Category: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
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Should Gun Manufacturers Be Sued for Gun Crimes?
Suppose I sell you my car, transferring title to you in a manner that accords with all the relevant statutes. It is a good-faith transaction and I have no reason to suspect you of harboring any criminal intent. But later you use the car I sold you to mow down children on a school yard, or to…
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Why We Can’t Have Nice Things Like Gun Control
That's the silly title of an article in The Nation. The title is enough for me. It implies that we don't have gun control, when in fact we have a lot of it. And nobody is against it. Everybody wants there to be laws regulating the manufacture, sale, importation, transportation, use, etc., of guns.…
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On Keeping Folks in Check
An appeal to reason works with a few, and an appeal to self-interest with most. But then there are the hopelessly recalcitrant for whom only the appeal to force is effective. The only argument that reaches them is the argumentum ad baculum. Herein yet another reason to uphold Second Amendment rights. Those who call for…
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Hard Childhood, Strong Man
Emmanuel Lasker, Die Philosophie des Unvollendbar, 1919, p. x: Aber eine harte Kindheit macht einen starken Mann. But a hard childhood makes a strong man. In the '80s I read a chunk of Lasker's Philosophy of the Incompletable and concluded that the grandmaster of chess was not one of philosophy. But I didn't read much…
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Guns: The Garland Argument
Oftentimes the most effective means of defeating the enemies of civilization is by shooting them dead. Therefore, we need guns. Related: On 'Socially Conscious' Investing: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. It begins like this: Should one be bothered, morally speaking, that the mutual funds (shares of which) one owns invest in companies that produce alcoholic beverages,…
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Another Leftist Lie from The New York Times
Here. Why do leftists lie? Because lying works, and because the end justifies the means in their moral calculus. They see politics as war, and "All's fair in love and war." Therein lies yet another reason for the defense and exercise of Second Amendment rights. The Alinsky Way of Governing Saul Alinsky and the Rise…
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Precious Metals
In soul-trying times, 'lead' joins gold as a precious metal. …………………………………….. Addendum on the Art of the Aphorism. Elliot comments, Your aphorism sparked my thinking. After reading the aphorism, it occurred to me that there are at least two interpretations: one material and one spiritual. The material interpretation is that 'lead' refers to the metal,…
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A Little Propylene Glycol Never Hurt Anybody
A neighbor recently introduced me to 66 proof Fireball cinnamon whisky. Turns out the stuff contains propylene glycol, an ingredient used in anti-freeze and other industrial products. Well, as I told the twenty-something counterman at the liquor store, "Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger." I rather doubt the kid could name the source of…
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‘Islamophobia’ and ‘Hoplophobia’
My argument against the use of these terms is simple and straighforward. A phobia, by definition, is an irrational fear. (Every phobia is a fear, but not every fear is a phobia, because not every fear is irrational.) Therefore, one who calls a critic of the doctrines of Islam or of the practices of its…
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Gun Control and Liberal-Left Irrationality
The quality of 'elite' publications such as The New Yorker leaves a lot to be desired these days. Adam Gopnik's recent outburst on Newtown is one more example of a downward trend: it is so breathtakingly bad that I am tempted to snark: "I can't breathe!" Could Gopnik really be as willfully stupid as the…
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The Left Unwittingly Supports Second Amendment Rights
I have some ideas on this subject, but for now I will just send you to 2014: A Banner Year for the Second Amendment. There is plenty more on this topic in Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
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Eric Garner, Cigarettes, and Overcriminalization
This beautifully written, erudite piece by George F. Will is the best thing I've read so far about the Eric Garner case. Excerpts: Garner died at the dangerous intersection of something wise, known as “broken windows” policing, and something worse than foolish: decades of overcriminalization. The policing applies the wisdom that where signs of disorder,…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
From time to time it is perhaps appropriate that we should relax a little the bonds that tether us to the straight and narrow. A fitting apologia for a bit of indulgence and even overindulgence is found in Seneca, On Tranquillity of Mind, XVII, 8-9, tr. Basore: At times we ought to reach even the point…
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No Swisher Sweets for Old Bill
In other news, When you pull in a half-million dollars a speech, why not celebrate with the "Rolls Royce" of cigars? Former President Bill Clinton reportedly indulges in some of the world's most expensive cigars, from a Dominican Republic company whose smokes fetch up to $1,000 — that's per cigar, not per box. You will…
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Friday Smoke Blogging: Dead Smokers’ Society
The inaugural meeting, back in January, Scottsdale Community College, to protest the rising tide of tobacco-wackery. I just stumbled across this shot, a 'selfie' or perhaps an 'us-y' taken by Mike Valle of SCC. Our motto: Carpe fumam! Related articles Call for Vapors: Dead Smokers' Society to Meet in January in Scottsdale The Case for…