January 2011
December 2010
Tucker Carlson thinks Michael Vick should have... →
Carlson’s comment about Michael Vick isn’t just outrageous and reflexively partisan; it’s inconsistent with so much that Tucker has been through the years.
Back in 1999, for example, Tucker Carlson made news with his “chilling description of then-Governor Bush’s mocking imitation of one death row inmate, Karla Faye Tucker, whom Bush refused to pardon despite the pleas of,...
“There’s always tension between freedom and fairness. We want less government...”
– Do We Want to Live in the Libertarians’ World? (via azspot)
This is such a strange quote, since the vast majority of libertarians recognize a role for the state in protecting children and prosecuting fraud. The libertarians I know believe that children are not capable of giving the kind of knowing...
“The world is a laboratory and different nations are public policy experiments....”
– International Liberty
This is completely intuitive, right? People rarely uproot their lives to go to a place that is less free. What is the biggest migration from the United States you can think of? If I had to guess, I’d say it was the 50,000 plus Americans who fled to Canada. They...
yellowbricks asked: I'm curious as to why you think Gingrich, Palin, Huckabee, and Bush will never be Republican nominees. Will you explain?
yellowbricks asked: I'm curious as to why you think Gingrich, Palin, Huckabee, and Bush will never be Republican nominees. Will you explain?
How a Google Engineer (and Reddit) Got a Teenager... →
More good news that doesn’t undo the awfulness of the original bad news.
A Solitary Jailhouse Lawyer Argues His Way Out of... →
An amazing story of one man’s struggle to prove his innocence.
A Few Thoughts
1. I’ve been very tough on Obama for breaking his campaign promises. But kudos to him for keeping his promise to end DADT. The man has four years to accomplish what he promised; I should remember this before I lambast him for breaking his pledges.
2. People are upset and surprised by Naomi Wolf’s rape apologia. They shouldn’t be. It’s been clear for the last couple of...
The Thing About Donations
shortformblog:
Blogger goes after Target’s political donations and Strib
minnpost:
Brian Lambert recaps Target’s less than glorious PR yesterday after The Awl published an article on the company’s political donations.
But what, no mention of Ed Kohler’s grassroots efforts on Twitter?
Wait wait … SO. TARGET. NEVER. STOPPED. GIVING. DONATIONS. TO. ANTI-GAY. POLITICIANS? It’s...
“While parked legally on a street in DC this weekend, I received a warning notice...”
– Prettier Than Napoleon: My Right to Travel: Impeded.
Since taxes are unpopular, this is how local governments raise funds… they violate all manner of your rights and make is so onerous to vindicate yourself that you’ll just write them a check.
We libertarians tend to fume about big...
State Department Bars Employees From Reading... →
This is, of course, absurd. The policy seems to be that State Department employees should be less informed than everyone else in the world about State Department activities. That’s not a particularly good recipe for a functioning State Department.
WatchThere is a myth about Bush, and it appears in the first 36 seconds of this clip from the Daily Show. Stewart says, “obviously, under the old administration … there would have been no concession of defeat.” And this is absurd, because in 2006, Bush gave a huge concession of defeat:
U.S. President George W. Bush accepted the resignation Wednesday of embattled Defence...
Air rage: Is reclining your seat a right? -... →
The fascist in me would would ban all seat reclining on airplanes.
More on Fox
correlationstonone:
Sometimes Fox is Right, and Sometimes Fox is Biased
Jeff Miller and I disagree that Fox News was biased in its use of terminology in the course of the Health Care debate. While it’s somewhat ridiculous that a simple turn of phrase can have so much power in American politics, the branding of a specific program is important. Bill Sammon, a Fox executive, expressed an...
Sometimes Fox is Right
correlationstonone:
jeffmiller:
azspot:
“Friendly Reminder”: Fox’s Unbalanced Ethics Threaten Democracy
Anyone who still clings to the notion that Fox News is actually a news organization rather than a propaganda machine for special interests — and that it actually is led by journalists who adhere to the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists — must read the leaked memos...
Sometimes Fox is Right
azspot:
“Friendly Reminder”: Fox’s Unbalanced Ethics Threaten Democracy
Anyone who still clings to the notion that Fox News is actually a news organization rather than a propaganda machine for special interests — and that it actually is led by journalists who adhere to the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists — must read the leaked memos Media...
Civil Rights, Judicial Bias Surround Texas Drug... →
Surely the most infuriating article you’ll read today (this week? this year? (h/t Balko)
“In interviews, he demonstrates creepily little regard for the safety of the...”
– The Strange Justifications of WikiLeak’s Julian Assange, via slippy
Finally someone speaking some sense. A good article on both the strengths and weaknesses of WikiLeak’s version of transparency. Not everything that can be shared should.
(via monsterbeard)
I was beginning to think I was the...
Groupon rejects Google's $6 billion offer -... →
This seems like a huge mistake. As a general rule, never turn down $6 billion.
Wikileaks and Amazon
shortformblog:
jeffmiller says: If someone were hosting pirated movies on Amazon’s cloud service, would it surprise us if Amazon shut it down? Is this really any different than that?
» We say: Provocative, whistleblowing free speech is not the same thing as copyright infringement. If this was not the U.S. getting egg all over its face (and, say, Afghanistan or Iraq), it would not be taken down....