Posts Tagged 'Huffington Post'
The NRA’s “Slippery Slope” Lie
The NRA’s famed slippery slope argument is entirely valid. Nobody seems to have noticed, however, that the slope is tilted in the opposite direction. Give the gun lobby a millimeter, and they’ll slide a mile. more »
The NRA’s “Slippery Slope” Lie
The NRA’s famed slippery slope argument is entirely valid. Nobody seems to have noticed, however, that the slope is tilted in the opposite direction. Give the gun lobby a millimeter, and they’ll slide a mile. more »
Guns? Mental Health? Really? Let’s Talk About Psychopaths
It is touching that Wayne LaPierre, the compassionate CEO of the National Rifle Association, has expressed concern for the mental health of his fellow citizens. Let’s take this comical pose seriously for a moment, and imagine just how we might improve psychiatric health services in a way that would diminish the obscene rate of gun violence in America. more »
Guns? Mental Health? Really? Let’s Talk About Psychopaths
It is touching that Wayne LaPierre, the compassionate CEO of the National Rifle Association, has expressed concern for the mental health of his fellow citizens. Let’s take this comical pose seriously for a moment, and imagine just how we might improve psychiatric health services in a way that would diminish the obscene rate of gun violence in America. more »
This Is What You Take to a Gun Fight
The NRA has done the nation a tremendous service by rating politicians. The most manly — which is to say, the most servile — earn a solid A. Those most resistant to lockstep loyalty earn an F. more »
This Is What You Take to a Gun Fight
The NRA has done the nation a tremendous service by rating politicians. The most manly — which is to say, the most servile — earn a solid A. Those most resistant to lockstep loyalty earn an F. more »
Meet the Man Who is Rescuing Animal Welfare
Nathan Winograd is the leader of the No Kill movement, a genuine revolution in animal welfare. Three million healthy and adoptable pets will be killed next year in America’s shelters. more »
Meet the Man Who is Rescuing Animal Welfare
Nathan Winograd is the leader of the No Kill movement, a genuine revolution in animal welfare. Three million healthy and adoptable pets will be killed next year in America’s shelters. more »
Please Don’t Give to the US Humane Society if You Care About Pets
Big-hearted people tend to have warm and truly fuzzy thoughts about the Humane Society of the United States.
This is, after all, the organization that operates shelters nationwide and saves hundreds of thousands of animals. more »
Please Don’t Give to the US Humane Society if You Care About Pets
Big-hearted people tend to have warm and truly fuzzy thoughts about the Humane Society of the United States.
This is, after all, the organization that operates shelters nationwide and saves hundreds of thousands of animals. more »
PETA’s “Thank You” for Killing Shelter Pets
When the No Kill shelter in Shelby County, Kentucky, recently announced that they had run out of space — and were hence going to have to start killing healthy dogs and cats — officials received a nice basket of gourmet cookies, with a note signed by PETA: “Thank you for doing the right thing for animals.”
Surely I’m joking here. more »
PETA’s “Thank You” for Killing Shelter Pets
When the No Kill shelter in Shelby County, Kentucky, recently announced that they had run out of space — and were hence going to have to start killing healthy dogs and cats — officials received a nice basket of gourmet cookies, with a note signed by PETA: “Thank you for doing the right thing for animals.”
Surely I’m joking here. more »
PETA’s Sinister Interpretation of Animal “Rights”
Animals will never have the right to euthanize PETA’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk. This, arguably, is the intellectual flaw at the core of her special interpretation of animal rights. more »
PETA’s Sinister Interpretation of Animal “Rights”
Animals will never have the right to euthanize PETA’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk. This, arguably, is the intellectual flaw at the core of her special interpretation of animal rights. more »
Why is PETA Opposing No-Kill Animal Shelters?
(The seventh part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals employs only one argument in defense of its right to kill adoptable shelter pets. more »
Why is PETA Opposing No-Kill Animal Shelters?
(The seventh part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals employs only one argument in defense of its right to kill adoptable shelter pets. more »
PETA: Fighting for Its Right to Kill
(The sixth part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
PETA may soon lose the right to kill healthy pets. As I and many others have verified, the headquarters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Virginia kills 97 per cent of the animals delivered into its care. more »
PETA: Fighting for Its Right to Kill
(The sixth part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
PETA may soon lose the right to kill healthy pets. As I and many others have verified, the headquarters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Virginia kills 97 per cent of the animals delivered into its care. more »
Bill Maher Gets Religion: PETA’s Celebrity Porn Melts Another Brain
(The fifth part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
Bill Maher is a merciless bastard. And I say that with the greatest respect. Lesser guys may be conned by righteous charlatans — not Bill. more »
Bill Maher Gets Religion: PETA’s Celebrity Porn Melts Another Brain
(The fifth part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
Bill Maher is a merciless bastard. And I say that with the greatest respect. Lesser guys may be conned by righteous charlatans — not Bill. more »
Ingrid Newkirk: The Empress of Extinction
(The second part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
How does a saint become a butcher?
