One of the staples of warhawk commentary is that everything they insisted was hard, realistic fact in the Cold War, they now take back because it’s inconvenient to the war on terror. In the Cold War, the only way to restrain Russia and China was by having so many more nukes we could annihilate them. When it’s Iraq or Iran at issue, our nuclear superiority is irrelevant. The rulers are crazy! Suicidal! They might nuke us even knowing it’s their own death (undoubtedly laughing wildly like the Joker).
Case in point, Charles Krauthammer (the WaPo columnist who once claimed that a reunited Germany would be Europe’s worst nightmare), declares that being religious, the Iranians have much less regard for human life than those atheist Commies did. As noted at the link, the Cold War cliche was that being atheist meant “the Reds” would have no respect for human life, as they were incapable of having moral values. The rationale changes, the conclusion (war!) never does.
•An interesting analysis of American Sniper. Another view from Roy Edroso.
•A revenge-porn site operator who also charged victims for getting their photos off the site has been busted by the feds.
•The FCC makes 25 MBps the new definition of broadband. Which adds another argument against the Comcast/TWC merger as Comcast will have a harder time claiming there’s lots of high-speed broadband competition.
•In this CNN piece about unvaccinated kids, a doctor explains that his kids are “pure” and he refuses to contaminate them with vaccines. And the parents the article is focused on should realize their daughter’s cancer was caused by vaccines, so there, that proves it (he’s very big on natural healing, according to his website). Which is the kind of thinking that explains why measles and whooping cough are resurgent.
•The Senate’s Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Subcommittee is now just the Subcommittee on the Constitution. And the big Constitutional issue? Obama!
•No, being a cop is not the most high-risk occupation.
•A right-wing pastor denounces birth control as turning women into whores and getting them out from under their husband’s dominion.
•As a matter of fact, Muslims have condemned the Muslim terrorist attack in Paris. JK Rowling, meanwhile, apologizes for the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition.
•I’m not really surprised that identifying and tracking us by our supposedly “anonymous” credit-card transactions is easy.
•I’m aware some members of the religious right are down on masturbation. But this Defeating the Dragons post covers some arguments I’d never heard before. Like marriages symbolize the union of Church and Christ, so doing without a partner is like saying you can do without Jesus.
•The Nation is less than impressed with the “sharing economy” promoted by Uber, Airnb and similar companies.
•A blogger reminds us that a century ago, Turkey tried genocide on the Armenians.
A worker recently won an employment dispute guaranteeing his right not to clock in and out with a bar scanner, as it would have been the mark of the beast. As Slacktivist points out at the link, Big Government, the supposed tool of Antichrist, actually defended his right not to take the mark.
•The FCC chair says the FCC should prevent states from preventing cities from launching their own municipal broadband.
•Marissa Alexander is facing stiff sentencing for firing a warning shot at her abused husband. Despite Florida having a stand-your-ground law, the trial judge ruled that she should have run instead of using the gun.
I’m not the least surprised. Florida is a very conservative state in many areas. I’m quite sure lots of people think an abused woman shooting at her husband, even without trying to hit him, is way worse than what George Zimmerman did to Trayvon Martin.
•Echidne of the Snakes breaks down some arguments over rape statistics.
