I’ve been trying to find good words to say about the McCarthyist botch of political correctness run amok at Mozilla this past week. I think this pretty much takes care of what needs saying. Can hardly believe it’s from a former Obama speech writer. (H/T JG)
Category: Free speech
Open carry = fewer guns on the street? Um … maybe its because that “art” actually was trash? NSA will allow us to laugh at it, after all. Or rather, after discussion with its lawyers. Glenn Harlan Reynolds says Americans are taking up “Irish democracy.” Which has nothing to do with v*ting. This guy is lucky police didn’t kill him. The crazy is strong with this one. “Obamacare and my mother’s cancer medicine.” This is insane. This is cruel and unusual punishment. This is becoming too typical. Despite being a government school initiative that PBS praises, restorative justice is a…
This is so short and so delightful I’m reprinting it in full. If you wrote this and object to my reprint, please let me know. It’s been getting around a lot. —– Empathy Test By George R. Shirer The assessor is attractive in a button-down kind of way. Blonde hair, pink jumpsuit, digital makeup set to minimal. Her face is a sculpt, something from one of the mid-level catalogues. Attractive, but not too attractive. The same face you see on a thousand other people. Only her eyes, brown and liquid, are original. “You failed your empathy test, Mr. Clawford.” Her…
This judge wins the Ultra-Statist of the Week prize for excusing the NSA while kicking Snowden. I’ve been asking myself this question, too. When will insurance companies say, “Enough’s enough!”? We need more judges like Donald Beatty. (H/T Hobbit) Going “offshore” … in South Dakota. A sign of the times? And another sign of the times. Great one! College shooting ranges are on the rise. (Tip o’ hat to L.A.) The president of Uruguay. No matter what else you may think of him (or not think of him, since I’m guessing you spend a very, very small portion of your…
You’ve heard of Bridezilla. And the Wedding Guest from Hell. Now meet The Mad Bomber Groom. Guess you gotta give him points for creativity. Not brains. Definitely not brains. But creativity. Experian, the worst and most pervasive of the big three credit bureaus sold data to an identity-theft “service”. Nooooo, really? And you say both parties are doing it?? Impossible! Quite impossible! Well, that’s one way to ensure that politicians actually get your message. Good idea. But I’d trust it a lot more if it didn’t come from Google. Death panels. Not a good thing. But yes, they’re real (Hellllooo,…
When I heard that the NSA was not only gobbling up email, but also hacking address books by the millions, my first impulse … well, it wasn’t to laugh. But Carl-Bear, stepping into the breach, came up with a sweet little monkeywrench. This works because … wait for it … really … seriously the NSA can’t filter spam. You can filter spam. Your grandmother can filter spam. Thunderbird can filter spam. Everybody and his uncle’s ISP can filter spam. The NSA … not so much. So go. Monkeywrench away. Instead of abandoning Gmail and Hotmail and all those other snoop-ready…
I’m working on one of those Big Idea blogs. Not sure how long it’ll take to bring form out of the void. In the meantime, here’s some cheer. All these are related to the piece I’m working on. The first three images I stole from Ragnar’s Freedom Outlaw page — the only thing on Facebook worth bothering with. Next, here’s one from Random Acts of Patriotism. I never visited that site before, so I can’t vouch for its POV. But it did win my favor by linking to this article noting that v*ters have a higher opinion of hemorrhoids than…
“Dogs are people, too.” At least in their abilities to feel and anticipate — something that will come as no surprise to anybody who’s lived with them, but is apparently news in neuroscience. (Tip o’ hat to MLS) Federal theater of the absurd. (I also agree with Carl that the Crazy Horse monument is so superior to Mt. Rushmore in every way that even after the silly feddies remove the barriers I’d still just drive on past and watch free enterprise at work a few miles down the road.) Erm … I don’t usually read Glamour. But I found this…
Source. And thanks to O. for finding this and kindly reformatting it in a blog-friendly way. Source. And thanks to H. for finding this.
Ever since Pamela Jones shut down Groklaw and announced she was not only abandoning the site but quitting the Internet entirely in light of the Edward Snowden revelations, I’ve been thinking about this. At the time, though I found her reasons poignant and pertinent, I thought she was overreacting. Now, I don’t know. Personally, I’m not on the verge of quitting. A big part of my life is here. And all of my career (such as it is) is here. That’s been true since 1986 when a client bought me my first 300-baud modem and set it up so I…