Moe Lane

As I understand this stalking case, the guy’s facing criminal charges for cyberstalking, which in this case seems to be somewhere between ‘being a relentless jerk’ and ‘there may be actual worms in his head.’  I understand free-speech concerns, but Twitter isn’t actually public space: it’s a private forum where people are permitted to register and participate without paying a fee.  And I’m not being pedantic, here: it’s that distinction that allows site moderators to moderate sites*.

Which is not to say that, say, Eugene Volokh is wrong to question the law itself.  The defendant seems to have avoided sufficiently explicit and credible threats of violence, at least from a legal point of view (warning: I am not a lawyer); and I favor a high bar for that sort of thing.  But I think that it makes more sense for Twitter to seek legal redress against somebody who is deliberately abusing their communications network to harass other people.  For that matter, isn’t this sort of thing more properly a case for the civil court system anyway?

Moe Lane

*This is, as I can attest personally, a distinction that is lost on a lot of ‘libertarians.’

Video Killed The Radio Star, Buggles

OK.  So it’s almost a month late.  Sue me.

I am drawing a blank that is downright frightening, in fact.  I can’t even think of a good movie trailer.

Talk amongst yourselves?

Moe Lane

[UPDATE]: Ah, the HPL Historical Society.  They never fail me.

…to Marin County, CA, DDT gel-packs would be available for sale in every Home Depot in America.  And if soybeans ever get hit with the equivalent with Phytophthora infestans, there’ll be genetically modified tofu being hyped in the organic markets within three months. Alas for actual sufferers from malaria and food insecurity, their problems are not the problems of our professional ‘altruist’ class; in fact, solving the former’s problems end up causing problems for the latter, which is a major reason why the former’s problems are not actually being solved.  Which is my subtle way of agreeing with Glenn Reynolds: whether or not anti-DDT efforts (and anti-GMF efforts) are meant to keep dark-skinned people from the Third World sick and starving, that’s how things end up.  That is the result of ‘success.’

Malaria.

Food insecurity.

Moe Lane

PS: This isn’t my fault.  I’m just mentioning it.

It is adamant that you can see a golf course from the Representative’s San Diego office!  Adamant!  The Time has a third-party ad and everything!  So there!  But what about the allegations that Rep. Issa used his influence and position to make significant profits on both a mutual fund purchase and a real estate sale?  Which is to say, two of three allegations* that the New York Times used as the framework for its hit piece on Representative Issa?

Yeah.  About that. (more…)

Yup, ‘attacked.’  Those locks didn’t vandalize themselves, and they weren’t vandalized by the Scott Walker administration.  That leaves a pretty small list of suspects from which to choose.  Anyway, I’m just putting this video about the protests at Messmer Preparatory Catholic School (via Hot Air) up, without any of the (scathing) editorial comments that I had originally written.

But see if you can guess what the major difference was between the ‘choice’ school kids being protested at, and the screaming vandals doing the protesting.  Hint: if you know anything about the DC school choice saga then you already know what I’m talking about – which is also true if you’re a typical progressive activist.  The only difference there is, you’d rather gargle razor blades then admit that you do know what I’m talking about*. (more…)

I have come to the conclusion that the ability to do general research – really elementary data-mining stuff, that is – is ridiculously rare among political types.  At least, I keep running into people who can’t do any, at any level whatsoever.

I suggest that the VRWC remedy this forthwith.  Next time any of you are hiring, pass over the damn poly sci majors for a change and go find yourself somebody with a library science background.  They’re typically the sort to be good at general research, they’ve had training in database and information management theory – and you can get them pretty darn cheaply, too.  Library science pays about what you’d expect in a profession whose members typically half-consider themselves to have a vocation, instead*.

Seriously, there’s both a need, and an opportunity, there.

Moe Lane

*An attitude that I had myself, until I abruptly left grad school in the Nineties… only to discover that almost having an MLS was worth an extra 10K when it came to starting salaries.

That was my first reaction to this Daily Beast post (H/T Hot Air Headlines), at least: after all, the original ‘rage’ was in point of fact a collective delusion of the progressive Left, based equally on their self-perceived (if never self-acknowledged) lack of self-worth; and progressives’ self-awareness of how badly they’d act if given the opportunity.  If you don’t believe me on the latter, look at these Wisconsin anti-reform protesters from March:

Now that there is some rage.  Hilarious rage.

But I digress. (more…)

Sudden low pressure always knocks me in the sinuses, so I crashed out.  Now this morning my eyes feel… kind of loose, almost soppy.  Sounds and sights are a little… starker, I guess.  My joints and muscles are kind of floppy, and I’m slightly restless.

None of this is actually bad, just kind of weird.

May have done this already this year…

Under Pressure, Queen

…but damn but that low-pressure front that just hit me right in the sinuses… has just hit me right in the sinuses.

Via @SissyLewis comes this question from Salon:

Q: “Why won’t America Embrace the Left?“

Ooh, ooh!  Pick me!  Pick me!

A: It’s because they do stupid [expletive deleted] like this!

I mean, my wife’s a lot less political than me – and her first reaction there was One of these things is not like the others.

I mean, seriously: W. T. F.?

My Little Brony: Physics is Magic.

Via my wife, who is only now recovering from seeing the look on my face from that.