I am convinced that Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA (“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals”) was once a good person. more »
Ingrid Newkirk: The Empress of Extinction
(The second part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
How does a saint become a butcher?
I am convinced that Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA (“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals”) was once a good person. more »
Vicky Cristina Malia Oaxaca (What the President’s Daughter Was REALLY Doing in Mexico)
There are so many reasons to criticize President Obama’s decision to allow his daughter to spend her spring break down Mexico way in the city of Oaxaca. Some of these reasons are depressingly ignorant, but others are refreshingly stupid. more »
Vicky Cristina Malia Oaxaca (What the President’s Daughter Was REALLY Doing in Mexico)
There are so many reasons to criticize President Obama’s decision to allow his daughter to spend her spring break down Mexico way in the city of Oaxaca. Some of these reasons are depressingly ignorant, but others are refreshingly stupid. more »
Celebrities Getting Naked in the Name of Euthanasia
(The first part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
A celebrity is at her most vulnerable when naked. This is when she is least likely to make sensible decisions. more »
Celebrities Getting Naked in the Name of Euthanasia
(The first part of an exposé of PETA’s mass butchery of healthy pets.)
A celebrity is at her most vulnerable when naked. This is when she is least likely to make sensible decisions. more »
I’d Like to Apologize for Calling Rush Limbaugh a Sex Tourist
DEMOCRATS HAVE been disgracefully uncharitable to Rush Limbaugh. He has apologized for calling a perfectly decent woman a slut and a prostitute; he deserves generosity in return. more »
I’d Like to Apologize for Calling Rush Limbaugh a Sex Tourist
DEMOCRATS HAVE been disgracefully uncharitable to Rush Limbaugh. He has apologized for calling a perfectly decent woman a slut and a prostitute; he deserves generosity in return. more »
How to Not Get Beheaded in Mexico
I CAN’T EVEN REMEMBER when I last experienced the beheading of a close friend. Everyone assumes it must be a weekly, or even a daily event: after all, I live in Mexico. The truth, however, is that you are as likely to have your head removed against your will in my town — Oaxaca — as you are to be murdered by roving, machete-crazed gangs in Martha’s Vineyard. more »
How to Not Get Beheaded in Mexico
I CAN’T EVEN REMEMBER when I last experienced the beheading of a close friend. Everyone assumes it must be a weekly, or even a daily event: after all, I live in Mexico. The truth, however, is that you are as likely to have your head removed against your will in my town — Oaxaca — as you are to be murdered by roving, machete-crazed gangs in Martha’s Vineyard. more »
Democracy’s Best Barometer? Dead Cats.
THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER of a congressional candidate in Arkansas returns home to find his children’s cat bludgeoned to death. The creature’s skull is caved in. more »
Democracy’s Best Barometer? Dead Cats.
THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER of a congressional candidate in Arkansas returns home to find his children’s cat bludgeoned to death. The creature’s skull is caved in. more »
The World’s Most Dangerous Hobby
I admit to sneering when I first encountered the vast international community of flashlight addicts. Who are these losers, I generously wondered. These “flashaholics.” Perhaps the nerd equivalent of, say, those neurally healthy folk who have sex with plush toys? more »
The World’s Most Dangerous Hobby
I admit to sneering when I first encountered the vast international community of flashlight addicts. Who are these losers, I generously wondered. These “flashaholics.” Perhaps the nerd equivalent of, say, those neurally healthy folk who have sex with plush toys? more »
Happy New Year. Tom Cruise is Sane.
I HAVE BROWSED the relevant entrails, and it will be an amusing if shallow year. In particular, I have weighed the Mayan prophecy of the Unrapture against a countervailing but potent sign: the mental health of Tom Cruise. more »
Happy New Year. Tom Cruise is Sane.
