These evil cars in Germany are out of control.
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) December 20, 2024
Why do these cars keep doing this? pic.twitter.com/r6UpPUXwE0
As I often do, I point you to Google's second definition of fetishism: "worship of an inanimate object for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit." Also exemplified by the tiresome folks who natter about "gun violence".
So, what about that guy driving the car? Well, the WSJ story about him might surprise you. It surprised me. Suspect in German Christmas Market Ramming Had One Main Enemy: Islam.
When a driver rammed a car through a festive Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg shortly after 7 p.m. on Friday, leaving five dead and more than 200 wounded, the country seemed to be facing a repeat of its worst Islamist terrorist attack in recent history.
Yet the suspect’s profile that began to emerge hours after the drama painted a surprising portrait—that of a Saudi exile and vocal anti-Islam activist—leaving a perplexed Germany unsure about what lessons should be drawn from the drama.
The story goes on to note the driver was "working as a psychiatrist". Aha, perplexity over! Let's yank psychiatrists' driver licenses! It's the only way to be sure!
Also of note:
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It's even long since stopped being fun to dance on its grave. George Will bears the
sadglad tidings: The Equal Rights Amendment, still dead after all these years.Pausing their denunciations of Donald Trump’s disregard of governing norms and disrespect of the Constitution, 46 Democratic senators have urged Joe Biden to do more of his own disregarding and disrespecting. Given his rule-of-law record (regarding student loan forgiveness, pardons and many other matters), he might.
The 46 have urged Biden to order Colleen Shogan, the national archivist, whose remit includes publishing and certifying constitutional amendments, to declare the Equal Rights Amendment ratified. If the president issues such an order, she will disregard it. Otherwise, Shogan would violate her written assurances to the Senate that confirmed her appointment: She said only a court order would cause her to certify the ERA’s ratification.
The ERA issue merits a final revisit because progressives’ latest maneuver illustrates their merely intermittent and selective devotion to constitutional and democratic proprieties, and their belief in limitless presidential power.
GFW's history is recommended.
And, yes, my state's senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, both signed on, displaying "their merely intermittent and selective devotion to constitutional and democratic proprieties, and their belief in limitless presidential power."
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Don't hate him just because he's a goat with wings. Carrie Robison of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) calls for some fire and brimstone to be rained down upon those who would deny Satanic principles in our state's capital: O holy fight: New Hampshire Satanic Temple statue threatened by more than vandals.
It’s the holiday season, when the lights are blinking, the bells are ringing, and families are lining up to see festive displays of the demon-god Baphomet in the town square.
But this year, citizens in Concord, New Hampshire, might not get to enjoy all the holiday cheer after vandals decapitated the Baphomet display set up by the Satanic Temple. In fact, the display has proven so controversial that city officials promised to review the display policy next year.
Concord’s government would do well to remember that any rules about expressive displays in public spaces must be viewpoint-neutral, meaning the Satanic Temple has the same right to put up a holiday display as any other group.
Protecting the Satanic Temple’s right to speak also protects the expressive rights of Christians — and Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and everyone else.
I'm a fan of Baby Jesus, but I see FIRE's point here.
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Just in time for Christmas. Professor Jacobs offers five true things relevant to the murdering-health-insurance-executives controversy. Short and worth reading. And he links to the same Kevin D. Williamson column we linked to back on December 10, but features a different excerpt:
If Americans as individuals and families cannot afford to pay for routine health care, then how the hell are Americans as one big indiscriminate national lump supposed to afford paying for routine health care? If nobody can afford it, then how can everybody afford it?”That is… an excellent question.
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But speaking of KDW… He writes on the (apparently over for now) budget battle, and observes that we are Living Under Ad-Hocracy.
Everybody knows what needs to be done. Nobody will do it. Anybody who tried to do it probably would suffer political annihilation at the next election. After the trainwreck, Americans will be looking around for someone to blame. They won’t need to look far.
I was too young to be a fan of the Pogo comic, but I do recall its most famous quote: "We have met the enemy and he is us."