I’ve never actually seen any of them – besides Yellow Submarine, of course. Are they worth perusing? I mean, we don’t even really make that kind of movie anymore. Or do we? I haven’t really thought about this particular genre before today, which is kind of odd when you think about it.
Month: June 2015
Washington Free Beacon causes US State Department to act like spoiled children. In front of Europe, too.
Does State even HAVE a victory condition, here? – Not that they have one for Iran, either*.
Today’s event, of course, elevates the Washington Free Beacon. After all, this is not exactly a bad time to have a reputation for being personally hated by the Obama administration. In fact, I kind of wish for that status myself:
Officials with the Department of State threatened to call security Monday on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who was attempting to report on a briefing held by senior Obama administration figures in Vienna on the eve of an expected nuclear agreement with Iran.
Two State Department officials booted theFree Beacon from a room where Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, was talking to reporters, despite the Free Beacon’s being credentialed by the Austrian government for the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks.
Don’t throw us into that OTC birth control patch, Brer Democrats!
Let me unpack this is practical terms.
Fascinating, kinda-confusing poll numbers (http://t.co/2It5b0TlCe) on OTC birth control: pic.twitter.com/RElOJPTaQZ
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) June 29, 2015
Continue reading Don’t throw us into that OTC birth control patch, Brer Democrats!
And we end what was a disappointing Supreme Court term…
…with a win on the EPA, at least. A bit of a mild win, but at least the scoreboard isn’t empty.
The Supreme Court overturned the Obama administration’s landmark air quality rule on Monday, ruling the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not properly consider the costs of the regulation.
In a 5-4 ruling, the justices ruled that the EPA should have taken into account the costs to utilities and others in the power sector before even deciding whether to set limits for the toxic air pollutants it regulated in 2011.
Continue reading And we end what was a disappointing Supreme Court term…
Well, it’s a new week.
I’m going to predict that it’s going to be a foreign policy sort of week, mostly because the Lords of Fate read this blog and delight in proving my predictions wrong. And no, they’re too smart to play the infinite-recursion game; I’m allowed to know and admit that they’re out to keep proving me wrong. It’s apparently more amusing that way.
Calling this an open thread, although I don’t really know why. I tend to have a light hand in the comments section here anyway.
‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.’
Listen to it fast, before they take it off of iTunes. Which, by the way, is something that I couldn’t see Steve Jobs ever doing. Say what you like about the man, but he believed in communication.
Reminder: there are actually more Supreme Court decisions tomorrow.
And if Scalia writes the EPA decision (there is a remarkable amount of analysis out there trying to figure out who writes which Supreme Court decisions*)… well. They may have to end up encasing it in concrete and shooting it into the Sun. So, there’s that to look forward to, at least.
Moe Lane
*I think that the general consensus is that the event that might have suggested that Scalia would not get the EPA case was actually not a triggering event in this case, and at any rate Mars was in Taurus when the white heifer gave birth to a two-headed calf and the Ouija board started spelling out 19th Century British dance hall lyrics. You see: apparently, this is all like Kremlinology, only without the scientific rigor. I’m just impressed that the Court can still keep a secret…
Book of the Week: “The Annihilation Score.”
This one I am anticipating: The Annihilation Score (A Laundry Files Novel) will not be out for another week and a half, and I don’t think that I’m going luck out with this one and find a copy at a Borders bookstore that had unaccountably been put out early (which is what happened to me with another book in this series). Mostly because Borders doesn’t exist anymore, of course. Anyway, this is going to be the latest book in Charlie Stross’s Lovecraft-meets-spy-novels-meets-computer-math series, and it’s been a pretty nifty series so far. Hopefully, Charlie can keep a handle on his increasing tendency to conspiracy crank before the Great Old Ones come to finish the series by eating everybody’s souls – which is a selling point for this series, actually. It’s Lovecraftian cosmic horror. You know everybody’s gonna die. The author promised. Continue reading Book of the Week: “The Annihilation Score.”
Joe Biden reportedly mulling run.
(Via Drudge) Oh, wouldn’t THAT be something to see.
Mr. Biden, 72 years old, lost two previous bids for the White House, in 1988 and 2008, and he would enter the 2016 contest as a clear underdog. Yet as a sitting vice president with loyal supporters in states that hold early contests, he has the potential to scramble the Democratic field.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll earlier this month showed that Americans’ image of Mr. Biden is growing more positive. A total of 40% saw him in a favorable light, versus 31% who had a negative view of him. In November 2014, Mr. Biden’s favorability rating stood at 35%, compared with 38% who viewed him unfavorably.
‘SpaceX rocket explodes after launch.’
Well, it generally fits the tone for the weekend: “An unmanned rocket by Elon Musk’s SpaceX on a resupply mission to the International Space Station exploded Sunday just minutes after launch.” ….Annnnd I’m just going to delete the rest of that rant. Not productive.