As the small town of Newtown, Connecticut and the nation at large still mourn the deaths of the innocent in the second worst school shooting in American history, our thoughts and feelings are already being shaped into arguments about gun control and mental healthcare in this country. Continue reading
It isn’t confirmed yet, but it looks very much like Gov. Nikki Haley has made her choice to fill the seat being vacated by pathetic quitter Jim DeMint. Tim Scott is the sitting United States Representative for the First District of South Carolina. He is, of course, a Republican. Let’s take a minute to get to know him. Continue reading
When something as horrific as the mass murder of children in Connecticut happens, we look at Adam Lanza and his family, and we demand to know why this happened. What led to that day? Why didn’t anyone step in? What could have been done differently? I know the answer: nothing. And everything. And it doesn’t matter because it’s too late to stop what’s already happened. I know all this because my own brother is a murderer, too. Continue reading
I’m not currently a believer, but I was a committed and serious Christian growing up, as was my family. As such, I still see a lot of religiously themed comments and posts on my Facebook wall. Today, my sister-in-law posted the following in response to the school shooting in Connecticut:
I think I just failed a test. Neighbor asked in passing, “I’m a Christian and all that, but why does God allow things like this to happen?” Told him I’d be happy to talk with him about it when he has time. But I was stumped for a short answer. What is a short answer?!?! Continue reading
When I was overseas, I got the chance to walk through ancient Babylon, which had been rebuilt and preserved by Saddam Hussein in addition to a lavish palace addition next door. When I say “lavish”, don’t confuse the word with some empty top-shelf adjective; this palace is the embodiment of the word itself. Though it had long since been looted of every scrap of ornamentation the palace still radiated an air of quiet grandiosity.
I took a trip up there with some other guys from my comm shop for the day and spent hours just wandering through the palace, looking through room after room in awe. It was as if I had been transported back in time to some ancient world in which kings and emperors wielded their wealth as heavily as they did their swords. Continue reading
You know when pranks are the most fun? When you’re a stupid kid at sleepaway camp and someone short sheets your bed, or sticks your fingers in a bowl of water, or puts toothpaste on your face, and when you find out, you’re allowed to give the requisite three punches to the arm. Yes, this is when pranks are basically just goofy little things most kids go through in the process of bonding and finding camaraderie with their fellow kid maniac friends. Continue reading
Today, December 6, is Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Every year on this day, Canada commemorates a terrible act of violence directed at women solely because of their gender.
L’Ecole Polytechnique is an engineering school affiliated with the Universite de Montreal. On December 6, 1989, a deranged gunman named Marc Lepine entered L’Ecole Polytechnique. He went into a mechanical engineering classroom, ordered the men to leave the room. He asked the female students if they knew why they were there, and told them it was because he was “fighting feminism”. He told them that they were women studying to be engineers, that that made them feminists, and that he hated feminists. He then shot every one of the nine female students. Six were killed. Continue reading
(William brushing the dirt off? Lulz) Oh, sure she is. There’s got to be some way to inject some Americanism into the news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting a little monarch, right? There’s probably no better way than to submit that America’s little bundles of baby pseudo-monarchy are probably giving this whole Royal Baby nonsense the empirical side eye that it rightly deserves, yes? Yes. Continue reading
We wonder if those America jeans, or the gold shilling isn’t going so well? We wonder this because Glenn Beck, who’s never been known for being the sanest person to ever set foot out of Fox News, probably needs to stop consuming so many crazy biscuits like immediately. He’s nearing some sort of meltdown. And we imagine if or when it comes, it won’t be pretty. In fact it may require a litter box. Continue reading
Mayor of Toronto and noted disgrace to the city Rob Ford was today ordered removed from office. After a three day trial, Mr. Justice Hackland of the Ontario Superior Court found that Ford had breached the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCOIA) and as a result that his seat on Toronto’s City Council was therefore declared to be vacant. Instead of accepting this, Ford has decided to fight on, blaming his situation on a conspiracy against him among the left wing of City Council and the judiciary. So what happens now?
To begin with, Justice Charles Hackland suspended the effect of his order declaring Ford’s seat vacant for 14 days to give City Council time to deal with the administrative difficulties that come with having to replace a mayor on the fly. So not very much is likely to happen in the first week or two. Continue reading