I’m not in the habit of posting what’s essentially an ad, especially one we’re not getting paid for. But this is kind of amazing. I’m not quite sure what to make of it. Take a look especially at the part about making a waterproof iphone, which is in the third part of the video. Read More
Rand Paul threatens to block vote on FBI nominee vote until he gets answers on drone use within the United States.
At TPMPrime, we just opened up a conversation about whether it is and what the fallout will be if it’s going down in flames. Let us know what you think.
A very interesting piece in the Times.
Notwithstanding the violence and the tense standoff now gripping Egypt’s capital, many bread and butter aspects of life – energy shortages, blackouts, lack of police on the street, etc. – have suddenly got much better in the country since Morsi’s ouster.
As the Times puts it, “The apparently miraculous end to the crippling energy shortages, and the re-emergence of the police, seems to show that the legions of personnel left in place after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011 played a significant role — intentionally or not — in undermining the overall quality of life under the Islamist administration of Mr. Morsi.” Read More
Why do the Pauls have such a problem again and again getting tied up with neo-Confederates and borderline white supremacists? It’s not just a prime example of that classic Onion headline “Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep Sucking My C$#k?” It goes to the heart of what contemporary libertarianism is – or to put it more precisely, how there are very different movements and political agendas operating under that one label. Read More
Pelosi calls Boehner’s struggle to get immigration reform through the House “their usual amateur hour.”
Pope makes new laws criminalizing sexual violence/abuse, child porn and prostitution in the Vatican city state.
Fellow historian and TPM Reader BA thinks I’m cutting conventional libertarians a bit too much slack on how deeply the ‘neo-Confederate’ stain goes in the movement. I don’t fully agree with the argument. I think there are a lot of libertarians who have the sort of philosophy I noted. But he’s right and could have said even more about how much the ‘clean’ libertarian movement for lack of a better word has courted and interwoven with these noxious folks …
While I think your forthright denunciation of neo-Confederates as racists, plain and simple, is on the mark and valuable, the sharp division you attempt to draw between such people and “philosophical” libertarians is based on little evidence. I understand the desire to see people at the Cato Institute as “philosophically consistent, [not] basically about race but … a form or what I’d call hyper-individualism. Not my cup of tea but a perfectly legitimate political movement.” Being able to have civil, political discussions with those with whom one disagrees is important. Worthy political opponents are, in general, a good thing.
Mark Sanford of all people gets behind a push to defund the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Group of Colorado counties want to secede and create the state of ‘North Colorado’ which would be a paradise for gun rights and oil drilling.