In a Wall Street Journal editorial, L. Gordon Crovitz again pushes for the United States to prosecute Wikileaks’ Julian Assange as a traitor. Crovitz is actually not as hawkish as some. While raging hotheads on the right have made no secret of their desire to also see the editors of the New York Times and other …
Author Archives: Rogier
Young people these days: selfish, preening monsters
Kids these days, and their damn music! The self-absorbed little shits actually dare stress their individuality over their commonality, complains Nathan DeWall, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky, who has analyzed the lyrics of almost three decades of chart toppers. Hit songs in the 1980s were more likely to emphasize happy togetherness, like the racial harmony …
Continue reading “Young people these days: selfish, preening monsters”
We’re #1! Well, we used to be, anyway.
It was fun while it lasted. Ten years ago, the U.S. economy was three times the size of China’s. In five years, China’s will be bigger, according to the International Monetary Fund. Marketwatch notes that …whomever is elected U.S. president next year — Obama? Mitt Romney? Donald Trump? — will be the last to preside …
From the Superior Moral Compass Department (2)
• The Rev. Kenneth James Flowers of the Michigan Progressive Baptist Convention believes that “Our Muslim brothers and sisters are being crucified by one Pastor Terry Jones.” Which might be taking hyperbole to a new level. It might also be worth noting that Jones, while a very good candidate for Asswipe of the Year, never laid …
Continue reading “From the Superior Moral Compass Department (2)”
Keep cops honest? Hit the record button.
The Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf takes a brief look at the latest scandal rocking the NYPD, where four hundred officers are facing possible larceny and bribery charges. The extent of the shamelessness came to light …when a police officer discussed taking care of a [traffic] ticket on a phone line being tapped by internal affairs in an …
The law is an ass. And so is Hakeem Jeffries.
The ire of little men in search of a big balcony: Mr. Jeffries’s outrage was set off by reports that real estate agents were using the name ProCro to peddle properties on the border of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. He also said the name “sounded silly.” Since the gentleman in …
Continue reading “The law is an ass. And so is Hakeem Jeffries.”
“If you don’t like the TSA, don’t fly.”
“Flying is a privilege, not a right. If you don’t like it, don’t fly.” Sound familiar? I always offer people who use that argument a hundred dollars if they can kindly point me to the rail or bus schedule that will let me plan my overland trip to Berlin or Mumbai. Obviously, that hundred-dollar bill is …
If I lived in Iran, I’d let my dog grow a mullet
Dogs may soon be outlawed in Iran. The widening acceptability of dog ownership, and its popularity among a specific slice of Iran’s population — young, urban, educated and frustrated with the Islamic government — partly explains why dogs are now generating more official hostility. In 2007, two years into the tenure of hard-line President Mahmoud …
Continue reading “If I lived in Iran, I’d let my dog grow a mullet”
Just a tad short on self-awareness?
A church north of Melbourne, Australia, is trying to broaden its appeal with a special service for fans of science fiction. The Reverend Avril Hannah-Jones said the service would “explore parallels between fantasy and Christianity, taking inspiration from Dr Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Wars.” In response, conservative Christians have been expressing their disapproval. “I don’t …
Beware the danger that is the flat bedsheet!
Not very many people realize what dangers lurk in the quietly terrifying tool of death that is the flat bedsheet. Luckily, they have California Senator Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) to set them straight. The good Senator, in his concern for hotel housekeeping staffers across his great state, wishes to make mandatory, via his latest bill, …
Continue reading “Beware the danger that is the flat bedsheet!”
Correction of the Week
The Guardian clarifies. This article was amended on 19 April 2011. The original referred to the Senator Jesse Helms as Jesse James. This has been corrected.
Decisions, decisions
The Washington Post reports that State lawmakers are debating whether to designate a semiautomatic pistol as the official gun of Utah, despite protests from people who say they think it’s inappropriate because of recent mass shootings. The measure has some surface logic, considering that the gun in question was invented by Utah native John Browning …