I HAVE BROWSED the relevant entrails, and it will be an amusing if shallow year. In particular, I have weighed the Mayan prophecy of the Unrapture against a countervailing but potent sign: the mental health of Tom Cruise. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 4: Hatred Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
THE GENOCIDE LIBEL can be innocent. I truly believe this. Many people simply do not have the relevant information. Not everyone can be expected to do historical research, and when quasi-respectable historians promote a lie, it is hardly a sin to believe them. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 4: Hatred Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
THE GENOCIDE LIBEL can be innocent. I truly believe this. Many people simply do not have the relevant information. Not everyone can be expected to do historical research, and when quasi-respectable historians promote a lie, it is hardly a sin to believe them. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 3: A Matter of Lies and Death
GENGIS KHAN IS in fact an interesting choice. He is not just any murderous figure. Even among the most homicidal rulers, he occupies a special position. We know that Stalin admired him immensely, and for good reason: Until Stalin arrived, Genghis Khan was almost certainly the most prolific murderer in history. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 3: A Matter of Lies and Death
GENGIS KHAN IS in fact an interesting choice. He is not just any murderous figure. Even among the most homicidal rulers, he occupies a special position. We know that Stalin admired him immensely, and for good reason: Until Stalin arrived, Genghis Khan was almost certainly the most prolific murderer in history. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 2: Murder by Numbers
THE TOTAL NUMBER of Israelis and Palestinians killed, in over half a century of conflict, is approximately 15,000. This includes all of the fatalities on both sides. The great majority of these have been armed enemy combatants. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 2: Murder by Numbers
THE TOTAL NUMBER of Israelis and Palestinians killed, in over half a century of conflict, is approximately 15,000. This includes all of the fatalities on both sides. The great majority of these have been armed enemy combatants. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 1: “Genghis Khan With a Computer”?
MIGHT ISRAEL BE an evil nation? It is a question I admit to asking myself. Am I on the wrong side of history? Liberals tend to question themselves — they question their ideas and their allies. more »
Israel and Genocide, Part 1: “Genghis Khan With a Computer”?
MIGHT ISRAEL BE an evil nation? It is a question I admit to asking myself. Am I on the wrong side of history? Liberals tend to question themselves — they question their ideas and their allies. more »
A Brief History of Psychopaths With Explosives
IN 1886, AN unpleasant man strapped to a bomb wandered into a novel; he had a detonator in his pocket. Thanks to him, we ended up with Hannibal Lecter. And the Unabomber. This was a new kind of human: the condescending scientist, with a peerless intellect and a slow athletic pulse, who is morally insane. more »
A Brief History of Psychopaths With Explosives
IN 1886, AN unpleasant man strapped to a bomb wandered into a novel; he had a detonator in his pocket. Thanks to him, we ended up with Hannibal Lecter. And the Unabomber. This was a new kind of human: the condescending scientist, with a peerless intellect and a slow athletic pulse, who is morally insane. more »
Christopher Hitchens: The Deathbed Conversion
I DISLIKED CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS. I’m fairly sure of this. So why did the news of his death affect me as it did? Even though many of my friends knew him personally, I knew him only through his writing, where he came across always as amiable, literate, shallow, and wrong. more »
Christopher Hitchens: The Deathbed Conversion
I DISLIKED CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS. I’m fairly sure of this. So why did the news of his death affect me as it did? Even though many of my friends knew him personally, I knew him only through his writing, where he came across always as amiable, literate, shallow, and wrong. more »
My Girlfriend Studies Vampires. At Harvard.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE to write an unrealistic novel. I give up. No matter how peculiar your invention, reality inevitably sprints past you, cackling. I thought I was conjuring something nicely absurd for my YA heroine, Arabella, when I gave her a mother with academic expertise in the mating habits of vampire bats. more »
My Girlfriend Studies Vampires. At Harvard.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE to write an unrealistic novel. I give up. No matter how peculiar your invention, reality inevitably sprints past you, cackling. I thought I was conjuring something nicely absurd for my YA heroine, Arabella, when I gave her a mother with academic expertise in the mating habits of vampire bats. more »
When Good Bloggers Pimp Bad Science (No, We Don’t Need to “Study” Race and IQ)
IF A THEORY is too ugly to float across the table at a dinner party, it probably doesn’t merit the cover of a respectable magazine. One of the low points in mainstream American journalism was October 31, 1994, when The New Republic decided that it would be a good idea to devote the journal briefly to the promotion of racism. more »
When Good Bloggers Pimp Bad Science (No, We Don’t Need to “Study” Race and IQ)
IF A THEORY is too ugly to float across the table at a dinner party, it probably doesn’t merit the cover of a respectable magazine. One of the low points in mainstream American journalism was October 31, 1994, when The New Republic decided that it would be a good idea to devote the journal briefly to the promotion of racism. more »