Jun 22, 2022
The proposed “historic” American gun legislation is anything but:
- no restrictions on assault rifles
- more meaningless background checks
- closing a non-existent “boyfriend” exemption (firearms surrender as a condition of bail in a domestic violence arrest is already applicable to everyone)
- increased mental health programs (without funding or any idea how these will be organized)
- increasing school security (fully-equipped SWAT teams, if standing around, are useless in a crisis)
This isn’t even putting bandage on a wound. It’s talk about buying a bandage next time there is a wound. At most.
And watch as the 14 Republicans read the room and retreat.
Well: “it’s better than nothing,” they said.
No, it’s not. It’s worse, because all the palaver leads people into thinking that something is being done.
Nothing is being done.
Nothing except meaningless yapping.
Jun 22, 2022
What’s strange–
and really more dangerous than anything else
–is that both sides on January 6
thought they were protecting democracy.
Jun 20, 2022
Efforts to “de-gender” the English language by using neologisms (e.g. “latinx”) have failed, even though English is not as gender-obsessed as the Romance languages or German. The only real solution is a language that does not recognize gender at all. One such language–though to be clear, I don’t speak it yet–is Farsi, otherwise known as Persian, a genderless Indo-European, non-tonal language. From now on, please write in Farsi only so as not to offend anyone’s sensibilities.
Merci.
(The French word for thanks is commonly used in Iran; a potentially dangerous intrusion from a gender-obsessed language that will have to be dealt with in the future.)
gender #latinx #genderbias #language #farsi #persian
Jun 17, 2022
Anyone who makes it from Calais, whether legally or not, should be given refugee status because of their successful efforts to land on British soil. Just as possession is 9/10ths of the law and “finders keepers, loosers weepers”:
“British ooze under the shoes” confers the ancient right of abode.
Some of these immigrants have traveled thousands of miles. That determination should be worth something.
Plus, these days, there’s lots of jobs to go around.
Convince me I’m wrong.
Jun 17, 2022
Here are the outlines for a face-saving plea for the USG in the Assange case:
- Guilty plea to a felony computer crime
- Three year cap, credit for time in Belmarsh.
- Non-reporting probation.
Julian gets his freedom back, USG gets a guilty plea, Julian free to travel anywhere except USA.
Jun 14, 2022
Chilean-resident Haitians who have lived in Chile for five years are not refugees.
Chile #haiti #refugees #Panama
immigration policy
Jun 14, 2022
Evergreening:
“To roll over unpaid amounts on loans, adding to the total amount outstanding.”
Loan sharks have long simply added unpaid vig to the total amt.owed without needing to name the practice.
banking #creditoreal #mafia
Jun 14, 2022
No need to waste millions on McKinsey’s business consulting advice; the t-shirt says it all.
Jun 13, 2022
There is so little to write about when covering golf that the slightest variation from the game’s white-bread norm is newsworthy. Because what happens in the game is infrequent and hard to see and takes little more than 90 seconds on Youtube (discounting the interminable ads, of course) discussing player’s fashion choices (Payne Stewart) sex addiction (Tiger Woods) or Saudi Arabia is about all the sports journos have to write about.
Thanks to LIV, the new Saudi-funded tournament, there is a lot to talk about, as talent to hit a golf ball must surely include an in-depth knowledge of the Kingdom, its customs and traditions. Who better to ask about Saudi Arabia than Phil Mickelson? Who has spent more time studying the nuances of the relationship between the United States and the Kingdom than Northern Ireland’s Rory McIllroy? Questions about the Islamic shari’a can be addressed to Bubba Watson, who surely must have expertise in this area.
John Daley hasn’t won a tournament in decades, but because he is “colorful” i.e., smokes, drinks, is unapologetically overweight and has a passion for Diet Coke, he is routinely granted sponsors’ exemptions anyway in a desperate effort to spice things up. Daly’s “non-country club appearance and attitude” (Wikipedia) have carried him far in a sport where homogeneity is king. Who are these sponsors anyway? Daly gets to play in PGA events, but a pro who played in a LIV tournament? God forbid.
Pro golfers, according to the PGA’s tax returns are independent contractors, except when they act like independent contractors and sell their services to the highest bidder. Then they’re something else, but exactly what no one knows. Foreign governments sponsoring professional athletics? The cheek!
But ask yourself if there would be the same reaction if Scotland, Spain or Japan—where golf is a legitimate religion—were sponsoring LIV instead. Probably not, which suggests that the controversy is merely masked Islamophobia, racism and good old American hate.
Sometimes I wish Eisenhower hadn’t taken up the game.
Jun 12, 2022
“Imagine some would-be mass shooter bursting into a classroom only to be faced almost instantly by the barrels of at least 15 to 20 handguns.”
Read more: https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinion/columns/2022/06/05/kerr-want-end-school-shootings-lets-just-arm-kids/7487864001/