The Los Angeles Times has a list of the deaths of well-known people in 2013. Some of them I had heard about and some were of people I did not know at all. But some were of people whose reports of their passing somehow slipped by me and whose deaths I would have noted if I had been aware.
I do not know who Paul Carr is (apart from the fact that he is a Briton who lives in the US and agrees with the call by the New York Times for ‘clemency’ for Snowden, whatever that might mean) but his piece on Edward Snowden is dripping with the condescension that we have come to expect from some of the media who seem to be obsessed with finding personality flaws in him, while grudgingly acknowledging the importance of the information he released. [Read more…]
The US Supreme Court has ordered a stay of any further same-sex marriages in Utah until the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decides the case. [Read more…]
Sometime yesterday, this blog passed the 3,000,000 page views mark. But there are other milestones this month.
On January 10, 2012, I started blogging on FtB, making it almost two years ago today. [Read more…]
Phil Everly died yesterday in Los Angeles. He and his older brother Don comprised the Everly Brothers and had a string of hits songs in the late fifties and sixties with their distinctive voices, pleasing harmonies, and simple songs of love. [Read more…]
Why do the leaders of some religious groups like the Catholics and now even evangelicals oppose contraception, to the extent of even objecting to health insurance policies covering it? After all, access to safe, reliable, and easy contraception has to be one of the most beneficial advances that society has made. And the fact that 99% of all sexually active women use some form of birth control suggests that women are quietly ignoring the words of their religious leaders. [Read more…]
A clever little sketch from A Bit of Fry and Laurie. [Read more…]
After writing about Max Blumenthal, I recalled earlier work that he did on US domestic politics and a short documentary in 2010 that took a look at the Tea Party and its wealthy backers and the racist messages that drove much of the rhetoric. It was the standard Blumenthal method of going to their meetings and talking with them and you can see the angry reaction from people like the late Andrew Breitbart, while Blumenthal remains calm with a smile on his face. (For some reason, the 28-minute documentary is followed by 12 minutes of a blank screen.) [Read more…]
I have commented before on the harsh personal terms in which Edward Snowden has been characterized by some in the media, being described as arrogant, conceited, grating, grandiose narcissistic, a clown, and so on. This has usually come from people who strongly disagree with what he did, but not exclusively so. [Read more…]