Hooboy. We’re never going to hear the last of this from the “guns as phallic symbols” hoplophobes. The first WikiLeaks revolution? I think the moral here is that, if the government of your country is reasonable and transparent (yeah, rare, I know), WikiLeaks can’t possibly hurt it. But if it’s already corrupt to the core (I mean more corrupt than usual) … Scanners. Detecting nothing. How come government mainstreamers only “get it” after it’s too late for them to do anything about it? The miracle of Wikipedia. Sometimes it’s just great to be reminded that freedom can work so brilliantly.…
Category: Government
Government evils — but I repeat myself
6 Crackpot Conspiracy Theories (That Actually Happened). Crackpot bonus question: What would you say if somebody told you that one of the best coffees in the world is made from sh*t?
Via Rational Review News, here’s part IV of Devi Barker’s provocative series on authoritarian sociopathy. All four installments have been good, but this is both the best and the scariest. If the studies Barker cites tell the truth, then the truth is that most people who receive even a hint that they might be powerful a) demand higher standards for other people’s behavior and b) think they’re entitled to be given a pass on their own immoral or illegal acts. It apparently takes very little to put the average Jill or Joe into that mindset. (Likewise, it doesn’t take much…
You. Me. Our firearms. So “Mr. Homeland Security” proposes. Exemptions for The Only Ones, of course. Which goes along with this. Which at least has the virtue of containing the most unintentionally hilarious quote from a congressthing yet this year. ADDED: A freedomista agrees with the elite. Sez their proposals to protect their august selves from hoi palloi like us simply don’t go far enough. 🙂
So what happens now? A politician got a bullet in the brain. A federal judge got dead. A wonderful little girl had her future blown away. Innocents dead and wounded all over the place. And as usual, bystanders did what needed doing. And never mind that the shooter was a well known loon with a long history of weird behavior. Even those elitists who have enough grace to admit that the young jerk’s politics were a devil’s brew of left, right, and total nonsense are sure the real cause is uncivil “right-wing” rhetoric.. Even the local sheriff, making the first…
Kewl. Freedomista cartoonist Scott Bieser has a new online graphic novel. His first solo effort. Even in this era of manipulative bill-naming, this pretty much takes the cake. I wish ’em well. But sheesh, grownups don’t need propaganda names like that. Former presidential aide murdered and dumped. Okay, it’s not likely to be another Vince Foster case. Still. It’s getting weirder and weirder. So Obama is for “change.” And he’s trying to project a more pro-business image (yeah, right). The answer? Well, according to a lot of high-level speculation that means putting another Chicago pol and banker in a top…
Well, whaddayou know? “The Happy Marriage is the ‘Me’ Marriage” — not the ego-me, but the growing-me. (NY Times free subscription link) You heard about the man facing five years in prison for reading his wife’s email. Did you know that his act was “outed” by a good deed he attempted to do? Yes, it may have been done partly from vindictiveness; still, he was trying to save a kid from abuse. You saw the cartoon. Now read why a couple of fluffy bears (or are they dogs?) are making more economic sense than your average Ph.D. economist. At least…
“The verdict that may shake Russia.” I damn well hope so. The only thing this guy’s guilty of is challenging authority. Hey, this might work — being “too systemically important” to fail. Worth a try, anyhow. A word that’s been crying out to be invented: screwflation. Juries. They’re starting to rebel. (The good news is from Ellendra in a recent comment section.) Hm. In this economy, people are still quitting their jobs with no new work lined up. The article tsk tsks. But it kinda makes sense — considering screwflation and all. What kind of “justice” system sends somebody to…
Merry Post-Christmas! Happy Pre-New Year! I hope your holidays are being wonderful. Mine are — in large part thanks to you. So in the belated Christmas cheer department … Serious side: Teenager Jeremy Marks, one of the most cosmically abused victims of the “don’t you dare photograph police, you scrofulous peasants” scam, was bailed out by a good Samaritan in time to spend Christmas with his family. The generous Google engineer who got him out of jail also contributed some extra money toward a Merry Christmas. Silly side: Here’s the most ghastly Christmas special of all time. I doubt there’s…
I recently turned in a S.W.A.T article about hapless small business people who got entrapped into (allegedly and unknowingly) bribing officials of an Unnamed African Nation. They’re all facing ruin and prison time. So. Halliburton has now paid $250 million to Nigerian officials to get charges dropped against Dick Cheney. Okay, FBI, where are you when serious bribery is going down??? The really sad thing is that the current article I’m working on for that ‘zine covers exactly the same sort of shakedown and payoff being committed by a corrupt government (but I repeat myself) right here in the U.S.…