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Friday links! Irrational exuberance edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links June 6, 2014 2 Comments

Only Don moves toward him.

Ben al-Fowlkes and I went out last night, to celebrate first good news and then life in general. Every prospect pleased and every person, if not a paragon of virtue, at least proved amusing. Life was wonderful and everything would be just fine. Our exuberance was irrational, because now life clearly sucks. You can’t really control what goes into or comes out of your body, and your so-called friends are poisoners who lie in wait. Today is Friday, and I blame forces beyond my control. Won’t you recount the perfidies with me?

Man threatens neighbor with shotgun over bicycling advice

By Dan Brooks in Gun control June 5, 2014 2 Comments

Gary Drake of Rosemount, MN, looking sober

Last week, police arrested Gary Drake for brandishing a shotgun at his neighbor, who was teaching his seven-year-old daughter how to ride a bicycle at the time. Props to Ben al-Fowlkes for the link. According to the father, Drake began yelling at him from the porch and, when dismissed, said, “If you don’t like my advice, get off the street.” He went inside and returned with a Remington 870, which he pointed at the father, threatening to kill him. Be sure to read down to the last sentence of the story: “Charging documents state that Drake admitted to drinking all day, but he denied that it influenced his actions.”

Three fun stories from yesterday’s primaries

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics June 4, 2014 0 Comment

Repawblican candidate Bingo won his primary and will face Skittles, incumbent Democat, in the fall.

Repawblican Bingo won a contentious primary and will face Skittles, incumbent Democat, in the fall.

Maybe I’m biased, but Montana politics seem to produce a better story-to-population ratio than any local politics I have seen. Case in point: Missoula and Ravalli counties held their primary elections yesterday, and they produced not one, nor two, but three interesting stories—four if you count the sheriff’s race. TJ McDermott beat his two Democratic opponents to become the Missoula County Sheriff—there are no Republican candidates in the general—shortly after county Democrats amended their bylaws to endorse him, and also after he sued the Sheriff’s Department. That’s not even the best story from yesterday, though.

Close Reading: NRA encourages Open Carry Texas to chill out

By Dan Brooks in Close Reading June 3, 2014 1 Comment

Prepared to exercise deadly force in the bread aisle

There is so much to like about this letter from the National Rifle Association to open carry demonstrators, not the least of which is its jaunty opening sentence. “Here at NRA, we are big fans of responsible behavior,” it begins, “legal mandates, not so much.” For a moment I hoped it would continue in that vein, and the NRA had released a letter written by Jackie Mason. But it quickly adopts a more serious tone, suited to its purpose as maybe the first ever public communication from the National Rifle Association urging people to be a little less nuts for guns. It detours into a long, slippery-slope argument about a particular kind of new safety device, but mostly it sends a message to Open Carry Texas: ” just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done.” Now that’s a thesis.