So. Are you going to watch the state-of-the-union addy tonight? (Or, depending on when you read this post, did you watch it?) I can’t remember the last SOTU address I watched, and that’s not just because I don’t “do” TV. Watching politicians give speeches — especially “important” speeches — is as savory as watching circus geeks bite the heads off live chickens. And much less entertaining. I’m sorta-kinda guessing the speech won’t have a big audience of BHM/Living Freedom readers. Still, you’ve probably heard that Big O plans to leave a seat empty so that … oh, all the ghosts…
Category: Government
Government evils — but I repeat myself
Guess what the most popular work at the UN library is. A thesis on how to avoid being charged with war crimes. Not how to avoid committing war crimes. Just how to avoid punishment. (H/T jb) Several major car makers are partnering up with Linux. While this is a lot better than the recent features about those partnering with Microsoft, I generally wish they’d all stay the heck out of any automobile I ever own, except for entirely optional, turn-offable devices. (H/T MJR) Another inspiring story about the life-changing power of going debt free. Who says a porno-graphic can’t be…
No. This is just plain wrong. And the “only ones” are going to commit even more bloody mayhem than they already do with this in their hands. This, on the other hand, is bizaarrish. And their rationale for it (in the video) is laughable. But the innovation is intriguing. According to Wikipedia, it’s been around since 1999 in Russia, but looks as if there might be a serious push for it in the U.S. this year. (H/T MJR) This morning, Obama’s fedgov took its the first step toward its long-dreaded executive action on guns. “Laughable fizzle” is my first response…
It should be no surprise to anyone hereabouts, but even as Microsoft pretends to have been converted to the privacy gospel, it steals your disk-encryption keys. If you have v*ted in the last 15 years, you are screwed. (H/T MJR) You may think this absurd, insecure database of v*ters is no big deal, but the implications are pretty catastrophic. And nobody knows who compiled or owns this giant mess? Fedgov, anyone? The war on Asian-American academic success. Repeat violators of HIPAA privacy provisions pay little consequence. Which is totally unsurprising because HIPAA was always more of a privacy-violation enabler than…
The five “best” drug scares of 2015. This year’s weirdest science stories. Fourteen — maybe 15 — ways to avoid the Obamacare tax. (Per A.G. in comments.) Thirteen things credit card companies know about you that might make you cringe. Well, thank heaven it wasn’t “gun violence.” Another Darwin Award nominee, courtesy of absorption in mobile device. How embarrassing to die of pure stupid. But hey — at least it wasn’t “gun violence”! In praise of Glock. Ross Douthat on cracks in the liberal order. Not meaning “liberal” as in that thing that “progressives” don’t want to be called these…
SpaceX has launched — and landed — an orbital rocket at Cape Canaveral. Whoohoo! ADDED: Better link. If you’ve got friends or family who don’t think there’s anything wrong with being on a government list, or who believe the gov’s pledges of privacy or promises that missions will never creep … have them read Carl-Bear’s latest over at TZP. Real world example, right there. If those friends are against the wide dissemination of “dangerous” information, Historian says, “Ask the Jews of Warsaw.” Kaiser Permanente opens its own medical school with a focus on teamwork. I can see some positives and…
Of the new Omni-bust budget deal Jim Bovard sez: “Republican congressional leaders are like a football coach who believes the secret to winning is to punt early and often.” Rand Paul sez stop the bill — and he has some fairly decent ideas for alternatives. OTOH, Marijuana.com sez there are a couple of decent provisions in the 2,000 page monster sellout. On the other other hand, the USPS announces a completely unsurprising but curiously retro policy on carrying publications that contain — gasp! — ads for the dreaded Demon Weed. One wonders why they couldn’t have just kept their mouths…
Jim Bovard on our fearmongering president. Charles C.W. Cooke does it again. Our right to bear arms is not up for debate. (Heck, even that elitist, statist pig Alexander Hamilton knew that.) Well. So much for all that oh-so-careful vetting. Surprise, surprise. Iran lies and Obama just nods like a bobblehead doll. Alas, the middle class is now a minority. The graph says it most vividly. You can feel the squeeze. LOL! Glenn Harlan Reynolds on Donald Trump as the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. (Or to put it another way, when leaders are fiddling while nations burn you don’t get John…
A social-justice pecksniff explains that there’s nothing wrong with suppressing free speech and erasing history. It’s just a way of achieving a better future. Meanwhile, both members of the formerly well-regarded Couple Christakis have now fled Yale because they can’t work in such an environment. Kevin of The Smallest Minority takes all of three lines to explain weapons of war You already know the USPS has been photographing the outside of all your mail (“security,” of course). Now they’re offering to email you the photos. As a service. (H/T ML) The answer to terror: tougher (armed) citizens, not bigger government.…
In the wake of the foul jihadist murders in San Bernardino, we now have two new categories of weapons, according to politicians and the media. First comes “assault clothing” (H/T DB). Deadly outerwear is followed by “multi-automatic round weapons.” No word yet on what a M-ARW may be. Or on how clothing can kill. But be on the lookout for these new dangers. These are truly perilous times. “When ‘suspected’ is close enough.” Scott H. Greenfield is a little behind the curve in some of his information here. But his heart and head are certainly in the right place (Tip…