Odds and Odders

I've been extremely puzzled by the Ben Carson phenomenon -- not so much that he polls well with Republican primary voters. They love a fellow religious fanatic, and being a deranged ignoramus is just a bonus. Recent polls show him tied with HRC in the general election, and that is quite weird, but let's chalk it up to most people not really paying attention. No, what's puzzling is the man himself. How can you graduate from Harvard, presumably having studied the science pre-requisites for medical school, and be as ignorant and incapable of critical thinking as a slug? FYI, the Egyptian pyramids were built over a period of about 2,000 years, from c. 2.667 BC - 664 BC. I'll just stop there.

You'll just have to take my word for it that it was pretty obvious to me that GI Joe Gliniewicz had committed suicide pretty much from the beginning. Obviously I couldn't say anything until the official word came down, since he had a family and all that, but we knew right away that: a) This happened in a remote area where there was not particular crime to be committed, even if he did see some guys walking around; b) He was killed with his own gun which was found near his body; c) Even if those guys did have something to hide there was no reason to confront him and kill him since he was on foot a couple of hundred feet from his vehicle and all they needed to do was walk away; and d) There were no reported crimes and no known fugitives meeting the description anywhere in the area.

And just as obviously, the police knew this even before I did. And yet we had to put up with this two-month-long bullshitfest from Fox News and the police unions about how Obama murdered him. Disgusting.

I'll refer you to Erik Loomis commenting on the DoD paying for military tributes at sporting events. This sickens me for several reasons. First, the sports teams get credit with their fans for what appears to be (in their worldview) public spirited support for "our troops," whereas in fact they're just pocketing cash. Second, the glorification of the military is intended not only to lure young people into the ranks of cannon fodder, but also to promote the beauty and romance of war. Third, I have better things to do with the five or ten minutes before the game starts. Let's have some tributes to teachers or social workers instead.

Ha Ha. Study finds children from non-religious households are more generous than children from religious families.