It’s hard to know what to add this year. Nothing feels all that surprising anymore — and yet, this year, the insanity in need of remark seems to be layered on as thick as ever.
Twelve years after a band of homicidal Jihadi scumbags flew aircraft full of people into buildings full of people, we’re on the verge of supporting al-Qaeda-linked “rebels” in Syria. (Yes, they really are that bad. No, really. Seriously. I’m not kidding.) We still don’t have answers or accountability regarding four Americans who, after repeatedly pleading with the State Department for increased security in preceding months and having their requests denied, were left to die in Benghazi a year ago today, when special forces who could have reached them were ordered to “stand down”. We were told the Benghazi attacks were a spontaneous uprising triggered by a YouTube video critical of Islam, only to learn that the attackers were well armed and had clearly planned and coordinated the attack — a fact that was known at the time, but not disclosed. Meanwhile, a “Million Muslim March” — whose purpose presumably includes asking Americans to exercise ever-greater cultural sensitivity — has been scheduled on the most culturally insensitive date I can imagine. If there’s any hope in all that’s happening on this twelfth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it’s in the “2 Million Bikers to D.C.” ride that’s also happening today, and the fact that its attendance appears to outnumber the former event by something in the neighborhood of 880,000 to 21. Gotta love these guys (and gals). Bless their rugged, patriotic hearts.
In the chronicles of local ineptitude: a 9/11 memorial ceremony at New Jersey’s “Empty Sky” memorial (which I posted pictures of last year) was unceremoniously cancelled without the families who were to attend being notified. *sigh*
That’s all I’ve got for this year, for now at least. I may add more later. Most of what matters to me, I’ve already written about in previous years:
My Previous Years’ 9/11 Posts
2012: 9/11, Eleven Years On
2011: A Plea, Ten Years After: Please, Open Your Eyes ~ Ten Years Later: 9/11 Links
2010: 9/11: Two Songs
2009: Tomorrow is 9/11 ~ My Experience of September 11, 2001 ~ 9/11 Quotes
2008: 9/11, Seven Years On ~ 9/11, Seven Years On, Part 2 ~ 102 Minutes that Changed America
2007: 9/11, Six Years On
2006: Soon, Time Again to Reflect ~ 9/11 Observances ~ 9/11 Observances, Part 2
2005: I Remember
2004: Remembering and Rebuilding (republished here September 12th, 2014)
Is it officially a “podcast”, now that I have more than one episode?
Episode 2 of “The No Fear Pioneer” is up!
The distinction between risk and gambling, and the implications for those who stake their lives or fortunes on an inherently uncertain endeavor, are our topics. As with the pilot episode, I had a lot of fun thinking the ideas through and producing this one, and I hope you’ll enjoy the results!
I’m tremendously excited to be launching a brand new podcast today: “The No Fear Pioneer”. (Note the shiny new “Podcast” tab, above!)
The idea is to look at risk, opportunity, and freedom in the context of frontiers past, present, and future. What drives some people to seek the frontier life — to become pioneers? How has our frontier past shaped our present, and where can today’s pioneers find the challenging life of wide open spaces that they seek?
There are plenty of great podcasts out there, so I plan to keep this one short and sweet, with episodes limited to the 5-15 minute range.
You can listen on the podcast home page, which will have links to subscribe in iTunes and Stitcher as soon as my listings go live. I have exciting ideas in mind for future episodes, which will appear on the feed and the podcast page as I make time to produce them.
Hope you enjoy the first episode — I put my all into it, and had loads of fun producing it!
Ricochet, a deservedly popular and uniquely valuable site for civil, center-right discussion and superb podcasts, and one of my favorite online destinations, needs our help. And they’re asking very little.
For people dedicated to the idea that something worth having is worth paying a little of our hard-earned money for, keeping Ricochet going should be easy. We can do this in our sleep, folks. All they need is for a mere 2% of their 400,000-500,000 unique monthly visitors to join, at the bargain price of $3.67 per month or $29.95 for a year (=$2.50/month). I’ve been a member since March 2011, and am already renewed through March 2014. If you’ve enjoyed the site and want it to stick around beyond their projected “fiscal cliff” of January 21st (also known in some circles as “Inauguration Day 2013”), please become a paid member, or give a gift membership. They’ve given the world some uniquely great content, and now they need more new members to step up. Pronto.
There are plenty of sites you can visit to read editorials and blog posts, and then drown in a sea of spite-filled ad hominem invective punctuated only occasionally by a sparse flotsam of sincere and insightful remarks in the comments that follow, if that’s your thing. We call this phenomenon “The Internet(s)”. By charging a nominal membership fee for the ability to post and comment, and thus giving participants some “skin in the game” — a small but significant stake in keeping the place civil — Ricochet has built a site and community without peer, where one’s time reading and having meaningful discussions can actually be well spent. What’s more, Ricochet provides the unique opportunity to engage in discussions with prominent great minds, and people of uniquely interesting perspectives and great wit — people such as Peter Robinson, Victor Davis Hanson, James Lileks, Rob Long, Claire Berlinski, Pat Sajak … the list goes on and on.
Friends, we’re going to need a gathering place like Ricochet more than ever in the coming years. If we give a damn, we can easily keep it going. Or, we can just let it go under on Inauguration Day, content to dream of the other, far better uses to which we can put the 8 cents a day we’ll each have saved. Our choice.
There’s a founders’ discussion of their fiscal sitution in the latest podcast episode.
