And I’m not just referring to these people:
I’m also referring to the barbarians in public office there (and DC, and New York) who defy Constitution and the Supreme Court, and the age-old right of the law-abiding to arm and defend themselves, because they willfully enable the barbarism.
“…and sickles.”
Tyler Durden has found its face. Frighteningly, a lot of “environmentalists” agree with him, but they’re not quite as up front about it.
[Update a while later]
The environmentalists’ war on the poor.
The race of the gang members themselves isn’t an issue, but their religion and associated cultural attitudes, and the racism that these foster, are. The fact that in this case, as in previous ones, the perpetrators were Muslims, and from parts of the world where extremist forms of that religion hold sway — eight of the Rochdale gang were of Pakistan origin and the ninth was an Afghan — has absolutely everything to do with the case, and it’s just one uncomfortable aspect that liberals don’t want to confront.
Another is the fact that politically correct attitudes to all things “racial” among the relevant authorities meant the victims’ ordeals went on for years longer than might have been the case. Many of the victims were from broken homes and under the supervision of social workers, but when they reported abuse to their carers, the police and prosecutors failed to act because, it’s claimed, they were “petrified of being called racist.”
There are also broader social issues arising from the case, and others like it, that liberals would prefer not to discuss; in particular how decades of liberal social polices on everything from immigration to welfare have helped to create the environments in which these crimes can be committed.
It’s a tragedy to watch a culture commit slow suicide.
It doesn’t extinguish prejudice — it promotes it.
And yes, I know it’s the eve of the IPO. Ask me if I care.
First I get an invite from someone to friend them. I’ve never heard of them. I go to the Facebook page, and there’s no obvious place to see where people who invited you are. And when I follow the link in the email with the invitation, does it take me to that person’s invitation? No. Of course not. It takes me to the page of suggested friends and invitations, and I have to scroll down to find this particular one. There is absolutely no excuse for any of this in this day and age of web technology.
But wait! It gets worse.
The guy who invited me has zero information about himself publicly available, which is OK, I guess, but I still have no reason to accept FB friendship. It doesn’t even show me if we have friends in common (though maybe the fact that it doesn’t do that is a sign that we don’t, but it would be nice if it were more explicit). So I look at the options for dealing with his invitation. There are two. Delete invitation, or accept it. There is not option (c), which is the one I want, which is “Send an FB message to him to ask him who the eff he is, and why I should friend him”.
Really, folks, does it have to be this hard?
As I mentioned last night on The Space Show, for my next project at CEI, I’m planning to do an Issue Analysis (similar to the one I did on space real estate) laying out the history of risk and safety regulations, to provide some context for what is happening with both commercial crew (and other human spaceflight) at NASA, and with potential regulations that the FAA-AST may impose when the moratorium ends in 2015 (it will also make the case for extension). Broadly, it will make the case for a flexible approach, and to avoid a one-size-fits-all regime that could stifle, or even prevent the creation of the human spaceflight industry, both because it is too immature to have the sort of rigorous certification system currently in place for modern aviation, and because different people will have different risk tolerances for different experiences and prices. There will also be some philosophy in it about nanny statism, and the fact that our current obsession with safety is a sign that space isn’t societally important (for example, I’ll point out that if it were, we’d be sending volunteers on one-way missions already). It will also become a chapter in a forthcoming book.
The only problem is, I haven’t found a donor for it, and my creditors won’t allow me to do it pro bono, for some reason. So what I’ve done is to initiate a Kickstarter project for it. I’m trying to raise seven grand, which is about what the last one cost, and will give me enough to focus on it for a few weeks without having to frantically write for other publications just to pay bills, and it will allow me to travel to DC for associated meetings and press briefings. Target funding completion is a month from now — no one will be charged until then. Obviously, I’ll appreciate both word spreading and donations. I’m offering an autographed copy of the paper for a ten-dollar donation, but I’d appreciate suggestions for other possible rewards and levels.
RIP.
Actually, I just say good riddance to odious rubbish.
…by the elephants. I think that there remain, at least for now, some things beyond the realm of science.