Late Saturday we posted a Scrogues Converse Roundtable looking at the IRS/Tea Party controversy. The debate got started when our colleague Dr. Sid Bonesparkle suggested that perhaps the IRS wasn’t out of line in taking a good hard look at organizations dedicated to undermining the tax system trying to organize using 501 status, which is […]
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“Useful Enemies”: U.S. admitted not just Nazis after WWII, but their sadistic collaborators
Why did the United States feel the need to admit Baltic and Eastern Europeans who at times exceeded the Nazis in brutality? Lost count of the sordid episodes in America’s past? In Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America’s Open-Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals (Delphinium Books, 2013), Richard Rashke chronicles one that few of us […]
Profiling the Tea Party: In defense of the IRS. Sorta. Or not.
You’ve probably noted the controversy surrounding the Internal Revenue Service’s apparent “profiling” of groups aligned with the Tea Party. A discussion on the issue broke out here at S&R this week, with our colleague Sid Bonesparkle suggesting on our internal e-mail forum that perhaps such action, even if it only involved a couple of “rogue” […]
I hate handguns, but I have still considered owning one
I’d never own a handgun to protect myself from the government. Protesting myself my armed fellow Americans who are terrified of the government, on the other hand….
Forced miscarriages, however horrible, should not qualify as “murder”
Yesterday I heard that Ariel Castro was being charged by the prosecutor with several counts of “aggravated murder” for each of the miscarriages he caused Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and/or Gina DeJesus. I don’t have a problem with Castro, assuming he’s found guilty of the various crimes that he’s been charged with, being locked away […]
Amanda, Gina, and Michelle survived, but not all women in Cleveland are that lucky
Today Cleveland celebrates the return of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight. We feel a collective sense of gratitude and amazement at their survival and reappearance. I listened to versions of their story covered locally, nationally, and internationally and that feeling seems nearly universal. But they were gone for a decade. Gina disappeared when […]
The NBA will find a way to make sure the Pacers lose
Every sports organization believes in something. For baseball, it’s tradition. For the NFL, it’s parity. The NBA believes in Major. Media. Markets. Now there’s some logic in this. Pro basketball is a niche sport played by minorities and Europeans, making it an intrinsically harder sell than baseball or football. Without a solid position in major markets, they’d […]
Two-year-old Caroline Sparks killed by five-year-old brother’s rifle. Neglect? Hell yes.
by J. Stephen O’Brien Read that headline again. It doesn’t say, “killed by five-year-old.” That’s so common these days that it almost doesn’t warrant a mention in the local weekly. People leave loaded guns lying around, five-year-olds find them, point them at someone, go “BANG” and pull the trigger, and there’s someone dead or badly […]
Boston Marathon bombing investigation reveals security state’s hypocrisy toward photographers (shooters, know your rights)
It’s become a little too common a story: police thugs beating the hell out of a citizen (who may or may not have done anything) citizen with camera takes pictures or video of police abuse police arrest photographer because apparently it’s illegal to record police brutality The new trend is to make photographing the police […]
What would you ban?
I’m gonna go a little bit out on a limb and ask about taboos with a little compare and contrast. And no, even though I start this out with an example about gun control, the point isn’t about that. It’s about taboo and how that might apply to other rights, their expression, and the rationale […]
The Senate gun control vote reveals our lizard overlords
A few nights ago there was a segment on NPR about the demise of the most recent, tepid gun control legislation. The host had the standard breadth of guests to discuss this issue, and the portion i heard focused on how a relatively innocuous measure like universal background checks could fail. The host pointed out […]
Marathon Monday investigation rolls on: the irony of being a privacy advocate in an NCIS world
Ah, yes. The advantages of living in a security state. Authorities have clear video images of two separate suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings carrying black bags at each explosion site and are planning to release the images today in an appeal for the public’s help in identifying the men, according to an official briefed […]
Boston Marathon bombing: can we at least speculate logically?
The speculation began before the smoke cleared: who was responsible for Monday’s terror attack at the Boston Marathon? What was their motive? Not only is it human to speculate, it’s just about impossible for us not to. We’re inherently theoretical animals, constantly seeking more informed and reliable ways of understanding and explaining (and predicting) how the […]
If Chip Kelly was a student-athlete, he’d be out of a job
Sigh, if there’s a greater hypocrisy in America than the college sports megapoly, it’s hard to know what it is. Whether it’s the fiction that great athletic ability means you have the ability to succeed in college or that tuition is fair payment for starring in a multi-billion dollar enterprise and risking a career ending […]
Boston Marathon bombing: tragedy, bigotry and hope
First and foremost, my thoughts are with Boston today. I hope your friends and family were as lucky as mine were to avoid any harm, and my prayers are with those who were not as lucky. Watching the news was horrific for anyone who turned on a television or browsed the Internet yesterday. But apart […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- IRS/Tea Party controversy: progressive groups “targeted,” too, and corporate media once again refuses to tell Americans the whole truth
- “Useful Enemies”: U.S. admitted not just Nazis after WWII, but their sadistic collaborators
- The time a source has to respond to request for comment? Virtually none.
- Profiling the Tea Party: In defense of the IRS. Sorta. Or not.
- Saturday Video Roundup: “Imagine the Band,” by John Lennon and Wings
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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Otherwise: interesting and yet another example of faux news m…
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Autumn: You said several organizations have purposed alter…
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Samuel Smith: It's not JUST three groups. These are the three th…
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Bret Higgins: Slightly confused - You say one third of the 471 g…
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SeattleAuthor: Actually, I had heard that reported on about Day T…
