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Opening Shot
Ricochet.com ^ | Dec. 22, 2014 | Editor

Posted on 12/22/2014 1:48:29 PM PST by 6ft2inhighheelshoes

Opening Shot “Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower

Two NYPD Police Officers Gunned Down Saturday afternoon, two New York City police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were gunned down in their police cruiser by Ismaaiyl Brinsley in Brooklyn. Brinsley then fled to a nearby subway platform and shot himself.

More details are sure to follow in the next few days, but Brinsley seemed to be on a streak. He is alleged to have shot his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore earlier that morning. He (or someone posting to his account) also made allegedly threatening posts on his Instagram account. In past weeks, he also made social media posts indicating anger at the police about the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

Although a crazy guy attacked a group of NYPD officers with a hatchet two months ago — and it may seem like violence is spiking — these are the first two NYPD officers to be fatally shot in the line of duty since 2011.

No, Man, It’s Like Cyber Vandalism or Something On Friday, the FBI officially blamed the government of North Korea for the hacking attack on Sony Pictures. On Sunday, when asked on CNN by Candy Crowley, President Obama called it “an act of cyber vandalism”, falling short of calling it an act of war. But he did say “We take it very seriously.” Oh good. As long as he takes it seriously...

In a follow-on interview, also with Crowley (man, she’s on a roll lately. Her future at CNN seems bright), Senator John McCain said “When you destroy economies, when you are able to impose censorship on the world, and especially the United States of America, it’s more than vandalism. It’s a new form of warfare.” Because if you want to be lectured about cyberwarfare, you turn to a 178-year-old Senator. Don’t worry, Senator, President Obama takes it “very seriously.”

Still Making Promises In the same interview, President Obama promised once again to close the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Oh good. You’ve only been President for six years now. Didn’t you promise that back in 2008? Didn’t you sign something in 2009?

So you’re going to close Gitmo now. Well, Mr. President, we believe that you believe that.

The Foolish Man Built His House Upon The Sand Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. was Speak of the House for 10 years, 1977 to 1987. You don’t need to know that for the test. He did a lot of stuff. You don’t need to know that either. The one thing you need to know about Tip O’Neill is his most famous quote: “All politics is local.” (He didn’t actually originate the phrase, but he is associated with it).

We were reminded of this very phrase on Saturday when Raul Castro took to Cuban television to reassure everyone that the normalization of US relations with Cuba last week did not mean an end to communism.

“Hooray!” came a loud cheer from no one on the island. The real point of this was to reassure the ruling class in Cuba, who have the most to lose if the Castro regime goes belly-up. Their claim to legitimacy rests entirely on the noble righteousness of communism (which in no way actually exists, but provides the basis for their identities). If it crumbles, then the regime crumbles. So Raul did what Castros do best: took to the airwaves for a long-winded speech.

Pot To Kettle: You're An Isolationist The 2016 presidential season doesn’t start for a little while, but there have already been plenty of exhibition cage matches. The latest is between potential 2016 Republican contenders Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. Senator Paul, who backs President Obama’s plan to normalize relations with Cuba, called Rubio an “isolationist” who “wants to retreat to our borders and perhaps build a moat.” Rubio shot back that Paul has “no idea what he’s talking about....” To which Paul replied “Your mother!” And then Rubio shouted back “Your father!”

We won’t be able to declare a winner in little spat (which everyone will forget in about five minutes) until next year. The embargo on Cuba will need to be lifted by Congress, so this is just a preview of the fight coming in 2015.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (From Space) You know how there’s that one guy down the street who has so many Christmas lights in his front yard that you wonder how he has so much time on his hands? Then as you drive by, you say “Man, you can probably see that guy’s house from space!” And everyone (meaning you, by yourself) laughs so hard from that joke (and the mescaline you put in the eggnog) that you drive into a mailbox?

The thing is, you can actually see those lights from space. Well, NASA can anyway. They have a team that looks at lights at night. In the suburbs and the outskirts of cities, the light intensity increases by 30 to 50 percent during the holiday season,.

Why suburbs and not cities? Because in the suburbs they have these things called yards. The rest of the year they’re filled with things like children’s toys, pickup caps, and maple trees with Dutch elm disease, but in December (or October through April, depending on how lazy and/or obnoxious your neighbors are) it is traditional to decorate them with strings of electric light, nets of electric lights, electrically-lit candy canes that stick in the ground, and well-lit replicas of St. Nicholas.

It’s not just lights that increase. In fact, the number of inflatable snowmen increases by nearly 321%. The number of plastic nutcracker soldiers increases 891%. And the number of wireframe animatronic reindeer increases by nearly 10,000% over the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, at Ricochet... Peter Robinson has some thoughts about how aging gives us better perspective about our lives and those of our parents and grandparents.

Ricochet member Pleated Pants Forever is at it again, this time trying to explain Chicago to the outside world (and fundamentally misunderstanding the word “pizza” in the process).

Ricochet editor Jon Gabriel (this time of year, that coffee cup is full of eggnog) reports on the way French soldiers see their American allies.

New Ricochet Podcasts! Worry not! It’s a Christmas miracle! There will be a Ricochet Flagship Podcast! It comes out Tuesday! There are no guests this week, but Peter Robinson will tell us how to make a French Onion Soup soup that would make Thomas Lipton gouge out his own heart with a soup spoon.

Today, in History... On this day in 1095, Roger II of Sicily was born. Wait, how the hell did some dude named Roger become King of Sicily? If you’re curious how, we suggest you try the Normal Centuries podcast.

On this day in 1937, the Lincoln Tunnel opened for traffic. There was an immediate six-hour traffic jam when some jerk from Jersey in an Escalade tried to get in front of everyone.

On this day in 1947, Italy’s Constituent Assembly approved the nation’s Constitution. Two hours later, three dozen Italian governments had come and gone.

We Heartily Recommend... This week, in honor of Christmas and the spirit of peace and brotherhood, we will be doing anti-recommendations. Things you should not give to people, even if you don’t like them. Please do not give gag gifts. Christmas is a serious gift giving holiday. Even Secret Santa and Yankee Swap should be taken seriously. Here’s a tip: If you open it and you would be frustrated and/or annoyed with it, don’t inflict it on another person.

Today, we heartily recommend that you not give someone a USB Pet Rock. The Pet Rock was a fad in the 1970s for about a week. Even then nobody liked it except the guy who invented it and laughed all the way to the bank. If you give a USB Pet Rock to someone and they don’t punch you in the face that’s what’s known as a “Christmas miracle.”


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: ricochet
This is today's newsletter written by a member of Ricochet.com
1 posted on 12/22/2014 1:48:29 PM PST by 6ft2inhighheelshoes
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