…may be better than an ignorant but well-meaning one.
Actually, the results of the last election would seem to indicate that we have an ignorant and selfish one.
Category Archives: Social Commentary
Amazon Local, Los Angeles Edition
Every day, I get offers for: acting classes, teeth whitening, massage packages with reflexology and aromatherapy, microdermabrasion facials, tanning salons, exfoliation…
It’s like they’re trying to live down to the expectations of the rest of the country.
[Update a few minutes later]
Are you the kind of person likely to be suckered into a conversation with a Twitter-bot?
I’m not.
The State Of Public Education
A very depressing post at Instapundit.
Climate Change
What are the real questions?
Basically, there’s one real problem — the real climate refuses to behave correctly. I went into this at length then, so I won’t repeat the whole argument, but the basic point is this: the actual observed temperatures have been flat for almost 20 years, and are now at the edge of the confidence interval — that is, the modelers would have taken a 20-1 bet against the temperatures staying this low.
Damn you, Gaia!
Anti-Gun Demagoguery
Now these lying ghouls are comparing George Zimmerman to mass shooters.
[Update a while later]
How to incite a moral panic:
“The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak,” it advises. Antigun advocates are urged to seize opportunistically on horrific crimes: “The debate over gun violence in America is periodically punctuated by high-profile gun violence incidents including Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, the Trayvon Martin killing, Aurora, and Oak Creek. When an incident such as these attracts sustained media attention, it creates a unique climate for our communications efforts.”
The booklet explicitly urges foes of the Second Amendment to abjure rationality in favor of the argumentum ad passiones, or appeal to emotion.
Fortunately, the justice system ultimately worked, and the insane and irrelevant war on “stand your ground” laws has failed.
Darrel Issa
…is winning the Internets. Too bad more Republicans don’t get it.
Speaking of Issa, he apparently has proof of collusion between the FEC and the IRS in investigating Tea-Party groups. Wouldn’t be surprising at all, given Lerner’s history.
Jeff Bezos
…and the Great Beyondists. Thoughts on Bezos’ new toy and the political predilections of MSMers, from Matt Welch.
Skymall
Has the company fallen in with the wrong crowd?
I’ve always thought that Skymall’s target customers had to be people with too much money. It’s worth noting, though, that SpaceDev went public on an RTO.
[Update a while later]
Sorry, forgot the link. It’s fixed now.
The New Anti-Semitism
It’s becoming increasingly fashionable in Europe:
What this describes is a slow pogrom — but one that can pass unnoticed and be ignored because of its very gradualness. Governments are doing some good things about it, but the battle for decency will have to be fought in the universities, the media, political parties, and other places where the virus is spreading. It will have to deal honestly but intelligently with Muslim anti-Semitism, which European officialdom shrinks from confronting.
What was old is new again.
Paramilitarization Insanity
A tragic story. In fact, a criminal one.
I wonder what Mr. Wrana’s final thoughts were of the country he fought for 70 years ago. Too much law enforcement in America has lost all sense of proportion: If you need six armed officers to police a nonagenarian in an old folks’ home, seven armed officers to police a 20-year-old female you suspect might have a beer in her shopping bag, thirteen armed officers to terminate Giggles the baby doe, you’re doing it wrong — and you’re the real threat to public order.
These cops should be charged with manslaughter. It was a huge mistake to give the police departments all of that Pentagon surplus.