To those of a certain age and a certain geekdom, his voice was iconic. Jack King was the Chief of Public Information and Public Affairs Officer for NASA. Considered the dean of aerospace journalism, he was the voice of the Apollo missions. He died at 84 yesterday. Enjoy some of his greatest hits…. P.S. Yes, he grew up in … Read More
Prison Break
Seems like everybody is interested in that prison break from the maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility in New York, with two prisoners on the loose. Lots of reporting on where they might be, but the bottom line is…. they could be anywhere by now. Here’s what we know so far: Richard Matt, 48, was serving a sentence of 25 years … Read More
Same-Sex Marriage Still A Battlefield In North Carolina
This morning, North Carolina legislators in the GOP-controlled state House approved a measure that allows some court officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriage duties because of their religious beliefs. House lawmakers agreed 69-41 to override Governor Pat McCrory’s veto of the bill, which the Senate had done last week. The bill, now a law, allows magistrates and register of … Read More
Hey, Let’s Train The Iraqi Soldiers
Things have gone to hell in Iraq, especially in the fight against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in Iraq. The strongest evidence of this is the recent takeover of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province by ISIS forces. Although Iraqi soldiers “vastly outnumbered” their opposition in Ramadi, they quickly withdrew last week, leaving behind a half-dozen tanks, a similar number of artillery … Read More
Some Sarah Word Salad
Why isn’t the dialogue going right now towards hey, let’s get that law enforcement official — he or her — who released this file, this confidential. Who — who has been a victim, is a victim — would ever want to speak out and still be able to trust law enforcement that what they’re being told, with counselors and amongst … Read More
Duggar <> Dunham
So Sarah Palin wrote this: [fb_embed_post href=”https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10153385009473588/” width=”550″/] I worship this. And because no Facebook post by Sarah Palin is ever complete without a moment of total monkeyfuck insanity, the best part is where she jabbers, “Such obvious double standards applied to equally relevant stories underestimate the wisdom of the public, discredit the press, and spit on the graves of … Read More
The Death Of The Moderate Republican
Yes, the moderate Republican is extinct. Like the dodo bird of the days of yore. But just in case you need a graph showing this, I proffer the following from the Washington Post wonkblog. The graph employs a widely-used measure of political polarization, a score of ideology based on voting developed by Kenneth Poole and Howard Rosenthal. Let’s look, for example, at the … Read More
I Don’t Worry About Spying
I know. I should care. Governmental abuse and all that. But I don’t. This past week has been filled with stories about the sunset clauses of The Patriot Act, and overwhelming surveillance methods regarding our phone usage. And I can’t quite give a damn. I like what Edward Snowden did, for the most part. I think he should be granted … Read More
From The “Seriously?” Files
First Amendment at work: “When she went across the stage I just called her name out. ‘Lakaydra’. Just like that,” Ursula Miller said she shouted about her niece. Miller and Henry Walker were two of the four people asked to leave Senatobia High School’s graduation ceremony for cheering. Police at Northwest Mississippi Community College, where the high school ceremony was … Read More
The Crazy North Carolina Legislature
(1) Jerks: Lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would make North Carolina one of several states with 72-hour waiting periods for abortions. Gov. Pat McCrory said he planned to sign it, despite the urging of opponents who wanted him to stand by his statement during his 2012 campaign that he would not sign any further restrictions on abortion if elected. … Read More
Billy Flynn Out Of Prison
Billy Flynn is out of jail. Nope. Not that one. This one: Or… as he looks today…. Billy Flynn is the convicted shooter in the Pamela Smart (pronounced “Smaht”) case. As a teenager, Billy shot and killed Gregg Smart in 1990. Gregg was the husband of Pamela Smart, with whom Billy was having an affair. Pamela was an audio-visual school … Read More
On Caitlyn Jenner
It’s all been said. Kudos to Caitlyn (former known as Bruce) Jenner (and congrats on the fact that she broke the record previously held by President Barack Obama by reaching 1 million followers in 4 hours and 3 minutes). Yes, she is very pretty. Yes, the Associated Press did a douche-y thing by using the male pronoun. Yes, now that Caitlyn … Read More
Short Takes
Yeah, I’m playing catch-up. Been very busy since last week. I have a little to say about a lot of things, so now comes a slam of quick posts. (1) As for the clash in Phoenix between Islamophobes and would-be terrorists, the Islamophobes went home disappointed. No violence. No anything, really: Protesters at Friday’s “Freedom of Speech” rally outside a … Read More
The Duggars Get Softball Interview
Okay, the Duggars. One word: ugh. And I could add a lot more to that — about how they’re not really “owning” that their son molested their daughters — but they demonstrated that themselves in an interview with Duggar-friendly Megyn Kelly of Fox News. Raw Story nails this: There was so much to dislike and be horrified by in Jim … Read More