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February 29th only comes once every four years. And apparently, getting Justice Clarence Thomas to ask a question during Supreme Court arguments comes around once every ten years, it seems… but, to gasps of shock from the audience, he did so! The case concerned Second Amendment (gun ownership) rights, an area he presumably cares about a great deal. I tend to think that the late Justice Antonin Scalia, widely believed to be Thomas’s intellectual godfather, largely bullied him (in some way, probably intellectually), and Thomas, now free from Nino’s shadow, can show some interest in the goings on of his...

A U.N. Human Rights panel (hilarious as that is to begin with) has just determined that the effective detention of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London) by American lapdogs Britain and Sweden violates international law. It is noted that this is “non-binding” and mostly a matter of moral suasion, but it seems clear that the Western imperial nations, should they refuse to abide by the ruling (as seems inevitable) will have a harder time going forward using this sort of ruling to embarrass weaker states (say, in Africa or Latin America) when similar rulings come down...

Item: Elite Amherst College in a town by that name in Massachusetts has decided to drop its heretofore mascot, “Lord Jeffery,” named after a colonial era soldier, Lord Jeffery Amherst (the college is named after the town, not the man). The charming Lord Jeff supposedly greeted Native Americans with smallpox infested blankets, among such other attributions of genocide, and, in the early twenty-first century, this mascot, evidently adopted in the early twentieth century, is seen as “divisive.” American campuses are now at the forefront of free speech controversies these days, and quite frankly, I’m perfectly o.k. with saying that something...

The woman who singlehandedly gave us a Black President (with a middle name Hussein) stands poised to give us an outer-borough New Yorker as our next President… Donald Trump from Queens is polling well against her, for example. (His tacit praise of Kim Jong Un notwithstanding.) And Bernie Sanders from Brooklyn is a mortal lock to win the New Hampshire primary (as is Mr. Trump.) Aside from the horse-race thing, one could go all big picture, stop a moment, and realize that Hillary [I have to tread carefully, as she and I share a birthday] has had a series of...

Some interesting developments (of the “may you live in interesting times”) variety coming out of the always interesting Middle East, as Saudi “We’ll Execute Anyone We Damned Well Want” Arabia has unsurprisingly cut off diplomatic relations with Iran. It seems that Shiites everywhere (and especially in Iran) were none too pleased when prominent Saudi Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr (and 46 others) were executed on Saturday after being convicted of terror-related offenses. Iranian protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran… that sort of thing always goes well. And so, in a region that already includes Syria,...

. Yeah.

Item: Satan sends his annual Christmas letter. Let’s just say that this holiday season is looking good for the Prince of Darkness. You go, Janet! Item: The latest in the wave of campus protests apparently hits “America’s Most Liberal College [TM]” (that being Oberlin College). Watch out, Jazz Department! Item: While no matter what he does or says, Donald “the Donald” Trump remains “teflon” as his lead expands, Matt Taibbi tells us it’s “too late to turn off Donald Trump,” noting that like most of those who support him, The Donald’s “reality” is… wait for it… only what it he...

I’ll take a short break from noting the various horrors of the world at large, to take a note of my personal horror. I lost my Dad earlier this month. Although he was no one’s model of health, this was unexpected , and a shock nonetheless. To those of you who knew this, and who were most gracious in your condolences, prayers and wishes (and in a number of cases, food offerings), I am grateful, and I thank you. To the rest of you, let this be a cautionary tale: the people we love have this awful tendency of leaving...

We’ll start with the shoot-down of Russian fighter planes supposedly barely over Turkish airspace by NATO member Turkey; the Grey Lady provides a little background, and Zero Hedge has a little more (and a bit more here). Bottom line: Turkey is allied with certain insurgents who are (surprise, surprise) notionally aligned with the Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL against the Assad regime (as is… the United States), and Russia is allied with the Assad regime against all of its opponents. And so, there is a “war of all against all” over there, in which, “our side” can pretend to feign outrage at the...