Gun fallacies

Going to start a running post here on the common "counterpoints" (as if they deserve to be considered valid) to the idea of universal background checks, or any change in gun laws generally. This is a work in progress and I will add new points and commentary over time, then erase this sentence later on...

Although it isn't particularly germane to the discussion, for the record I own two shotguns.

Evolution of life

The last time I thought much about abiogenesis, I had a hard time finding good (recent) review articles to summarize things, and relied on the NYT. The past few years have provided many breakthroughs, summarized by Hazen and others. This month's Nature Chemistry has an entire section devoted to the subject. It calls the Grand Challenge of chemistry explaining the emergence of life, similar to a Theory of Everything in physics.

The collapse of the Republican intellectual edifice

Facts haven't been kind to Republican ideology lately. For years, really, the eminent apocalypse upon which they depend has failed to materialize (like Jesus, lol). Chait walks us through the details:

A brave new world

Friedman is not my favorite columnist by a long shot. Many times I glance at his column and think, "He's recycled this garbage again?" He seems to repeat the same thing about our world being "hyperconnected" and "flat" every week, and just looks at a different implication of it: education, industry, entrepreneurship, etc.

But this week I liked the way he summarized things: we live in "A brave new 401(k) world, where we all take the bar exam, and are measured by the most-emailed list." His explanation follows (my emphasis added in bold):