A lot of Americans aren’t interested in debating or thinking about policy. They just want to blame someone, preferably someone they’ve already been socialized to despise, be they the rich, the poor, the white, the black, as long as there’s no blame left for them.
Month: April 2016
-
Quote of the Day
-
Google Fiber
My apartment got Google Fiber yesterday, so I got it set up last night and cancelled my Time Warner internet service today. I get twenty times the bandwidth for $50 less per month. Google also allows their customers to plug in the box themselves instead of making them wait at home all day for an “installer” as cable companies do, and they even let people pick up the box from their office if they wish. That was a particularly nice touch, as I live just a few blocks away and normally walk past it a few times per week.
In addition to getting an Internet connection just as fast as my gigabit Ethernet wired network, I get about a 166 megabits per second over WiFi, which my AppleTV uses. The difference is pretty noticeable with Netflix and YouTube.
There is one aspect that could use improvement. The Google Fiber network box doesn’t have a bridge mode, which means I couldn’t use my old router. That required a certain amount of hassle with updating things on my network.
-
Cops being cops
Law enforcement took more stuff from people than burglars did last year. Here’s an interesting factoid about contemporary policing: In 2014, for the first time ever, law enforcement officers took more property from American citizens than burglars did. Martin Armstrong pointed this out at his blog, Armstrong Economics, last week. [Washington Post]
I remember when bandits in uniforms were something you read about being a problem in particularly nasty third world hellholes. This also reminded me of the Utah study that found that you’re more likely to be murdered by the police than by (private sector) street criminals.
-
The real shariah threat
In recent years it’s been common for neo-Nazis to oppose Muslims living in the US by claiming that they want to impose shariah here. However, that’s just an Arabic word for laws inspired by religion–what used to be criticized here as “legislating morality” before most of the critics started doing it themselves. The truth is that the US is already dominated by shariah laws, many of which have the full approval and support of the neo-Nazis. Not a single one of them was inspired by Islam, though–in the US they almost all come from Christianity and Environmentalism. I decided to keep a list of every news story I saw about a shariah law in the US for a month, and here it is:
- Bans on Bondage and Spanking During Sex Could Be OK, Says Federal Court – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- Will Texas’ Use of ‘Safety Regulations’ to Close Abortion Clinics Be Declared Unconstitutional?
- The Biggest Sex-Trafficking Bust in FBI History Was Totally Bogus
- Sam Kazman: How Washington Ruined Your Washing Machine – WSJ
- The List – The New Yorker
- 14-Year-Old Arrested for Prostitution for Her Own Good, Say Indiana Cops – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- CDC just says no to opioid prescriptions for chronic pain | Ars Technica
- Professor Kicked Off Campus, Deemed Security Threat for Posting Miranda Lambert Video – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- ACLU of Rhode Island Slams ‘Sex Trafficking’ Cops for Focusing on Consenting Adults
- Ross Ulbricht’s Sentencing Indecent, Based on Procedural and Substantive Errors, New Amicus Brief Argues
- Cubs Manager Joe Maddon, on Chicago’s New Tobacco Ban: ‘I’m not into over-legislating the human race’
- Merrick Garland Helped Uphold the DEA’s Refusal to Reclassify Marijuana
- Drug reform groups blast Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s life sentence | Ars Technica
- Zealous Anti-Prostitution Prosecutor Paid for Sex Hundreds of Times
- Teen sexting prompts effort to redefine pornography laws | TribLIVE
- Cheerios Maker General Mills Knuckles Under to Vermont’s Mandatory GMO Labeling
- SEC Says Amazon Must Allow Vote on ‘Gender Pay Gap’ Even If No One’s Quite Sure What the Term Means
- This School Actually Handled Sexting Scandal the Right Way: No Teens Went to Jail.
- The Nanny Always Wins: Daily Fantasy Sports Stop Operations in New York
- Federal Judge Stops Nebraska From Forcing 13-Year-Old to Register as a Sex Offender – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- State poised to make prostitution solicitation a felony | 11alive.com
- 12-Year-Old Girl Arrested for Pinching Boy’s Butt, Sent to Juvenile Detention – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- Upstate woman accused of having sex with a dog | WCBD News 2
- Meet Your Future Sexual Predator | Simple Justice
- Top Silk Road 2.0 admin “DoctorClu” pleads guilty, could face 8 years in prison | Ars Technica
- Coming Out of the Drug War Haze? – Reason.com
- When Sex Is Not a Crime, Why Should Sexting Be? – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- Pot Smokers at White House Protest Obama’s Disinterest in Reclassifying Marijuana – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- Mom Who Made Her Kids Walk to School Is Charged with Neglect – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- Mississippi’s New LGBT Law Is About Protecting Only Certain Religious Beliefs – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- District of Columbia lawmakers ban public pot smoking
- Senator Says ‘Good People Don’t Smoke Marijuana’ – Hit & Run : Reason.com
- Lying About Snus and E-Cigarettes Is Like Blocking Access to Clean Heroin Needles – Hit & Run : Reason.com
-
Amusing Easter Egg
This weekend I was playing Crusader Kings II, a historical strategy game covering 769 to 1453. While playing a Norse ruler, I discovered a mysterious metal box while sacking a French city. Shortly thereafter, this event happened:
The key fits the lock, and you slowly open the chest. It contains nothing but dust! As you run your hand through it, strange lights begin to manifest in the room and you close your eyes when the first ghostly apparitions appear. You hear the screams of your guards, and when you finally open your eyes again, the specters are gone… and your guards have been reduced to ash.
So, apparently I found the Ark of the Covenant.
-
Quote of the Day
When one person doesn’t understand economics, we call it ignorance. When millions don’t, we call it a political movement.
Scott Adams