Legal humor here. “Okay, when I say ‘Jump!’ you jump! It’s not that hard!” “I miss the C train. It had brakes.” “Sure we pay a price, but the tracks belong to the people, damn it! The tracks belong to the people!” “If we had a TV, that would be nice. I…
Hey, George F. Will! Stop making sense!
Yes, much as I hate to admit it, George F. (“F as in FREEEEEEEEKY!!!!!”) Will, perhaps my all-time piñata/bête noire, has a point in his latest screed, “Scientific silencers on the left are trying to shut down climate skepticism”, because that’s exactly what’s happening. I’ve previously complained about the utterly meretricious suit brought by a…
Who’s Cooler, Prince or—OK, Screw It
For a while I had a meme, comparing whichever pop icon was in the news to the first pop icon I encountered, Hopalong Cassidy. But memes get old, and, judging from the worshipful coverage Prince is receiving, comparing the late guy who was formerly known as Prince to a B-movie cowpoke like Hoppy, whose name…
Matt Loescher Trio—“Misterioso”
Andreas Waelti, bass, and Reini Schmölzer, drums. Live at Musikwerstatt Wels (Schlachthof) on March 31st 2015. Posted by Matt Pedals
Shorter Reihan Salam: I’m an idiot
Over at Slate, Reihan Salam has a post up Why I’m voting for Ted Cruz. Why? Well, as Reihan explains, Ted’s immigration plan is better than Trump’s: “Though I don’t agree with every aspect of Cruz’s position on immigration, it has the virtue of being coherent and defensible, something that can’t be said of Trump’s.”…
Please God, let Bernie be crushed
I know that’s not much of a prayer, but that’s how I feel. But, even if my wish comes true, and Hillary Clinton can earn a majority of delegates prior to the convention this summer, Bernieismo has already taken its toll on the Democratic Party, pushing a donkey that was not terribly “progressive” in the…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “It’s been three days, sheriff! How’s that ‘head ’em off at the pass’ shit workin’ out for ya?” “Hey, sheriff! Are those horses you’re ridin’, or mules!” “Only two miles to the border, sheriff! Hope you like chili!” “What’s that you’re ridin’, sheriff? A rockin’ horse or a rockin’…
Bill Nye, the not science guy
Reason’s Nick Gillespie catches Bill Nye in act of being a total asshole when, in a discussion regarding climate change, he “explained” why fear of jail time ought to be a necessary part of scientific inquiry, at least for climate change “deniers”: “In these cases [cases where people say things that Dr. Bill disagrees with],…
“We suck,” says U.S. Army
Well, that’s the word from a breathless Bryan Bender, over at Politico, citing both a “secret” (more or less) “high-level but low-profile” report on Russian military capabilities and recent congressional testimony from Lt. General H. R. McMaster: “POLITICO has learned that, following the stunning success of Russia’s quasi-secret incursion into Ukraine, McMaster is quietly overseeing…
Neoliberalism and its discontents
Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote a contemptuous take down of Thomas Piketty’s then notorious book, Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century. If anyone has been citing Piketty’s arguments in the current presidential primary season, I’ve yet to hear it, but that hardly matters, because global capitalism is taking a pounding from all quarters, a…