Hi kids. Just taking a quick lunch break and having some hot chocolate because HOT CHOCOLATE! And of course with mini marshmallows. I’m not a monster…Then I have to get back to it so I can feel reasonably comfortable going to the Braves game later, even though that part of the Hill is a very sad place right now. On that subject, something’s been bugging me, summed up pretty succinctly yesterday by Charles Cooke of National Review on Twitter:
I know some like to blame guns, and some are hot over mental health (I lean toward the latter with an emphasis on medication. I don’t deny medication has its place, but medication affects different people differently and maybe we need to really reexamine our drug trial process. Just a thought.), but there’s something else here: when did we get so far removed from behavior as a defining characteristic that we’ve stopped recognizing people for what they are? This dude had a history of problems — his father was open about it. Yet his brother-in-law said he didn’t see any reason he needed to be watched? He fires a gun through his apartment ceiling and a woman indicates she’s terrified of him, and yet he’s allowed to wander back into society? He hears voices in his head but because he speaks Thai and claims to be a Buddhist he’s a peaceful guy? As a good fellow Southerner friend of mine likes to say: “Words whisper, actions holler.” It might be a stretch but I think we’re suffering from the “look the other way” philosophy of a soft culture. I see it every day, just in regular socializing. “Yeah, [some name] treats people like crap and is hellbent on making people feel horrible, but hey, they like to party and are good for entertainment, so we like ’em.” Obviously there’s a spectrum, but I just think we’re bending over backward to be tolerant that we’re enabling some pretty bad stuff. And in the case of this shooter, pure evil incarnate. Have we become cowards or is it something else? Something that looks more like “I don’t want to be inconvenienced… .” I actually think the latter is worse because we have a RESPONSIBILITY to create a good, healthy atmosphere, not only as citizens of a city and a nation, but as human beings looking out for each other in this one precious life we have. And I recognize the fine line between being a meddler and knowing when to say something. But I think the pendulum has swung too far toward the “say nothing” side of the equation. And that has little to nothing to do with sequestration. Anyway, this is the opposite of the look the other way thing. Good stuff.
Okay fine, enough. Other stuff.
So glad our new best friends like us so much. I’m sure they’ll be telling everyone else how much respect they have for us.
This is the video the picture above comes from. Let it make you happy. We all need that today. That dog is one of the best things I’ve seen in a while.
Nothing but net. This guy should’ve been a surgeon.
Cracked me up. From Popehat: “A Frenchman, playing a Scotsman, berating an actual Scotsman, who plays an Egyptian, pretending to to be a Spaniard.”
This is good news. Chick’s hilarious. I’ve spoken with this character many times and she nails it. “I’m the mirror, Seth, to siety…”:
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