… has the Commentariat been a tad testy lately? 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…
Author: Claire
Just catching up on a few overdue 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.
What is time? It rules our lives, but who can define it? Here are 10 mind-blowing attempts at explaining time. (H/T ML) Dear Boston: Please say hell no to hosting the Olympics. Oh my. Such a problem to have! Washington state pot growers and retailers face a glut of legal product. (Tip o’ hat to jed.) Albuquerque cops finally facing murder charges for one of their most horrible caught-on-camera moments. 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…
Again, this is the opinion of a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. The following is not by me.
—–begin anon message, part II—–
I am not Charlie Hebdo, because I know that free speech is a lie. The Constitution is a dead letter, and I am a coward.
Charlie Hebdo published offensive speech that was found by a court of law to be worthy of protection. The speakers were killed.
Anwar al-Awlaki published offensive speech, and was killed. He was denied a day in court, and simply murdered.
I don’t want to be killed. I want to work for peace, but I’m not going to stick my head up and invite extremely well-armed people to shoot at me, no matter what costume they wear.
I did not write the following. It was sent to me by a friend who has concluded that free speech is now such a myth that anonymity is the only protection. These are my friend’s opinions. Because they’re long, I’ll split this into two parts and run them on successive days.
—–begin anon text—–
For your reading “pleasure.” How a gang of borderland narco cops just loooooved their jobs so much they became major narcotics thieves. And of course used their cop power, cop equipment, and cop cover to do it all. You kinda get the impression they’d happily do it all again, too. Vice wars. They corrupt everybody they touch. Always have, always will. Long, but interesting article.
(Via Never Yet Melted) And what Larry Correia said. 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…
In the 90s and into the early 2000s, I sometimes wrote about ways to avoid using social security numbers. Going without an ssn (as many of you know from having tried it, as I did for many years) was always challenging. It also put the un-numbered in the position of being an outsider in society. Still, back in the day, you could do quite a few common things without using a universal government ID number.
Since 9-11 that challenge has become much harder, well-nigh impossible for anyone desiring to live a semi-normal 21st century life. Some succeed. Joel’s a perfect example. But he’s also an example of the extreme sacrifice and creativity it requires. Joel’s existence is as precarious as it is gratifying, and can’t in any way be called even “semi-normal.”
Me? As I got older, I eventually found being numberless more than I wanted to live with.
Several times a year I get messages from people who are trying to live numberless or, even more laudable, trying to keep their children unnumbered. They want my advice on how to overcome this problem or that. I got one of those messages the other day. This is my reply and will be the only reply I ever again make to such requests.
“I carry a gun every day.” This is great! (H/T LA) Wordlessly ending the hassle at a checkpoint. (Tip o hat to jed) Publicola is back! And he comes out swinging at the Neville Chamberlains of gun rights. Lenore Skenazy of Free Range Kids reviews the top 10 nanny-state fails of 2014. Amazing. Wonder. Beauty. Creation. Destruction. Science! And speaking of “science,” a prominent meteorologist explains why the NorthWET has been so very darned wet this year. 🙂 Groom calls off wedding. Bride, family, and friends have some liberating fun.
Part I of the interview and my mini-review of Vin’s new book, The Testament of James is here. —– Q. I found the resolution of TToJ more interesting, and certainly more relevant, than the resolution of The DaVinci Code, but surely some readers will see similarities. Were you in any way inspired by that book? A. I have to be careful not to seem scornful of Mr. Brown and his books, or Steve Berry or whoever. Here are these guys who have sold millions of books and entertained a lot of people and made a fortune, and I’m some little…