Wow. I’ve been super-busy lobbying my congresspersons to send free $250 checks to old people, and they’ve finally come through, which means I can start again following news that isn’t about giving free checks to old people.
Just in time, it turns out, because it looks like there’s a lot going on.
For instance, the winners of the last several seasons of “Yemen’s Next Top Cleric” have taken a break from their lucrative modeling contracts to call apostasy on anyone who supports a ban on child brides.
(To be clear, I don’t think all of Yemen’s Top Clerics actually got their positions via reality TV. I’m sure some of them also won Dungeons and Dragons tournaments.)
At first blush it sounds a little extreme to advocate that your political opponents be beheaded, but (as I’ve learned while carefully following the free-checks-for-old-people debate) public discourse all seems headed in that direction anyway.
Meanwhile, it’s almost time for Passover, when we pretend that Jews built the pyramids and try to force supermarkets to locate in bad neighborhoods:
The groups are pressing Reyes to include not only carrots but also sticks in his proposed ordinance, urging him to use the city’s permitting powers to challenge grocers who locate in well-heeled neighborhoods but not poor ones.
Of course, we should probably exclude Whole Foods, as their CEO abused his position as CEO to write an op-ed piece advocating against free checks for old people. Although I did just buy there some really nice fresh-caught wild halibut, $16.99/pound, that I bet people in poor neighborhoods would really enjoy.
Finally, a number of you have asked why my book is not available in Canadia. The answer, sadly, is that in Canadia there are also penalties for offending the Top Clerics:
You will realize that Canadian law puts reasonable [sic] limits on the freedom of expression. For example, promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges. Outside of the criminal realm, Canadian defamation laws also limit freedom of expression and may differ somewhat from those to which you are accustomed.
However, I have it on good authority that Canadia was way ahead of the curve on the “free checks for old people” issue, so perhaps it all evens out!
