I have written in the past about the odious piece of legislation known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would enable the administration to indefinitely detain without trial people whom the government on its own decides is providing “substantial support” to groups “engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners”. (See here, here, and here.) [Read more…]
Mitt Romney sure has a way with words.
Starting with his visit to the UK, which reportedly caused the British prime minister to state that “Mitt Romney had that unique distinction of uniting all of England against him”, and then Israel, and Poland, he has shown un uncanny ability to demonstrate that the more one gets to know him, the less one likes him. [Read more…]
We know that free speech is not an absolute right. There are some limits that even the most tolerant societies have imposed in order to (say) protect children. In the US, the limits to what adults can say is usually judged according to the landmark US Supreme Court decision in the 1969 case of Brandenburg v. Ohio. [Read more…]
There are times when I actually feel sorry for Fox News, as in this case where Gretchen Carlson ends up interviewing an idiot. Doesn’t anyone screen these people? It’s bad enough that she has to listen to the co-hosts on either side of her spouting drivel day in and day out, does she have to endure her guests be like them too? Will no one show her any mercy? [Read more…]
Three Republican state officials have unanimously ruled that Barack Obama’s name will be on the ballot in Kansas in November after all, frustrating birthers who had been hoping for a victory. [Read more…]
The site Politico had a long piece on the disarray and infighting within the Romney campaign. This is just one of a slew of articles in a similar vein as can be seen here, here, and here. [Read more…]
So now a key figure in Iran’s Islamic hierarchy has said that the reason that the film Innocence of Muslims was even produced was because Ayatollah Khomeini’s order to execute novelist Salman Rushdie was never carried out, thus emboldening critics of Islam. Yes, he seems to feel that the fear of summary execution is a worthy threat to hold over anyone who even thinks of offending his sensibilities. [Read more…]
This year is the 50th anniversary of the launching of the James Bond film franchise with 1962’s Dr. No, so it is timely to take another look at the world’s most famous fictional spy. Besides which, I was in bed with the flu at the end of last week (hence the lighter blogging during that period) and I needed some low-effort entertainment and what could be more mindless fun than a Bond film? I went all the way back to Roger Moore’s debut in the role in 1973’s Live and Let Die, which I had not seen before. [Read more…]
He delivers a good rant on 9/11 commemorations, god, religion, money, and the war on terror. [Read more…]