reflections over the next few days (or click on “Next post” from the first blog link). I had only been blogging for a year and a half or so at the time.

Today, Ian Kluft had a thread on Twitter on his recollection of seeing the disaster live, though at the time he didn’t know exactly what was happening:

[Early-afternoon update]

Here is the archived version with comments. In that post, and this one, you can see the beginning of formulating my thoughts for the book, though it wouldn’t happen for another eight years or so.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

Leaving California

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A meditation.

The one thing she doesn’t mention about why people hate Californians when they move into their community; they’re afraid that they’ll bring with them the voting habits that have made the state such a disaster. I remember when we were in Austin a couple years ago, doing wine tasting in Hill Country. The tone of the conversation got distinctly chillier when they learned we were from CA. I tried to assure them that we weren’t the problem.