Reader Tips
In tonight’s tips music, recorded during a live performance in Japan in 1992, George Harrison is joined by Eric Clapton for an extended rendition of Harrison’s signature song While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.
Honey, I Finished The Internet
Nothing to see here > Just a cat dressed as a shark, riding a robotic vacuum cleaner. (h/t Karen)
The Intellectual Left
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Riding Mass Transit Is Like Inviting 20 Random Hitchhikers Into Your Car
A Shark carcass was discovered on a NYC subway yesterday, it offered commuters a nice break from the smell of urine.
— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) August 9, 2013
Mark Steyn’s RX for Jeff Bezos Now That He Owns The Washington Post
Zimbabwe’s “Blacks-Only” Stock Exchange
And not trade just anything, but shares of recently nationalized foreign companies, most of which are South African-owned miners. Or rather were, because following the most recent nationalization round, Zimbabwe would take a 51% stake in all major foreign-owned companies valued at over $7 billion. No compensation will be paid.
Related! Obama administration using housing department in effort to diversify neighborhoods
h/t Adrian
Not A Muslim
“The Law”, according to Socialists
Interesting happenings in New Haven, Connecticut a few days ago. A Rent-a-Crowd “Protesters” showed up, trying to cancel Ted Nugent from playing there. It’s the age old meme of a “certain” group in society: “Don’t disagree with us or we’ll destroy you & your career!”
In this video of the protest, notice the multitude of pre-printed signs. Here’s a frame capture from the video:
Curious what “PSLWEB.ORG” represents? You can visit it here. Shocking, eh?!
Reader Tips
In tonight’s diversion en route to the Tips we’re knocked all the way back into the late 1970s to watch California rockers Van Halen perform Jamie’s Cryin’.
The comments thread will remain open, nonetheless, for your Reader Tips.
Avenging the Death of the West
You stole my country and my future from me, but I will have my revenge.
Rather Than Becoming “complicit in crimes against the American people”
Now in the midst of an escalating fight from the federal government aimed at cracking down on encrypted communications, one of the last free and secure services has thrown in the towel under mysterious circumstances.
“I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations,” owner and operator Ladar Levison of Dallas, Texas wrote in the statement. “I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot.”
“I feel you deserve to know what’s going on–the First Amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise,” wrote Levison. “As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.”
Nice country. What a shame that something happened to it.
(h/t soundofmusak)
CRTC Denies Sun News Mandatory Carriage
But “is considering a form of mandatory carriage applicable to all Canadian All- News Services, that would include Sun.”
More detail;
The decision also lays out a proposal for a new category of licences for Canadian all-news channels. It’s asking for public comment now on a proposed framework that includes forcing distributors to offer all Canadian national news services, Canadian news services in close proximity in their channel lineup, as well as offering national news services in a package and on a standalone basis.
So while Sun News Network will not get the mandatory carriage order it sought, the CRTC has put forward a streamlined process to rewrite the rules for Sun News and its competitors.
Meanwhile…
APTN renewed. Race based programming and 80's american movies are culturally valuable. Conservative viewpoints aren't. What a load, #crtc.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) August 8, 2013
Update: Paul Wells thinks there’s more sunshine than darkness to be found in the decision.
Is There Nothing That Obama Can’t Do?
Now is the time at SDA when I can’t believe I’m warming up to Glenn Greenwald…
Barack Obama, August 6th – “We put in some additional safeguards to make sure that there is federal court oversight as well as Congressional oversight that there is no spying on Americans. We don’t have a domestic spying program.”
NYT, August 8th – The National Security Agency is searching the contents of vast amounts of Americans’ e-mail and text communications into and out of the country, hunting for people who mention information about foreigners under surveillance, according to intelligence officials.
But wait, there’s more! “The NSA is giving your phone records to the DEA. And the DEA is covering it up.”
This Is Not Your Grandma’s Humane Society
In 2004 the FBI declared animal rights terrorism to be a top domestic threat. In response to this extremism, in 2006 Congress passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which upgraded the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992. We’ve learned that the New York City Bar Association is now pushing a resolution at the American Bar Association meeting this week calling on the Justice Department to cease enforcing the law.
The timing couldn’t be worse from a P.R. point of view. The recent event in New Mexico seems to support tough anti-terrorism laws. The Humane Society of the U.S. and other activists tried to use legal channels to stop horse slaughter, and that may not work (it has succeeded in delaying things, though). So some vigilantes decided to do their own (illegal) thing and light a fire.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Sparky Cars
In the financial world there is a saying: Buy things when no-one else wants them. The person who coined that advice clearly never saw a Chevy Volt sitting on a car dealer’s lot. As GM struggles to prove that Obama’s “saving of Detroit” was not a thinly veiled handout to union workers, and that the “green movement” is backed by economical alternatives to cheap fossil fuels, it has decided to cut its Volt prices yet again.
Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors
… the wire service more appropriately known as the Administration’s Press is back to its old tricks, and then some. On Wednesday, as will be seen after the jump, reporter Russ Bynum disgracefully covered up a geographic gaffe by President Obama during his Tuesday appearance on Jay Leno’s show […] by putting words Obama didn’t say into his mouth…
Featured Comment
“No one will weep for these liars who have misled generations of people by deceit, or omission, of the reality of this World. For Collectivist fantasy. The Unicorns are finally goring themselves. When Stalin was a big name they lauded him. Mugabe was the Savour of Africa. Mandella the new Moses of racial harmony. Hitler a great economist. Look how it all turned out. Mass Murder hidden by these maggots of myth. The so called intelligentsia of journalism is just a common bawdy house full of decrepit whores of totalitarianism. The mammals in the end will win.”
Uncomfortable Facts About Voluntary Generosity
New facts released about personal charity challenge the long standing canard that Leftist/Socialist policies breed nicer, kinder people. Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), further compiled by Cato scholar Dan Mitchell, reveal some interesting revelations about voluntary social spending:
- 10.2% of GDP – Americans
- 6.0% of GDP – Dutch
- 5.3% of GDP – British
- 5.1% of GDP – Canadians
- 2.8% of GDP – French
- 2.0% of GDP – Germans
Related: This is no surprise to Dennis Prager, who has been arguing the same for years.