Overnight Open Thread (2-16-2015)

Quote of the Day

People who create things nowadays can expect to be prosecuted by highly moralistic people who are incapable of creating anything. There is no way to measure the chilling effect on innovation that results from the threats of taxation, regulation and prosecution against anything that succeeds. We'll never know how many ideas our government has aborted in the name protecting us.

-- Joseph Sobran

Extremist Randomly Shoots People for No Apparent Reason in Copenhagen

And synagogues are about as random of a target as you could possible have. </sarc>

Only 22 years old Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein was already a known wolf to the police.

Danish police said they killed a man early Sunday who they think was responsible for killing two people and injuring five in shootings at a freedom of speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen.

Note that El-Hussein was born and raised in Denmark and may not have acted alone.

Piers Morgan: Why Does Netanyahu Want Jews To Run Away From Europe?

Um because they're being killed there and the Europeans don't seem very interested in stopping it?

The Atlantic Article "What ISIS Really Wants" That Everyone is Talking About

Definitely worth reading. The key takeaway is that ISIS truly has an apocalyptic vision - in the original sense of the word - of bringing about the end times as foretold in the Koran. All of their murders and cruelty and fanaticism are designed to force a final confrontation with Rome, infidels and all other enemies of Islam in their version of the battle of Armageddon:

The Islamic State has attached great importance to the Syrian city of Dabiq, near Aleppo. It named its propaganda magazine after the town, and celebrated madly when (at great cost) it conquered Dabiq's strategically unimportant plains. It is here, the Prophet reportedly said, that the armies of Rome will set up their camp. The armies of Islam will meet them, and Dabiq will be Rome's Waterloo or its Antietam.

...Now that it has taken Dabiq, the Islamic State awaits the arrival of an enemy army there, whose defeat will initiate the countdown to the apocalypse.

You may not be interested in eschatology, but eschatology is interested in you.

By the Way, There Is No Such Thing As 'Presidents Day'

Legally today's holiday is Washington's Birthday.

There is no federal Presidents Day. It's a myth. The United States as a whole does not have such a holiday. There is a federal holiday Monday, but it's called "Washington's Birthday." It's right there in the Office of Personnel Management's list of federal days off for 2015. If you click through and look, you'll notice it has an asterisk, which leads to a note of explanation.

"This holiday is designated as 'Washington's Birthday' in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees," writes OPM. "Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law."

The Old White Party is in Trouble

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker average 45 in age.
Throw in Chris Christie, Mitt Romney, and Jeb Bush, and the average is still only 52. That's prime time for a presidential candidate, unless you are Ronald Reagan. If you see a Reagan among any of them, better switch to sarsaparilla, because you've been drinking too much.

...There is something ghoulish about Joe Biden. As vice president, he is technically the President of the Senate. That means he has been in the Senate for more than 42, except for the five days between the end of his sixth term in the Senate on January 15, 2009, and the beginning of his vice presidency on January 20, 2009.

To put that in perspective, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were still in diapers when he entered the Senate. Someone should tell Joe that we ended the draft, recognized China, and found out who shot J.R. since then. Joe has been there so long that Elvis was still alive when he took the oath of office. Abortion was illegal in 46 states.

Milton Friedman on The Redistribution of Wealth

And how we're really a society of families and why the desire to improve the lives of our children and their children is a large part of why we all live so well.

Why the Future Won't Be Spoken in Mandarin

Some may protest that it is not English but Mandarin Chinese that will eventually become the world's language, because of the size of the Chinese population and the increasing economic might of their nation. But that's unlikely. For one, English happens to have gotten there first. It is now so deeply entrenched in print, education and media that switching to anything else would entail an enormous effort. We retain the QWERTY keyboard and AC current for similar reasons.

Also, the tones of Chinese are extremely difficult to learn beyond childhood, and truly mastering the writing system virtually requires having been born to it. In the past, of course, notoriously challenging languages such as Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Arabic, Russian and even Chinese have been embraced by vast numbers of people. But now that English has settled in, its approachability as compared with Chinese will discourage its replacement. Many a world power has ruled without spreading its language, and just as the Mongols and Manchus once ruled China while leaving Chinese intact, if the Chinese rule the world, they will likely do so in English.

British NHS Now Rationing Hearing Aids to One Ear Only

What's Up With Sex Ed Types and Sex with Kids?

The former Ontario deputy education minister who oversaw the development of a controversial sex-ed program before facing child sex charges will plead guilty to a number of those charges.
Benjamin Levin, born 1952, was arrested in 2013 in the wake of an international child porn sting that led to his North York doorstep. He was not only accused of making and distributing child pornography, but also of arranging for a sexual offense with a child, and with possessing and accessing child pornography.

More: OK Sex Ed Teacher Admits to Having Sex with Student in Teacher's Lounge

Texas Gives Amnesty to Cupcakes

Schoolchildren will once again be able to enjoy cupcakes and brownies.

Texas' new Agricultural Commissioner, Sid Miller, granted amnesty to cupcakes as his first act of office.

"I'm announcing that I am giving full amnesty to the cupcakes in Texas. I'm also granting full pardon to pies and cookies and brownies and cakes and homemade candies," Miller said in his announcement.

In Texas, the Department of Agriculture administers the school lunch program responsible for restrictive dietary guidelines. Guidelines were put in place to combat childhood obesity, but as Miller points out, the figures haven't changed in the ten years stringent dietary restrictions have been in place.

"We're getting out of the school mandate business," Miller said.

Meanwhile Democrat CO Governor Hickenlooper Goes after the Scourge of Unlicensed Yoga Instructors 

Be Careful What You Ask the Concierge For

The Conflict the American MSM Doesn't Want to Talk About

The Yahoo AoSHQ group - it's got electrolytes.

And my twitter thang.

Tonight's post brought to you by he was cured all right:

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to maetenloch at gmail. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:27 PM

| Access Comments