{"id":92336,"date":"2016-04-02T20:12:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T04:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=92336"},"modified":"2016-04-03T09:06:05","modified_gmt":"2016-04-03T17:06:05","slug":"why-cant-we-have-nice-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=92336","title":{"rendered":"Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comment<\/a>: But of course, we\u2019re not allowed to notice why we can\u2019t have nice things like civilization and tolerance. From today\u2019s paper:<\/p>\n

\nFather accused of fatally shooting son because he was gay<\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Key, spokesman for the Los Angeles LGBT Center, said late Friday. \u201cDespite all the civil rights victories we\u2019ve had in the last few years, we still live in a society where people face violence or even murder by their parents, simply by being open about their sexual orientation or gender identity.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Name of the father: Shehada Khalil Issa.<\/p>\n

Headline on most news stories identify the killer as \u201cCalifornia man\u201d or \u201cLA man\u201d.<\/p>\n

The headline on the original CBS story subversively read, \u201cLA man Shehada Issa charged with killing son for being gay\u201d but was quickly changed to \u201cLA man charged with killing son for being gay\u201d<\/p>\n

[LF: “Issa” usually means “Jesus” so I assume this man was a Christian. There’s a lot more to this story than just a father killing his son for being gay.]<\/p>\n

* I get why people don\u2019t like Trump\u2019s idea of banning all Muslim immigration\u2013that\u2019s probably overbroad and maybe unconstitutional. But how on Earth do you condemn that as evil and Hitleresque, but then support a plans to continue bombing the hell out of the Muslim world? Surely refusing someone a visa is a lot less bad than blowing them up!<\/p>\n

Also, refusing visas is something that doesn\u2019t require any new government powers, and that is inherently hard to use as a mechanism for controlling dissent within the U.S. In my cynical moments, I suspect that\u2019s why it\u2019s the unthinkable counterterrorism policy, while spying on everyone all the time, disappearing people into secret prisons, fighting endless wars, incinerating people with drones for looking kinda guilty, etc., are all the counterterrorism policies of choice.<\/p>\n

* I will say that squeamishness about this sort of stuff is a function of how stable a society is and how far removed it is from daily violence. I spent 18 years of my life in a country with a very serious terrorism problem and you would be surprised at the measures that meet broad social approval once the problem is widespread and disruptive enough. Collective punishment, extra judicial killings and torture all work very well. In fact they are the only thing that work. Trump stands out as a pragmatist in a political class of utterly deluded buffoons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comment: But of course, we\u2019re not allowed to notice why we can\u2019t have nice things like civilization and tolerance. From today\u2019s paper: Father accused of fatally shooting son because he was gay Jim Key, spokesman for the Los Angeles LGBT … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[258,139,20,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","category-islam","category-journalism","category-los-angeles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t