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http://highclearing.com/ - Looking Sideways at Your World Since October 2001
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Kevin Drum and Dan Drezner puzzle over the massive increase in “collateral damage” in the last two decades. They find this puzzling in part because of, in Dan’s words, “a revolution in precision-guided munitions — which, in theory, was supposed to reduce the likelihood of collateral damage.” ...
Congress
Dan Boren
By Thoreau
Will never ring again. Supposedly a strict reading of the state's gay marriage ban also outlaws all other marriages as well.
All those Texans who thought they were married will now have to go to another state and get married all over again. They'll spend money on caterers, dress ...
Other
By Thoreau
I find myself using buzzwords occasionally in work, most recently when I wrote a letter of reference for a colleague. I don't use them very much, and I never fool myself into thinking that the buzzwords are necessarily very meaningful, but if I suspect that my audience might want ...
Other
By Mona
Everyone "knows" that, right? Well Radley Balko's Pulitzer-worthy journalism was the sine qua non of this. Or at least, his publicity-generating investigations mean that Cory Maye will now have a superb defense team. (And for those who may not know, Maye is an African-American.)
Other
By Thoreau
I think that rock, paper, scissors is a good analogy for the Drug War. There are 3 players: The government, the drug dealers, and the non-gangster businesses (whether large corporate weed farms or local organic coca growers) who could enter the market if there were no ...
World
Way way downblog I hypothesized that in daily life vegetarians and vegans are more sinned against than sinning when it comes to food evangelism. I have to change the way I think about Sarah Palin now because she’s determined to prove me right, and I love being right. Apparently she’s ...
White House
Speaking of Armistice Day, Jesse Walker reminds us of the ten thousand lives wasted after Germany surrendered in 1918. Perhaps that twisted real-life tale inspired his IDEA FOR A MINISERIES: Extraterrestrials come to Earth promising hope and change. Gradually their sinister plot is revealed: ...
World
Germany
By Mona
This past Wednesday, one of my dearest friends in the world died. His death was completely unnecessary. He was an alcoholic whose liver had become severely compromised, so several years ago he switched to weed. That cost him a great job about five months ago when the company that ...
Other
By Thoreau
Something bad has happened.
All I can tell you is that a good person and good friend got screwed over today. Raise a toast to his next endeavor. He'll kick ass, whatever he does.
Other
By Thoreau
Ladies and gentlemen, I have just spotted the most tender, juicy cut of veal ever seen on the face of the earth: At the start of a midterm, a student looked at a diagram with two objects and asked "Which one is the right and which one is the ...
Other
By Thoreau
As Greenwald notes, the federal government has decided to allow due process for terrorism suspects...if they think they can secure convictions in the regular court system. If they don't think the regular court system is guaranteed to convict? Then the military will handle it. And ...
Other
CIA
By Thoreau
Observations from a freshman lab:
1) Even if the equipment actually works and the instructions are crystal clear (and all of the other students attest to this) somebody will need extra time. Even if it's a short experiment.
2) No matter how simple the analysis procedure is, ...
Other
By Mona
Something about this TSA story made me think that Thoreau is a pseudonym for Steve Bierfeldt. ;)
*******
Via dhex in comments, here is a nauseating recording of the grilling Mr. Bierfeldt was subjected to by TSA staff.
Other
By Thoreau
I've blogged about the TV show "Flashforward" before, and how it will be a challenge to portray people responding to the event in a convincing way. I was thinking mostly about what people might do at that moment six months in the future: Why wouldn't a lot of them ...
Other
highclearing.com - 9 days ago
—
highclearing.com —
Wikipedia has the short, sad story of how
Armistice Day - a holiday "dedicated to the cause
of world peace" - became, as of 1954, a day honoring the military as such. I regret the change. The US already had Memorial Day for military members killed in ...
(more)
One Hour’s Stour
Comments
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Matthew Yglesias
found this 9 days agofound this
By Thoreau
On the one hand, every now and then a Muslim in America kills a bunch of people. On the other hand, the vast majority of American Muslims don't do this, and in fact condemn the few who do.
So I see two possible explanations for this:
1) Islam is a very ...
Other
One way to mitigate Pat Buchanan's concern would be for the United States to not constantly involve itself in wars around the globe. Truth be told, from the practical standpoint of running an empire, violent outbursts by the likes of Major Hasan aren't even grit in the gears. This is ...
World
General David Petraeus
Pat Buchanan
United States
For the kids among you, let me just say, it really was bliss to be alive in those days and on that night in particular, and to be American was very . . . giddy. A powerful upwelling of fellow-feeling, relief (we weren't all going to die!) and sheer ...
World
Megan McArdle talks a lot of sense about the Fort Hood massacre, but she has an unfair advantage: she's not an anti-Muslim bigot, nor does she have the overarching aim to delegitimize all Muslim participation in American politics. Otherwise, she might see a worrying pattern in the fact that ...
