Posts Tagged ‘Boy Scouts’
Thursday Night Links: Liars, Scoundrels, Star Trek, and More
* Transcript from the September 19 meeting of the Cooper Union Board of Trustees. Even putting aside that their short-sighted and obviously bad decisions caused the problem in the first place, the enthusiasm with which these supposed trustees speak about the possibility of closing the school is just unreal.
* All of which brings you back to one central point: if you care about the integrity of elections and people actually being able to vote, the supposed cures for vote fraud are vastly more destructive than the problem. All evidence suggests that vote fraud is a minuscule, minuscule problem. Voter ID and most of the other nostrums are solutions looking for a problem. The people who support these policies are either ignorant of the facts or actually want to cull a certain subsection of the population from democratic participation. There are simply no two ways about it.
* “Since it won’t reform itself, Starfleet needs to be destroyed.” Star Trek into Darkness Hostile to Star Trek, Intelligence.
Remember how Kirk was going to nobly take Khan to Earth to stand trial? Did this actually happen? Is it possible to imagine such a trial ending with a court imposing the punishment of cryogenic stasis? How could a court not demand the other 72 be brought back to life? Wouldn’t such a trial inevitably entail Marcus’s cimes — leading to the exposure of his massive corruption and a public outcry to structurally reform Starfleet?
* Bridge collapse in Washington State, sending vehicles and people into the water.
* Scenes from the fight over Obama’s judicial appointments. Obama won one battle today.
* The best headline ever? The FBI Investigated the Song ‘Louie Louie’ for Two Years.
* Diane Kendig’s letter of resignation from her adjunct position at Kent State.
* Senate Accepts Deal to Kick Formerly Incarcerated Off Food Benefits.
* The kids are all right: Teens hate Facebook.
* Historian Helen Fry, who has written a book called The M Room: Secret Listeners who bugged the Nazis, says the information gleaned by the eavesdropping of the German generals was vitally important to the war effort – so much so that it was given an unlimited budget by the government. She believes what was learned by the M room operations was as significant as the code-breaking work being done at Bletchley Park.
* The Boy Scouts inch forward.
* And This Incredible Full Scale Lego X-Wing Is the Largest Model In History. I’ll allow it.
Friday Night!
* Bady and Konczal: The Slow Death of Higher Education.
* Modest HUUUUUUUGE job gains in September. So huge.
* The wisdom of markets: Man in a “drunken blackout” bought 69 percent of the global market in oil futures.
* Okay, okay, maybe Steve Jobs was a visionary.
* Mister Rogers defends PBS to the U.S. Senate.
* Electronic surveillance skyrockets in the US.
* Mothers, don’t let your babies grow up to be Boy Scouts.
* Tim Burton: How Did It Go So Wrong So Fast?
* Rogue. Assassin. Orc. What else is Santiaga hiding?
* Map of the night: left-right reversed United States.
* Why don’t I already have a TARDIS bookshelf? Of course, the best feature is that it’s bigger on the inside.
* And Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal presents: The Human Condition(er).
A Few Sunday Night Links
* Another great Muppet thing that never was: Douglas Adams and Jim Henson tried to develop a TV special about the Muppet Institute of Technology.
* Given Politco’s track record, I think we can expect Mitt to make a comeback in the next few days.
* I’ve been fascinated all week by the stories about Sean Smith, one of the U.S. foreign service workers killed in the consulate attacks this week, and his virtual life in EVE Online as “Vile Rat.”
* The Boy Scouts have a pedophile blacklist dating back to 1919. Of course, they never actually involved the cops, or, you know, did anything about it. Heavens no.
* Will Self, “The Trouble with My Blood.”
* Unpaid internships in the New York Times.
* And just for laughs: A spokesman for Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) is facing criticism after advocating violence against female Democratic senators in a Facebook post.
My question today… when is Tommy boy going to weigh in on all the Lilly Ledbetter hypocrites who claim to be fighting the War on Women? Let’s hurl some acid at those female democratic Senators who won’t abide the mandates they want to impose on the private sector.
“Acid in Female Senators’ Faces: Opinions Differ.”
Thursday Night Catchup All-Politics Edition
Thursday night catchup all-politics edition.
* Cheney Cheney cheney cheney Cheney. Time to begin that long slide into the ashbin of history, Dick.
* Gay marriage passes New York Assembly, facing “uphill battle” in state Senate.
* Gay marriage about to be legal in New Hampshire.
* Taking a first step towards a world without nuclear weapons.
* Redefining “useless”: Senate Democrats.
* Not your father’s Boy Scouts. I cannot recognize this organization at all. Knot-tying isn’t good enough anymore? Via The Spine.
Gerry Canavan 