Most reasonable people have wondered how could it be that something as crazy as the Church of Scientology got as big as it has. What made L. Ron Hubbard think he could successfully pull off such a preposterous scam as founding a religion involving aliens and the like and get lots of people to give their money, time, and lives to it?
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When the same-sex marriage ruling came out, some of the opponents whined that as a result, those who opposed same-sex marriage because of their religious beliefs would be treated as pariahs and hounded when all they wanted was to be left alone to believe as they wished. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito contributed to that sense of possible future victimhood in his dissent of the ruling outlawing the state bans on same-sex marriage inObergefell v. Hodges.
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In some media stories that generate a lot of attention over a long period despite not producing a corresponding amount of news, at some point the stories go meta and the discussion shifts to the coverage of the coverage and the question gets shifted to whether the topic deserves that level of attention and whether the nature of that coverage is appropriate.
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The Daily Show looks at the critics’ reactions to the deal arrived at between the P5+1 nations and Iran. It is obvious that they had decided what to say before they even knew what the deal contained because that is the level of politics now, where your attitude is totally unconstrained by facts. When your goal is to frighten everyone by warning of the sky falling, the actual issue doesn’t matter.
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I gave an update last week on the case of Barrett Brown, about whom I have written before, and linked to his posts about life in prison where he was incarcerated after exposing government misdeeds. Unfortunately, a few days ago he was sent for 30 days to ‘the hole’, one of the many synonyms for the ‘solitary housing unit’ or SHU that prisons in the US use as a form of punishment.
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The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday in the case of Stormans Inc v. Wiesman that the state of Washington’s rules that require pharmacies to issue emergency contraceptives irrespective of their owner’s religious beliefs are constitutional.
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I think a lot of political commentators (including me) need to apologize to Donald Trump for seriously underestimating him. We thought he would be a sideshow in the election, Herman Cain redux, someone who provides great entertainment for a brief time before the ridiculousness of his candidacy sinks in and he fades away. But looking back we should have realized that he is no dummy. It is true that he is not a self-made man. He started out with rich parents and inherited the family real-estate company but he did manage to use it as a springboard to make a lot more money later and that requires a considerable level of shrewdness and ruthlessness and determination that is standing him in good stead in his unlikely election campaign. We were just too blinded by his massive ego and penchant for outrageous statements, boastfulness, and over-the-top buffoonery to see that when it comes to advancing his own interests, he is no fool but has proven himself to be a canny operator.
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It looks like the last three weeks of Jon Stewart’s tenure as host of The Daily Show is going to feature a LOT of Donald Trump. And who can blame him? The jokes practically write themselves. Trump says that they have invited him to be on the show and that he is mulling it over. I hope he accepts. It would be a blast.
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Even since the hit film Jaws, summer has been the favored time for the release of some kind of fear-based blockbuster film. This time, the honor goes to NBC News that has produced a masterpiece of propagandistic fear-mongering, complete with an ominous soundtrack worthy of an Alfred Hitchcock film.
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Cars are now sophisticated computers on wheels. The technological improvements have enabled them to approach the point that they may be able to drive themselves. But that means that, like any computer, they are also now vulnerable to hacks by people who can break into those computer systems and take control of the car out of the driver’s hands and operate it remotely.
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