Another Cuban Missile Crisis?

A North Korean cargo ship passing through the Panama Canal was detained when it was suspected of drug trafficking, according to an article in France 24. Turns out there were no drugs on the ship. But there were various missile parts. Officials in Panama were tipped off that something might be amiss when, as soon […]

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Zimmerman May Not Be Racist, But America Is

In the most recent yearly accounting, there were 16,259 homicides in the U.S. ((2010 was the most recent year I could find for which exhaustive statistics were released.)) That comes out to more than 44 homicides a day. Even if George Zimmerman had been found guilty of murder for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, […]

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KTVU’s Epic Asiana News Fail

Wonder no longer why journalists and news anchors get no respect.  You all have probably heard of Asiana flight 214. It came in too low and too fast at San Francisco airport and crashed, injuring many of its passengers. Somehow, a news anchor for KTVU news in Oakland thought that the real names of the […]

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Of Filibusters, the Nuclear Option, and other Hot Air

Harry Reid has warned Senate Republicans that he might consider resorting to the “nuclear option” if Republicans don’t stop filibustering Obama’s executive appointees (many of which have already been deemed unconstitutional). The “nuclear option” refers to the presiding officer over the Senate (typically the Vice President) disregarding a rule or precedent. All it takes for […]

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Journalism Gets No Respect, Poll Says

According to a recent Pew poll, respect for the contributions of journalists to society has sunk considerably since 2009, dipping especially low among women. I wonder why. In an article I wrote on the fallacy of consensus science, I quoted from Michael Crichton’s brilliant 2003 lecture “Aliens Cause Global Warming” about the deterioration of journalism […]

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Government Hiding Inflation Behind Gas Prices

Texas oil production is higher than it’s been since 1985. It has doubled in less than three years, and the boom doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Meanwhile, gas prices keep going up. Why? The most major reason is inflation. If you look at an inflation-adjusted curve for gasoline prices, you’ll notice that inflation-adjusted prices […]

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Abiotic Oil: Is “Fossil Fuel” a Misnomer?

Wikipedia defines “fossil fuels” as “fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years.” If this is true, fossil fuels are not being made anymore. This would mean then that oil is a fixed-quantity, non-renewable […]

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Bro-Choice “Men”: Abortions Mean More Casual Sex

Bro-Choice advocates. They’re “men” who support abortion. (Clever.) And their reasons for supporting abortion? Well, once you cut through all the fake-sounding rubbish about caring about women’s rights, bro-choice frat boys just want to keep having casual and consequenceless sex with women whom they will treat as little more than disposable sex objects for transitory […]

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Should Crime be Prevented or Punished?

In the wake of 9/11, the American civil government produced one of the most anti-constitutional laws ever to be passed: the USA PATRIOT Act. More about that and the misuse of the term “domestic terrorism” here. Not only did it seriously curtail many of your civil liberties, it also set the stage for every similar piece […]

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Was John Brown the First “Domestic Terrorist”?

John Brown, the famously violent abolitionist, attacked a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859. He took possession of its armory, and fully intended to use the weapons from the armory to arm slaves for a revolt. He was stopped by the U.S. Army (led by then Colonel Robert E. Lee), tried in a […]

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