As I posted a few days ago, police in Longview, Texas, tragically shot and killed a 17-year-old girl last week. Her name was Kristiana Coignard. In the newly released video, it’s clear that her shooting death was completely and totally avoidable. After speaking with officers and roaming around the lobby of the police station for ten minutes, Kristiana, who was … Read More
Breaking News: Romney Not Running In 2016 After All
Probably wise of him. You wouldn’t want to be a three-time loser. Also, income equality will be an issue this presidential cycle, and he just can’t address that without everyone falling out of their chairs laughing.
From The No Shit Sherlock Research Files
I know that having lots of guns around means that we’re all safer. So obviously, there is something wrong with a new study out that says that states with more guns and lax gun laws have more gun deaths than states with fewer guns and stricter gun laws: The five states with the highest per capita gun death rates in 2013 … Read More
Dartmouth Bans Hard Alcohol, Starts Sexual Violence Program
I can’t say if the sexual violence problem is worse now than when I went to college, or not. I suspect, sadly, that it was just as bad in the 1980s. We just didn’t know about it and/or didn’t do anything about it. Still, it’s sad that it has come to this, but I give props to Dartmouth for taking this bold step. … Read More
Obama’s Tax Proposal
So here it is in one graphic: Basically, the bottom 20 percent would see their after-tax incomes grow by around 1.2 percent, while people in the top 20 percent would receive -0.7 percent less. But by dollar amounts, the differences between the bottom and the top are much bigger. The bottom 20 percent would receive $175 more per … Read More
Palin’s Nail In The Coffin
Palin has no friends, including Matt Lewis, who supported her before you even heard of her: You Betcha I Was Wrong About Sarah Palin It’s time to admit that, whatever their motivation was at the time, the Alaska governor’s critics always had a point. Has conservative genuflection at the altar of Sarah Palin finally come to a halt? In case you missed it, … Read More
Goodbye To The Dish
The term “weblog” was coined in December 1997. The short form, “blog,” was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999. Back then, blogs were a very small and largely unknown part of the Internet. Political blogs starting appearing in 2001, and … Read More
War On The Mentally Ill
As if having bipolar disorder isn’t difficult enough, you now risk being a target for overzealous cops. Last Thursday, a 16 year old girl with a knife was shot by three cops in the lobby of the police station: When Officers arrived they were confronted by a white female who threatened them. The suspect brandished a weapon, made threatening movements toward … Read More
Blizzard ’05 SnowCams
You’re welcome: Cams no longer up. UPDATE: It missed New York City. That’s good for NYC but…. This #snowFail does not bode well for civilian cooperation with the terms of the next snow emergency in NYC. — Lisa B. (@politeracy) January 27, 2015 For the record, the GFS was right. Meteorologists largely depend on three major forecast models: the NAM … Read More
Palin’s Speech This Weekend Was So Painfully Bad That Even Conservatives Lament
Falll-out continued for former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin following her speech at the Freedom Summit in Iowa this weekend, that one commentator called “bizarro,” with others calling it “rambling” and “painful.” On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough lamented Palin’s decline from the candidate who once wowed a national audience with her speech at the Republican nominating convention in 2008. … Read More
The American Sniper Controversy
I don’t expect “historical” movies to be documentaries. I have no problem with some artistic license for dramatic purposes. I saw “American Sniper” recently, not knowing that it was based on the real life events of Chris Kyle, known as “The Legend” for his abilities during the Iraq War. It was clear from the end of the film (which cut … Read More
SOTU Review
I don’t mean to get all Aaron Sorkin on y’all, but this interactive analysis — compiled by Twitter and showing what people were tweeting about during the speech — tells me absolutely nothing about anything related to the speech or the United States or anything. It just seems to be social media technology for the sake of social media technology.
The White Male Oscars
I will do my Oscar predictions in the weeks to come, but in case you haven’t heard, not a single actor or actress of color was recognized by the Academy this year, despite a number of acclaimed films featuring non-white casts and directors. The last time there was no non-white in any of the four acting categories, and directing category, … Read More
2015 SOTU Preview
They’re called “Democrat pipe dreams” by some. I’m referring to Obama’s plans which he will raise in his 2015 State of the Union speech tonight. Top among those plans is his $60 billion pitch for free two-year community college tuition and $175 billion in new tax benefits for the middle class. How to pay for that? In a very West … Read More