First, the serious ones.
Salman Rushdie was brutally stabbed before he was about to give a talk on free speech. From the USA Today article: Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie of The Wylie Agency, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose. The article says a suspect was taken into but authorities did not have any indication of a motive. Hmm…. I mean, it couldn’t have anything to do with the death decree the Iranians put him under decades ago, could it?
Speaking of New York, there are indications of a breakout of polio. There was a chance, a good chance, that polio could have been eliminated – much like smallpox. Instead, the US government co-opted polio workers. Which, of course, became known. Which, of course, meant certain local populaces wouldn’t take the vaccine. Which, of course, is expanded by the anti-vax movement.
Next a some Reason articles that came to my attention:
First, DC Circuit upholds the bump stock ban. From the article: It concluded that the new reading of the law—which contradicts the position that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) consistently took before then-President Donald Trump demanded that the agency ban bump stocks by administrative fiat—is “the best interpretation of the statute.” Even with the NYSRPA ruling, we have years of court cases to see how that decision will filter out among the courts.
In the vein of government knowing better comes an article about how politicians are trying to zone out mobile homes. From the article: From Texas to West Virginia and almost everywhere in between, you’ll find zoning laws that aren’t so subtle in banning mobile homes and mobile home parks altogether. From urban to suburban to rural areas, legislation is being considered and often passed into law that tacks on costs, makes it harder to own a mobile home, and in many cases makes it untenable to ever build a new mobile home park. In my particular opinion, mobile homes are the payday loans of the housing market. They’re flimsy and overpriced and have many hidden costs that hurt the people they’re supposedly aimed at. None of which means I think they should be illegal. I’d much rather have a bunch of mobile home parks than the disaster of people not being able to find any shelter.
FIRE is still doing good work. In this case, taking on a community college whose leadership conspired to censor anti-communist flyers. This is my shocked face.
Now let’s do some lighter items:
There’s a cat café up in Tampa. And if you really like the kitty you’re playing with, you can adopt it. I may have to take The Wife up for this.
Via The Brother comes an ArsTechnica article about a recent Excel esports competition on ESPN. Okay, first, I find it highly amusing that ESPN turns one of its channels into ESPN8: The Ocho once a year with a focus on “seldom seen sports”. Second, I find it amusing that it does feature a dodgeball competition. Third, I fucking adore an Excel competition – and it is just as amazing as I hoped.
Finally, a video that amused me more than it probably should: